VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITY

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

FACULTY OF HISTORY


A LONG HISTORY FILLED WITH MANY WARS, ESPECIALLY

RESISTANT WARS AGAINST FOREIGN INVADERS
LONG MARCH TO INDEPENDENCE
(Till the 10th Century AD)
During 10 years (from 218 till 208 B.C), 500,000 Chin troops conquered the territories
of the Hundred of Viet (Yue) great ethnic groups in the southern Yangtze river, including
the Au Viet and Lac Viet people . From 214 until 208 B.C Au Viet and Lac Viet people led
by Thuc Phan leader defeated Chin Army and established the reunified Au Lac . Thuc Phan
proclaimed himself as An Duong Vuong. In 179 Au Lac was conquered by Chao To and
became a part of the Nam Viet kingdom by Chao To (179-111BC).

In the 3rd century BC, the Han people who lived in the Yellow River basin unified China,
merging the various ethnic groups who lived in southern China to the south of the Yangtze
River into a centralized empire. This feudal empire soon spread southwards. 
In 111 B.C. the Han dynasty sent an expeditionary corps to conquer the kingdom of Nam
Viet established by Chao To, who had brought the kingdom of Au Lac and several
territories in southern China together under his rule.
The Han integrated Au Lac into their empire, creating the commandery of Chiao Chih,
which was divided into provinces and districts. The three provinces, which constituted
present-day northern Vietnam to the 18th parallel, had a population of 981,375 people
according to Han documents.
From this time on, the history of Viet Nam evolved under the combined influence of two
contradictory factors. On the one hand, there was a policy of' economic exploitation and
cultural assimilation, and on the other, there was a steadfast popular resistance marked by
armed insurrection against foreign domination.
A final resistance led to the preservation of the identity of the Vietnamese people after many
centuries, the emergence of a national consciousness, and the establishment of the
independent state of Viet Nam. While keeping its unique character, the nation's culture also
adopted quite a few elements of Chinese culture. Ten centuries of domination resulted in a
thorough transformation of Vietnamese society.
♦ The Imperial Policy of the Han
At first, for their own benefit, the Han retained the system of lac hau and lac tuong, the
civilian and military chiefs of the early communities; little by little, they replaced them with
functionaries appointed by the court who administered the country down to province and
district levels (there were three provinces and 56 districts).
A mandarin, protected by an armed entourage, presided over each district. The rural
communes, which contained most of the population, escaped their direct rule so that this
administration very slowly expanded its network throughout the country while coping with a
stubborn popular resistance. The imperial functionaries came from China, accompanied by

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an entourage of scribes, agents and family members. Many of them settled in the country
permanently.
The population had to make a double contribution: a tribute to the imperial court and taxes,
duties and corvée (phu, lực dịch) to maintain the administration and military apparatus. The
tribute paid to the court mostly comprised valuable tropical products such as ivory, mother-
of-pearl, pearls and sandalwood which Chinese documents of the time described as
abundant and varied products from the southern territories.
Tropical fruit, various handicraft items, fabric, gold or silver engravings, and mother-of-
pearl inlay work were also required. A certain number of craftsmen were exiled to work for
the court while part of the population was compelled to hunt for elephant and rhinoceros in
forests or dive into the sea to gather pearls or coral.
Each inhabitant had to pay a head-tax and a land tax on each plot; the population was also
forced to supply corvee labourers to dig canals and build roads and citadels. Chinese
documents describe many revolts due to this systematic exploitation and extortion by
imperial functionaries.
At the same time, the feudal Han carried out a policy of systematic cultural assimilation, the
empire having to be unified in all aspects. The first concern was to impose veneration of the
emperor, Son of Heaven; use of the indeographic script (chữ viết ghi ý, tượng hình) was
enforced as a vehicle for the official doctrine, Confucianism. At the centre of human
obligation was absolute loyalty to the monarch, who ruled not only human society but also
the kingdom of the gods. A tightly-woven network of obligations and rites bound societal
and individual life, strictly governing relationships between parents and children, husbands
and wives, between friends, and between subjects and the imperial administration which
tried to replace old customs with laws and rites inspired by Confucian doctrine.
♦ Socio-economic transformation
Economic exploitation by the occupiers hampered the development of productive forces but
could not check them. Excavation of tombs dating from the 1st to the 6th centuries has
revealed the progressive diffusion of iron tools, production implements and weapons already
known in the previous era. Iron cauldrons, nails and tripods appeared while objects in
bronze became less common, although the making of bronze drums continued for centuries.
In the 1st century, furrowing with iron ploughshares on wingploughs drawn by oxen or
water buffaloes gradually replaced cultivation in burned out clearings. In particular,
hydraulic works, canals and dykes ensured control over water; the use of fertilizer facilitated
intensive farming, the practice of growing two crops a year on well-irrigated fields for
example. The growing of tubers such as sweet potato, sugarcane and mulberry was already
known, as well as various vegetables and fruit trees. Mulberry growing and silkworm
raising took pride of place; there was also betel, areca-nut trees, medicinal plants, bamboo
and rattan, which supplied raw materials for basket making. From the earliest centuries,
there was thus a diversified agriculture which, gradually improved, would last for a very
long time. Handicrafts also reached a relatively high level. Many tools of iron and bronze
were forged; ceramics with enamel coating was added to the already flourishing pottery of
the previous era. The remains of citadels, pagodas and tombs showed that brick and tile
making was thriving, some of which were also coated with a layer of enamel.
The most prosperous handicraft occupations were weaving and basket-making. Fabrics in

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cotton and silk and baskets of bamboo and rattan were sought after items. In the 3rd century,
paper began to be made using techniques imported from China. Glass-making techniques
also came to Viet Nam from China and India. To meet the need for luxury goods for the
court and local functionaries, the making of objects in engraved gold and silver underwent
new development, the quality of which improved through the use of Chinese techniques.
Lacquer was already known. It could be said that Vietnamese handicrafts established
themselves during this period.
If the economy as a whole remained autarkic (tự cung tự cấp), certain products supplied
markets in administrative centres such as Long Bien (in present-day Hanoi Capital) which
had trading quarters. River and sea transport was carried out using sampans or junks, some
of which had barges and several score oarsmen.
The Red River and the road running along it led to Yunnan and Sichuan, and hence
to Central Asia as well as Burma. Communication with China was achieved by both sea and
land, the road being dotted with many relays. Chiao Chih served as a port of call for junks
from Java, Burma, Iran, India and even the Roman empire on their way to China. In large
centres, there were a number of foreign residents such as Khmers and Indians. The vessels
carried local products, valuable timbers, ivory and handicrafts, and also took part in the
slave trade. This external trade was entirely monopolized by the occupiers.
The Han policy of cultural assimilation benefited from the prestige of Chinese civilization,,
which was then at a high level, but it was confronted with a stubborn resistance. The
Vietnamese language was largely borrowed from Chinese, but the words had been
Vietnamized to become part and parcel of the language which was progressively enriched
without losing its identity; popular literature kept its vigour while beginning to develop a
learned literature written in Han (classical Chinese).
Despite Confucian rites and precepts, many local traditions continued the veneration of
founding fathers or patriots, participation by women in patriotic activities, and the making
and use of bronze drums during great ceremonies. Relics found in the tombs of that era
show stronger Han civilization influence; the indigenous upper classes came under greater
foreign influence than the population at large or rural communities. However, Dong Son art
was still clearly seen with its decorations and statuettes.
Together with Confucianism, Buddhist and Taoist doctrine also made their way into Chiao
Chih. Buddhism, coming from India by sea and from China by land, was conspicuous from
the 2nd and 6th centuries, with the town of Luy Lau (in present-day Bac Ninh Province)
having 20 towers, 500 bonzes and 15 already-translated sutras. Taoism integrated itself with
local beliefs, giving rise to magical, medical and ascetic practices. The main characteristic
of these religions was that they did not encourage fanaticism nor exclude one another, thus
helping to preserve unity within the national community.
Following the conquest by the Han, Vietnamese society gradually turned into a feudal
society. De jure, land belonged entirely to the emperor, while all members of the population
became his subjects, bound to pay taxes, corvee and other duties. Nevertheless, the
communes stayed more or less autonomous. To ensure domination, the Han feudalists
advocated the creation of "military colonies"; military men, political or common-law
prisoners and destitute people coming from China together with destitute Vietnamese and
landless peasants were recruited to reclaim and exploit the land under the direction of
officers or functionaries.

