Vietnamese nationalism
Vietnamese nationalism (Vietnamese: chủ nghĩa dân tộc Việt Nam, or chủ nghĩa quốc gia Việt Nam) is a form of nationalism that asserts the Vietnamese people as a separate independent nation. It encompasses a broad range of ideas and sentiments harbored by the Vietnamese people in regards with national identity.
Vietnamese is recognized as the only language in the country. Vietnamese nationalism focuses on the nation's military history, although there are cultural and civil aspects to it as well.
Some modern nationalist concepts in Vietnam focused on China, where
History
Prehistoric
Semi-mythical figures such as the
Additionally, the Đông Sơn culture, situated on the Red River Delta in northern Vietnam from 1000 BC until 100 AD were seen as the direct ancestors of the Vietnamese people.
Nationalist historiography
The historiography of Vietnam under Chinese rule has had substantial influence from French colonial scholarship and Vietnamese postcolonial national history writing. During the 19th century, the French promoted the view that Vietnam had little of its own culture and borrowed it almost entirely from China, which was mostly wrong as Vietnamese culture emerged initially Austroasiatic. They did this to try to justify European colonial rule in Vietnam. By portraying the Vietnamese as merely borrowers of civilization, the French colonisers situated themselves in a historical paradigm of "bringing civilization" to a "backwards region" of the world. French scholar Leonard Aurousseau argued that not only did Vietnam borrow culturally and politically from China, the population of Vietnam was also directly the result of migration from the state of Yue in China. This line of thought was followed by Joseph Buttinger, who authored the first English language history book on Vietnamese history. He believed that to fight off the Chinese, the Vietnamese had to become like the Chinese.[8]
The national school of Vietnamese history, portrays the period in "a militant, nationalistic, and very contemporary vision through which emerged a hypothetical substratum of an original Vietnam that was miraculously preserved throughout a millennium of the Chinese presence."
The argument for an intrinsic, intractable, and distinctly Southeast Asian Vietnamese identity in the Red River Plain throughout history has been categorized by Catherine Churchman as context, cultural continuity, and resistance.[11] Context refers to the downplaying of similarities between Vietnam and China while emphasizing Vietnam's Southeast Asian identity in the postcolonial period. Cultural continuity refers to an intrinsic Vietnamese "cultural core" that has always existed in the Red River Plain since time immemorial . Resistance refers to the national struggle of the Vietnamese people against foreign aggressors. Proponents of this historical narrative, such as Nguyen Khac Vien, characterize the history of Vietnam under Chinese rule as a "steadfast popular resistance marked by armed insurrections against foreign domination", while opponents such as Churchman note the lack of evidence, anachronisms, linguistic problems, adherence to Chinese political and cultural norms, and similarities as well as differences with other peoples under Chinese rule.[12]
The Vietnamese national narrative has introduced anachronisms in order to prove a unified Vietnamese national consciousness. The word Viet/Yue is often used to refer to an ethnic group when it had various meanings throughout history. There was no terminology to describe a Chinese-Vietnamese dichotomy during the Han-Tang period nor was there a term to describe a cohesive group inhabiting the area between the Pearl River and the Red River.[13] During the Tang period, the indigenous people of Annan or Jinghai Circuit were referred to as the Wild Man (Wild Barbarians), the Li, or the Annamese (Annan people).[14][15] In addition, the national history tends to have a narrow view limited to modern national boundaries, leading to conclusions of exceptionalism. Although it is true that the political situation in the Red River Plain was less stable than in Guangzhou to the north, such circumstances were not restricted to the area. The Vietnamese national narrative retroactively assigns any local rebellions, the rise of local dynasties, and their local autonomy with the motive of seeking national independence.[16] Language has also been used as evidence for a distinct Vietnamese identity in the Han-Tang period. However, some research points to the formation of a Vietnamese language only afterward as the result of a creolization and language shift involving Middle Chinese.[11]
Nam tiến
In the south, the Nguyễn lords favoured the Chinese, allowing many Chinese to settle in new conquered land from the Khmer Kingdom. The immigrated Chinese scholars even became Nguyễn Lord officials.[17] However in the modern era, after Communist rule took over Vietnam, many of the bourgeoise were expelled, including many of the Chinese. Hostilities from the Sino-Vietnamese War as well as territorial disputes in the South China Sea also increases hostilities against China, with politicians having to keep the peace out of necessity.
After defeating the Tay Son, the Nguyễn lord formed the Nguyen dynasty. The Nguyen dynasty completed the Vietnamese "March to the South" or Nam tiến. Over the span of 700 years, starting from the Lý dynasty, the dynasty gradually the entire state of Champa and parts of the Khmer Empire. Under the Nguyễn dynasty (the dynasty most sinicised and influenced by the teachings of Confucius), they attempted to assimilate all of the ethnic minorities in the territories that they had captured by forcing them to adopt sinicised Vietnamese customs. Copying the Chinese idea of Central Plain, the Nguyễn dynasty saw themselves as belonging to a superior culture, unlike the Indianised states of Champa and the Khmer Empire. They saw themselves as carrying out a civilising mission against the minorities who were seen as barbarians.[18] Considering themselves as superior due to being sinicised, members of the Vietnamese royalty looked down upon those that were non-Vietnamese as inferior.[19]
Later on, after the Nguyễn dynasty began ruling Vietnam, the dynasty had been using the Vietnamisation concepts on the non-Vietnamese people. During the Nam tiến period of the Nguyễn dynasty, Emperor Gia Long stated that "Hán di hữu hạn" (漢夷有限, "the Vietnamese and the barbarians must have clear borders") when differentiating between Khmer and the Vietnamese.[20] Emperor Minh Mạng, the son of Gia Long, stated with regards to the Vietnamese forcing the ethnic minorities to follow Sino-Vietnamese customs that "We must hope that their barbarian habits will be subconsciously dissipated, and that they will daily become more infected by Hán [Civilised] customs."[21] The Nguyễn dynasty under that influence once saw themselves as "Hán nhân" (Civilised people).[22][17]
"Nam tiến" is a complex historical process with both positive and negative consequences, and it continues to be a topic of historical research and discussion of Vietnam and the broader Southeast Asian region.
