Phu Tho saves ancient singing from oblivion

VietNamNet Bridge – A massive effort by villagers in the northern Province of Phu Tho has not only rescued the ancient form of dinh (community hall) singing, but also guided the way for similar efforts to save other parts of Vietnamese culture.

Back in business: Phu Tho xoan singers perform during a Lunar New Year festival. The province has rescued the art form through intensive community efforts. — Photo phutho.gov.vn

Efforts will now be made to remove xoan singing from the UNESCO list of heritage in need of urgent protection, according to Ha Ke San, vice-chairman of the People’s Committee of the northern province of Phu Tho.

At present, the art form is on the shorter List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding – in other words, in danger of dying out.

It is hoped to move it to the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, a list consisting of world culture that is endangered, but not on the brink of extinction.

San said it was preferable to place the ancient form of singing into the second list because it was now being promoted and broadcast widely throughout Phu Tho.

The province has financially supported training classes and activities, in addition to helping xoan singers directly helping to revive the ancient song form.

The province is backing the study, collection of xoan singing and intends to publish a book titled Hat Xoan Phu Tho (Phu Tho Xoan Singing).

Xoan is also being introduced to the school curriculum, along with projects to preserve and restore relics related to the art.

The province will soon submit a document to UNESCO proposing xoan singing be removed from the list of heritages in need of urgent protection.

According to Nguyen Ngoc An, head of the local department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the preservation and training of xoan singing is being popularised widely within the province.

At present, 13 districts have developed a total of 115 xoan clubs with nearly 1,300 members. The bulk of the members are from Kim Duc and Phuong Lau Communes where there are 23 clubs with nearly 1,148 members.

The department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has organised hundreds of performances to promote xoan singing. Using the mass media, these shows have been broadcast to domestic and international audiences.

The department has also collaborated with experts, musicians and researchers to collect, edit and publish thousands of CDs and more than 5,000 books about xoan singing. These are used as aids for teachers and students.

Phu Tho department of education has introduced xoan singing into all local schools to help following generations of children from the region understand their heritage and their obligation to preserve it.

Additionally, the province is working on giving the title of Distinguished Artisans title to 17 xoan singers.

Xoan singing is said to have appeared about 4,000 years ago, during the time of the Hung Kings. It usually took place at spring festivals in front of communal houses. For this reason, it is also called hat cua dinh (singing in front of the communal house).

Xoan singing was organised not only to entertain villagers and honour the founding Hung Kings of Viet Nam, but also to pray for good weather and harvests, praise landscapes and depict daily life in rural areas.

Despite annual performances at the festival at the Hung Kings’ Temple, xoan singing was once at risk of dying out because members of the younger generations had never heard it.

The UNESCO listed xoan singing as part of the world’s Intangible Cultural Heritage in need of urgent protection in 2011.

This was good news for the people of Phu Tho Province, the birthplace of a unique type of singing.

In 2013, Phu Tho People’s Committee built a VND165 billion (US$7.85 million) project, entitled Maintaining and Developing Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity – Xoan Singing in Phu Tho in 2013-2020 funded by the Government.

VNS

Phu Tho saves ancient singing from oblivion

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Antigone Rising band set to perform in Vietnam

VietNamNet Bridge – Antigone Rising, the New York based female rock band, will perform in Vietnam from July 7 to 13 as part of activities to mark the 20th anniversary of US-Vietnam relations, announced the US General Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City on June 29.

Antigone Rising band will perform in Vietnam from July 7 to 13 – File photo

They will travel to Vietnam to offer master classes and free performances to audiences in Ho Chi Minh City and the central coastal city of Nha Trang.

In addition, their seven-day music tour will cover outreach programmes in Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang and Can Tho.

The band will hold a press meeting at the American Centre in District 1, HCM City.

The four members, Nini Camps (lead singer), Dena Tauriello (drums), Kristen Henderson (bass/vocals) and Cathy Henderson (guitar/vocals), are well-known for their masterful musicianship and play upwards of 280 shows a year.

They have performed with famous bands such as the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, the Bangles and other rock legends.

