VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES
AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES
--------------------------------------------------
DO THI THUY
IMAGES OF WOMEN IN VIETNAMESE
TRADITIONAL FOLK POETRY
MASTER’S THESIS
Major: Vietnamese studies
Hanoi - 2015
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES
AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES
-----------------------------------------------
DO THI THUY
IMAGES OF WOMEN IN VIETNAMESE
TRADITIONAL FOLK POETRY
Master’s thesis of Vietnamese studies
Code: 60 22 0113
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. PhD. Nguyen Thi Viet Thanh
Hanoi - 2015
COMMITMENT
This work is the result of my authentic synthesis and research. The
data and results presented in the thesis are honest under the direct supervision
of Assoc. Prof. PhD. Nguyen Thi Viet Thanh. The research results addressed
in the thesis have not been published in other works. All references have been
clearly cited.
Hanoi, January 14, 2015
The author
Do Thi Thuy
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
After a time doing the research, I have completed the dissertation of
“Images of women in Vietnamese traditional folk poetry”.
First, I would like to give my sincere thanks to Institute of Vietnamese
studies and development sciences, especially the management committee and
the staff of the Institute who have supported me to complete the M.A. course
of Vietnamese studies.
I also sincerely thank Vietnam National University, Hanoi facilitating
me in finishing my thesis.
I also give my sincere thanks to Assoc. Pro. PhD. Nguyen Thi Viet
Thanh, who has dedicated to help me finish my graduate thesis,
I also would like to thank my family and friends who have encouraged
me so much so far.
Despite my best attempts and efforts, there are many the inevitable
limitations and shortcomings. I look forward to receiving comments from the
readers and professors for a better dissertation.
Sincerely,
The author
Do Thi Thuy
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 5
1. Personal motivation .................................................................................. 5
2. Research problems and tasks................................................................... 7
2.1. Research problems………………………………………………….........7
2.2. Research tasks ………………………………………………………......7
3. Literature review ...................................................................................... 7
4.The objectives of the thesis, and research areas .................................... 12
4.1. The objectives of the thesis ................................................................... 12
4.2. Research areas...................................................................................... 12
5. Research methods ................................................................................... 13
6. Contributions of the thesis ..................................................................... 14
7.Thesis structure ..................................................................................... 155
Chapter 1: THE IMAGE OF VIETNAMESE WOMEN IN THE CONTEXT
OF TRADITIONAL SOCIETY ................................................................. 166
1.1. Vietnamese traditional society .......................................................... 166
1.1.1. Natural, productive and economic situations .................................. 166
1.1.2. Social and political situations .......................................................... 166
1.1.3. Fundamental ideologies and religions ............................................ 211
1.1.4. The structure of the Vietnamese traditional families ...................... 233
1.2. Cultural attitudes toward the women in Vietnamese traditional
society .......................................................................................................... 28
1.2.1. The strict concept of Vietnamese women in traditional society under
the influence of Confucianism .................................................................... 28
1.2.2. The concept of promoting the women in traditional society.............. 33
1.3. Sub-conclusion ..................................................................................... 35
1
Chapter 2: TYPICAL FEATURES OF THE WOMEN IN VIETNAMESE
TRADITIONAL FOLK POETRY ............................................................. 377
2.1. Physical and personality characteristics of Vietnamese women ..... 377
2.1.1. Physical characteristics ................................................................... 377
2.1.2. Personality characteristics ................................................................. 48
2.2. The images of Vietnamese women in traditional families ............... 544
2.2.1. In the spousal relationship .............................................................. 544
2.2.2. In the relationship of the daughter and her mother – in – law ......... 65
2.2.3. In the relationship of parents and their children .............................. 70
2.2.4. In the matter of love and mariage ..................................................... 76
2.3. The images of Vietnamese women in traditional social relationships
................................................................................................................... 822
2.3.1. The overview of traditional social relationships .............................. 822
2.3.2. In relationships of the people in the same community, teachers and
students, friends and neighbors to each other........................................... 833
2.3.3. In the relationship with upper classes ............................................. 866
2.4. Sub-conclusion ................................................................................... 888
Chapter 3: THE REACTIONS OF VIETNAMESE TRADITIONAL
WOMEN TOWARD THE UNJUST BEHAVIORS IN FAMILIES AND
SOCIETY...........................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.1. The reactions of Vietnamese traditional women toward the unjust
behaviors within family scope.................................................................... 90
3.1.1. In the spousal relationship ................................................................ 90
3.1.2. In the relationship of the daughter and her mother – in – law ......... 96
3.1.3. In the relationship of parents and their children .............................. 97
3.1.4. In the matter of love and marriage .................................................... 98
2
3.2. The reactions of Vietnamese traditional women toward the unjust
behaviors in social relationships .............................................................. 100
3.2.1. In the relationship of the king as well as feudal lords and ordinary
people......................................................................................................... 100
3.2.2. In the relationships of landlords and peasants ................................ 101
3.3. Sub-conclusion ................................................................................... 103
CONCLUSION....................................................................................... 1055
REFERENCES ....................................................................................... 1088
APPENDIX .................................................................................................114
3
LIST OF ACRONYMS
Assoc. Prof. PhD: Associate Professor, Doctor of Philosophy
P.
