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Tuoo+'ng ddo^.ng, ti~nh va` ti'nh ca'ch VN
Hi all,
Ra^'t vui vi` tha^'y nhie^`u ba'c dda~ nha^.p cuo^.c, kho?i phu. co^ng
nhie^.t ti`nh cu?a ba'c Hoa`ng.
Ba'c Aiviet ke^? la.i su+? ta^y dde^? ca^n ba(`ng vo+'i pha^`n su+? ta`u
trong dda^`u chu'ng ta, so sa'nh VN vo+'i so^' pha^.n cu?a ma^'y da^n
to^.c nhuo+.c tie^?u East European. Nho+' nga`y co`n be^n Hung tui co'
vie^'t 1 ba`i lua^.n ve^` ti'nh ca'ch va` so^' pha^.n cu?a "da^n to^.c anh
hu`ng" na`y, va` vi' von Hung nhu+ cha`ng David bi. ke.p giu+~a 2 anh
Goliaths, bi ba` gia'o phe^ la` trong Bible chi? co' 1 David va` 1 Goliath
chu+' dda^u co' 2. Cha'n mo+' ddo+`i. Tuy nhie^n, so^' pha^.n nuo+'c Hung
va^~n chu+a bi tha?m ba(`ng Armenia. Ca'c ba'c o+? My~ cha('c quen vo+'i
anh na`y, dda^y la` a second Jewish. Bi. ke.p giu+~a 3 Goliaths (Russia,
Turkey, Iran), bi. ma^'y ca'i pogroms, mo^~i ca'i gie^'t ca? trie^.u
ma.ng, bi. la^'n he^'t dda^'t dde^? nay chi? co`n la` va`i ngo.n nu'i ma`
la^u la^u la.i ddo^.ng dda^'t. Con da^n pha?i phie^u ta'n kha('p hoa`n
ca^`u. Ca'i "da^n to^.c anh hu`ng" na`y cu~ng anh hu`ng thuo+.ng vo~
la('m, la.i va(n vo~ song to`an nu+~a, bao nhie^u nha` buo^n tha?m gia`u
nha^'t Tehran (Iran) la` Armenians ca?, cu~ng 4-5000 na(m li.ch su+?, nay
thi` tuo+ng lai dden to^'i mi.t mu`, dduo+.c ca'i da^n ho. y' chi' va`
ddoa`n ke^'t la('m.
Ba'c Tha`nh (Th) ne^u le^n anh Chi' Phe`o (chu' anh Chi' Thu+'c) nhu+ 1
ng` VN ddie^?n hi`nh, la` 1 y' ra^'t hay. Nga`y xu+a co' ng` no'i, ne^'u
nhu+ TQ co' AQ cu?a Lo^~ Ta^'n thi` VN co' CP cu?a Nam Cao. Va^'n dde^`n
la` ta thu+? xem anh Chi' nha` ta dda.i die^.n duo+.c dde^'n dda^u cho
da^n to^.c, cu~ng nhu+ qua anh Chi', ta co' the^? kha'm pha' dduo+.c the^m
nh~ ne't dda(.c sa('c gi` nu+~a cu?a da^n ta?
Ba'c Du~ng (JP) va` Anhai ne^u va^'n dde^` ng` Ha?i pho`ng co' ca'i cha^'t
gi` ddo' (nho+` ca'c ba'c HP mo^? xe? ta^n ti`nh du`m) kha'c ha(?n ca'i
anh Hanoi tu` tu'ng. Ra^'t hay, tui se~ ddi theo ca'c ba'c dde^? pha^n
ti'ch ve^` su+. kha'c nhau ve^` ti'nh ca'ch giu+~a ca'c vu`ng o+? VN. Tui
se~ "du~ng ca?m no'i tha(?ng no'i tha^.t" k0 so+. ddu.ng cha.m gi` sa^'t.
