The Yao versus the Việt
So the Yao (or Dao in Vietnamese) maintained a story about themselves which they got from early Chinese sources. This story claims that they are descended from a dog-man named…
The Yao and the Việt
I have never seen anyone compare the Yao with the Việt, but someone should. The Yao (or Dao in Vietnamese) are a people who lived in the mountains in an…
Trần Quốc Vượng, Identity and Power
The late Professor Trần Quốc Vượng was a creative thinker and a wonderful storyteller. He wrote extensively, and his writings are enjoyable to read. One aspect of thầy Trần Quốc…
Ieng Sary and Radio Stung Treng
Ieng Sary, a man who served as the foreign minster of the Khmer Rouge, recently died at the age of 87. Seth Mydans has an article about him (here) in…
Digitizing Cultural Heritage
A few years ago I was extremely pleased to see that the National Library of Vietnam was starting to digitize some of the Hán Nôm manuscripts that it holds. It…
The Imagined Communities of the Tai Dam
I pointed out in the post below on “The Other Voices in ‘Vietnamese’ History” that in a place like the Nguyễn Dynasty empire the Việt were not the only people…
The American Neo-Colonial Educational Apparatus in South Vietnam
I was cleaning up some things today when I came across a photocopy of an issue of the journal Vietnamese Studies. I don’t see a date on it but the…
The Other Voices in “Vietnamese” History
In the 1880s, the compilers of a new geography of the Nguyễn Dynasty realm, the Đồng Khánh địa dư chí 同慶地與誌, included information about the customs of the people in…
The Con Rồng Cháu Tiên Amusement Park
Someone forwarded to me an article from an online Vietnamese newspaper (here) that talks about plans to fix up and an area in Bắc Ninh Province where there are shrines…
What is so Important about Thời Bắc Thuộc?
In many histories of Vietnam, there is a period that is referred to as “thời Bắc thuộc” or “the period of Chinese rule.” This term is meant to refer to…