Background

Xin Chao Vietnam!

Welcome to this land full of gusto and friendly locals known as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Lying on the eastern part of the Indochinese peninsula, Vietnam has an unique land shape of the letter “S”. It shares borders with the Chinese to the north, Laos and Cambodia to the west, the East Sea to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the east and south.


Due to elongated shape, Vietnam is influenced by both tropical monsoon climate as well as temperate climate at mountainous areas as well as regions near the tropics. There are generally 2 seasons, the cold season occurs from November to April and the hot season from May to October. The distinct 4 seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn & Winter, can also be observed particularly at the northern provinces.


With a land area of 331,211.6 sq. km, it is one of the most populous country in the world carrying a population of around 87 millions of people. With Hanoi as its capital, Vietnam is divided into 63 provinces and cities. Some other major cities that will be covered in this portfolio particularly includes Saigon, Hue, Cantho City and more.


Credits & references:
http://www.visit-mekong.com/vietnam/people.htm
http://www.vietnamtourism.com/e_pages/news/index.asp

Culture

Food in Vietnam

Vietnamese cuisine, includes elements of chinese, french, indian and other cuisines, yet maintains an identity of its own. Below are some of the famous and delicious food in Vietnam.

 Pho bo

Beef noodles made from pot of stewed meat, marrowbones, onions topped up with vegetables like beansprouts, coriander and served with parboiled beef and soft, thin rice noodles. This is a specialty of Vietnam one must not miss! 

 Vietnamese spring rolls

Freshly made prawn spring rolls made from handmade rice paper, its unique flavor gives you a refreshing taste when one bites into the wrap with your favorite vegetables, shrimps & other meat of your delights. Often serves as an appetizer. 

Cha ca 

Cha consists of grilled fish nuggets served in hotpot, topped with vegetables and roasted peanuts, best eaten with bun, the rice vermicelli. This local specialty is served best when one sits along some corners on the streets and devours this dish hot.

Arts in Vietnam

Rich in arts and culture, Vietnam has various forms of craft arts such like ceramic arts, silk, lacquer as well as performance arts like Cheo and water puppets. Below are some art forms that are traditional and yet gaining popularity among the tourists:

 Water puppetry; Mua Roi Nuoc

Originated from the Red river delta, water puppetry performance is used to celebrate Tet and the end of agricultural labors since 12th century. This traditional performance in fact has a complicated system of strings, bamboo poles and floats supported with extreme good coordination between the players to put up such a good show. 

 Lacquer arts

Lacquer painting is an artisan painting techniques that is introduced to the Vietnamese by the French. These elegant aesthetic pieces are painstakingly made by hands with about 12 coats of resin mixed with paints. 

Cheo

This is a popular opera form that has been performed for peasants at the village communal house with makeshift props like bamboo screen for backdrop and bed mats as stages originally. This performing arts consists of folk songs, instrumental music, dances etc that offers a well blend of romance, tragedy and comedy, especially tales of the Red river delta. 

Religions in Vietnam
The Vietnamese adopt a polytheistic approach to religions, practicing a blend of ancestry worship, spirit cults to a mix with Buddhism, Catholicism, Confucian and Taoist world views. 

 However, most Vietnamese practice Buddhism. 

Cao dai
Cao Dai is a relatively new religion created in the 1920s by Vietnamese spiritualists who drew upon, and mixing and adding ideas from the religious philosophies such as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Christianity. There are many temples in Vietnam dedicated to this religion, as well as a growing number of followers. 


Credits: http://www.vietnamtourism.com/e_pages/news/index.asp
Journey Through Hanoi by Quek Ling Xiang
Photo credits to all respective owners

Traditions

Festivals and legends

Tet Nguyen Dan

It is an important festival that begins on the first day of lunar calendar marking the beginning of the New Year. Tet is an occasion for family reunions as well as remembering their ancestors. 

Thi thoi com

It is the rice cooking competitions held during Tet in a number of villages in northern and central Vietnam holding cooking contests which strict rules and criteria like cooking in the wind and rain on boats.  

Banh Chung

This is a festive food made of glutinous rice, shredded pork and mung bean paste. This square rice cake wrapped in bamboo leaves, originates from the legend of a test for selecting his successor by a Hung King.

Traditional folks games

   Battle of the chickens; Choi ga

Cock fighting has been a popular form of entertainment, that is organised during festivals throughout Vietnam since generations ago. These warriors are specially groomed and trained by their owners before their show downs. The glory of victory can be monetary gains as well as the alive defeated bird sometimes, while the defeated opponents often met their deaths from the gruesome battles.