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At the same time, private domains were created by Chinese functionaries settled for good in
the country or indigenes loyal to the administration (members of the former ruling classes or
notables from rural communities). After the 2nd century, a certain number of Vietnamese
who had received a good education had access to mandarin posts and, hence, could set up
private domains. Slaves worked in these military colonies and domains. The tombs of that
era often reveal models in baked earth of domains with outer areas dotted with watchtowers,
houses, granaries and stables. As time went by, the Chinese functionaries and their
descendants living in the country became "Vietnamized".
With indigenous functionaries and landowners, they constituted an indigenous ruling class
with feudal characteristics. Shaped in a country subject to the harsh domination of the Han
imperialists, this feudal class was opposed in some aspects to the court and sided with the
population. Internal disturbances in China, caused mostly by peasant revolts, created
favourable conditions for an open struggle against Chinese imperialist domination for
secession (sự ly khai) – first temporary, then definitive.
THE RESISTANT WARS AGAINST SUNG INVADER UNDER EARLIER LE, LY
DYSNASTIES
Early Independence
In 939 AD, the Vietnamese finally threw off Chinese domination. By winning the Battle of
Bach Dang River (938), Ngo Quyen (Ngô Quyền) effectively ended Chinese influence in
Vietnam. Upon Ngo Quyen’s untimely death resulted in a power struggle for the throne,
resulting in the country’s first major civil war, The upheavals of Twelve warlords. The war
ended 2 decades later when the fraction led by Dinh Bo Linh (Đinh Bộ Lĩnh) was able to
defeat the others. Dinh founded the Dinh Dynasty and proclaimed himself Emperor of Dai
Co Viet (Đại Cồ Việt), with his capital located in Hoa Lu (Hoa Lư, modern day Ninh Bình).
After Dinh Bo Linh and his eldest son, Dinh Lien, were assassinated by an eunuch, his lone
surviving son — the 6-year-old Dinh Toan assumed the throne. Taking advantage of the
situation, Chinese Song troops prepared to invade. Under the shadow of this threat, the
court’s Supreme Commander of all Armed Forces, acting Regent, who was also lover of
Empress Duong, Dinh Toan’s mother, Le Hoan staged a coup d’etat and took the throne,
founding Former Le Dynasty. Le Hoan proceeded to fight Song invaders, culminatiing in a
decisive victory at Bach Dang River in 968, ending the threat. Song-Viet relation
normalized soon afterwards
Dynastic Period
For the third successive time, succession proved a problem that prematurely ended another
dynasty. Le Hoan’s death resulted in infighting for the throne amongst his sons. The
eventual winner, Le Long Dinh (Lê Long Đĩnh), then died soon thereafter. The General of
the Imperial Guards, Ly Cong Uan (Lý Công Uẩn) took advantage of the situation to seize
the throne, and founded the Lý Dynasty. This marks the beginning of a golden era in
Vietnamese history.
When the Lê emperor Lê Long Đĩnh died in his twenties, a court general named Lý Công
Uẩn took the chance to take over the throne and founded the Lý dynasty.
This event is regarded as the beginning of a golden era in Vietnamese history, with great
dynasties following one another. Lý Công Uẩn (commonly called Lý Thái Tổ – Lý the
Founding Emperor) changed the country’s name to Đại Việt, established the capital in

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present-day Hanoi and called it Thăng Long (Ascending Dragon) under the pretext of seeing
a dragon when he was touring the area.
As with other dynasties in Vietnamese history, the Lý had many wars with the Chinese,
most notably when Lý troops under command of the eunuch-turned-general Lý Thường Kiệt
fought against the invasion of the Sung empire, he eventually attacked some southern
Chinese citadels to destroy the supplement of the Sung troops,then later defeated this army
at the battle by Như Nguyệt river (commonly Cầu river), now in Bắc Ninh province (about
40km from the current capital, Hanoi).

THE RESISTANT WAR AGAINST MONGOLIAN INVADER UNDER TRAN

DYNASTY: VICTORIES IN 1258, 1285, 1288
The Mongol invasions of Vietnam or Mongol-Vietnamese War refer to the three times that
the Mongol Empire and its chief khanate the Yuan dynasty invaded Đại Việt (now northern
Vietnam) during the Trần dynasty and Champa: in 1258, 1285, and 1287–88.
During the late Lý era, a court official named Trần Thủ Độ became powerful. He forced the
emperor Lý Huệ Tông to become a Buddhist monk and set Lý Chiêu Hoàng, Huệ Tông’s
young daughter, to become the empress. Trần Thủ Độ then arranged the marriage of Chiêu
Hoàng to his nephew Trần Cảnh and the transfer of the throne between the two. Thus ended
the Lý dynasty and started the Trần dynasty.
During the Trần dynasty, Đại Việt was under attacks three times by the Mongols, who had
occupied China and were ruling as the Yuan dynasty. With guerilla warfare tactics, Trần
troops stopped all three Yuan invasions. The Yuan-Trần war reached its climax when Yuan
navy was decimated at the battle of Bạch Đằng river. Trần troops, with the noble lord Trần
Hưng Đạo as commander-in-chief, used the exact same tactics as Ngô Quyền had used
centuries before, at the exact same site, to defeat northern invaders.

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By the 1250s, the Mongol Empire controlled large amounts of Eurasia including much of
Eastern Europe, Anatolia, North China, Mongolia, Manchuria, Central Asia, Tibet and
Southwest Asia. Möngke Khan (r. 1251–59) planned to attack the Song dynasty in South
China from three directions in 1259. Therefore, he ordered the prince Kublai to pacify the
Dali Kingdom. After subjugating Dali, Kublai sent one column under Uriyangkhadai to the
southeast. Uriyangkhadai sent envoys to demand the submission of Đại Việt, but the Trần
rulers imprisoned the Mongol envoys. This action led Uriyangkhadai and his son Aju to
invade Đại Việt with 40,000 Mongols and 10,000 Yi people.
The ancestors of the Trần clan originated from the province of Fujian and later migrated to
Đại Việt under Trần Kinh 陳 京 (Chén Jīng), the ancestor of the Trần clan. Their
descendants, the later rulers of Đại Việt who were of mixed-blooded descent later
established the Tran dynasty, which ruled Vietnam (Đại Việt); despite many intermarriages
between the Trần and several royal members of the Lý dynasty alongside members of their
royal court as in the case of Trần Lýand Trần Thừa some of the mixed-blooded descendants
of the Trần dynasty and certain members of the clan could still speak Chinese such as when
a Yuan dynasty envoy had a meeting with the Chinese-speaking Trần prince Trần Quốc
Tuấn in 1282.
Professor Liam Kelley noted that people from Song dynasty China like Zhao Zhong and Xu
Zongdao fled to Tran dynasty ruled Vietnam after the Mongol invasion of the Song and they
helped the Tran fight against the Mongol invasion. The ancestors of the Tran clan originated
from the area now known as Fujian region of modern China as did the Daoist cleric Xu
Zongdao who recorded the Mongol invasion and referred to them as "Northern bandits".
A Vietnamese woman and a Chinese man were the parents of Phạm Nhan (Nguyễn Bá
Linh). He fought against the Tran for the Yuan dynasty. Dong Trieu was his mother's place.
First Mongol invasion in 1258
In 1258, a Mongol column under Uriyangkhadai, the son of Subutai, invaded Đại Việt. A
battle was fought in which the Vietnamese used war elephants. Aju ordered his troops to fire
arrows at the elephants' feet. The animals turned in panic and caused disorder in the Đại
Việt army, which was routed. The King of Đại Việt fled to an offshore island, and the
Mongols occupied the capital city Thăng Long (now Hanoi). When they found their envoys
in prison, one of whom died, they responded by massacring the population of the capital.
In January 29, 1258, Đại Việt's Emperor Trần Thái Tông along with Prince Trần Hoảng
counterattacked at Đông Bộ Đầu. The Mongols were surprised and defeated. They retreated
completely from Đại Việt. According to historians, Hòe Nhai Pagoda in Ba Đình District,
Hanoi, is the site of Đông Bộ Đầu where the battle took place.
The following year (1259), Uriyangkhadai returned to Đại Việt with an army of three
thousand Mongols and ten thousand local troops from the conquered Kingdom of Dali, now
the Yuan province of Yunnan. He led this army into Song China, and fought his way to the
Yangtze River, joining with an army led by Kublai which had invaded from the north and
was besieging Ezhou (modern Wuhan).

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The Vietnamese had submitted unwillingly, and were reluctant vassals (chư hầu). The
Vietnamese emperor repeatedly ignored demands to attend the Yuan court and offer his
personal submission to the Great Khan. Nevertheless, according to the history of the Yuan
dynasty, the Trần court sent tribute every three years and received a darughachi. By 1266,
however, a standoff developed, as the Emperor Thánh Tông sought a loose tributary
relationship, while Kublai demanded full submission. Trần Thánh Tông sent an official
letter requiring Kublai to take his darughachi back. Because of civil war in the Mongol
Empire, and the Yuan conquest of Song China, armed conflict was delayed. Instead, Kublai
reminded him of the peace treaty signed by the Mongols and Đại Việt.
As a result of the Mongol conquest of the Song Empire, by 1278-79, Mongol troops reached
Đại Việt's northern borders. Some former Song officials fled to Đại Việt and Champa,
former vassals of Song China, during the final stage of Mongolian conquest of China. The
Trầns' new ruler Nhân Tông resisted renewed Mongol demands for personal attendance at
Kublai's court, but dispatched his uncle Tran Di Ai as envoy. Kublai tried to enthrone Di Ai
as prince in 1281 but Di Ai and his small army were ambushed by Đại Việt forces.
Champa
Sogetu of the Jalairs, the governor of Guangzhou, was dispatched to demand the submission
of Champa. Although the king of Champa accepted the status of a Mongol protectorate, his
submission was unwilling. In 1282, Sogetu led a maritime invasion of Champa with 5,000
men, but could only muster (tập trung) 100 ships because most of the Yuan ships had been
lost in the invasions of Japan.
However, Sogetu was successful in capturing Vijaya, the Champa capital later that year. The
aged Champa king Indravarman V retreated out of the capital, avoiding Mongol attempts to
capture him in the hills. His son would wage guerrilla warfare against the Mongols for the
next few years, eventually wearing down the invaders. Stymied (stopped) by the withdrawal
of the Champa king, Sogetu asked reinforcements from Kublai but sailed home in 1284 just
as another Mongol fleet with more than 15,000 troops under Ataqai and Arigh Khaiya
reembarked on a fruitless mission to reinforce him. Sogetu presented his plan to have more
troops invade Champa through Đại Việt. Kublai accepted his plan and put his son Toghan in
command, with Sogetu as second in command.
Second Mongol invasion in 1285
This was the first invasion of Đại Việt by Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty. In 1284 Kublai
appointed his son Toghan (= Thoát Hoan) to conquer Champa. Toghan demanded from the
Trần a route to Champa, which would trap the Champan army from both north and south.
While Nhân Tông accept the demand reluctantly, General Hưng Đạo rallied 15,000 troops
and help the Champan.
Planning to weaken the enemies first, the Đại Việt royal family abandoned the capital,
letting the Mongols capture it and retreated south while enacting a scorched earth campaign
by burning villages and crops. At the same time, Sogetu moved his army up north in an
attempt to envelop the royal family in a pincer movement, which the Vietnamese managed
to escape.