Vietnam Plus

Antigone Rising band set to perform in Vietnam

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The man who envisioned a new Viet Nam

Prescient: Nguyen Van Linh visits a paddy field in southern province of Long An in 1982. He foresaw the path Viet Nam would have to take in globalising world. — File Photo

The late Party General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh, who died in 1998, was a talented, creative and intelligent leader who made invaluable contributions to Vietnamese revolutionary efforts and economic reform. He would have been 100 on July 1.

Linh, born Nguyen Van Cuc in 1915, devoted his life to the revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation, particularly in initiating economic reform in 1986.

“Nguyen Van Linh led an honest and simple life, overflowing with fellowship and comradeship. He typified the courageous and resilient Communist soldier, and devoted his entire life to the revolutionary cause, expressing his faithfulness to the country and fulfilling his filial devotion to the people,” Le Thanh Hai, the general secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City’s Party Committee, has said.

Linh’s revolutionary life occurred during three important periods: battling to gain independence for the Vietnamese; resistance wars against the French and the Americans; and the construction and protection of Viet Nam socialism.

Linh spent much of that time making great contributions to the Southern revolution, the Party Committee and the people in Sai Gon – Cho Lon – Gia Dinh during the two resistance wars.

Appointed general secretary of the HCM City’s Party Committee eight times, he helped to create turning points in the revolution.

“For his entire revolutionary life, Nguyen Van Linh made profound and highly valuable contributions, especially to the reform process. He had an intimate attachment to the people and listened to the people,” Hai said.

“He took experiences from reality and clarified and created policies, contributing to the party’s point of view and guidelines. He improved the party’s leadership and fighting ability,” he added.

Linh is remembered by leaders, veterans and scientists as a leader close to the people, actively contributing to reform and implementation, and as a loyal and excellent disciple of President Ho Chi Minh, practicing his revolutionary ethics and virtues.

His life contributed to the strategic mission of building, protecting and developing HCM City and the country as a whole.

Guiding the change

“He played a very important role in implementing reform guidelines for the first five years, beginning in 1986, after the 6th Party Congress’s resolution on reform at a time of great challenges,” journalist Huu Tho of Nhan Dan (The People) newspaper, said. Tho was formerly an assistant to the General Secretary.

The challenges included reforming the growth model, discharging soldiers and dealing with a weak economy.

Man of the people: General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh meets members at the 6th Party Congress on December 15, 1986 in Ha Noi. — VNA/VNS Photo Minh Dao

Linh’s series of articles on “Work that Needs to Be Solved Immediately” became well-known at the time because they strongly opposed bribery, irresponsibility, waste and insensitivity of government staff.

Huu Tho recalled that on the night of May 24, 1987, he received a letter from the Party Central Committee’s Office. In the letter was the article signed with the name NVL (abbreviation for Nguyen Van Linh.

“General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh tried his best to find a way that could develop the city based on a socialist orientation and application of a market-oriented economy. His concerns focused on how to improve and promote the economy, and how to show patriotism and mobilise the strength of different economic sectors,” Hai said.

Linh often visited, listened and discussed ideas with the public to discover problems and provide solutions in the most proper and realistic manner.

“Linh’s reform ideas stemmed from reality. This resulted from being side by side with people, and dealing with the objective reality of daily life and production,” Hai said.

“He looked straight into the truth, and deeply understood it, especially recognising mistakes and shortcomings. He recognised what was required to change the prevailing mentality and described what must be done right away in regard to society’s rules to deal with crisis, stabilise production and improve residents’ daily lives, while remaining politically firm,” he said.

“Linh helped the nation overcome the biggest challenges and difficulties and to keep moving when there were many significant upheavals around the world,” Hai said.

“The successes of reform and its progress belong to our people and our Party. Comrade Nguyen Van Linh, with his heart and intelligence, in the city and in neighbouring provinces, actively and effectively contributed to the Party and State reform guidelines and policy-making, and successfully led reform,” Hai said.