       Throwing a sacred ball through the ring; Nem con

The Tay people of Cao Bang and Lang Son Provinces have a special Tet game that not only marks as an unique way of celebrating the Tet Festival but also serves as a matchmaker. This game is introduced and to celebrate the Tay legend of how an orphan, Pia found his happiness and love by tossing a fruit up the heaven in dismay. This is practiced by young men and women of the mountainous village by tossing balls each year from the third day of Tet until the end of the first lunar month. 

      Human chess; Co Nguoi

Human chess is a popular game at village and temple festivals. The game follows the general rules of Chinese chess with different pieces, including cannons and guards, each of them marked with a distinct Chinese character from the western chess. The representatives of human chess should be children from family with good reputations, as the "generals" and referee of the game can even treat their players to food. The players are to wear traditional clothes and these village festivals are usually held at the yard in front of a communal house or pagoda or a nearby field. 

Traditional costumes

Men

During formal ceremonies, men wore two additional items, a long gown with slits on either side, and a turban, usually in black or brown made of cotton or silk. In feudal times, there were strict dress codes. Ordinary people were only allowed to wear clothes with dyes in black, brown or white. Costumes in yellow were reserved for the King while those in purple and red were reserved for high ranking court officials. However, Men's dress has changed along with social development over the years.

Women

Young women wore light brown-colored short shirts with long black skirts. Their headgear was also a black turban but with a peak at the front. In order to make their waist look smaller, they fastened tightly on a long piece of pink or violet cloth.

Ao dai

During formal occasions, they wore a special three layered dress known as an "ao dai", which was a long gown with slits on either side. The outer garment is made up of a special silk gown called an "ao tu than" which is brown or light brown in colour with four slits divided equally on its lower section. The next layer is a gown in a light yellow colour and the third layer is a pink gown. A shaped collar is formed when a woman has fastened the buttons on the side of her three gowns, yet leaving those on the chest unfastened. This allows her to show the variety of colors on the upper part of the three gowns. Last but not least, beneath the three gowns, the woman is to wear a bright red brassiere which is left exposed to cover the woman's neck.

Non bai tho

An elegant looking conical palm hat, which is traditionally known as a "non bai tho", is worn as part of a woman's formal dress. This traditional conical hat is particularly suitable for a tropical country such as Vietnam, where fierce sunshine and hard rain are commonplace. The hat which is made by dried young palm leaves has a drawing of a small river wharf beneath these layers of leaves. Below the drawing, there is a piece of poetry to be recited by the hat wearer. No doubt, “non bait ho” is also known as a hat with poetry written on it.

Credits: http://www.vietnamtourism.com/e_pages/news/index.asp

Journey Through Hanoi by Quek Ling Xiang

Photo credits to all respective owners

Indigenous groups

Ethnic groups in Vietnam

The indigenous people consists of a total of  54 different ethnic groups inhabiting Vietnam, in which Kinh (Viet) people make up nearly 90% of the whole population, and 53 other ethnic groups represent over 10%. The Vietnamese nation and its unique trait of Vietnam culture was formed through a mixture and adaption from two major ancient cultures, the Chinese and the Indian. The 54 different ethnic groups are divided into 8 different groups by the Vietnamese language as shown below:

- The Viet - Muong Group includes 4 ethnic groups: Chut, Kinh, Muong, Tho.
- The Tay - Thai Group includes 8 ethnic groups: Bo Y, Giay, Lao, Lu, Nung, San Chay, Tay, Thai.
- The Mon - Khmer Group includes 21 ethnic groups: Ba Na, Brau, Bru-Van Kieu, Cho Ro, Co, Co Ho, Co Tu, Gie Trieng, Hre, Khang, Khmer, Kho Mu, Ma, Mang, M'nong, O Du, Ro Mam, Ta Oi, Xinh Mun, Xo Dang, Xtieng.
- The Mong - Dao Group includes 3 groups: Dao, Mong, Pa Then.
- The Kadai Group includes 4 ethnic groups: Co Lao, La Chi, La Ha, Pu Peo.
- The Nam Dao Group includes 5 ethnic groups: Cham, Chu Ru, Ede, Gia Rai, Raglai.
- The Han Group includes 3 ethnic groups: Hoa, Ngai, San Diu.
- The Tang Group includes 6 ethnic groups: Cong, Ha Nhi, La Hu, Lo Lo, Phu La, Si La.