Vietnamese anti-colonial period
After French started to rule Vietnam (
Vietnam War and the Modern era
During the Vietnam War, Vietnamese nationalism was split between Chinese and Soviet-allied North Vietnam and US and Western-backed South Vietnam.[41] Controversies continue to this day where communist symbols or the current Vietnam flag raised controversies within the South Vietnamese overseas diaspora, whilst the South Vietnam flag is disparaged in Communist-controlled Vietnam.[42] [43]
Modern Vietnamese nationalism
Economy
There has been a growing movement among Vietnamese by boycotting Chinese products, using Vietnamese-made products instead, or tending to prefer Japanese or Western-made products over Chinese products. "Made in China" can be seen as mass-produced cheap products but sometimes also of inferior quality.[44] The China-United States trade war since 2018 has also made other countries a beneficiary of the trade war.[45] [46][47]
Culture and Language
Despite being part of
Vietnamese textbooks also refer to the influence of China but reject Chinese elements in Vietnamese nation.[1] The current of north Vietnam was part of the land of Bai Yue tribes, so they believe the similarities are because of the Chinese culture was influenced by the culture of Bai Yue tribes (Bách Việt) when their land was conquered by the Han Chinese. One such example was how millet farming originated from the yellow river, whilst rice farming
Within the
The Vietnamese language is also written with the Latinised Vietnamese alphabet but is spoken with native Vietnamese words alongside a literary register descended from Middle Chinese, which has also been the point of immense pride for Vietnamese nationalism, due to the easy learning nature of the Vietnamese language and its ability to represent Vietnamese core identities from its history of Chinese and European oppression. The rejection of the use of Chinese characters in favour of the Latin alphabet as well as international usage of English helped solidify Vietnam's independence from China.
Military
For much of its history being razed by wars, the Vietnam developed its nationalism based on its successful history of warfare. Many Vietnamese generals are seen as nationalistic heroes in Vietnamese society, such as
Vietnam also heavily honors its long lists of generals in ancient Vietnamese history that fought against Chinese expansionism, such as the
.A sense of pride has also developed in the Vietnamese resistance in the 20th century.
Education
Vietnamese national pride is heavily promoted in Vietnamese textbooks, especially of its development and its heroism. Many Vietnamese stories are still heavily mentioned in the youth education system and among the older generations which have been regarded as a major factor that keeps Vietnamese nationalism alive.
Territorial
The contentious
Vietnamese irredentism
Although distinguished as different languages, "粵" (Yue, Viet, Cantonese), is allegedly related to "越" (Yue, Viet, Vietnamese).
Laos, Cambodia[51][52] or territories of the ancient Baiyue were also claimed as part of greater Vietnamese sovereignty.[53] The idea existed since the beginning of 20th century, but gained popularity in the aftermath of 2014 Vietnam anti-China protests.[53] This can be contrasted to Chinese irredentism.
According to Vietnamese nationalist groups, these territories have been traditionally Vietnamese until expansionism from foreign powers claimed them, and Vietnam must retake it, though, the basis of this ideology wasn't practiced by any governments in the Vietnamese history or by the current communist government.[53]
See also
- History of Vietnam
- Culture of Vietnam
- Phan Bội Châu
- Phan Chu Trinh
- Việt-Nam Quốc-dân Đảng
- Đại-Việt Quốc-dân Đảng
- Bảo Đại
- Trần Trọng Kim
- Hồ Chí Minh
- Lê Hữu Từ
- Ngô Đình Diệm
- Vietnamization (cultural)
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Bibliography
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- Miller, Edward (2017). "Paths to Power". In Ward, Geoffrey C.; Burns, Ken (eds.). The Vietnam War: An Intimate History. Knopf. pp. 44–49.
- Moise, Edwin E. (1988). "Nationalism and Communism in Vietnam". Journal of Third World Studies. 5 (2). University Press of Florida: 6–22. JSTOR 45193059.
- Vu, Tuong (2007). "Vietnamese Political Studies and Debates on Vietnamese Nationalism". Journal of Vietnamese Studies. 2 (2): 175–230. .
- Vu, Tuong (2014). "The Party v. the People: Anti-China Nationalism in Contemporary Vietnam". Journal of Vietnamese Studies. 9 (4): 33–66. .
Further reading
- Nguyễn Khắc Ngữ (1991a). Các Đảng-phái Quốc-gia Lưu-vong 1946–1950: Hội-nghị Hương-Cảng 9-9-1947. Montréal, Canada: Nhóm Nghiên-cứu Sử Địa.
- Nguyễn Khắc Ngữ (1991b). Bảo-Đại, các Đảng-phái Quốc-gia và sự Thành-lập Chính-quyền Quốc-gia. Montréal, Canada: Nhóm Nghiên-cứu Sử Địa.
- Dissertations
- Tran, Nu-Anh (2013). Contested Identities: Nationalism in the Republic of Vietnam (1954–1963) (PhD thesis). University of California, Berkeley.
- Ngo, Lan A. (2016). Nguyễn–Catholic History (1770s–1890s) and the Gestation of Vietnamese Catholic National Identity (PhD thesis). Georgetown University.
- Reilly, Brett (2018). The Origins of the Vietnamese Civil War and the State of Vietnam (PhD thesis). University of Wisconsin–Madison.