Ba`i sau dda^y tui vie^'t dda~ la^u, cu+' co' y' cho+` bie^?n VNSA la(.ng
gio' chu't i't mo+'i dda^?y thuye^`n ra kho+i. Nhu+ng xem ra bie^?n nha`
ta lu'c na`o cu~ng ddo^.ng (1 ddie^`u dda'ng mu+`ng), ne^n ho^m nay la(ng
xe^ ra giu+~a la`ng dde^? ca'c ba'c ddang sa(~n hu+'ng nha?y vo^ xi?a
xo'i.
_______________________________________________________
Tuo+'ng ddo^.ng, tuo+'ng ti~nh and Viets' sentiments
Dear Anh Aiviet and all,
learning English is one of the purposes that lead me on this forum, so let
me write this story in English althought there will be a lot of grammatical
and linguistic mistakes.
--------------------------
The terms "Tuo+'ng ddo^.ng" and "Tuo+'ng ti~nh" of VN sound relatively
mystic, but once "transformed" into English they seem to be more
"scientific" as they do in No^m na. "Tuo+'ng ddo^.ng" would be equivalent
to "geopolitical behaviour" and "tuo+'ng ti~nh" is nothing but "human
ecosystem". In the following I'll focus primarily Tuo+'ng ti~nh of the
Red River Delta while Tuo+'ng ddo^.ng will only be mentioned hastyly.
The human ecosystem (HES) in VN shares a common denominator with the one of
SouthEast Asia (SEA). This HES branches off 3 subsystems: the mountain,
the river valley, and the sea coast. A unique landscape is the delta that
is flanked by two basic elements Mountain and Sea Coast and is itself a
huge River Valley.
The ethnic and cultural division in SEA follows this pattern of the
ecologic division. There are "mountain-oriented" cultures and ethnic groups
that are located on highland (e. g. Hmong, Yao [Dao in Vnese]).
"River-valley-oriented" ethnic groups and cultures are Muo+`ng, Ta`y, Nu`ng,
Tha'i in North VN, Jarai, Ede in the South, etc. Typical "sea-oriented"
cultures and ethnic groups are for instance the Dda?n in HaLong Bay Region
in Qua(?ng Ninh, descendants of La.c Vie^.t peoples, or in a limited sense
the Hakka at the South Chinese coast, peoples who live mainly in junks on sea.
The Viet (Kinh) belongs to "delta settlers". These delta settlers integrate
into themselves elements of all three (SEAn) cultural types: mountain, river
valley, and sea shore because their ascendants came from every direction. In
the Red River Delta (RRD) the process of integration was basically
accomplished 2000 years ago at the height of the DongSon culture. Insofar I
agree with Keith W Taylor when he wrote in his book "The Birth of Viet Nam":
"Dong Son civilization is a cultural synthesis achieved by peoples inhabiting
a single geopolitical environment. These peoples came from both the mountains
and the sea", and DongSon culture is a "sea-oriented culture coming to terms
with a continental environment."
Although the DongSon culture maintains a dualism of Non and Nuo+'c in its core,
it is as a whole _no longer_ a sea-oriented culture after hitting the zenith.
Carriers of the DongSon culture in the RRD trade and live together (probably
in symbiose) with both mountaineers and seafarers so that several elements
typical to DongSon culture can be found at the latters. Trade and symbiose
also have division of labour as a consequence. Peoples in the RRD concentrate
more and more on their own land, leaving long-distance trade for other, "less
agrarian" peoples. The "DongSonians" in narrower sense, the direct ascendants
of today Viets and Muongs, is actually "delta residents". Paddy fields and
rivers are to them much more attractive than high sea, not to say mountains
and jungles.