Despite each group of ethnic people having developed their own language and identity, they are bonded with one another in sharing the missions of fighting against invaders, defending their country’s territory as well as fighting for their national independence and self-determination. In fact it is their differences for making the Vietnamese culture, known for a well blended combination of different cultures.

Credits: http://www.vietnamtourism.com/e_pages/news/index.asp

Journey Through Hanoi by Quek Ling Xiang

Language & Literature

Language
Vietnamese is the national language, which is spoken by practically all the locals there. It orginates from Austro-Asiatic languages, and is influenced by the Sino-Tibetan Tai language. Chu nho, a chinese Han script has been used before they created their own script called chu nom in the 13th century. In the 17th century, on the initiative of a French priest, Alexandre de Rhodes, the language was translated into its present romanised form, known as Quoc Ngu.

Pronouciation

In Quoc Ngu, it is indicated by five diacritical marks & an unmarked tone. The six tones are namely the low rising, high rising, low broken, high broken, mid level and low falling.

As it is a romanized alphabet, people of western countries may be able to "read" vietnamese when they see them on signs etc, but they wont understand much even if they think they know what the words mean.

This is because nearly every word can be pronouced in six different ways to convey six different meanings. Eg: The word ba can mean three, grandmother, poisoned food, waste, aunt or any, based on different markings of the word.

It is difficult to pronouce and understand than other many languages that use romanzied alphabet, which do not have tones and are based on latin like french and spanish.

Other languages used

French is still spoken by older generations, especially in Hanoi, whereas Russian or Mandarin Chinese are increasingly spoken by the young adults in the capital. Not to miss out English which is increasingly spoken by young people throughout the whole country, particular the south whereby English levels are the highest.

Tips: Useful phrases for you!

• Hello - Xin Chao
• Please - Xin Moi
• Thank you - Cam on (sounds like chinese 感恩, which means gratitude from the heart)
• Yes/No - Da/com
• How much does it costs? - Bao nee-oh tien? (for shopping fanatics)

Literature

Since coming to its existence, classical vietnamese literature are rich in folklores, proverbs, coming from myths and legends passed down from generations to generations by the different ethnic groups. Being the soul and vital power of the nation, classical literature known as folk literature has further grown through the processes of labour, activity, construction as well as the struggle of the people over the years.

Vietnamese literary tradition has undergone several transitions over the years into modern literature as it evolved through the wars and other historic events. Some of the best 20th-century Vietnamese literature are written by Vietnamese living abroad. Not to miss out, Tale of Kieu, a 3254-verse epic poem, written by 18th century author Nguyen Du, earns the title of the best-known piece of writing in Vietnam.


Credits: 
Hanoi & Ho Chi Minh City smart guide by discovery channel
Vietnam tourism by Arthur AsaBerger
Journey thorugh Hanoi by Quek Ling Xiang

Mode of education

Role of education
Education has always played a central role in Vietnam culture and society as it has been seen as the path of advancement and families routinely sacrifice much to ensure their children get the required education.

Vietnam as a country with close to 87 million people and with more than 60% under the age of 35(Source: General Department of Statistics of Vietnam, 2009), there is a huge education need for this young population.

Furthermore, as a developing country with booming economy, there is a need on high quality and better skilled workforce for future growth.  Higher education and technical and specialised skills are very important to business as it provides the trained workers and also a system to transfer skills and train new employees needed in a modern business society.

Despite efforts put in by the government, only about 1.6 million (about 2%) actually are now at higher education institutions.  Each year approximately 1.2 million students graduate from secondary education but the enrolment to higher education is only around 300 thousand (Source: Department of Higher Education, MOET).

University criteria
The process of qualifying for university in Vietnam has two steps. First, students must take and pass the Secondary School Leaving Examination (SSLE), which consists of a comprehensive achievement test in six subjects (math, literature, a foreign language, and three alternating subjects) each with a maximum value of ten points.  In order to graduate, one needs to achieve at least a score of 30 points. The next step is to take the University Entrance Examination (UEE) which usually consists of an exam of 3 of 4 fixed groups of subjects. 

Credit system

A new credit system is now in place at a number of Vietnamese Universities to replace the older subject based system.  With that, each course is assigned a credit amount, whereby each credit represents one hour of theoretical lectures plus one hour of preparation per week over a 14-16 week semester.  A four year program will normally require a total of 210 credits.  Five-year programs require 270 credits and six-year programs require 320 credits.