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Sogetu's army was weakened by the summer heat and the lack of food, so they stopped
chasing the royal family and move north to join with Toghan. Seeing the Mongol's
movement, Trần Hưng Đạo concluded that the Mongol was weakened and decided to take
the opportunity to strike, selecting battlefields where the Mongol cavalry could not be fully
employed.
The Cham were in pursuit of Sogetu as he was heading north, and killed him and defeated
his army. However, according to Vietnamese history, Sogetu was defeated in Hàm Tử,
Hưng Yên and was killed by the Vietnamese in his retreat. As the Yuan forces advanced
down the Red River, dispersing their power, General Quang Khải counterattacked them at
Chương Dương, forcing Toghan to withdraw. Toghan returned without a huge loss of the
army under him thanks to the Kipchak officer Sidor and his navy. The Yuan army retreated
north, but few made it back to China due to pursuing Đại Việt troops and warriors from the
Hmong and Yao tribes.
In 1285 victory against Yuan invaders, according to the Dai Viet Su Ky ( Dai Viet
Historical Book), about 500,000 Yuan troops were defeated in Dai Viet.
Third/Final Mongol invasion, 1287-88
This was the second invasion of Đại Việt by Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty. In 1287 the Yuan
commander Toghan invaded with 70,000 regular troops, 21,000 tribal auxiliaries from
Yunnan and Hainan, a 1000-man vanguard under Abachi, and 500 ships under the Muslim
Omar (Ô Mã Nhi) (who was the son of Nasr al-Din (Yunnan)) and Chinese Fanji (according
to some sources, the Mongol force was composed of 300,000 troops). Kublai sent veterans
such as Arigh Khaiya, Nasir al-Din and his grandson Esen-Temür. The strategy of this
invasion was different: a huge base was to be established just inland from Hải Phòng, and a
large-scale naval assault mounted as well as a land attack. Despite the Mongol large-scaled
invasion, Trần Quốc Tuấn confidently told the king that the invaders can be defeated easily
this time. Trần Hưng Đạo withdrew from inhabited areas, leaving the Mongols with nothing
to conquer. The whole fleet bringing food provisions to Toghan's army by maritime route
was ambushed and destroyed by Trần Khánh Dư. Facing the lack of food again, Toghan
retreated to China through the Bạch Đằng River.
Borrowing a tactic used by general Ngô Quyền in 938 to defeat an invading Chinese fleet,
the Đại Việt forces drove iron-tipped stakes into the bed of the Bạch Đằng River, and then,
with a small flotilla, lured the Mongol fleet into the river just as the tide was starting to ebb,
while their route to the sea had been blockaded by large warships. Unable to return or
escape to the sea, the entire Mongol fleet of 400 craft was caught in a bloody boarding and
missile battle, sunk, captured, or burned by fire arrows. This would later become known as
the Battle of Bạch Đằng (1288). The invading Mongol army of the Yuan retreated to China,
harassed en route by Trần Hưng Đạo's troops. The Yuan officers such as Abachi and Fanji
died in the bloody retreat and Omar was captured.

THE RESISTANT WAR AGAINST MING INVADER (1418-1428)

From 1408 to 1428, Ming dynasty conquered and dominated Đại Việt .The Lam Sơn
uprising (Khởi nghĩa Lam Sơn) was the uprising led by Le Loi (Lê Lợi) in Dai Viet of
1418-1427 against Ming rule. The victory of Chi Lăng –Xương Giang (1427-1428), Lê Lợi
defeated 150,000 Ming troops to gain independence and sovereignty for the country.

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THE CIVIL WARS (SOUTHERN-NORTHERN WAR, WAR BETWEEN TRINH AND
NGUYEN LORDS. THE PEASANT WAR AND THE TAY SON MOVEMENT. THE
RESISTANT WARS AGAINST SIAM, TSING (16th-17th Centuries)
This period was the most conflicted in Vietnam old history. It’s was a door to open Vietnam
to the world and Vietnam got dramatic changes in this era. Appearance of westerners with
more powerful and modern technologies brought Vietnam changed it forms of political and
social. It was also heroic era of the talented man Nguyen Hue who was not only a master of
warfare, administration but law, diplomatic. Unfortunately, Nguyen Hue died at 40 years
old that he gave up a lot of plans to make the country becoming powerful and prosperous in
competent with the big country in the North of China.
Trinh-Nguyen conflict
Trinh-Nguyen conflict started the conflict whereas, from 1558 Mr. Nguyen Hoang moved to
Thanh Hoa to make his homeland. He fought with Champa, took some of their land and
proclaimed himself as Lord Nguyen of the South. Lord Nguyen allowed poor people to
develop new lands in the South. That was the time when the Viet country was divided into
two parts with Gianh River as the dividing line.
Westerner entered Vietnam
Not long after this period, western people engaged in commerce with Vietnamese around
middle of 16th century, Portuguese and Holland people went over Viet Nam to do business.
After that, English, French also came over to trade with our country. The missionaries also
started to preach Catholicism to Vietnamese.
There was a good reason for westerner got depth involvement and plan to attack and occupy
Vietnam that was religion suppression. Since Catholicism did not worship ancestors and
parents, which was different from the Vietnamese traditional culture, the kings believed that
Catholicism was a heresy and then forbid Catholic preaching. When French started to attack
Viet Nam, the religious suppression was very intense with many cases of torturing and
killing prating people.
Tay Son revolution
Year 1771, there were Three Tay Son brothers, Nguyen Nhac, Nguyen Lu and Nguyen
Hue , who raised troops to seize Qui Nhon City. Later three brothers aligned with Lord
Trinh to lead troops to attack and kill Lord Nguyen in the south. Lord Nguyen’s grandson
was Nguyen Anh (Nguyễn Ánh) raised troops to counter-attack Tay Son army. Nguyen
Anh’s army was defeated. Nguyen Anh had to retreat to Phu Quoc.
Nguyen Anh seeking for help from French and Thai Lan
Nguyen Anh contacted with French and a treaty was signed between a representative of
France and Pigneau de Behaine representing Nguyen Anh on November 28,1787. If French
helped Nguyen Anh with troops and warships, he would give Tourane port and Con Lon
( Poulo-Condore) islands to French. Before Nguyen had also asked for help from Siam
(Thailand). King Siam sent 50 thousand soldiers and 300 warships over to help, but actually
for their later interest.
Nguyen Hue defeated Siamese army
In 1785 Nguyen Hue advanced into Gia Dinh, lured Siamese navy to My Tho then defeated

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them right at Rach Gam-Xoai Mut. Siamese army was destroyed, only few thousand
soldiers survived to run back their country.
Year 1786, Trinh family lost their Lord’s authority
The authority of Trinh family, installed to Trinh Khai, was unstable due to their own
competition for power. Nguyen Hue used “Supporting Le, eliminating Trinh” as the reason
to lead troops to attack Thang Long capitol. Lord Trinh committed suicide.
Nguyen Hue defeated Qing( Manchu Tsing) dynasty
Emperor Kien Lung of Qing dynasty ordered , Soun Che-Y ( Ton Si Nghi) led 290 thousand
soldiers over to conquer Thang Long.
Emperor Quang Trung Nguyen Hue took the throne then led his great troops to the North.
The Emperor let soldiers to celebrate early Tet then opened a lightning attack to the enemies
in the Eve night. The third day of Tet, Tsing army in Ha Hoi fort was intensely attacked then
surrendered.
The Ngoc Hoi battle
On the fifth day of Tet, Viet army attacked Ngoc Hoi fort; guns were fired continuously
from the fort out. Emperor Quang Trung ordered strong soldiers to carry wooden boards to
advance first then infantries followed. The soldiers advanced into the fort and killed enemy
with big knives. Enemy’s blood ran as a river. Hua The Hanh died in the battle. Sam Nghi
Dong hung himself to death.
At night, Soun Che-Y was heavily asleep when he received bad news. He hurrily ran away
from the city, even forgot to wear his armor and put saddle on his horse. Seeing their
general ran away, Tsing soldiers vied with each other to withdraw through Nhi Ha Bridge.
The bridge broke, Tsing soldiers fell into the river and drowned. Their dead bodies were
floating as stubble.
Emperor Quang Trung was not only brave and clever, but also generous and understanding
in ruling the country and using talented people. On one hand, he sent messengers to Thanh
to confer a title and to keep peace between two countries. On the other hand, he trained his
army to be ready to attack China later. What a pity that he died at the age of 40 before he
could carry out his dream.
THE RESISTANT WARS AGAINST THE FRENCH COLONIALISM (FROM THE MID
19th CENTURY UNTIL THE EARLY 20th)
19th century and French colonization
Flag of Colonial Annam: The West's exposure in Vietnam dates back to 166 BC the arrival
of merchants from the Roman Empire, 1292 with the visit of Marco Polo, and the early
1500s with the arrival of Portuguese and other European traders and missionaries.
Alexandre de Rhodes, a French Jesuit priest, improved on earlier work by Portuguese
missionaries and developed the Vietnamese romanized alphabet Quốc Ngữ in Dictionarium
Annamiticum Lusitanam et Latinum in 1651.
The Trịnh-Nguyễn War gave European traders the opportunities to support each side with
weapons and technology: the Portuguese assisted the Nguyễn while the Dutch helped the
Trịnh (Between 1627 and 1775, two powerful families had partitioned the country: the
Nguyễn Lords ruled the South and the Trịnh Lords ruled the North.)