Furthermore, this phenomenon of concentration on river deltas instead of
widening the perspective towards high seas and/or highlands is intensified by
the "bi' ri` ri`" situation of the RRD. The delta is flanked by "ru+`ng sa^u
nuo+'c ddo^.c" on the one side and its gateway to high sea is locked by the
Ha?i Nam island on the other side. Elsewhere in SEA, delta residents inhabiting
a more open-to-sea region are oriented more to sea. That is the case of the
Cham in Meso VietNam (my own terminology for Mie^`n Trung) and the Malay in the
insular SEA and not to forget the Cantonese and Fukienese at the South Chinese
coast. In comparison to the latters, Viets are typical peasants while the
others can show more merchant "virtues". As "tha^m ca(n co^' dde^'" peasants
Viets prefer Champa's (Chie^m Tha`nh) and Chenla's (Cha^n La.p) fertile paddy
fields and rivers whereas overlook Laos' woodland countries. However, this
attitude is more typical to the Viet of the RRD than to their fellow
country(wo)men in Meso VN and the MeKong Delta. Meso and South VN's inhabitants
, no matter whether they are Chams, Funanese or even Viets, have no longer the
"oceanophobia" significant more or less at RRD's Viets. So we have seen how
tuo+'ng ti~nh can affect tuo+'ng ddo^.ng.
The complex human ecosystem and geopolitical situation (GPS) of the RRD might
also contribute enormously to the (alleged) "nhi`n he.p", "nghi~ nga('n" and
"kho^n va(.t" characters of the (RRD's) Viets. Yet these characters belong all
to only one dimension. Along other dimensions one can point out that (RRD's)
Viets are "hay lo" and "chi.u kho'" as well as "ye^u nhau la('m ca('n nhau
ddau". These characters can be also derived from the distinctive human
ecosystem of the RRD. One can argue that these characters are all typical to
the peasant in generally. But on the other hand the RRD is like to be devoted
specially to the birth and rise of an agrarian civilization with alluvian
agriculture. Thanks to both the "xoe` nan qua.t" character of the mountain
chains surrounding the delta and the Red river as a stable linkage between the
upland region of Va^n Nam and the Bie^?n Ddo^ng, the RRD is actually a "cho^'n
ddo^ ho^.i cu?a bo^'n phuo+ng". At the beginning of the Christian era, the RRD
has already much higher density of population than any region else in China's
Giang Nam (south of the Yangzi river) area plus the Indochina peninsula. Yet
the RRD's "second but not secondary feature" is given by its "bi' ri` ri`"
situation. Viets are used to living along with each other in almost closed
communities. The closedness and concentration of human relations are origins
of several sentiments "characteristic" of Viets.
Dispite its "bi' ri` ri`" feature the GPS of the RRD is far from an isolated
one. The delta lies at the pivot of the whole East Asia inclusive SouthEast
Asia, where China and SouthEast Asia are "sewn up" to each other. An
indispensable element of VietNam's geopolitical situation is her giant
neighbor. Again, with the China factor we can bridge tuo+'ng ti~nh of VietNam
with her tuo+'ng ddo^.ng. The VNese state is born within the context of the
Empire of Heaven. During 20 centuries there is in the VNese horizon only one
thing: China. With other words, the VNese national existence's "center of
gravity" lies somewhere in China. Tuo+'ng ddo^.ng of VN is hence characterized
by the asymmetric relationship to China. VN wants to become a second if tiny
China. She is proud enough of her own capability as well as her own talent. At
the same time, she is always aware of the enormity and omnipotence of China.
This _contradictory_ situation is thus source of a lot of "Viets' sentiments"
also. Viets are proud folks but not self-confident especially in comparison to
the Chinese. They are flexible and open-minded enough to integrate foreign
elements in their own, but they are at the same time extremely stubborn. This
is at once their strong point and their weakness. One can point out that
Viets are rather "lie^`u li~nh" than "qua? ca?m" because of the lack of
self-confidence. Given the contending features mentioned above a list of
"Viets' sentiments" can be drawn up but I dare not go on and do reserve Anh
Aiviet this task.
Note: This article has nothing to do with a scientific one. It is no more and
no less than "xem tuo+'ng". It does not necesserily cover the modern age as
the traditional VNese culture "clashes" and accomodates to the Western
civilization. Moreover, it is in the focus of this story rather the RRD's
Viets than their fellow country(wo)men in Meso- and South VN.
Cheers,
Vu~ Ho^`ng La^m