Southeast Asia is a sub-regional of Asia which located at south of China and east of India.
The two geographic regions in Southeast Asia are the mainland Southeast Asia and maritime Southeast Asia. The mainland Southeast Asia consist of Indochina, Thailand and Myanmar. However, the maritime Southeast Asia consist of Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippine and Singapore. Southeast Asia is the region that surrounding by variation of culture and society.
There are probably thousands of languages spoken in the Southeast Asia CITATION Bar l 17417 (Andaya, n.d.). The language spoken by the most of the maritime Southeast Asia like Malaysia and Indonesia are the Austronesian family. Beside, Southeast Asia experience Islamization, Indianization and Sinicization that have been changed the local community with the cultural diversity. Vietnam is one of the Southeast Asia countries that experience the Sinicization.
Sinicization is the process where the country or non-Chinese society influenced by the Chinese culture. The greater influence of Sinicization in Vietnam because China has colonized the Vietnam for thousand years. Therefore, Vietnam has adapted and borrowed some of the elements culture from the China. However, there are some extent that Vietnam’s present days society and culture a reflection of Chinese culture and political valuesFirst and foremost, Confucianism is part of the element of culture in Vietnam’s present day. Confucianism is the way of life and values practice by Confucian in the 6th -5th century.
It is the source of values and social code to the Chinese. The influence of Confucianism has disseminated to all around the world especially Vietnam. In present day, Confucian become one of the religion in Vietnam. V?n Mi?u is one of the examples of Confucian Temple in Hoi An. CITATION Con l 2052 (Confucian Temple, Hoi An, Vietnam, 2018). V?n Mi?u also known as temple of literature was built during the 18th century by local academics. This temple is place of learning dedicated to Confucians and his 72 disciples.
The impact of Confucianism has some extant of influence in Vietnamese’s family system. One of the example that the Confucianism is part reflection of Chinese culture on Vietnam is the concept of Filial Piety. The Confucian theory of filial piety is the highly values to Vietnam society CITATION Ann66 l 2052 (Crawford, 1966). It is similar with Chinese’s filial piety (?) which the children should respect their parents and as a obligation take care their parents when sick.
It will be consider crime if the failure duty in filial piety. This show that the Vietnam adopt the same concept of Filial Piety with the Chinese. When the parents pass away, the children must organize the funeral and worship their parents. This is because ancestor worship one part of the filial piety.
The Spirit tables also known as bài v? and the design is absolutely same, but the only different is the left2371090003101340234442000languages write on the spirit tables. Picture 1: The different languages in spirit tablet between Vietnam(Left) and Chinese(right)center23368000Source: https://www.google.com/searchPicture 2: The temple of literature in Hoi AnSource: https://www.
google.com/searchBeside, there are some common religions between Vietnam and Chinese. Firstly, Vietnam practice the Buddhism as Chinese belief too. The cultural and spiritual life of Vietnamese impacted by the Buddhism. The Buddhism was reached Vietnam when Chinese bonzes come to the North Vietnam CITATION Ann66 l 2052 (Crawford, 1966). The Buddhism also known as ??o Ph?t that practiced by the Vietnamese is the Mahayana Buddhism. Buddhism emerged as a strong influence especially in political power of Vietnam.
According to the CITATION Vie13 l 2052 (Vietnam: Percent Buddhist, 2013), there are 50.1 percentage of Buddhists among the population of Vietnam. As Vietnam sharing same culture with Chinese, the Vietnamese do celebrate the Vesak day. The Vesak day is the Buddha Birthday and commemorate the birth of Prince Siddhartha Gautama. The way of Vietnamese celebrate the Vesak day is absolutely same with Chinese. In this day, the people will bath the statues of Buddha symbolize that eradicate the bad sprit and purify the Buddhist. The worshipper of Buddha will also offering some fruit and drinks to the monk and dropping the flower pots to the river during this days CITATION Lin17 l 2052 (Dang., 2017).
Beside the Taoism is also a religion that spread from the China. The Taosim was founded by Lao Tse in China CITATION Ann66 l 2052 (Crawford, 1966). In present day, the Vietnamese has absorbed the principle and some elements of Taoism. First, the practice of five element also known as Ng? hành (?? )in Vietnam which consist of elements of fire, wood, water, earth and metal . These five elements taught Vietnamese that all the elements are equally important and should be maintain balance CITATION Fiv18 l 2052 (Five Elements or the Five States of Change, 2018).
