ASA 141
Week 5
In the official poster which admires Ho Chi Minh contribution to nation and portrays the nation of Vietnam to itself, four women wearing non-modern dress draws my attention. The traditional dress represents the ethnic identity of different Vietnamese people, highlander in the north, Lao lowlander in the central, dwellers in the south and rice farmers of the Mekong Delta region. According to the chapter The state, Ethnic Difference and the People, highland-lowland relations was tense in the history. However, during the French colonial period, people could be ranked based on their race, which made Vietnamese people shift their mindset toward "the people" as the defining feature of "society" to struggle against foreign aggression. Therefore, although these four women are ethnically different, they all equally constitute kinds of Vietnamese, as fundamental to modern nation. I really impressed the inclusiveness of Vietnam. All segments, represented by non-modern dress, of nation community move away from their non-modern-ness to constructing a united sense of nation.
I start to think about China, which has 55 minorities and majority Han people. Although during the Japanese occupation of China period, Qing dynasty was dominated by Man ethnicity, all Chinese people, ignored their ethnic identity, united together to fight against enemy for our country. Finally, as the Chinese saying goes, weak things united become strong, although the power of each ethnic group is small, all segments contributed their force to our nation and combined together to defeat the invasion. As the pictures below, in the founding celebration of the PRC, people dressing unique traditional dress all smiled and cheered for our victory. I think this sense of nation is same as Vietnam in the article. As it's said in the title of the below poster, Long live the great unity of all ethnic groups across the country.
I'm so proud of nation color in China, as well as in Vietnam. But I'm also afraid of the disappearance of each unique ethnic culture in the modern trend of convergence. Therefore, I wonder how to efficiently protect each traditional ethnic culture? I also have some questions beyond the article. Why there still exists internal fights inside country now? How to increase a sense of national pride among new generation who is strongly influenced by western culture?
No comments:
Post a Comment