M. A.
: Page
: Master of Art
4
INTRODUCTION
1. Personal motivation
There have been many studies of Vietnamese women in general and
Vietnamese women in traditional societies in particular approached from
different angles and research methods. Based on such studies, the portrait of
Vietnamese woman with the beauty of ordinary life appears as
“laboriousness, considerateness, sacrifice for her husband and her children”
but when the country was at risk, they became the embodiment of beauty of
“heroism, indomitableness, kindness, resourcefulness”. Also through such
studies that we see Vietnamese women in traditional societies, not only
playing a large role in family life as well as in social development but also
recognized properly, there were many women who suffered misery, injustice
throughout life under the repressive prejudices of feudal society. Sympathy
for the status of women in ancient society is tremendous momentum that we
wish to clarify the image of women in traditional societies. In addition, the
old woman herself, she was the embodiment of the traditional cultural values
of the nation. Although modern society has developed very fast, the cultural
values of our ancestors should still be kept and promoted. Exploring images
of women in traditional society is contributing to promote traditional cultural
values in general and dignity of women in particular, which promotes the
good Vietnamese women’s values in today society.
Folk literature is a part of folklore treasure from which the picture of
traditional societies is extremely vividly reproducted under workers'
perspective. In the literary treasures of Vietnamese folk, folk is a kind of the
richest and most diverse genre in number and content expression. We can say
that folk poems have a very strong appealling to the people of Vietnam,
because they are very close to their thought and soul, with words of daily
5
voices of workers. Therefore, one of the key features of a traditional folk song
is richly expressed thoughts of human emotions in general, including in
particular women. The image of traditional women is expressed not only
through the songs about them specifically the ones which are composed by
the people to portray the image of the woman but also through narrative
songs, the reader can feel all the thoughts, feelings, attitudes, their perceptions
of their own identity.
The folk poems having content of the image of women in traditional
societies, has been the interest of many researchers who has had many
valuable posts. However, the researchers only focused on reflecting each
aspect, individual elements of the image of women. In addition, most of the
studies were taken as research objects of folksongs with monophyletic
research methods of literature, but not focusing on getting the woman is the
object of study. With this starting point, we hope that this research will help to
clarify the image of Vietnamese traditional women with resource-based
survey was carried out as a wealth of traditional folk poems of the Vietnam.
Also follow all policies and guidelines of the Party and State, Vietnam
is in the process of building an advanced culture imbued with national
identity. Along with the momentum of integration and quintessence of world
culture, its needs to look back, to preserve the cultural traditions of the
peoples is extremely important. Therefore, the study of the image of
Vietnamese women through traditional folk poems by portraying more clearly
the cultural values of traditional practices to serve the country's development
is a critical job.
6
2. Research problems and tasks
2.1. Research problems
The research done for contributing to learn the position, role, emotions
of Vietnam women in society was reflected in the ancient folk poems.
Accordingly, the image of the traditional Vietnamese woman will be
approaches from two angles: the perspective of objective and subjective
perspective. Angle objective is to learn traditional Vietnamese woman
through the assessment of the objective nature of the women folk. Subjective
perspective is the understanding of traditional Vietnamese women through
their attitude before the social behavior, which includes conduct the injustices
they suffered, the perception of themselves of Vietnamese women in
traditional social context.