Beside, the Vietnamese also practice the concept Ying and Yang. This element teach that nothing is purely black and purely white in this world and it should be balanced. The Vietnamese will put the with the symbol of Ying and Yang CITATION Tao18 l 2052 (Taoism in Vietnam, 2018). This is because the small mirrored octagonal can guard the house by barring the bad spirit. The Vietnamese not only adopt the element of Taoism, but they do worshipping the deities from the Taoism.
There are countless of temple of Taoism God in Vietnam Mother goddess worship (??o M?u) is one of the examples of Taoist deities. They believe ??o M?u have created the universe and give them a good health and prosperity CITATION Ann66 l 2052 (Crawford, 1966). This worship of the goddess seems like same with the mythology of Goddess(???) in China. It can conclude that the Vietnamese adopt the element and principles from Taoism and Buddhism after the domination of China. left000right762000Picture 4(left)&5(right): The “Bathing Buddhist”(left) and dropping the flower pots to the river (right)right35052000Source: https://www.google.com/searchleft12382500Picture 6 (left) & 7(right): The small mirrored octagonal of YingYang( Left) and Ng? hành (right)Source: https://www.
google.com/searchOther than that, the Chinese also giving the influence on Vietnam’s Calander. Basically, The Vietnamese using the lunar calendar CITATION Ann66 l 2052 (Crawford, 1966).
As influence by the Chinese, 12 months of 29 or 30 days and total of 355 days in each years. Vietnam calendar also adopt the zodiac in Chinese Lunar Calendar. But the only different zodiac of Vietnam with Chinese Zodiac is the year of cat. Usually, the important festival in Vietnam calendar are Tet-News years and Trung Thu- Mid Autumn Festival. Although the folklore of Mid-Autumn of Chinese and Vietnam different, but they shared the same culture. During the festival, the Vietnamese will performance the lion dance that symbolize the luck and fortune and for the home. The lion dance is origin from the China. Moreover, the Children will play the candle and their lanterns along the street during the evening.
This show that Vietnamese also adopt the festival from the China as well. In Vietnam, T?t is the important festival to them as well. T?t is same with Chinese New years in the China.
During this day, there will be very crowd and make the noise by playing the firecrackers, drums, bells or anything because they believe the noise will get away the bad spirit. The parents will give lucky envelope by using the red or yellow envelope. This tradition called m?ng tu?i CITATION Ann66 l 2052 (Crawford, 1966). It is obvious that the way they celebrate the Tet is same with Chinese. The red or yellow symbolize that bring the wealth and luck. Moreover, the unicorn dance, múa lân is similiar with the lion dance in China CITATION Ann66 l 2052 (Crawford, 1966).
The Vietnamese adopt this culture from the South China. Moreover, the dance partner of mua Lan is called Ông ??a . The Ong Dia is same with the Chinese’s Big Head Buddha (???) which able to summon the Ong Dia to dance and lead in clearing the path for the Ong Dia. Next, the Vietnamese also celebrate the Thanh Minh which same with the festival Qing Ming(??) in Chinese. During this day, the family will pay a visit to the grave and prepare some offerings like fruit and flowers. The Vietnamese use the joss paper and joss sticks as Chinese in the festival.
The family members should clean the grave and paints the tomb. But the only thing different with the Chinese is the Vietnamese often eat cold dished during this day and the festival also known 2903220653034000left656082000as Cold Food Festival (Tet Han Tuc).Picture 4 (left) and 5(right) : The Vietnam Zodiac (left) and Chinese Zodiac (right)Source: https://www.google.com 152400000Picture 6: Ông ??a in VietnamSource: http://thuetrangphuc.com.
vn/In aspect of arts, Vietnam have been influenced by the Chinese. The influences of Chinese is seen in the temples, burial places and pagodas tomb CITATION Ann66 l 17417 (Crawford, 1966). At these sites, the pillared porches decorated with the statues of dragons and other traditional motifs. The palaces roofs were decorate with undulating dragons CITATION Tal18 l 17417 (Tale of Vietnamese Dragon, 2018) with Dragons were symbol with kingship.