10
In 1784, during the conflict between Nguyễn Ánh, the surviving heir of the Nguyễn Lords,
and the Tây Sơn Dynasty, a French Catholic Bishop, Pigneaux de Behaine, sailed to France
to seek military backing for Nguyen Anh. At Louis XVI's court, Pigneaux brokered the
Little Treaty of Versailles, which promised French military aid in return for Vietnamese
concessions. The French Revolution broke out and Pigneaux's plan failed to materialize.
Undaunted, Pigneaux went to the French territory of Pondicherry, India. He secured two
ships, a regiment of Indian troops, and a handful of volunteers and returned to Vietnam in
1788 . One of Pigneaux's volunteers, Jean-Marie Dayot, reorganized Nguyễn Ánh's navy
along European lines and defeated the Tây Sơn at Qui Nhơn in 1792. A few years later,
Nguyễn Ánh's forces captured Saigon, where Pigneaux died in 1799. Another volunteer,
Victor Olivier de Puymanel would later build the Gia Định fort in central Saigon.
After Nguyễn Ánh established the Nguyễn Dynasty in 1802, he tolerated Catholicism and
employed some Europeans in his court as advisors. However, he and his successors were
conservative Confucians who resisted Westernization.
The next Nguyễn emperors, Ming Mạng, Thiệu Trị, and Tự Đức brutally suppressed
Catholicism and pursued a 'closed door' policy, perceiving the Westerners as a threat. Tens
of thousands of Vietnamese and foreign-born Christians were persecuted and trade with the
West slowed during this period. These acts were soon being used as excuses for France to
invade Vietnam. Actually, the early Nguyễn Dynasty accomplished almost everything the
previous great Vietnamese dynasties did (like building roads, digging canals, issuing a legal
code, holding examinations, sponsoring care facilities for the sick, compiling maps and
history books, exerting influence over Cambodia and Laos, etc), except those feats were not
enough in the new age of science, technology, industrialization, and international trade and
politics. The Nguyễn Dynasty is usually blamed for failing to modernize the country in time
to prevent French colonization in the late 19th century.
Under the orders of Napoleon III of France, French gunships under Rigault de Genouilly
attacked the port of Đà Nẵng in 1858, causing significant damages, yet failed to gain any
foothold. De Genouilly decided to sail south and captured the poorly defended city of Gia
Định (present-day Saigon). From 1859 to 1867, French troops expanded their control over
all 6 provinces on the Mekong delta and formed a French Colony known as Cochin China.
A few years later, French troops landed in northern Vietnam (which they called Tonkin) and
captured Hà Nội twice in 1873 and 1882. The French managed to keep their grip on Tonkin
although, twice, their top commanders, Francis Garnier and Henri Riviere were ambushed
and killed. France assumed control over the whole of Vietnam after the Franco-Chinese War
(1884-1885). French Indochina was formed in October 1887 from Annam (Trung Kỳ,
central Vietnam), Tonkin (Bắc Kỳ, northern Vietnam), Cochin China (Nam Kỳ, southern
Vietnam, and Cambodia, with Laos added in 1893. Within French Indochina, Cochin China
had the status of a French Colony, Annam was a Protectorate where the Nguyen Dynasty
still ruled in name, and Tonkin had a French Governor yet local governments were run by
Vietnamese officials.
After Gia Định fell to French troops, many Vietnamese resistance movements broke out in
occupied areas, some led by former court officers, such as Trương Định, some by peasants,
such as Nguyễn Trung Trực, who sunk the French gunship L'Esperance using guerilla
tactics. In the north, most movements were led by former court officers and lasted quite
long, with Phan Đình Phùng until 1895 and Hoàng Hoa Thám until 1911. Even the teenage
Nguyễn Emperor Hàm Nghi left the Imperial Palace of Huế in 1885 and started the Cần

11
Vương, or "Save the King", movement, trying to rally the people to resist the French. He
was captured in 1888 and exiled to French Algeria. Decades later, 2 more Nguyễn Kings,
Thành Thái and Duy Tân were also exiled to Africa for having anti-French tendencies.
In the early 20th century, Vietnamese patriots realized that they could not defeat France
without modernization. Also, having been exposed to Western philosophy, they aimed to
establish a republic upon independence, departing from the royalist sentiments of the Cần
Vương movements. Japan served as a perfect example that modernization could help an
Asian country to defeat a powerful European empire.
Thus emerged two parallel movements of modernization:
The first was the Đông Du ("Go East") Movement started in 1905 by Phan Bội Châu. Phan
Bội Châu's plan was to send Vietnamese students to Japan to learn modern skills, so that in
the future they could lead a successful armed revolt against the French. With Prince Cường
Để, Phan Bội Châu started 2 organizations in Japan: Duy Tân Hội and Việt Nam Công Hiến
Hội. Due to French pressure, Japan later deported Phan Bội Châu to China.
Phan Chu Trinh, who favored a peaceful, non-violent struggle to gain independence, led the
second movement Duy Tân ("Modernization"). He stressed the need to educate the masses,
modernize the country, foster understanding and tolerance between the French and the
Vietnamese, and a peaceful transition of power.
The early part of the 20th century also saw the growing in status of the Romanized Quốc
Ngữ alphabet for the Vietnamese language. Vietnamese patriots realized the potential of
Quốc Ngữ as a useful tool to quickly reduce illiteracy and to educate the masses. The
traditional Chinese scripts or the Nôm script were seen as too cumbersome and too difficult
to learn. The use of prose in literature also became popular with the appearance of many
novels; most famous were those from the literary circle Tự Lực Văn Đoàn.
However, as the French suppressed both movements, and after witnessing revolutions in
China and Russia, Vietnamse revolutionaries began to turn to radical paths. Phan Bội Châu
created the Vietnam Quang Phục Hội in Guangzhou, planning armed resistance against the
French. In 1925, French agents captured him in Shanghai and spirited him to Vietnam. Due
to his popularity, Phan Bội Châu was spared from execution and placed under house arrest
until his death in 1940. In 1927, the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng was founded. In 1930, the
party launched the armed Yên Bái Uprising in Tonkin which resulted in its chairman,
Nguyễn Thái Học and 12 other leaders captured and executed by the guillotine.

A LONG HISTORY FILLED WITH MANY WARS, ESPECIALLY

RESISTANT WARS AGAINST FOREIGN INVADERS (CONTINUED)
The revolutionary movement 1930-1945. The 1945 August Revolution
During the 1930s, the Vietnamese Communist Party suffered the French suppression (with
the execution of top leaders such as Trần Phú, Lê Hồng Phong, and Nguyễn Văn Cừ.)
In 1940, during World War II, Japan invaded Indochina yet kept the Vichy French colonial
administration in place as a Japanese puppet. In 1941 Hồ Chí Minh, formerly known as
Nguyễn Ái Quốc, arrived in northern Vietnam to form Việt Minh Front (short for Việt Nam
Độc Lập Đồng Minh Hội). Việt Minh Front was supposed to be an umbrella group for all
parties fighting for Vietnam's independence.

12
First Indochina War (1945 – 1954)
In 1944-1945, millions of Vietnamese starved to death in the Japanese occupation of
Vietnam.
In early 1945, due to a combination of Japanese exploitation and poor weather, a famine
broke out in Tonkin killing between 1 and 2 million people. In March 1945, Japanese
occupying forces ousted the French administration in Indochina. Emperor Bảo Đại of the
Nguyễn Dynasty nominally declared Vietnam independent, but Japanese retained true
control.
In August 1945, the Japanese surrendered to the Allies, creating a power vacuum in
Vietnam. The Việt Minh launched the "August Revolution" across the country to seize
government offices. Emperor Bảo Ðại abdicated on August 25, 1945, ending the Nguyễn
Dynasty. On September 2, 1945 Hồ Chí Minh declared Vietnam independent under the
new name of Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) and held the position of Chairman
(Chủ Tịch).
In southern Vietnam, British forces landed in Saigon to disarm the Japanese in October and
decided to restore order, which they did. The British commander Southeast Asia, Lord
Mountbatten, sent over 20,000 troops of the 20th Indian division under General Douglas
Gracey to occupy Saigon. The first soldiers arrived on 6 September and increased to full
strength over the following weeks.
The resistant war against the French colonialism (1945-1954)
In addition they re-armed Japanese prisoners of war, the British began to withdraw in
December of 1945, but this was not completed until June of the following year.
They were followed by French troops trying to re-establish their rule. In the north, Chiang
Kaishek's army entered Vietnam, also to disarm the Japanese, followed by the forces of the
non-Communist Vietnamese parties, such as Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng and Việt Nam Cách
Mạng Đồng Minh Hội. In 1946, Vietnam had its first National Assembly election, which
drafted the first constitution.
In 1947, full scale war broke out between Viet Minh and France. Realizing that colonialism
was coming to an end worldwide, France fashioned a semi-independent State of Vietnam,
within the French Union, with Bảo Đại as Head of State. The Communists under Mao
Zedong took over China.
The Việt Minh force grew significantly under the command of General Võ Nguyên Giáp,
launched a major siege against French bases in Điện Biên Phủ. The Việt Minh force
surprised Western military experts with their use of primitive means to move artillery pieces
and supplies up the mountains surrounding Điện Biên Phủ, giving them a decisive
advantage. On May 7 1954, French troops at Điện Biên Phủ, under Christian de Castries,
surrendered to Viet Minh. On July 1954, the Geneva Accord was signed between France
and Viet-Minh, paving the way for France to leave Vietnam.

