A paper which looks at Vietnamese nationalism and the rise of Ho Chi Minh to power in 1945, against the backdrop of thousands of years of extensive colonial rule.
Abstract The paper shows that national identity is crucial to the Vietnamese because they have an extensive history of colonial rule, beginning in 2nd Century B.C. and ending in 1945 when the Vietnamese drove the French out of their land. The paper traces the rise in Vietnamese nationalism until Ho Chi Minh rose as a communist and nationalist leader in the 1940s to unite his fellow countrymen.
From the Paper "Vietnamese nationalism and anti- colonialism are indistinguishable because many of the nationalist organizations revolted against French colonial rule. National pride and unique national identity were possible only when oppressive colonial rulers were defeated. From the mid 18th century to 1945, France influenced Vietnam through physical presence like building hydraulic dams, and indirect presence by France manipulating Vietnamese officials as if they were puppets . Between 1904 and 1960, Vietnamese leaders formed numerous revolutionary organizations . Modern Vietnamese nationalism, for the sake of this brief paper, begins at the turn of the century."
Abstract This paper compares and contrasts the documentaries "Triumph of the Will" against "Anne Frank Remembered." The book "For Documentary" by Dai Vaughan is used to direct this comparison.
This paper reviews an unusual novel written in French by Dai Sijie, "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress". He describes it as a playful, fable-like fairytale about life in Communist China.
Abstract This paper explains that Communist China is not at all a bad place to set a fairytale because there are several important elements to a good fairytale, including he "once upon a time" element, the involvement of royalty, good and evil characters, magic, a problem, a happy ending, and the heroes and heroines are almost always living under adverse conditions. The author points out that the story revolves around two thoroughly modern, young bourgeois men placed in a re-education camp in Communist China. The paper concludes that one of the reasons that the novel works is that the world of the Communist China is shrouded in mystery to many of us in the Western world just as "the beautiful palace that has been cut off from the world for a thousand years" terrifies us.
From the Paper "Another important element of the story, with regards to the setting, is magic in relationship to Communist China and the re-education camps. China is almost like the Arthurian Europe so many of Western fairytales. It is a place where palaces are still built, people labor in the fields. It seems to be unmoved and unchanged, from the perspective of outsiders. It is a place stuck in time, much like the settings of many fairytales. Case in point, Sleeping Beauty, the princess is asleep for one hundred years and the world around her has barely changed at all; only the characters change. Fairytales are set in places where time does not seem to matter. Communist China is one of those places. The bonus, of course, is that dragons, an important element to many fairytales, is still alive and well in China. Much of the magic that lives in the world of fairytales, lands that exist outside of time, has some how disappeared from the land where time seems to go by so fast. So in a place like Communist China, in a location like a re-education camp, magic is still alive and well."
Tags: mystery, bourgeoisie, re-education, western, government
Abstract This paper examines how the unification of Vietnam was a long and complicated process that involved many entities and individuals. It discusses the primary unification efforts, beginning in the 1940s through the early years of the 1970s. It looks at how these efforts involved three separate political entities: the communist-led nationalist movement known as the Viet Minh (the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, DRV), led by Ho Chi Minh and based in Hanoi in North Vietnam; the Saigon-based Republic of Vietnam (RVN), a collaborative effort between chief-of-state Bao Dai and Ngo Dinh Diem; and the Geneva Agreement of July 21st, 1954, that divided Vietnam into two cease-fire zones in the north and south, separated by the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) at the 17th parallel.
From the Paper "In August of 1945, at the end of World War II, the nationalist movement of the Viet Minh seized power in Hanoi, Hue and Saigon, for the Viet Minh had developed a military force and popular base during the Japanese occupation of Vietnam, and it quickly moved to secure political authority before the imminent arrival of the Allied powers. Emperor Bao Dai, the Japanese puppet, abdicated in late August, and on September 2nd, 1945, Viet Minh leader Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence as the democratic Republic of Vietnam. As Phillip B. Davidson points out, Ho Chi Minh "quoted from the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man, first issued in the mid 18th century, in order to give some legitimacy to the claims of the DRV that would bring Vietnam into the fold as an independent Asian entity" (156)."
Abstract The paper discusses "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress", the story of two friends and the love that they find amidst the cruelties and harshness of the mountain that they are exiled to for being educated until high school. The paper demonstrates how the events that shape the plot actually reflect the events of China's Cultural Revolution. The paper describes the novel as a poignant, emotional story about relationships, the power of literature, love, and the need for spiritual uplifting despite the lack of all basic necessities.
From the Paper "The history of China has always been an interesting setting for wonderful and thrilling novels. The past of this mystifying country is cloaked in mystery and endless magic that it is almost impossible to not be entranced by the suffering and sacrifice that was brought about by this colorful but bygone era. Laced with a little bit of pain and distress as well as some victories and triumphs, one the oldest civilization in the world has managed to pass on to its offspring a multitude of rich ancestral culture and history. Aside from the adventures of people that existed in the time of kingdoms and dynasties, the experiences and wisdom gained by the population during the controversial Cultural Revolution become the subject of a whole lot graceful, beautifully written novels."
