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Have Vietnamese traditional cultures been destroyed by communism?

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Not really destroyed but perhaps some portions are being covered up when presenting a national image.

In terms of consequence, I think it has a great impact, as a result , due to the ignorance of a diverse-cultural spheric nature of the Vietnamese culture itself(not just that there is a cultural diversity in the country of Viet Nam), when thinking of Vietnamese traditional cultures, people tends to look into the royal courts/ruling class in the past to reflect it as the so called “traditional culture”, else, it would be the folklore religious practices which shares a common features with the Shenism in East Asia, hence, a delusion of “Viet Nam is culturally a mini-Trung Hoa(China)”. To clarify it analogously, a hypothetical scenario: suppose VCP is ended and then 200 years later, people look back into the history, and project the party culture within the VCP , to see it as “traditional Vietnamese culture”, conclusion: “Viet nam is culturally a mini-PRC”.

Back to the original question, it isn’t destroyed, because the communist party of viet nam is really a unique kind for an apparent observation, I always wonder how does it reconcile the ideology of materialism with their certain actions such the following :

image

Of course people can explain it away to call it a part of the folklore custom, but this is not the official answer coming from VCP, and it certainly doesn’t explain the reconciliation, thus, it remain to be my curiosity so far.

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The culture is changing..but, but under communism regime. One thing I can say for sure that is they actually destroyed Buddhism. Because Buddhism is not neutral to politics as its tradition .

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They did. In 1948, they demolished all important buildings in the Imperial city of Hue. They destroyed most pagodas and temples in North Vietnam except a few. They wiped out Taoism. They discouraged festivals for awhile.

Everything is normal nowadays.

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I’m not sure as I’m not well versed completely in Vietnamese traditions, but one such example to answer your question would be Hue.

For a long time following the end of Vietnam, the ancient Imperial capital of Hue (which was heavily damaged during fighting in 1968) sat un-repaired. This was because the government believed that the city was a symbol of the past and bourgeois, ergo they left it in disarray. Only after tourists began flocking to the city did they begin to restore the city

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Partly, but Communism isn’t the sole factor.

Thinking about it, the only traditional culture that Communism destroyed was the culture of the elite and the imperial, since they favored the lower classes to rule. This either meant the elites and imperialties were killed or all escaped overseas, leaving mainland Vietnam without any high culture. So the beauty and grandeur that high culture showcases was gone once Communism won.

However, the Communist government, after opening doors, does try to restore the imperial palaces and preserve traditional arts, whether of low or high culture. So it’s not like they completely ban it, since there is effort in rebuilding.

Young people these days are also trying to revive ancient high culture that is gone in Vietnam, from the clothing to the arts. And the government neither rejects it nor welcomes it, so it’s in the process of rise.

But Communism wasn’t the sole factor here. Colonialism is also a factor, as the French were partly responsible for the loss of traditional writing system, fashion, and the arts. The arts, not as much, since French colonial time was a period of artistic flourish in Vietnam, but only French-influenced ones.

And then there’s Westernization. The freshness of the West makes most people abandon the tradition. Music, fashion, language, cuisine are all affected.

So Communism was indeed a factor, but it doesn’t deserve to be the only one to blame here.

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The answer is no. Our gorvernment actually makes efforts to preserve most of our traditions, especially the ones of the minor ethnic people tribes.

If anything does indeed destroy our cultures, it’s the Westernization.

Both my parents are members of the Party but that doesn’t stop my mother from going to Pagoda or my father from burning votive papers on Lunar New Year despite that those activities are discouraged by the Party’s policies.

In the other hand, I myself as a multi-instrumental musician, only know how to play (5) Western instruments (including various types of vocal techniques), almost only listen to Western songs and into their music scenes. I don’t know how to play any traditional instrument, I can’t sing traditional music genres. Which is a lost for me since I care a lot about my country’s history and cultures. I do intend to learn traditional music someday, but not in the next 3 years.

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Well, some traditions would just disappear, and new habits and ways of doing things will appear over time. That should be the normal course of the mankind's evolution.

Apart of that, yes, communism has intentionally and unintentionally damaged some traditions in Vietnam. However, cultural values are long lasting ones. Some have been suppressed for a time, but now, still under communism, but a less Maoist version, these values are reviving.

It was just not all bad. Some traditions were too cumbersome. Communism did a good thing in abolishing some of these. Not only communism, western culture has also caused a lot of damage to the Vietnamese culture. Children don't listen to parents, empowerment of women (meaning high divorce rate and destruction of the family), consumerism, pursuit of profit, etc. are the consequences of the western culture, not communism.

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