The resistant war against american for national salvation (1954-1975) (the Vietnam War)
Second Indochina War (1954 – 1975)
The Dien Bien Phu victory and The Geneva Conference of 1954 ended France's colonial

13
presence in Vietnam and temporarily partitioned the country into 2 states at the 17th
parallel. Ngô Ðình Diệm, a former mandarin with a strong Catholic and Confucian
background, was selected as Premier of Bảo Đại's State of Vietnam. While Diệm was trying
to settle the differences between the various armed militias in the South, Bảo Ðại was
persuaded to reduce his power. Diệm used a referendum in 1955 to depose Bảo Đại and
declare himself as President of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). The Republic of
Vietnam (RVN) was proclaimed in Saigon on October 22, 1955. The United States began to
provide military and economic aid to the RVN, training RVN personnel, and sending U.S.
advisors to assist in building the infrastructure for the new government.
After Dien Bien Phu Victory- 1954, Vietnamese revolutionary forces took over North
Vietnam according to the Geneva Accord. Once again Viet Nam fell into the division of the
country.
The Geneva Accord had promised elections to determine the government for a unified
Vietnam. However, as only France and Viet Minh (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) had
signed the document, the United States and Ngô Đình Diệm's government refused to abide
by the agreement. They wanted to establish neo-colonalism in South Vietnam. American
applied the Eisenhower Strategy ( the so-called as “one-side war strategy”) from 1954 till
1960
.Ngô Đình Diệm took some strong measures to secure South Vietnam from perceived
internal threats. He eliminated all private militias from the Bình Xuyên Party and the Cao
Đài and Hòa Hảo religious sects. Diệm also acted aggressively to root out Communist
agents still remaining in the South
In 1959-1960 the Simultaneous Uprisings (Đồng Khởi) in South Viet Nam defeated the
Eisenhower strategy and forming the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam
(NLF) on December 20,1960.
From 1961-1965 American waged the Special War strategy in South Vietnam. In the
United States, the Kennedy administration became worried the failure of new strategy.
Thus, on November 1, 1963, South Vietnamese generals led by Dương Văn Minh overthrew
Ngô Đình Diệm and killed both him and his brother, Ngô Đình Nhu, who was also his
official advisor. Between 1963 and 1967, South Vietnam became extremely unstable as no
government could keep power for long.
In 1965, after the failure of the Special War the US, President Lyndon Johnson decided to
send American troops to South Vietnam to practice the Local War in South Vietnam and
started to bomb North Vietnam ( the war of destruction ). American assumed that if South
Vietnam fell to the Communists, other countries in the Southeast Asia would follow, in
accordance with the Domino Theory. Other US allies, such as Australia, New Zealand,
South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, and Taiwan also sent troops to South Vietnam.
Although the American-led troops succeeded in containing the advance of Communist
forces, the presence of foreign troops, the widespread bombing over all of Vietnam.

14
In 1967, South Vietnam managed to have a National Assembly and Presidential
election with General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu being elected to the Presidency, bringing the
government to some level of stability.
However, in 1968, the Tet General Offensive and Uprising attacked almost all major
cities in South Vietnam over the Vietnamese New Year (Tết). The Tet General
Offensive and Uprising was a stunning political victory as it led many Americans to
view the war as unwinnable.
President Richard Nixon entered office with a pledge to end the war "with honor." He
normalized US relations with mainland China in 1972 (Sino-American relations) and
entered into détente with the USSR. Nixon thus forged a new strategy to deal with the
Communist Bloc, taking advantage of the rift between China and the Soviet Union.
Nixon proposed "Vietnamization" of the war, with South Vietnamese troops taking
charge of the fighting, yet still receiving American aid and, if necessary, air and naval
support.
Nixon was pressuring both Hanoi and Saigon to sign the Paris Peace Agreement of
1973, for American military forces to withdraw from Vietnam. The pressure to Hanoi
materialized with the Christmas Bombings in 1972. After the failures in both the South
and North Vietnam, Nixon had to sign Paris Agreement in the early 1973, recognizing
the withdrawals of American troops and other “”Allied Armies” from Vietnam.
In early 1975, Vietnamese military launched the final General Offensives and
Uprisings to liberate South Vietnam. It was started by a massive attack against the
Central Highland province with the Buôn Mê Thuột battle. South Vietnamese troops
previously anticipated attack against the neighboring province of Pleiku, and were
caught off guard.
President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu ordered the moving of all troops from the Central
Highland to the coastal areas, as with shrinking American aid, Saigon forces could not
afford to spread too thin. Vietnamese revolutionaries won the Highland Campaign.
After the two victories of the Hue-Da Nang and the Ho Chi Minh Compaigns,
President Duong Van Minh ordered a surrender on April 30, 1975.
The resistant war against Chinese expansionism and hegemonism afther the Vietnam
was (1975-1979, 1979-1989)
Socialism after 1975
In 1976, Vietnam was officially unified and renamed Socialist Republic of Vietnam
(SRVN), with its capital in Hanoi (Hà Nội), with Lê Duẩn remained Secretary General.
In foreign relations, the SRVN became increasingly aligned with the Soviet Union by
joining the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), and signing a
Friendship Pact, which was in fact a military alliance, with the Soviet Union. The SRVN
was also embargoed by the U.S. and its allies.
In late 1978, following repeated raids by the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia into Vietnamese
territory, Vietnam sent troops to overthrow Pol Pot. The war lasted until 1989 when
Vietnam withdrew its troops and handed the administration of Cambodia to the United
Nations, which helped stop the genocide of millions of Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge.

15
In February 1979, Vietnam defeated the conquer of 600,000 Chinese troops in the China-
Vietnam border. This victory has contributed significantly to the limitation of Chinese
expansionism and hegemonism in Southeast Asia.

TWO ERAS (“CYCLES”) OF CIVILIZATIONS IN VIETNAMESE CULTURAL

HISTORY: THE RED-RIVER CIVILIZATION (THE VAN LANG-AU LAC
CIVILIZATION) AND THE DAI VIET CIVILIZATION

Culture is the spiritual foundation of the society, serving as both the objective and the
momentum of socio-economic development.
- The culture which we are building is an advanced one deeply imbued with national
identity.
- The Vietnamese culture is a culture which is uniform but diversified in the community of
nationalities.
- Building and developing the culture is the entire people’s cause under the leadership of the
Party, in which the intelligentsia plays an important role.
- Culture is a front; building and developing the culture is a long-term revolutionary cause
requiring a revolutionary will, perseverance and caution.
The Vietnamese identities are not only defined by the ethnicity, language, food, dress, and
culture of the people, but also include social and political aspects that are in line with
communist ideologies. We must strongly bring into full play the diversified and unique
characteristics of the cultures of Vietnamese people, thus enriching the national identities
and simultaneously to persistently consolidate and raise the uniformity in diversity of the
Vietnamese culture, to fight acts of abusing culture to split and undermine the national unity
bloc.
The characteristics of a nation’s culture must necessarily be traced back to its history.
Culture is a response of a population to challenges arising from geographical, climatic,
social and historical conditions. Therefore, to clearly understand the characteristics of
Vietnamese culture, researchers must go back to its two biggest civilizations – Red-River
and Dai Viet civilizations, when agriculture was practiced and villages were organized.
Also, attention must be paid to geographical and natural conditions giving rise to such
cultural characteristics. In natural terms, these two civilizations reflect the local natural
conditions that gave rise to wet rice cultivation.

The Red-river civilization: the formation, content, significances, relations between the first
civilization and the formation of Vietnamese identity
Many scholars agreed that Vietnamese culture was created in Red River rice basin over
4,000 years ago, which was forged and confirmed in 2,000 years of fighting and dialoguing
with China. Additionally, during a long history of over 4,000 years, Viet Nam had a cultural
acculturation with Western civilization in many ways such as cultural dialogue within
cultural fight, absorbing positively and negatively, the most important is just to keep

16
traditions while modernizing customs.
Red River Delta has a tremendous potential and many advantages superior to other
economic areas. It has favorable position for socio-economic development. Hanoi, the
capital of Vietnam as well as the political, economic, cultural center is situated in Red River
Delta, which makes the region an important strategic area in politics, economy, society,
defense, security and foreign affairs of the country. Red River Delta serves as the gateway in
the north of Vietnam with modern transportation systems such as networks of road, river,
sea, air, and rail. Important ports are also situated in this region, for example, Hai Phong
Harbor and Noi Bai International Airport. They are connecting links between the Red River
Delta and other economic regions in the country, and expanding exchanges with countries in
the region and in the world.
The Red River is not only a source of life, it is also a reflection of Vietnamese history and
the capital city’s long prosperity. For millennia the alluvia of the Red River have been
enriching the river’s vast fertile delta. The Red River is not only a symbol of wet rice
civilization but also a reflection of Vietnamese cultural values. The part of the Red River
that runs through Hanoi is short compared to its total length but it is enough to engender
typical characteristics of wet rice civilization. The traditions and customs of the fishing and
craft villages along the river embody Vietnamese culture.
The Vietnamese cultural identities can be clearly seen, among many others, as:

17
+ Community-mindedness: Having a deep sense of patriotism and national self-
strengthening, striving for national independence and socialism, having the will to take the
country out of poverty and backwardness, uniting with the people in the world in the
struggle for peace, national independence, democracy and social progress.
+ Open-mindedness: flexibility  ready for receptiveness to new ideas. Open-mindedness
relates to the way in which people approach the views and knowledge of others, and
"incorporate the beliefs that others should be free to express their views and that the value
of others’ knowledge should be recognized." Open-mindedness is generally considered an
important personal attribute for effective participation in management teams and other
groups.
+ Sentimentalism: Vietnamese individuals are able to form relationships and communities
because they can, by an effort of the imagination, understand one another’s feelings in order
to promote self-improvement, motivate action to relieve suffering, reinforce social unity,
and build national identity.
+ Respect for females: Although the Vietnamese adopted the Confucian principle of male
superiority, they still granted women some rights. Except for some restrictions concerning
properties reserved for ancestor worship, daughters shared in the inheritance of parental
properties on the same basis as their brothers. Divorced women and widows who remarried
after their husband’s death remained the owners of properties acquired during their
marriage. The full and complete equality of Vietnamese women was enshrined in the first
Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam of 1946 "Women enjoy equal rights
with men in all spheres." The 1980 Constitution guarantees equal rights for men and women
in all respects.