2.2. Research tasks
To achieve the purpose of the study mentioned above, we set out
specific research tasks as followed:
- We have identified the social context of traditional Vietnam to draw
social life factors that affect directly or indirectly the lives of contemporary
women.
- Learn the characteristic manifestations of women in traditional societies
characterized by the appearance, personality, as well as the expression
through family relationships and society.
- Learn how the behavior of women in traditional societies through which
they are incurred regardless of family life and society.
3. Literature review
Folk is a genre of traditional folklore, the subject of many research
works have scientific value in terms of both practical and theoretical.
Researchers of literature in general and folklore in particular have defined
7
folk by different concepts. We would go through some basic concepts as
follows:
In the book “Major literary history of Vietnam”, Duong Quang Ham
explained the concept of folk poems: “folk is short songs; the songs are not
divided into chapters, etc.” [15, P.20]
It is also about the concept of folk poems , in “The Literary History of
Vietnam”, Volume 2 of the authors, Bui Van Nguyen (chief editor) stated:
“Folk is the songs with or without the chapters created with the nation's
prose (usually in traditional way of 6/8 words per sentence one after another)
to describe, narrative, implied and express feelings.” [45, P.38]
The author of the book “The collective folklore of Vietnamese people”
by Nguyen Xuan Kinh (the chief editor) has clearly defined folk poems in
relation to folk poems : “Folk poems include the words (sentences or
articles), melody (voice or intonation), and methods of environmental
oratorio, singing scene. Folk poemss were formed on folk poems.” [28, P.20]
After the revolution in August 1945, researchers have used water
collected from “modern folk” (or new folk) to distinguish them from
“traditional folk” (also known as the ancient folk). Researchers generally
consistently considered traditional folk (or ancient folk) is the only
component conceptual language arts (poetry section) of folk (not including
accompaniment, redu-language, and voiced sounds) and composed mainly
collected from the previous August Revolution.
In terms of content reflecting the folk poems, folk poems is the subject
of many research literatures as well as the culture. There were so many great
works, have been published values, represented by the following works:
Folk poems reflect the lyrical content: Ma Giang Lan in research
proverb - Vietnam folk commented: “Folk is a lyrical genre of folklore. These
8
works speak of human relationships at work, in family life or social life
experiences speak and act, etc. They always express subjective attitudes of
human beings with the objective phenomenon, rather than objectively
describe the phenomenon of problems. So in folk poems, the lyrical ego is in
clear salience.” [37, P.19]
Dinh Gia Khanh (1973) has presented the current content in traditional
folk poems in detail in curriculum “Vietnamese Folk Literature” in Part II:
History and society, country and people in Vietnamese folk, etc. In addition,
this content is also mentioned in several other books as presents traditional
folk poems. According to Chu Xuan Dien, so the main content which is often
referred to as folk history: “Historical folk are all short sentences and themed
on events in history. These historical events are recorded in folk history is
more or less the events that affect people's lives contemporaries”. [23, P.358]
However, when referring to a specific historical phenomenon, folk history not
working as described, detailed narrative, that is not reflected in historical
phenomenon during its evolution. In folk history, the people just mentioned
historical facts to speak up and express the attitude of his views.
Research on the characteristics of folk poems, we must mention the
book “The prosody of folk” by Nguyen Xuan Kinh (1992). In the work, the
author has studied systematic factors in terms of poetics: Language, poetry,
textured art space-time, a number of images in the folk tradition. This is a
book of great value, providing readers with specific knowledge and overview
of many issues, useful for studying folk.
On the subject of the images of women in traditional folk poems also
appeared several research works have value. When referring to the image of
women in the folk poems, the proverb works, folk poems, folk Vietnam, Vu
Ngoc Phan said, “Life woman has to endure suffering and disadvantaged.
9
Although contributions to society and the family is not inferior to men, but in
reality women do not have power. The author also asserted reasons pushing
women into inferior status, because marriage regime was built based on the
old social economy” [49, P.245].
In 1969, the collective monograph “Popular poetry of Vietnam”,
Nguyen Tan Long and Phan Canh analyzed very carefully and deeply about
the suffering of women folk. They insisted on the contents “Woman
disadvantaged and downtrodden in the society. They were dependent on men
and stripped of all power, they react to the injustice in many different ways.