Le Hoang Quan, chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee, said: “Applying the lessons from Nguyen Van Linh’s life and cause will create a foundation for the revolutionary work of the Party and the people to make new achievements and for the city to steadily build a civilized, modern urban area.” — VNS

The man who envisioned a new Viet Nam

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Viet kieu fights for a Vietnamese style

Self-defence: Remi first learned the Huynh Huynh De fighting style simply to protect himself, but soon found that he was good at it. He has since devoted his energies to popularising it in France and Viet Nam. — Photo thanhnien.com.vn

Age does not deter Remi Huynh, 74, a Vietnamese expat in France, to popularise the Huynh Huynh De school of martial art, which has attracted thousands of enthusiasts in France, particularly in Marseilles.

Huynh first learned the martial art for the simple purpose of protecting himself.

His first teacher, Nam Diem, discovered that Huynh had an innate talent for the art. He could grasp it’s tricks very well.

Encouraged by Diem, Huynh decided to invest his time and effort studying the art.

Four years later, after finishing a course with Diem, he moved under instructor Vu Ba Oai of Han Bai Duong, a Vietnamese martial arts school that was well-known in Sai Gon (now HCM City) in the 1970s.

Huynh’s lessons progressed very well that just after a short time, his teacher allowed him to take on fighter Minh Sang, one of the three fighters who had been famous in the south before 1975. The other two were Huynh Tien and Minh Canh.

Recalling the fight that was held on stage in Sai Gon, Huynh said thousands of audiences and fans had gathered to watch the event. They had come not only to watch Sang but also out of excitement that someone had dared to fight Sang.

Despite his defeat, Sai Gon media praised Huynh as a promising name in the martial arts world.

After his defeat, Huynh researched his opponent’s moves and methods, while working on his own weaknesses.

He didn’t have to wait long and just six months later, he got his revenge. Along with defeating Sang, Huynh officially confirmed his name among martial arts practitioners.

“Despite everything, we are still good friends. I’ll never forget Sang’s fighting skills,” Huynh noted.

Even after bagging enough success, Huynh continued to train in martial arts with famous instructor Huynh Tien who equipped him with many effective death blows, which later helped him improvise the Vietnamese martial arts when he became an instructor.

In 1968, after gaining fame and reputation, Huynh was chosen to coach the southern team for international fights. He has also trained many famous athletes since then.

In 1974, while working in Nha Trang, he opened a martial arts club carrying his mother’s surname, Huynh Huynh De, which quickly became a prestigious club attracting hundreds of enthusiasts.

“A major motivation for setting up the martial arts club was the thought of boosting young people’s pride and national sporting spirit. My students should be impregnated with politeness and reason, as well as ethics before learning the art,” Huynh emphasised.

Sporting spirit: Remi Huynh was motivated to open his own martial arts club to help young people become better persons. — Photo aksvb-strasbourg.fr

His beloved student Huynh Kim Hong (who has become a famous instructor) said he has learned almost all the effective martial arts tricks from his teacher.

“My teacher has developed many new martial arts tricks, which have helped us fight in flexible and effective ways,” Hong said.

After carving a niche for himself in Nha Trang, Huynh developed the Huynh Huynh De style in the central coastal provinces of Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen and Binh Dinh, as well as HCM City.

Although he resettled in France in 1976, Huynh often returns to Viet Nam, especially when he misses his mother’s homeland, and spends time among Vietnamese communities and talk with local folks to polish his childhood memories.

Huynh’s father was a French engineer. In the 1930s, he fell in love with his mother, a very beautiful Vietnamese girl, and despite many obstacles, such as opposition from her parents, they married.

“I still know my mother’s lullaby by heart and her traditional dishes, such as braised fish, despite living and studying in France since I was very young. Every time I return from the country, I buy Vietnamese books as gifts to my friends,” he said.

To show his attachment to the Vietnamese culture, Huynh shared a story: One day, he invited several friends to a party at home, “I told them to speak Vietnamese, not French.”

“I have a friend who can speak Vietnamese so fluently that I invite him home very often so that I can talk with him,” he said, adding that his family members talk only Vietnamese at home.

Currently, there are more than 3,000 people following the Huynh Huynh De school, which has trained many practitioners for provincial martial arts teams.