Vietnamese women have traditionally been in charge of running the household and
controlling the family finances. The woman of the house is referred to as nội tướng
("General of the House.") She looks after her in-laws as well as her parents, husband and
children. In rural areas, women also do much agricultural work. In fact, women are not
regarded as the weaker sex but as resilient and strongwilled. In villages, women assume a
great deal of responsibility for cultivation of paddy fields, often working harder than men,
and sometimes engage in retail trade of all kinds. A few women own agricultural estates,
factories, and other businesses, and both urban and rural women typically manage family
income. A woman's influence in family affairs can be increased by giving birth to a first
male child. Though there are still some thoughts that a woman is expected to be dutiful and
respectful toward her husband and his parents, to care for him and his children, and to
perform household duties.
In contemporary Vietnam, women occupy both the domestic and outside sector. Women's
participation in the economy, government, and society has increased. Vietnam Women's
Union is an organization that works towards advancing women's rights.
It can be said that one of the most typical evidences of Vietnamese traditions to respect
females is in the use of language. In the Vietnamese language, we have the word “cái”
which means “female”, and also “main/important/the biggest”. Virtually all the important
things go with the adjective “cái”, in these cases, meaning “main, important/the biggest”.
For instance,

18
 Đường cái = main road
Ngón cái = thumb = the biggest finger
Cột nhà cái = the main pillar
Sông cái = the biggest river in the region
Máy cái = mainframe
Vietnamese people have strong worship for goddesses. On December 1, 2016, Vietnam’s
traditional practice of “Tho Mau Tam Phu” (Worship of Mother Goddesses: Mẫu Thượng
Thiên, Mẫu Thượng Ngàn, Mẫu Thoải who rule agricultural practices) was recognised by
UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This is a purely Vietnamese
belief, worshipping female deities, the mothers of nature, through the image of “Thanh
Mau” (Mother Saint), a supreme deity having the power to create, manage and assist earthly
people. The form of “Tho Mau Tam Phu” belief practice culminates in the “Hau dong”
(chanting-trancing) art, which is occult but contains the people’s strong confidence and
earnest aspirations for life, thus creating the distinctiveness and eternal vitality of this
special form of belief.
In addition, the temple of Bà Chúa Kho in Bắc Ninh province, the temple of Bà Chúa Xứ in
An Giang province, etc.

Van Lang – Au Lac

(Red-River civilization)

German Commune Asiatic Commune Ancient Commune

Commune Commune Commune

Peasant Land Peasant Land Peasant Land

With no public property/
land for the peasant
Property was distributed
from the commune
directly to the peasant
who got ownership of land
With no private property/ With public and private for
land for the peasant. property/land for the peasant
The commune, not The commune and the
the peasant, owned land. peasant could own land.

19
The theory of the Asiatic mode of production (AMP) was devised by Karl Marx around the
early 1850s. Marx's theory focuses on the organisation of labour and depends on his
distinction between the following:
-The means or forces of production; items such as land, natural resources, tools, human
skills and knowledge, that are required for the production of socially useful goods; and
-The relations of production, which are the social relationships formed as human beings are
united ("verbindung") in the processes of the production of socially useful goods.
Together these compose modes of production and Marx distinguished historical eras in
terms of distinct predominant modes of production (Asiatic).
Marx and Engels highlighted and emphasised that the role the state played in Asiatic
societies was dominant, which was accounted for by either the state's monopoly of land
ownership, its sheer political and military power, or its control over irrigation systems. Marx
and Engels attributed this state domination to the communal nature of landholding and the
isolation of the inhabitants of different villages from one another.
The fundamental characteristics of Asiatic mode of production can be summarized as such:
(1) What is above all characteristic of the Asiatic mode of production is the absence of
private ownership of land.
(2) As a result, the village community retains an essential cohesive force which has
withstood the bloodiest of conquests through the ages.
(3) This internal cohesion of the ancient village community is further increased by the close
union of agriculture and craft industry that exists in it.
(4) For geographical and climatic reasons, however, the prosperity of agriculture in these
regions requires impressive hydraulic works: “Artificial irrigation is here the first condition
of agriculture.” This irrigation requires nearly everywhere a central authority to regulate it
and to undertake large-scale works.
(5) For this reason, the state succeeds in concentrating the greater part of the social surplus
product in its own hands, which causes the appearance of social strata maintained by this
surplus and constituting the dominant power in society (whence the expression “Oriental
despotism”). The “internal logic” of a society of this kind works in favor of a very great
degree of stability in basic production relations.

Marx asserted that the classical commune, based on private property of land, grew out of
the oriental commune based on common property of land. Marx nowhere suggests that the
Asiatic mode of production was a precursor of ancient slavery. Rather the picture which
emerges is that the oriental commune is the ancestral form both of the Asiatic mode of
production and – via the classical commune – of ancient slavery. If this is accepted, we get
one main line of historical development – including the oriental commune, the classical
commune, slavery, serfdom and capitalism. The side development from the oriental
commune into the Asiatoc mode of production appears to be a blind alley.

20
The Dai Viet civilization: the pre-conditions for the formation (political, cultural, socio-
economic, etc.), typical achievements of material and intellectual civilizations, significances
Around 100 BC during the mighty Han Dynasty, China took northern Vietnam when the
China Tang Dynasty weakened in the early A.D 900s, Vietnam managed to break away and
became an independent kingdom known as the Dai Viet in 939. The Vietnamese absorbed
many Chinese cultural influences, like the Buddhism and ideas about the government. They
also preserved a strong spirit of independence and kept their own cultural identities.
Vietnamese woman traditionally had more freedom and independence than their Chinese
counterparts. They established a strong central government, encouraged agricultural and
trade and greatly improved roads and rivers.
Viet Nam entered the period of renaissance and development under the Ly (1009-1226),
Tran (1226-1400), Ho (1400-1407) and Le So (1428-1527) Dynasties. Dai Viet, the name of
the country under these dynasties, was known as a prosperous nation in Asia. This period
marked the golden age of Viet Nam’s history. In economic terms, this period saw the
development of agriculture and irrigation (with the construction of the Red River Dike) and
the formation of traditional handicraft villages. In religious terms, traditional beliefs,
Buddhism and Confucianism were considered the three co-existing official religions. One
important achievement in the Ly-Tran Dynasties was the introduction of Nom scripts, Viet
Nam’s own writing system based on the reform and Vietnamization of Chinese Han scripts.
In addition, this period also marked the splendid development of education, science, culture,
art, history and law (establishment of Van Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam, introduction of Hong Duc
Code and Complete Book of Dai Viet History). This period was called the Civilized Age of
Dai Viet. Thang Long (the old name of Ha Noi) was officially recognized as the imperial
capital city of Dai Viet according to the Proclamation on the Transfer of the Capital to Ha
Noi in 1010 by Ly Thai To.
Vietnam is a country of rich nature, united but varied, being rich and diverse in unity. With
its history movement, the culture of Vietnam absorbed exogenous factors from India, China,
and the West. Therefore, it is more diverse, but its roots still preserve the cultural essence
and endogenous elements of Vietnam. Due natural and historical conditions of the nation
and socio-economic conditions, Vietnamese culture soon had a trend of exchange,
integration, acculturation, thus Vietnam has a multilingual and multi-characteristic culture
background. The Dai Viet civilization is rated as one of the 34 first civilizations of mankind.
Over 80 years, under the rule of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Vietnamese culture has
made important progress. In the national revolution, democracy, the liberation of the South,
the reunification, as well as the building and developing the country since the renovation.
The Communist Party of Vietnam always pays attention to cultural fields, developing
culture and developing the Vietnamese, for the purpose of meeting the requirements of
sustainable development of the country.

21
THE SPECIAL CULTURAL ACCULTURATIONS IN CULTURAL HISTORY OF
VIETNAM: SINICIZATION (SINISATION) – DESINICIZATION;
WESTERNIZATION – DEWESTERNIZATION; ….
Cultural exchange and acculturation
+ For exogenous forces, many centuries in the history of mankind have witnessed an
unprecedented pace of activities in the area of national preservation of traditional culture in
the face of globalization, acculturation, etc. Any country, on the path to develop the country,
must regard national traditional values as an important component of the cultural heritage
and perceive the threats posed by its improper exploitation as a matter of grave concern.
+ Cultural exchange is a way to diversify the culture as it exposes humans to others from
different cultural, religious, geographic and socio-economic backgrounds to develop a
greater understanding of cultural diversity and to benefit from its positive factors. Cultural
exchange assists humans to develop relationships, understand a broader range of
perspectives, and develop the knowledge and skills needed for participation in globalized
multicultural society. In addition to cultural exchange, assimilation plays a major part in the
course of history.
+ In other words, acculturation is the process of adaptation experienced by individuals who
are exposed to a new culture to the degree that they do not permit the structures and
relationships of his former society to unnecessary restrict their adaptation, leading to their
effective acculturation into the new culture: most/almost all of their cultural values and
traditions give way to those of the dominant culture. In the current international
globalization, humans have increasingly come to rely upon cultural adaptation. However,
not all adaptation is good, and not all cultural practices are adaptive. Some features of a
culture may be maladaptive. New cultural values have been taking shape and several
cultural traditional values are facing the threat of falling into oblivion.