Grading system

Vietnam follows a 10-point grading system.  The normal passing level is a 5.  The following is MOET’s published definition of grades at the tertiary level:

·             9-10 - Excellent

·         8-9 - Very Good

·         7-8 Good - about 35% of the students are at this level

·         5-6 - average - about 50% of students at this level

·         4 or below - Fail

Credits: http://www.business-in-asia.com/vietnam/education_system_in_vietnam.html

Leisure & Sports

Sports and events in Vietnam

 Leisure activities in Vietnam consists of traditional sports such as wrestling, swinging, chess, martial arts, tug of war etc as well as other rugged adventures like horse and elephant races, archery and throwing con balls.Several parts of Vietnam have also hosted international or regional sports competition and events like the biennial South East Asian Games in 2003, which groomed local talents in sports like karate, chess, shooting as well as bodybuilding. 

Local kids and youths also enjoy traditional and folk games such as spinning tops (con quay), cat and mouse games on top their special festival games like Nem Con, human chess mentioned earlier under traditional folk games for leisure. 


Credits:
Journey through Hanoi by Quek Ling Xiang
http://www.vietnamtourism.com/
Photo credits to respective owners

What Vietnam is known for!

Ku chi tunnels

 Sailing down the mekong river

 Cyclo tour experience around the city

Nature and green rice paddy fields 

And of course food featured previously! T

hey are the local cuisine specialties!

Yum yum yum!

Spot the disney

# 01 Suoi Tien Theme park

The first place I spotted is this cultural theme park in Ho Chi Minh City. Being known as one of top 10 most exotic theme park in the world, this is a bigger and better theme park out of the two in the city. Featuring cultural theme of Buddhism as well as Vietnam's four sacred animals, the dragon, unicorn, tortoise and phoenix, areas of the park have been designated for the different animals and zones. Eg: Giant dragon underground aquarium, Unicorn palace and garden.

 Its strategic location at Suoi Tien area matches it's fairy tale theme well, as this is a place that gathers sacred legends and is the home of Fairy stream where fairies can be spotted.

All the names of the attractions and restaurants are given a name complementing the theme like  the entrance named as fairyland gate, the thousand trees and hundred fruit gate open air restaurant which has a Buddhist cultural meaning behind. The parades, mascots are also according to the cultural theme, such as Golden Monkey (孙悟空) & Dragons. (as seen below)

These satisfied the first dimension of Disneyization- theming.

 Map of theme park


This unique theme park only supports attractions for entertainment and leisure, they also have food and beverages services, as well as accommodation such as open air camping. They also supports educational programs such as one of its attraction is animal conservation, as well as study of plants like the many gardens and nature areas preserved and they caters to the needs of learning more about the culture, animals and plants. Last but not least festivals such as fruit festivals are held and celebrated in the park, as well as events like private weddings are held. This is a place with hybrid consumption where they do not just cater to one form of consumptions, but to many different kinds and are still evolving and being introduced into the theme park concept. 

Wedding held at park

Live crocodiles farms and conservation

Dragon statues made by fruits for festivals

Roller coaster overseeing part of the park

 Souvenir shop

What will a theme park be without a retail shop for people to bring back a tangible item of their experience there? Yes, no doubt, the third dimension merchandising can also be clearly portrayed in this place. Souvenirs and products such as mugs, shirts and stationaries printed with Suoi Tien theme park logo serves as tangible merchandise goods for their theme park. These goods are specially produced under the license of the company and mass produced for sale, but not anywhere else outside its territory. Four sacred animals look-alike goods are also being produced to match the theme of the park and tangible for the fond memories spent there.

Certainly those mascots in performances and parades are not real dragons, superpower monkeys or fairy god mothers in your fairyland. They are just part of the performative labor for the audience, they are only humans like you and me. But they are indeed part of the front line service crew whereby they have to put up a staged front for the audience like pretending to be the holy pig saint by wearing its yellow robe and putting on a pig nose. They are deliberately staging a mood, in Suoi Tien Theme Park case, the festive mood, with all the traditional cultural dances and holy statues people looked up or prayed to during festivals. 

This can be a big question mark to the authenticity of such performances, yet it can be preserving its culture and tradition in some way by tangibilizing them so that they will not be lost over time and sharing its culture to more people. It also supports the comfortability of the guests which sometimes will appreciate staged fronts more than the wild, authentic change that they cannot adapt to.

#002 Mekong Delta cultural performances

This was an real life experience I had on my study trip to Vietnam. We were brought to this cultural village in Mekong Delta via a boat. Upon arrival we were brought to different huts featuring different cultural activities like coconut sweets making workshops, honeycomb tasting to watching this cultural music performances by the locals of Mekong. (different theme for different huts) We could experience food tasting, shopping, boat taking to home stays with the locals, which this cultural village had offered a hybrid of consumption.