Although the different mythology of dragon in Vietnamese, but the symbol of dragon is common with the China. The temple painted with yellow and red because these colours symbolize wealth and bring the good luck. Even some of CITATION Tra17 l 2052 (Traditional Instrument , 2017)the Vietnam’s traditional instruments also influence by the Chinese. The Dan Tranh also known as Sixteen Stringed Zeither is same with the Chinese Guzheng (??).
The ErHu ( ??) also can find in Vietnam known as Dan Nhi, two string fiddle. Due to the domination of Chinese in Vietnam over 1000 years, the official language was the classical Chinese know Chu Nom. CITATION nd l 2052 (n.d., ???). This prove that the Vietnamese languages is based on the Chinese language. The Chu Nom used the mixture od standard Chinese character and created the new character for writing the Vietnamese. For example, the mountain in Chinese is ? with the pronunciation shan.
However, the mountain in Vietnamese is san. We can see that the pronunciation between the Chinese character, ?(shan) and Vietnamese character, Shan is same. Therefore, it can be sure that the origin of Vietnamese language is from the Chinese.
Beside, the Vietnamese languages also use the principle of tones as Chinese languages. The Chinese languages consist of four tones. However, the Vietnamese Languages consist of six tones. This show that the Vietnamese languages adopt some principle from the Chinese languages. 1052195508000Picture 7: Dan Tranh (n.d.) Source: https://www.vivutravel.
com/vietnam-travel-guide/vietnamese-music-and-instrument/dan-tranh48676113756700Picture 8 : Chu Nom (n.d.)Source: https://www.omniglot.com/writing/chunom.htmIn conclusion, Vietnam is few of the countries that Sinicized by the China in Southeast Asia.
The Sinicization has the greater influence on Vietnam’s culture. This is because the Domination of Chinese since Han dynasty reign the Nam Viet (Vietnam Nowadays) around 1000 years. The Chinese not giving influence on Vietnam’s culture, it also give the impact to the politics and economic of Vietnam. The imperial examination system was introduced into Vietnam for select the group of elite call Mandarin to governance the country. The ideology of communism also spread to the Vietnam especially the North Vietnam during cold war. Therefore, the politics of Vietnam is same with the politics of China nowadays. The Vietnam constituted as one party state like China.
The Vietnamese also adapt some of the elements from the China into their culture. Confucianism as a moral guide and philosophy to the Vietnamese. The Buddhism become the main religion in Vietnam and the influence of Taoism has shaped the life of Vietnamese like the concept of Yin and Yang. Beside, the Vietnamese celebrate the common the festival with the Chinese as used of the Chinese Lunar Calendar in Vietnam. The architecture of Vietnam also modified some style from China. The Vietnam word also have the relationship with the Chinese word.
The culture of Vietnam show that the Vietnam’s present day society and culture are reflect to the Chinese culture and political values. Bibliography BIBLIOGRAPHY Andaya, B. W. (n.d.
). Introduction of Southeast Asia. Retrieved from Center for Global Education : https://asiasociety.org/education/introduction-southeast-asiaConfucian Temple, Hoi An, Vietnam. (2018, May 11). Retrieved from Asian Historical Temple: http://www.
orientalarchitecture.com/sid/919/vietnam/hoi-an/confucian-templeCrawford, A. C. (1966). Custom and Culture of Vietnam. Tokyo: Charles E.Tuttle Co.Dang.
, L. (2017, October 27). Buddha’s Birthday Celebration. Retrieved from Vietnam Track : http://vietnamtrack.com/buddhas-birthday-celebration/Five Elements or the Five States of Change. (2018, April 14). Retrieved from One World nation Online: http://www.nationsonline.
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omniglot.com/writing/chunom.htmTale of Vietnamese Dragon. (2018, April 15). Retrieved from Vietnam Culture : http://www.vietnam-culture.com/articles-221-34/Tale-of-Vietnamese-Dragon.aspxTaoism in Vietnam.
(2018, April 14). Retrieved from Vietnam Culture : http://www.vietnam-culture.com/articles-108-16/Taoism.aspxTraditional Instrument .
(2017, April 13). Retrieved from Vientnam Culture : http://www.vietnam-culture.com/zones-11-1/Traditional-Instruments.aspxVietnam: Percent Buddhist. (2013). Retrieved from The Global Economy.com : https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Vietnam/buddhist/