They dared to resist harsh laws, to follow the call of true love”. [38, P. 118]
1974, in the research “The study of the process of Vietnamese popular
folklore”, Cao Huy Dinh affirmed that “the human problem, first of all, the
fate of people and the slaves are all working women the main topic of folk folk
Woman's life is a chain of suffering long hours in line. Live Alone and
suffering, pain and suffering marry well as do more if perhaps”. [12, P. 89]
1978, in The study of the historical process folklore Vietnam, folklore
researcher Do Binh Tri said that “the image of women which is the most
common of the two forms the song of family activities and lyrical song about
love - marriage (loving folk)”. The contentz authors mentioned in this work
are “songs about family activities mainly expressed profound grief of the
women in the family and society”. The authors asserted, “Violent protests
stemed from conflicts with severe oppression of patriarchy. On the other
hand, it was also the basis of looking at the issue of love and marriage
insider: For a woman, marriage based on love is a scenario in which the
happiness of freedom crystals god and happy life”. [57, P. 221]
Besides the typical works, which have addressed most generalizations
about the image of women in folk poems , there are also many articles of the
10
researchers on the subject of women in folk. The post “Woman in folk
activities”, (1986) by Nguyen Thi Hue, has affirmed, “There are folks which
voiced the role of women in cultural activities, etc. The songs prove that
women's talents have been put in place equally or even surpass men in the art
of living”. [17] The author pointed out “The research leading to these lyrics
savvy woman spirit, the study of folk oratorio form shows creative role, the
study of narrative form folk chorus shows creative role, the richness of their
contributions in terms of art in the field of folklore” [17]. The above article is
oriented to the intensive study systematically and comprehensively through
the ancient Vietnamese women folk.
Besides, there are many doctoral theses, master's theses; students have
continued the study of folk. Typically, doctoral dissertation entitled “Proverb,
folk poems about family relationships” (2000) of Pham Viet Long has
specific insight into the relationship of the Vietnamese family through
proverbs and folk poems, in including specific analysis of women in the
family tradition. Masters thesis “Topic of families in the Vietnamese
traditional folk song” (2003) by Do Thi Thu Thuy showed attitudes and
behaviors of Vietnamese people living within the family activities.
Prominently, it is an important role of women in cultural behaviors
Vietnamese families.
The number of studies on traditional Vietnamese woman is extremely
large, depending on the requirements of each specialty; the authors have
studied the traditional woman from the perspective of different approaches.
However, the majority of studies on this research are being carried out by
specialized knowledge, mainly using analytical methods, description, imagebuilding methods of literature to reach the works of folk poems . Unlike the
above studies, in my research, we define the object of study of the thesis is the
11
traditional Vietnamese woman, not the traditional folk poems and the
approach is associated method industry instead of monophyletic method. We
hope you will be able to achieve the purposes of the study as stated above.
4. The objectives of the thesis and research areas
4.1. The objectives of the thesis
The main research object of the thesis is the image of Vietnamese
women in traditional societies. The research document is based on a
traditional Vietnamese folk to highlight the image of Vietnamese women in
the context of feudal society.
4.2. Research areas
Theme revolves around a woman with a lot of things need to be
clarified, however, within the framework of the thesis we focus only clarify
the characteristics of traditional Vietnamese woman, but not the women of
other ethnic minorities.
The Vietnamese women will be approached from two angles objectivity
and subjectivity noted in the research purposes. Specifically, in order to
clarify the characteristics of the traditional woman by objective perspective,
besides clarifying the characteristic appearance, personality assessment
recognized under the purview of his contemporaries. We also learn
Vietnamese woman at the relationship between their families (spouses,
parents and children, brothers, cousins) and the social relationships in which
there is close interaction directly traditional Vietnamese woman (men and
women, kings, ministers, landowners, etc.), which are the typical relationship
of women outside the scope of traditional families. Subjective perspective,
still in the relationships, as the contemporary social prejudice revolves around
the lives of women, to curb oppression, pushed their lives in circumstances
very well hurt suffering, torment, they react in a particular context and thus
12
see the self-perceived myself with what traits. As such, we will aim to clarify
the characteristics of traditional Vietnamese women from these two angles.