Sinisation – De-sinisation under the domination of Chinese feudalism during over 10

centuries: normal exhanges and compulsory exchanges (assimilation); Sinicization – De-
sinicization in language, religion and other factors of culture, results and significances of
these acculturations.
In the past, China emerged as one of the typical examples of Asian economy, cultures and
civilizations. Undeniably, the rise of China marked her global success in the fields of
economy, culture and technology, in particular. Together with the rise of China, other
countries deeply imbued with original cultural identities such as India, Korea, Japan and
Vietnam are playing important roles in the development of worldwide economy, culture and
politics accentuating the image and significance of Asia.
Throughout the course of history, cultural exchanges and cultural acculturation have
asserted its integral part in the history of mankind in general, in the development of Asia in
particular. The formation of Asia in general, of Vietnam in particular was a thick book of
colorful historic pages painted with major events of cultural exchanges leading to
Sinicization (Sinisation)–De-Sinicization, Westernization–De-Westernization, etc.
SINICIZATION AND DE-SINICIZATION IN VIETNAM
In ancient times, the present-time territory of Vietnam included three countries: Giao Châu –

22
Northern Vietnam, Champa and Funan.
From 111 BC to 938 AD, Northern Vietnam was occupied by the Chinese. The Chinese sent
in their own governors, officers to govern Northern Vietnam and impose Chinese social,
cultural and religious values on the Vietnamese people. This long domination resulted in
1. Assimilation (compulsory exchanges)
2. Normal Exchanges

Buddhism came to Vietnam by the maritime route from India and from China by land. The
noted Vietnamese scholar, Tran Van Giap in his work "Le Bouddhisme en Annam, Des
Origines au XIII Siecle"  published in “Bulletin de L’Ecole Francaise d’ Extreme
Orient XXXII, 1932 (1933) p. 205”, insists that Buddhism could be found in Tonkin (North
Vietnam) in the 2nd Century A.D. Mou Po (in Chinese; Mau Bac in Vietnamese) is credited
with bringing Buddhism to Vietnam. He was a native of Wu Chou, born between 165-170
A.C., who came to Tonkin and propagated Buddhism. Because Tonkin was on the direct sea
route between China and India, it became a center for the propagation of Buddhism and the
translation of Buddhist sacred scriptures.
Nowadays, in Vietnam, Buddhism undoubtedly fills the need of many people.
Philosophically, Buddhism ties man to the universe eternally past, present and future.
Buddha proclaimed what is now known as the Four Noble Truths, The Five Commandments
or Prohibitions, The Twelve Principles of Buddhism, the five Buddhist Virtues represented
by the five colors of the Vietnamese Buddhist flag, etc.   As Buddhism increased its number
among the Vietnamese laity, it also gained the appearance of a bureaucracy.
In addition, the system of Chinese beliefs was engraved in Northern Vietnam everyday life.
The most prominent was Confucianism – a philosophy and system of ethics based on the
teachings of Chinese philosopher Confucius (551-478 BC). Confucianism stressed morality,
self-discipline, loyalty, obedience to one’s elders and superiors, as well as humaneness and
self-sacrifice for the benefit of others.
Confucianism was introduced into Vietnam early during the Chinese rule, and has
maintained much of its influence since that time. In 1072, there was a temple dedicated to
Confucius and his leading 72 disciples (the Temple of Literature in Ha Noi). The later years
of Le Thanh Ton's reign like the rule of Le Nhan Ton gave official favor to Confucianism.
Mandarins who were scholars highly trained in Confucianism and Chinese classics became
government officials.
Confucianism became a religion by its very philosophy and promotion of traditional rites.
Confucius promoted ancient religious rites such as the worship of Heaven, the honoring of
the Emperor, the commemoration of great men, the veneration for ancestral rite practices
where filial piety is the basic virtue. In addition, he encouraged the three social bonds. He
came up with the four fundamental principles which govern Vietnamese women as a whole
constitute filial love, conjugal love, love for the home and mother love (or three obediences
( 三 从 , tam tòng): obedience to father until married, obedience to husband while married,
obedience to eldest son when husband is dead = “ 在家從父. 出嫁從夫. 夫死從子.” “Tại
gia tòng phụ. Xuất giá tòng phu. Phu tử tòng tử”.); also, the four virtues (四德, tứ đức):
morality (婦 功, Fùdé, phụ công), modest manner/appearance ( 婦容, Fùróng, phụ dung),
proper speech (婦言, Fùyán, phụ ngôn), and diligent work (婦行, Fùgōng, phụ hạnh). In

23
addition, the three social bonds ( 三綱, tam cương) referred to the servant-emperor, father-
son, husband-wife relationships; and the five constant virtues ( 五 常 , ngũ thường) to
benevolence, righteousness, proprieties, wisdom and fidelity.
- Apart from Confucianism, introduced into Vietnam through Chinese cultural
influence and occupation, Taoism is regarded as “a law of life" which requires that man
adjust to nature in order to have happiness. Lao-Tze, founder of Taoism, lived about 600
B.C. in China, taught that man needs to have a natural life which could be achieved only
when in relation and in harmony with nature. Many beliefs of Taoism was absorbed into
and adopted in Vietnam. Until today, they still mold and form cultural patterns affecting
almost all ethnic Vietnamese living in Vietnam. For instance, Taoist concepts are to be
observed in non-western medical practices; in marital arrangements which necessitate
consulting horoscopes; in ceremonies of worship as they pertain to the Spring, the Fall, the
ploughing of the ground, the planting of seeds, etc.
- Though under assimilation, Vietnamese people were very flexible and skillful in the
way to adopt Chinese elements into their culture and life. As the process of De-Sinicization,
for exchanges with active selection of the best-fit values and properties, Vietnam proved
itself to be very creative, dynamic with high spirit of patriotism, sense of self-defense, etc.
Measures for improvements of farming and production technology were taken. Vietnamese
people learned the positive elements from the Chinese such as adopt know-how to forge
tools of iron and bronze; to make ceramics with enamel coating; to do the furrowing with
iron ploughshares on wing ploughs drawn by oxen or water buffaloes replacing cultivation
in burned out clearings; to cure diseases by way of Chinese medicinal herbs and plants;
among many others. Vietnamese handicraft such as weaving, basket-making, glass-making
techniques, etc. underwent great development. As the word “exchange” implies, the Chinese
also learned from Vietnamese people in that they began to plant sugarcane crops, adopt two-
crop cultivation practices, etc.
- Vietnam’s feudal social structure took shape during the period of Chinese rule. The
historical page of Vietnam witnessed whole-hearted efforts to preserve the national identity
against foreign invaders, etc. They rose to flexibly fight against assimilation from the
Chinese invaders. Under this spirit of the Vietnamese, the Chinese government’s
assimilation policy was confronted with a stubborn resistance which meant the Vietnamese
people were not assimilated to melt into another culture. For instance, the Vietnamese’s
popular literature still developed its vitality going hand-in-hand with a learned literature
written in classical Chinese; together with Confucian rites and precepts, Vietnamese’s local
traditions continued hold the Vietnamese ancestors in veneration; the making and use of
bronze drums during great ceremonies still remained; Dong Son art was still clearly seen
with its decorations and statuettes; the Vietnamese language was largely borrowed from the
Chinese, but the words had been “Vietnamized” to enrich the Vietnamese vocabulary. In
fact, the ideographic script of the Chinese was taught at schools and used in literature and
art for about twenty centuries, but Vietnamese intellectuals devised the Nom script, derived
from Chinese, in order to record the actual sound of Vietnamese. The others just learned the
script for writing and reading abilities, not the pronunciation for oral communication.
- The Vietnamese intellectuals also created the Vietnamese sound for each Chinese
word, called “Han-Viet pronunciation”. For example, 使 用 (= to use), in Chinese, is
pronounced [shǐyòng], but in Vietnamese “sử dụng”; 大 学 (university), in Chinese, is
pronounced [dàxué], but in Vietnamese “đại học”.

24
Other examples of De-Sinicization could also be seen in the resistance against negative
values such as the despisal for women. A lot of the traditional Chinese characters with bad
denotation were coined with the word “female” in them, which was best exemplified in:
1. 婪  LAM (Han-Viet pronunciation) in 貪婪  THAM LAM = greedy
2. 嫉  TẬT = envy, hate
3. 妒 ĐỐ in 妒嫉 = be jealous of
4. 嫌 HIỀM = ill will, suspicion
5. 佞  NỊNH = flatter
6. 妄 VỌNG = absurd, preposterous, presumptuous, rash
7.  妖 YÊU = evil spirit, demon
8. 奴  NÔ = slave
9. 妓 KỸ = prostitutes, street walkers, call girls
10. 娼 XƯƠNG = prostitutes, street walkers, call girls
11. 姦, 奸 GIAN = dishonest, traitor, wicked
among many others!
To fight for these fossilized prejudices, the Vietnamese cultural dialogue developed such
concepts as “Wife first, Heaven second!” It was one of the typical examples of cultural
dialogue between Chinese and Vietnamese.
Many Vietnamese created the best combination of three religions – Taoism, Confucianism
and Buddhism (Tam Giáo Đồng Nguyên). It was one of the unique phenomina of the
religious history in the world. Taoism is for adjustment to the natural world, Confucianism
is for the social world, while Buddhism is utilized for harmony with the universe of which
man is a part and for preparing for future existences. Under Ly-Tran Dynasties, we
recognized the highest development of the combination of the three religions. In 1169,
Emperor Ly Anh Tong (1138-1175) established a school for the study of the three religions
– Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. The same ruler gave recognition as the official
state religion to Buddhism, and granted it high privileges. By the close of the eleventh
century, Buddhism had planted its roots so deeply into Vietnamese culture that it was no
longer considered an imported religion. It had been introduced and utilized as a court
religion; now it had filtered down to the villages and hamlets. Here mixed with
Confucianism and Taoism, it became an indigenous part of the popular beliefs of the
common people.
Undoubtedly popular Confucianism in Vietnam is quite different than the original teachings
of the sage, but its effect on the culture and people of Vietnam is undeniable.