In Phu Yen Province alone, the sect has presented many athletes to the provincial team from 1990. Ten of them have won gold medals in national competitions. — VNS

Viet kieu fights for a Vietnamese style

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Travelling far to bridge an education gaspan

Hungry for improvement: Many children in the mountainous districts of Nghe An Province make do with very basic living and learning conditions. A committed teacher’s work might help change their future of the better. — VNA/VNS Photo Quy Trung

One man’s commitment and determination to educate children of disadvantaged communities has made him the “most indispensable man” in a remote village that he has made his home. Pham Ngan reports.

Teacher Lo Van Lan has lived in Cam Muon 2 Commune, one of Que Phong District’s most isolated communes in the central province of Nghe An, for 10 years.

Here, he brings knowledge to the children of the Kho Mu ethnic people in Huoi May Village.

Lan was born in 1962 and graduated from the Tan Ky Mountainous Pedagogy High School in Nghe An in 1979. A Thai ethnic man and native of Cam Muon Commune, he returned to his home village with a desire to help children become literate.

Armed with more than 34 years of teaching experience, Lan has travelled to almost all the remote, isolated villages in the district.

For more than half of that period, he worked for the Cam Muon 2 Primary School and was based in Huoi May Village.

The village is no ordinary residential area. It is populated solely by the Kho Mu, who live near the Pu Huong primeval forest.

The only way to arrive in the area is to walk through the forest for several hours.

“I was sent to teach in Huoi May for the first time in 1986. I was apprehensive because reaching the village required climbing mountains and passing through forests for half a day, and the classroom was only a temporary structure,” Lan recalled.

“The house was divided into two parts: half was for the classroom, and the rest was the teacher’s residence. All the walls were made of bamboo wattle, so it was very cold during wintry nights.

“The Kho Mu villagers were penniless; their houses were just ramshackle cottages. Bamboo shoots were eaten for the daily meal, without even salt for flavour. The children lacked clothes, pens and books. Since the villagers were so poor, it was hard to talk about their children’s education,” he recalled.

During the first three years, along with encouraging the children to go to school, Lan also guided the local people on changing their lifestyle.

He visited each family and spoke to each person, focusing his attention on each child to motivate them to attend his class.

As the locals lacked everything, Lan would walk back through the forest to get these supplies from the school or use his own money to buy each notebook, textbook and pencil for his students.

Educator: Teacher Lo Van Lan. — Photo baovanhoa.vn

Most of the village’s children now attend his class.

In accordance with the school’s rules, in 1989, after completing three years of obligatory work in the remote village, Lan was entitled to work in the main school, which had better living conditions.

However, the villagers had become a “second family” to Lan, so in 2004, he volunteered to return to work in the village.

Returning to his old class, he noticed that things had not changed much. His old students were still stuck in the trap of poverty, child labour and lack of education.

Based on his previous experience, Lan continued to visit each family to speak with the adults. He studied the circumstances of each family to better understand them and find ways to help their children attend school.

Just as he had done before, Lan shared his rice, spent his own salary to buy books and clothes for the children and saved his medicines to help those who fell ill.

Often, the villagers would travel to far-off fields in the mountains, which needed cultivation, so they were away from home for weeks. During this time, Lan would visit their children and prepare their meals, so the children would have the right conditions for attending school.

As the makeshift classroom was too dangerous, the teacher mobilised the villagers to contribute labour and materials to upgrade it.

Seeing Lan’s enthusiasm, the villagers extended their cooperation. Many of the households sold their cattle, pigs and chickens to donate money for building a more spacious classroom for the teacher and his students.

Time passed, and again, his three-year term came to an end, in the academic year 2009-10.

When the locals were informed that another teacher would replace Lan, they met with the communal authorities to ask whether Lan could stay.

The villagers said, “If teacher Lan stops working here, our children will not go to school!”

After several nights of deliberation, Lan considered whether the next teacher could maintain education standards for the local children. Perhaps the children would fall behind in their education again. So once again, Lan decided to stay in the village, and he works there to this day.

The villagers were thrilled by his decision.