Regarding literature, we focus on the sources of all of the Vietnamese
folk poems ; specific survey materials are mainly in: Total collection of
Vietnamese Folklore (2002), Scientific and social studies Publishers. This is a
collective work meticulously compiled including 19 sets in all genres of
Vietnamese folklore. We have used a set of 15, 16 books (part one, part two)
talking about the Vietnamese folk poems. In addition, we may refer to “The
Vietnamese folk Treasure” (1995), four episodes, written by Nguyen Xuan
Kinh, Phan Dang Nhat (chief editors), Culture and Information Publishing
House; “Folk proverbs” (1957, reprinted 1998) by Vu Ngoc Phan;
“Collections of Vietnamese proverbs and folk” (2001) by Nguyen Cu, Nguyen
Thi Hue, Tran Thi An (editor), Literature Publishing House.
5. Research methods
Traditional Vietnamese Woman is a class object exists in space
Vietnam traditional culture. Therefore, besides the internal factors they
themselves are affected by factors such as age factor historical, economic social, cultural, etc. Therefore, to achieve the purpose of the study was the
image of Vietnamese women through a traditional folk perspective as we
approach the subject in the direction interdisciplinary. Interdisciplinary
research methods are needed and have proved extremely usefully in this case
to be able to clarify the object of study of the thesis. Subjects of the study
were Vietnamese women in traditional societies bearing the characteristic of
gender as well as the definition of society during the feudal society. Objective
oriented approach using interdisciplinary methods; specifically we will
approach the subject from the following research directions. The first is from
the perspective of history because they are the subjects of history; to measure
13
the angle of the object is anthropology because Vietnamese woman, from a
regional perspective to study localized Vietnamese women and people women
of other ethnicities. Study subjects are seen through folk so indispensable
combination of methods that are strong in folk studies such as analysis of
literature, linguistics, cultural learning.
In addition to the above research method, the research process we
combine statistical methods, analysis, synthesis of research during the
Vietnamese folk treasure. The method proved very useful to study the nature
of data sources harboring small but large numbers, and content rich folk.
6. Contributions of the thesis
- Vietnamese woman was the truth of the nation’s cultural values. The
in-depth research is very necessary that we also look for the real images of
women in traditional society as well as promote traditional values in a modern
society.
- The thesis is the references for those who wish to learn and have
further research on the images of Vietnamese women in traditional societies.
- The thesis initially uses interdisciplinary methods to approach the
subject of Vietnamese women in traditional societies. With this approach, we
want to avoid unilateral comments of the research subject. Interdisciplinary
research methods proved very effective in this case when we can not access
the object of study directly because specific objects are Vietnamese woman in
a historical period which has passed, insteads, we must approach the object in
an indirect manner, namely through the folk material (other subjects).
14
7. Thesis structure
Besides the introduction and conclusion, the thesis is deployed into 3
chapters:
Chapter 1: The images of Vietnamese women in the context of traditional
society
Chapter 2: Typical features of the women in Vietnamese traditional folk
poetry
Chapter 3: The reations of Vietnamese traditional women toward the unjust
behaviors in families and society
15
Chapter 1:
THE IMAGE OF VIETNAMESE WOMEN IN THE CONTEXT OF
TRADITIONAL SOCIETY
1.1. Vietnamese traditional society
1.1.1. Natural, productive and economic situations
Economic base of agriculture Vietnam is incorporated with small
industries and businesses with the most common characteristics are as
follows:
- State agricultural fields is the main economic base, which is the
dominant crop, livestock and small rely heavily on farming. Agricultural
production that relies on manual labor, technical muscle doing the thinking
based on experience, there is no scientific and technical support; Moreover,
the production takes place in a tropical climate with unusual events (droughts,
floods, pests, etc) always happens to make life precarious, heavily dependent
on natural course.
- Commercial: domestic trade mainly with rural market system (village
markets) and small trade flow. Vietnamese society based on Confucianism,
considered as degenerate art and craft wholesale traders considered the last
class of the “Four classes” (Cholars - Farmers - Manufacturers - Traders).
In the above conditions, the traditional Vietnamese woman has a very
important position in the maintenance and development of the economy
reflected in the family to team up with her husband and other members of the
production workers and the unique role of the wife in trade.
1.1.2. Social and political situations
Factors that greatly affect the lives of women in society and the
traditional Vietnamese families:
16
- Xem thêm -
.PDF 
220 
257 
61 