Westernization – De-westernization in Vietnam from the 16 th century till now: normal

exchanges and compulsory exchanges (assimilation); westernization – De-westernization
in language, religion ideology, education and other factors of culture, results and
significances of these acculturations.
Westernization and De-Westernization in Vietnam
In the case of Vietnam, as early as the 1600s, the Portuguese were the first to arrive in
Vietnam, and were later joined by the French. The French sent missionaries into the area
about a century after the Portuguese. By 1887, the French had combined their Southeast

25
Asian colonies to form French Indochina. With the opening of the Suez Canal, the
improvements in steam technology, and the development of the telegraph, Southeast Asian
societies experienced an intensification of Western influence under High Imperialism
(1870–1942). Europeans began to actively pursue and initiate programs designed to colonize
the consciousness of ordinary Southeast Asian people. Colonial bureaucracies, churches,
schools, and other institutions produced a consolidated view of the world that placed
European civilization at the peak of humanity's development, self-justifying the role and
influence Europeans had on indigenous peoples of Southeast Asia. New standards of
language, authority, health, and knowledge were produced, professed, and dictated that
fundamentally questioned the role and place of indigenous values and beliefs. Throughout
the region, colonialism would change the character of Westernization by restructuring the
nature of this global exchange through the reduction of local autonomy.
France colonized Cochinchina (Mekong Delta), as southern Vietnam was then called, and
by 1864 established a protectorate over Cambodia. Following a victorious war against China
in 1884-1885, France also took Annam.
Located south of China and east of India on the southeastern-most peninsula of the Asian
continent, Indochina comprises the modern-day countries of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
After European contact, the future country of Vietnam was divided into three main
provinces: Tonkin in the north, Annam in the center, and Cochinchina in the south. After
their establishment in the Southeast Asian country in the mid-nineteenth century, the French
sought to improve existing, and to build new infrastructure to increase the productive
capacity of the colony. The more efficient the colonial economy was, the more profit there
was for the mother country. Unfortunately, what was good for France was not always good
for Indochina. The French attempted to improve the status of their colony and these
improvements affected the lives of the local population, both negatively and positively. The
French planned to establish better irrigation methods, education systems, transportation, and
communication. While their intent was to improve the colony for profitable gain, the French
emphasized both to the indigenous population and to the population at home that the new
infrastructure could greatly benefit the lives of the Indochinese.
Among the countries under the Chinese cultural sphere of influence, Vietnam where
Chinese scripts used for centuries replaced them with a phonetic alphabet thanks to Mr.
Alexandre de Rhodes who played a pivotal role in the development of modern Vietnamese
identity. In 1861, the French colonists, only a few years after their conquest of part of
Cochin-China, set up a printing press in Saigon to print documents in Vietnamese
Romanized script as well as French. The French colonists wanted to eliminate the millennial
Chinese cultural presence in their new colony, and needed a replacement, which at least
temporarily, would serve the need of the administration until French was fully implemented.
In 1909, a decree, signed by French Governor Paul Doumer in 1898, came into effect and
mandated the use of the Romanized script in civil service examinations. In 1917, an imperial
decree abolished traditional forms of educations in favor of those based on the new script
and French. Not long after, Vietnamese intelligentsia and politicians were quick to
recognize quốc ngữ as an efficient, easy to master means to obliterate illiteracy, of educating
the masses and creating a national consciousness. The rest is history; within a few
decades, quốc ngữ unexpectedly helped transform Vietnamese into a full fledged written as
well as spoken language, which can be used to ‘conduct all important affairs-political,
military, economic, scientific, and academic.”  

26
With the establishment of colonial governments, mainland Southeast Asian communities
were slowly integrated into new economic, political, and ideological shadows of empire.
However, Southeast Asians adapted, modified, and reshaped colonial influences to fit their
needs and concerns – just as they had done for centuries through Indianization, Sinicization,
and Islamization. Colonialism produced a particular body of knowledge and symbols that
were consciously (and at times unintentionally) adopted by indigenous elites in order to
improve local power and prestige. The idea of nationalism in Southeast Asia developed in
just this manner, through local innovation and appropriation of ideas either introduced in
schools or through the mechanics of the civil service. Southeast Asians contributed to the
construction of what was Western and especially what was not — by identifying and
constructing elements of "traditional" Southeast Asian culture.
From 1853 to 1954, Vietnam was a French colony. Vietnam’s colonial past has left an
indelible mark on the country’s language. Consequently, a lot of the French language terms
went into Vietnam’s daily life.
The Vietnamese word for cheese, for example, phó-mát, comes from the French word
fromage and cake is called ga-tô, from the French word gateau. 
The word for butter – bơ – comes from the French word buerre. Some more examples, out
of hundreds of them, are:
a-lô: allo
a-ma-tơ: amateur
am-pe: ampère
an-bom: album
áp-phích: affiche
áp-phe : affaire
a-ti-sô: artichaut
a-xít: acide
ắc-qui: accu
ăng-lê: anglais
ăng-ten: antenne

Some issues of the ability of Vietnamese culture in de-sinicizing or de-westernizing as well

as in Vietnamizing (localizing) exogenous cultural factors
Vietnam has an age-old and special culture that is closely attached to the history of the
formation and development of the nation.
Historians have shared a common view that Vietnam has a fairly large cultural community
that was formed around the first half of the first millenium B.C. and flourished in the middle
of this millenium. That was Dong Son cultural community. This culture attained a degree of
development higher than that of others at that time in the region and had its own
characteristics but still bore the features of Southeast Asian culture because of the common
South Asian racial root (Southern Mongoloid) and the wet rice culture. Different
development routes of local cultures in various areas (in the deltas of Red River, Ma River,
Ca River and so on) joined together to form the Dong Son culture. This was also the period
of the very "embryonic" state of Vietnam in the form of inter- and super-village community,
which came into being and existed in order to resist invaders and to build and maintain

27
dykes for rice cultivation. From this pattern of "embryo" state, primitive tribes grew into
nations.
The period of modern Vietnamese culture has gradually taken shape since the 30’s and
40’s of last century under the banner of patriotism and Marxism-Leninism.
Vietnamese culture, with the increasingly intensive integration into the world modern
civilization and the preservation and enhancement of the national identity, promises to
reach a new historical peak.
It can be said that there were three layers of culture overlapping each other during the
history of Vietnam: local culture, the culture that mixed with those of China and other
countries in the region, and the culture that interacted with Western culture. The most
prominent feature of the Vietnamese culture is that it was not assimilated by foreign
cultures thanks to the strong local cultural foundations. On the contrary, it was able to
utilize and localize those from abroad to enrich the national culture.
The Vietnamese national culture emerged from a specific living environment: a
tropical country with many rivers and the confluence of great cultures. The natural
conditions (temperature, humidity, monsoon, water-flows, wet-rice agriculture) exert a
remarkable impact on the material and spiritual life of the nation, the characteristics
and psychology of the Vietnamese. However, social and historical conditions exert an
extremely great influence on culture and national psychology. Thus, there are still
cultural differences between Vietnam and other wet-rice cultures like Thailand, Laos,
Indonesia, India and others. Though sharing the same Southeast Asian cultural origin,
the Vietnamese culture was transformed and bore East Asian cultural characteristics
because of the long Chinese domination and its cultural imposition on Vietnam.
The Vietnamese nation was formed early in the history and often had to carry out
wars of resistance against foreign invaders, which created a prominent cultural
feature: a patriotism that infiltrated and encompassed every aspect of life. Community
factors with primitive origin were amalgamated early in the history and became the
foundations for the development of patriotism and national consciousness.
One more thing which makes Vietnamese culture original and unique is that Vietnam
has 54 ethnic groups living across the country, and each ethnic group has its own
cultural identities, thus, the Vietnamese culture has both diversity and unity. Apart from
the typical Viet-Muong culture, there are other cultural groups like Tay-Nung, Thai,
Cham, Hoa-Ngai, Mon-Khmer, Mong-Dao, and especially the groups in the Central
Highlands that still maintain fairly diverse and comprehensive traditions of a purely
agricultural society that is closely attached to forests and mountains.
Vietnamese culture, with the increasingly intensive integration into the modern world
with layers of different cultures overlapping each other during the history of Vietnam:
local culture, exogenous cultural factors, etc. Community factors with primitive origin
were amalgamated early in the history and became the foundations for the
development of patriostism. Afterwards, the influence of Buddism, Confucianism and
Taoism, which were conciliated and Vietnamized, contributed to the development of
the Vietnamese society and culture.

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THE SPECIAL DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC FORMATIONS IN VIETNAMESE HISTORY
Comparison between the model of Vietnam and that of Europe in the development of socio-economic formation: similarities and
differences, “parallelogram”-type and “combination of mode of production”-type developments

EUROPEAN
MODEL

Primitive Slave-owning Feudalism Capitalization Socialism

commune mode of production
1945

VIETNAMESE
MODEL

Primitive Asiatic Feudalism Semi-feudal

commune mode of production colonialism
For the European model, you see parallelograms and triangles in the development process. Each stage of development is illustrated in

29
one specific visible parallelogram.

The first space filled with small rounds ( ) is the primitive commune period.
The B’-C-E’-F parallelogram filled with plus sign (+) indicates the period of slave-owning mode of production.
The E’-F-H’-I parallelogram filled with tiny triangles ( ) indicates the period of feudalism.
The H’-I-J-K parallelogram filled with broken horizontal lines (- - -) indicates the period of capitalization.
And the last space filled with small lozenges ( ) indicates the period of socialism.

30
To vividly illustrate, for example, the transition phase from one parallelogram to another:
1. When transitioning from the primitive commune period ( ) to the period of slave-owning mode of production (+), primitive
commune factors still remain in the slave-owning stage (A-B-C triangle) while the seeds of the new stage (A’-B’-C’ triangle) germinate
already in the previous stage.

Primitive Slave-owning
commune mode of production
2. Likewise, when transitioning from the period of slave-owning mode of production (+) to feudalism period ( ), factors of slave-
owning mode of production still remain in the new stage (D-E-F triangle) while the seeds of the new stage (E’-F’-D’ triangle) germinate
already in the previous stage.

Slave-owning Feudalism
mode of production

31
3. Likewise, when transitioning from the period of feudalism ( ) to the period of capitalization (- - -), feudalism factors still remain in
the new stage (G-H-I triangle) while the seeds of the new stage (H’-E’-G’ triangle) germinate already in the previous stage.

Feudalism Capitalization
4. Likewise, when transitioning from the period of capitalization (- - - ) to socialism period ( ), capitalization factors don’t remain in
the new stage and the seeds of the new stage don’t germinate in the previous stage.

Capitalization Socialism

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For the Vietnamese model, you see no parallelograms nor triangles in the development process, but you see, till 1945, four layers which
appear to be on top of each other instead.

Primitive Asiatic Feudalism Semi-feudal

commune mode of production colonialism

Therefore, there is no clear-cut distinction from one previous perious to the next. Instead, different factors remain together throughout
periods. For example, we can see in the semi-feudal colonialism period, there are factors of the four periods on top of each other
(1=primitive commune; 2=Asiatic mode of production; 3=; 4=)

4 = elements of colonial capitalism

3 = elements of feudalism

2 = elements of slave-owning mode of production

1 = elements of primitive commune

Semi-feudal colonialism

33