 Merchandises such as these handmade local themed souvenirs are sold. Featuring the local products and matches their cultural theme perfectly.

 Freshly, handmade coconut sweets are packaged and sold instantly after being made during the workshops.

I bought one of them which looked like two monkeys holding a heart with I love you home, which reminded me dearly of my fond memories in Mekong. 

The ladies would put up a song cum dance performance while the guys would play instruments. After they put up the show, they would offer you fruits and a flower basket for one to put tips. In other words, one is obliged to giving tips! They continued to do these to every group of visitors that dropped by their huts. The song item was supposed to be their traditional dance and songs, yet they were on performative labour as they repeated their song items to every batch of visitors all the time.


Credits:
http://www.his3site.com/2008/06/suoi-tien-theme-park.html
http://www.vietnamhost.com/suoitien_park/thefour.html
Photo courtesy to respective owners

Analyse changes made by tourism

Economic changes 

Vietnam's tourist arrivals has been on a rise over the years ever since Vietnam has opened its door to foreigners around a decade ago. As shown in the statistics above, the primary purpose of visitors coming to Vietnam is for tourism. This will definitely increase the tourism receipts spent by the visitors, especially now with its many attractive tourist attractions, like Ku Chi tunnels, Haylong Bay putting them first on the travel itineraries. With more tourist income, this will definitely boost the economy and improve the economic status of Vietnam. One of the key factors why Vietnam has recently dropped out of the world's poorest countries' list is due to the positive economic benefits of tourism. 


With the economic gains, Vietnam also improves its infrastructures such as public transport and telecommunications over the years, resulting in more and more investors flocking to Vietnam for businesses. Hence Vietnam is also gaining its status as one of the most popular business hub in Southeast Asia. 


With Vietnam developing at a rapid rate, even faster than its superpower neighbor China in some aspects, Vietnam is gaining the spotlight and economic status in Southeast Asia. 

Social changes

Tourism certainly has brought about both positive and negative changes to its people and society. The living standard and conditions of many Vietnamese has improved and not no longer at poverty level. The literacy rate of locals is very high as mention previous under mode of education, resulting in better educational levels as well as better trained for higher skilled jobs. These definitely help the Vietnamese in communicating and interacting with others in this globalized world. 


Unfortunately, the gap between the rich and poor widens despite the improved economy, as the rich becomes richer while the poor becomes poorer as they cannot afford their daily expenses due to higher living costs than before. Many parts of Vietnam are still undeveloped, and they are still living in poverty, and many times people from that parts of the country will be exploited for cheap labor, child and sex workers etc. This in turn will aggravate the situation of the poor families. Families still suffering from post war traumas as well as disabilities find it hard to accept foreigners as well as fitting back into the society too. 

Cultural impacts

As much as tourism has made changes to the people and society, the culture of Vietnam has been affected too. With tourism, many parts of the Vietnamese cultures have been preserved and tangibilized so as to showcase the specialty and uniqueness of its culture to the foreigners. At the same time, the new generations of the locals will have grown more interest in preserving and learning more about their roots. It also helps to build mutual understanding between Vietnam and other countries, especially war rivals as they can release social tension between ex war countries, and understand each other's suffering and past so that history will not repeat itself. It also helps the different countries to be more tolerant and acceptable towards cultural differences.


However, one must not deny the erosion of some parts of the local Vietnamese culture like parts of Saigon has been developed into industrial areas as well as high rise buildings instead of the old buildings and fields of the locals. The whole town looks more like other countries like South Korea or Singapore than its original states. People are following the pop and westernized cultures instead of their local cultures, like the disneyization illustrated above. The question of authenticity of the culture is also a problem in cultural aspects, as many cultural aspects shown to the tourists are purposely staged, and those are traditions that the locals are not no longer doing for its original purpose. 


Credits:
Vietnam Tourism Board for statistics

Extent disney being culprit in commodifying culture & traditions

Yes to a large extent, disney is the culprit. 


Out of the four characteristics of disneyifization, two of them, namely merchandising and performative labor, contains elements of standardization and commodifying. Merchandising is like the the duplicated production of tangible goods, sometimes mass production of its own licensed products that carried its brand like in the Suoi Tien case study, the souvenirs of the four sacred animals. This becomes a duplication of its cultural products and lose the original meaning of the sacred meaning. Performative labour is a more obvious cause in commodifying culture and traditions as cultural performances such as traditional dances are being performed at random timing to meet the needs and demand of tourists instead of at its original, appropriate time slot, which can be once a year.