Village elder Moong Van Toan said, “Now teacher Lan has really become the most indispensable man of our village. Our children have grown in knowledge thanks to him. We are so grateful to him!” — VNS

Travelling far to bridge an education gaspan

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Viet Nam's elderly long for open skies and doors

Nguyen Thi Nham always seems sad. She spends her days waiting as her children live in a faraway city.

During the day, she looks forward to her children and grandchildren coming home for dinner and throughout the year, the 75-year-old woman longs for the Lunar New Year to come to her hometown in the northern province of Ha Nam.

Nham smiles when everyone praises her for her children’s success and filial piety. And, when the time came for her to leave the countryside for Ha Noi, where her children live, she packed her bags with a heavy heart.

Nham moved in with her son’s family over two years ago. It was because of her son’s constant persuasion and her affection for her grandchildren that she reluctantly agreed to leave the peaceful rural land, where she had lived for so many years, for the bustling city.

However, besides trivial housework, she does not have much work to do in the city, as her grandchildren have grown old enough to attend nursery school. Her neighbours in the same building keep their doors shut throughout the day and there is no one she can talk to. It is only natural that Nham feels trapped inside a box.

“I long to go back to my hometown and live like I used to,” she says. “I’m dead bored living here, but I have no other choice because my children want me to stay with them. I have devoted my whole life to them, so I don’t mind spending the rest of my life to satisfy their wishes.”

According to the 2011 national census, there are about 8.6 million people over age 60, accounting for nearly 10 per cent of the total population.

In Asian countries like Viet Nam, most elderly people live with extended families and are dependent on their relatives for the rest of their lives. Inadequate support programmes for senior citizens and old people’s homes as in western countries do not help either.

In America, for example, where most of the elderly people live apart from their children, the government has established Medicare, a social security programme providing free medical treatment for people over age 65. The US Government also sponsors programmes supporting the elderly through cheap lunch, sport events, or regular medical checkups.

Rapid urbanisation has attracted many Vietnamese to large cities to earn their living; however, filial piety has remained unchanged as a traditional value of generations. Most Vietnamese, therefore, bring their parents from their villages and hometowns to live with them in cities; it is their way of showing gratitude to their parents.

The elderly who are used to the peace and calm of life in the countryside, where everyone knows each other, might find it hard to adapt to the narrow, chaotic, polluted, and isolated life in cities and their modern lifestyles.

“It was only two months since my dad moved in with my family, but he insisted on returning to our hometown in the central province of Nghe An,” says Ngo Hong Quang from Hoan Kiem District.

“He could not bear to live in a house where the door is always locked. He would prefer to walk around his village with the help of his stick. Though we did not want to, we had to let him go back to his homeland. Fortunately, we have relatives nearby to check on him,” he continues.

One of the worst consequences of this trend of old people moving to cities is that many urban elderly people have become subject to a “modern” disease called “depression”.

According to Dr To Thanh Phuong from National Psychiatric Hospital, depression among the elderly is on the rise, especially among those living in large cities, where many of them are isolated and have few friends. Some are even locked behind doors, with TV being their only friend.

However, those who refuse their children’s invitation to move with them to cities might not be in better shape.

According to a report on ageing, issued by the United Nations Population Fund in 2011, most Vietnamese elderly people live in the countryside, focusing on the Red River and Mekong deltas, despite rapid urbanisation. This rate slowed down gradually from 78 per cent in 1993 to 73 per cent in 2008.

The report also shows that most of the elderly who live alone in rural areas (about 80 per cent), and the number of families with elderly couple are also on the rise, posing challenges in ensuring quality life for the elderly.

Though they have close neighbourhoods to manage their own lives, they still cannot avoid loneliness as their children and grandchildren live far away. The elderly cannot receive as much care and attention as they can if they live with their extended families.

Apart from the elderly who find in hard to adjust to modern city lifestyles, many others have discovered new sources of happiness in their new lives.

“The problems are that the elderly need to feel they are helpful to their family and do not feel lonely. As soon as these two issues are overcome, they will happily live in the city,” says Nguyen Thanh Van, whose mother-in-law has been living with her family for four years and is pleased with her present life.

As soon as her in-law became weak, Van had no choice but to bring her from the countryside to Ha Noi. Van’s husband is his mother’s only son.

