Question

What traditional culture is disappearing or has disappeared from Vietnam?

Answer 1

Betel chewing: many women among my grandmother’s generation had the habit of chewing betel. Some even followed the old tradition of dying their teeth black to keep the teeth healthy (one old woman that I knew had two amazingly healthy rows of blackened teeth until death in her 70s despite loosened gums.) Such practices are no longer popular in Vietnam as few of middle-age women picked up the habit of chewing betel, and even fewer thinks blackened teeth are beautiful. The tradition of offering betel nuts in wedding ceremonies are still observed despite the decreasing popularity of betel chewing.

The “áo thụng” (think áo dài for men) were widely used between the late 19th century and the early 1960s. The combination with a headdress was the formal - though somewhat austere - wear worn by many government officials as well as rebels and revolutionaries (for example Phan Bội Châu in the picture below). People wore it to ceremonies and to business function. Men like my grandfather (a school teacher) used to wear it every time he went out - even on visits of his friends - until he passed away in the late 1960s. The practice went away first in North Vietnam (I have never seen a picture of Communist leaders wearing “áo thụng”), while it faded more slowly in South Vietnam (Ngô Đình Diệm frequently appeared in such dress while Nguyễn Văn Thiệu less frequently) with older men like my grandfather staying with the tradition. Nowadays other than days of festivities, such formal dress is completely out-of-fashion for men despite the fact that some of the designs are quite good.

Arranged marriages used to be quite popular even until the 1960s in South Vietnam, especially among the well-to-do families. The parents wanted their children to have a good match in marriage (money/social standing/blood line/…), and spent efforts (and sometimes money) to find the suitable candidates a few years before the children reached marriageable age. Easier parents might have allowed the prospective bridge/groom to have a say, but in many cases the children had to accept the decision made by the parents (thus the proverb “Cha mẹ đặt đâu, con ngồi đấy” - My parents tell me where I sit.) Many couples learned to love each other (as many parents already did their homework in finding handsome/bright young men and pretty/witty-but-not-too-sharp-tongued young women.) Some never did. Nowadays arranged marriage is much more rare, and only happens if the children are unable/unwilling to find a mate and the parents are desperate to get a grandchild. In contrast with earlier generations, the children are now the ones that have all the veto power.

Answer 2

A2A, but I am totally unqualified to even try to address this. I am instead learning about it from the others who are and answered.

Answer 3

The Têt Trung Thu, as a festival for kids is disappearing as it is more an opportunity to buy favour/ bribe with the offering of mooncakes. The custom of paying a visit to acquaintances’ home on the first days of the new lunar year is fading because of the growth of superstition, only visitors with a matching karma would be welcomed by the host.

Answer 4

Hanging Hanzi (Chinese characters, chữ Hán) calligraphy in houses

This beautiful tradition which promotes and values the intellectuals, knowledge, literature and intelligence in general is very alive and well-appreciated in China, but it is rarely seen in Vietnam. Instead, people hang these ugly new Latin script:

Urgghh I hate these cheap imitating fake copies of the art of Hanzi calligraphy, this just hurts the eyes and the calligraphy for Hanzi is not suitable for Latin at all. Latin has its own kind of calligraphy which suits its art

But the process of changing to Latin script calligraphy is understandable since the modern Vietnamese are too lazy to learn Hanzi and appreciate it. They prefer something that they just look and understand. But urrggghh it still hurts my eyes

Answer 5

Despite the adherence of a vast majority of Vietnamese to the more obvious traditions associated with the long and varied history of their country, for many, their own cultures and diversities are very foreign to many modern Vietnamese. This can be seen by the fact that every year countless numbers make pilgrimages to temples, monasteries, pagodas and shrines without even a semblance of "observation" other than pictures (or the ubiquitous "selfies") to prove they were there. The tradition of ...

Answer 6

Are disappearing:

Betel eating

Washing with scented water before Lunar New Year. When I was a child it was still common, but now as everyone has shower or bath directly with tap water, nobody is even bothered about it. I guess there’s still some places where the tradition is still practiced.

Traditional music

Have disappeared:

Growing long hair

Teeth dyeing

Making bronze drum with decoration on it

Wearing traditional clothes daily

Writing in logographic writing system

Traditional housing

Answer 7

Tattoo (dead): The dying process started in the 13th century with emperor Trần Anh Tông because he was afraid of needles. Nowadays, tattoo, as a sign of gangsters and as a fashion trend imported from the West, doesn’t carry the same connotation as it traditionally did in the past. Not necessarily a bad thing because tattoo ink usually contains heavy metals unsafe for injections under the skin ( FDA hasn’t approved any ). Skin infection and blood-born diseases are also real risks that people need to take into account when they decide to get a tattoo.

Blackened teeth (dead): The dying process started in the 20th century, when Western standard of beauty started to spread to Vietnam. Tradition has it that because eating betel leaves make the teeth black, so they blackened the teeth themselves as a fashion trend. While tradition has it that blackening teeth makes the teeth stronger, since the process includes killing off the protective layer of the teeth with acid , I’m not convinced, to say the least.

Eating betel leaves (dying): Started dying in the 20th century due to contact with Western countries. Betel leaves contains addictive alkaloids and is associated with loss of teeth, loss of jaw movement, increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, oral submucous fibrosis, oral cancer, and low birth weight in newborns.

Traditional music and dances such as hát bột, cải lương, nhã nhạc cung đình, etc. (dying): The young generation just isn’t very interested in traditional music and dances. Most of the people trying to preserve those traditions are in their middle ages. No interest among the young generation means no traditional artists, no audience, and no money, so those arts are going to die with the old generation. There have been revival attempts in recent years, with cải lương successfully revived, but the rest of the arts is ehm…

Hán Nôm writing system (dying): Same as above, no interest from the young generations and no incentive for them to learn it. However reviving the writing system is inherently easier than reviving an art. Offering Hán Nôm as an elective and giving out bonus marks on national exams to students who had completed the courses should do the trick. The real problem is whether the MOET has the fund for it…

Traditional architecture (dying): When normal people pick a design for their houses, they usually pick the cheapest one, aka the cookie-cutter design. When rick people pick a design for their houses, they usually opt for Western mansions. When companies pick a design for their office, they usually pick the ultra-modern all-glass style. When the government pick a design for their public construction, they usually pick the post-modernist-thingy design (yea really, see: Tao Đàn park). Literally the only places that still keep the traditional design are pagodas and the old buildings built in the traditional style. While, to the best of my knowledge, architecture students do still have to study traditional architecture, they rarely have the chance to apply what they learn to real life.

Traditional clothes other than the modern iterations of áo dài (dying): Western clothes rule the day, which isn’t exactly a bad thing because Western clothes are definitely more comfy. However, even during formal functions, people still prefer to wear Western clothes, or the modern iteration of áo dài if they’re pushing it, leaving all these traditional dresses rotting in the dust. For the men, it’s even worse because they wear Western clothes literally 100% of the time. There have been efforts to revive traditional clothes in recent years, but it has been met with limited success. And we haven’t even got to the stupid rule that high school female students have to wear the very-form-fitting and expensive and uncomfortable-af modern áo dài on Monday and special occasions while the male students got to chill out in their Western-styled uniforms. There have been quite a few fatal accidents involving the free-flowing parts of áo dài and the wheels of buses/motorcycles in my high school. Overall, a stupid rule, imo. Really, if they want to keep áo dài relevant, they should have advertised it as formal wear and created a fashion trend around it, not forcing it down female students’ throats and conveniently leaving the male free to wear whatever they choose because clearly, preserving the traditions is a female-only thing and the males’ role is to earn money.