In addition to dutifully meeting all her the needs of her mother-in-law, Van also takes her to a nearby park for exercise every morning and introduces her to other elderly people from the neighbourhood so that she does not feel lonely.

The 70-year-old enthusiastically participates in many activities and senior citizens’ clubs for yoga and poem-composition in the district.

“Concerned that my mother-in-law might feel bored, I have also planted some vegetables on the terrace of my house, which she takes care of everyday, just as she used to back in our hometown. Sometimes I ask her how to cook a delicious dish that she is good at, and my children are very much interested in listening to her bedtime fairy tales.”

In the countryside or in cities, experts suggest that the best environment for the elderly is to be living comfortably among their descendants.

Van reveals that the secret of getting her in-law to continue living with her is to keep her busy enough so that she is not bored and relaxed enough so that she can enjoy her life.

Van’s mother, therefore, has a healthy and optimistic attitude toward life. — VNS

Viet Nam"s elderly long for open skies and doors

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Rough language may be banned from offices

By Quang Vinh

Ha Noi is preparing to issue a code of conduct for people working in offices, agencies and communities. However, many wonder about a provision banning people from using derogatory language.

Older Hanoians say that in the 1960s and 1970s, young people never publicly used the rough language that is prevalent nowadays. In those days, those who spoke strongly or swore were condemned as being culturally inferior.

Then in the 1980s, things started to change as more people arrived in Ha Noi to seek a living. People felt freer about using rougher language, breaking conventional rules that defined a polite person. The situation has not improved.

In the old days, when an adult heard children swearing in public, he would remind them to be courteous. The children never answered back although the adult was a stranger.

Reader Nguyen Du told a story in Tuoi Tre (Youth) online newspaper about the time he was riding in a van moving onto a narrow road. Ahead were some schoolgirls in white ao dai on bicycles spread across the road.The van’s driver poked his head out to ask them to move to the side of the road. One of the girls turned her head and shouted: “F… Is it your road?”

People no longer feel ashamed swearing in public. Many blame schools for being too focused on academic achievements and less on educating them how to behave.

But lots of people put the blame on parents, saying it was natural for children to swear and use crude language if they were frequently exposed to their parents using it at home. Some suggest using media agencies to organise forums where young people can share their thoughts on the issue. Others believe that organisations such as the Ho Chi Minh Youth Union, a national socio-political group, could help rein in young people.

However, strong language has become fashionable among youngsters. A reader named Tran Vo wrote that a person who did not know how to swear was considered a “bumpkin” and risked becoming a victim of bullying. He believes that crude language in cities is part of city life.

Many people say a ban on the use of such language cannot go beyond the office. However, not many people swear or use derogatory language when working.

Others doubt if people can really be discouraged from swearing in public, citing the failure of the ban on smoking in public places. Some people think using rough language is now a part of everyday life. They believe that it helps them pour out negative and depressed feelings. If banned, they claim they will lose their right to free speech.

Dr Mai Anh from Ha Noi National University has been assigned to develop a code for more polite office conduct. He said it was necessary to develop a list of words defined as derogatory that can be used as reference when handing out a penalty.

He admitted it was a tough and sometimes tricky job because people may used different ways of speaking or gestures to imply their meaning, including playing on words.

An online reader nicknamed Tom wondered if the checklist of derogatory words would turn into a thousand-page book produced by teams of distinguished linguistic and cultural experts. The most asked question centres around how to punish those guilty of breaking the rules – when they are issued.

How much are the fines for derogatory words? Who will give tickets to the offender, police or special task forces set up at grassroots? One thing for sure, the enforcers should be equipped with cameras and recorders for evidence.

Dr Mai Anh suggests the code of conduct should be considered only as a tool to instill courtesy in people and encourage them to change their habits. But I think derogatory language is part of the language and culture of a people and a nation as an identity.

The same is true of social etiquette as part of culture. Derogatory language, including swearing and social etiquette contradict each other, but co-exist. Because rough language comes from the people, especially commoners in society, it thrives among them.

If authorities think it offensive and improper, they should ban it, but only in offices. — VNS

Rough language may be banned from offices

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