Uncle Ho

HO CHI MINH CITY - “All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." – Ho Chi Minh

Well, sort of. He was paraphrasing Thomas Jefferson of course. His subsequent sentences read: “This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free. The Declaration of the French Revolution made in 1791 on the Rights of Man and the Citizen also states: ‘All men are born free and with equal rights, and must always remain free and have equal rights.’ Those are undeniable truths.” And then, mirroring Jefferson’s format, Ho went on to list the grievances of the Vietnamese against its colonizers.

Ho Chi Minh was speaking to Hanoi on September 2, 1945, proclaiming the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from the “double yoke” of its French and Japanese controllers. It would take nine more years of fighting for that independence to become a reality and twenty more to reunify the country, but to this day Vietnam counts September 2 as its independence day. 2015 marks its 70th anniversary, as the propaganda posters remind me constantly.

Ho Chi Minh continues to loom large in modern Vietnam as the man who led the long fight for Vietnamese independence against the French, Japanese and Americans. Prominent portraits of him never feel out of place. They are in every classroom, and prominently displayed for tourists and Saigonese alike in places like the Post Office and through a brand new larger-than-life statue of him in front of Ho Chi Minh City Hall (literally larger-than-life; he was only about five feet tall).

“Uncle Ho” is simply a legend. You can even view his embalmed body in Hanoi. But considering how strong a reputation he maintains 46 years after his death (also on a September 2, in 1969), the man led quite an enigmatic life.

First of all, this Vietnamese icon left Vietnam in his early twenties, not to return for thirty years. He traveled the world using many different aliases as he went. He worked a range of jobs, from pastry chef to waiter, gardener to oven stoker, photo retoucher to newspaper editor. He picked up English, French, German, Chinese and Russian, and got involved with politics early on.

He reportedly concluded quickly that the French colonists were not at all “civilized” enough to be trying to “civilize” his own people. As evidenced above, he studied the French and American revolutions and made Indochinese independence his life’s cause. Hearing of and believing in Woodrow Wilson’s ideas for national self-determination, he went to the Peace Conference of Versailles in 1919. He had prepared to present a case for basic freedoms and equality for Indochina, but he was not received. After this disappointment he decided to throw his lot in with the Socialists.

However, he soon switched again and helped found the French Communist party, which seemed more likely to help liberate Indochina than the “equivocating” Socialists, as it was put in an over 4,000-word obituary.

He helped start and edited a weekly newspaper called Le Paria (The Outcast), giving voice to a group of French colonial exiles in Paris from Africa, the Caribbean and Asia. He moved to Russia and met Lenin: the start to a game-changing relationship with the Soviet Union. He joined a Soviet group in China supporting Chiang Kai-shek in the 1920s until Kai-shek broke with the Communists. Ho was put in British jail in Hong Kong for “subversive activities,” went to school back in Russia and helped a Chinese Communist army fighting the Japanese in the late 1930s. Somewhere along the way the French sentenced him to death in absentia because the Indochinese Communists had supported a peasant rebellion.

Eventually, he returned to his homeland with an international reputation and many ideas about what should happen in Vietnam. He founded the Viet Minh in 1941, an underground Communist group whose charter prioritized nationalism over Communism. Ho had said, "I was a Communist, but I am no longer one. I am a member of the Vietnamese family, nothing else." Since Ho was fighting the Japanese governing Vietnam during World War II, the Americans helped him get out of Chinese jail. He was considered a U.S. ally at the time of his independence speech and even tried to verify the Jefferson quote with an American intelligence officer. The American couldn’t remember though, and deferred to the Vietnamese leader on this matter of U.S. history. However, as we know, this alliance would not last.

Say what you will about Ho Chi Minh (and indeed, much has been said), but he succeeded. He dedicated his life to seeking independence for his homeland. He officially led Vietnam against the Japanese, fought back the French for nine years after and pushed for unification with South Vietnam until his death. And today, Vietnam stands unified, in large part because of this slight man.

I just spoke with a group of South Vietnamese twenty-somethings in Ho Chi Minh City about their city’s namesake and a unified Vietnam. While they had conflicting feelings about how the country is run, and about whether they prefer rule from the north to divided rule, they all agreed on one thing: “we are proud of Uncle Ho.” It’s true that they receive no nuanced historical information about him in school, but even so, he’s a legend for a reason.

Garbage, Marriage and Bob Dylan

HANOI - I first noticed the garbage collectors. They are overwhelmingly women, contrary to the norm in the USA. Then I realized that women do most of the street selling, too. And that many images of soldiers in combat art feature women. I learned that the Trưng Sisters and Lady Triệu remain among the most legendary of ancient Vietnamese warriors, who successfully led the Vietnamese against those pesky Chinese invaders at different times. I thought, ‘Wow, what strong, tough, hard-working women.’

And indeed they are. But this is not so noteworthy, because women are expected to be. Like many societies in the world, women are usually responsible for all the childcare and housework in Vietnam. But this is the 21st century after all, and while many women work out of financial necessity, many others are expected to have professional careers. (By the way, apparently, garbage collecting is grouped with cleaning and housework, and therefore a job for females.)

A fascinating article about gender relations in Vietnam explains that “instead of liberating the women, as claimed, the government has put a ‘second shift’ on the women: they work outside the home in addition to carrying out their domestic work.” A new generation of well-educated middle and upper class women now knows professional success. However, as a friend working for an international company in Hanoi explained, her female Vietnamese coworkers often turn down promotions. They feel they cannot handle the extra responsibility with all they are expected to do at home.

Traditionally, when a Vietnamese woman marries a Vietnamese man, she basically becomes a part of his family: she moves in with them, takes care of his (sometimes extended) family and does the lion’s share of the housework. A Vietnamese friend of mine has been married for a year, but because her husband currently works abroad, the only socially acceptable place for her to live is with his parents, where she cooks and does the dishes alone most nights. I went over for dinner and witnessed this in action. She was the only member of the family serving and cleaning up. The twenty-seven-year-old law school graduate can neither live with friends nor alone, for fear of upsetting her own family and her in-laws.

Notably, she begrudges her situation and wants a change. Her husband seems to agree. He helps her with the dishes when he is around. I have heard the same sentiments from other young Vietnamese and made the unoriginal conclusion that things are gradually changing. Like many generations in societies around the world before them, as young Vietnamese people are exposed to other ways of life, they seem to be pushing back against traditional expectations, including the inescapable issue of marriage.

In Vietnam people commonly ask about relationship status, even of strangers. I can attest to this personally. “You aren’t married? Why not? Oh, your boyfriend is away? Why is he not here? Maybe a Vietnamese man would be better. I have a nephew….” I met one American who lived here happily for many years and learned fluent Vietnamese, but finally decided to leave when she realized the incessant questions about her relationship status were not letting up. Imagine having to answer, “Why are you single?” every time you go to the market.

I have however spoken with young Vietnamese who insist they do not want to get married, despite the constant pressure. Several have told me that their parents are urging them to “settle” for a spouse, rather than wait “naively” for love. Those young people still plan to disregard the expectations. They have seen peers unhappily trapped in marriages they "settled" for.

An American friend was feeding his baby in a restaurant in Hanoi the other night, and a Vietnamese waiter commented, “That’s the strangest thing I’ve seen all day: a man feeding a baby.” Today though, I saw a young male Vietnamese man holding his baby. He’s the only one I’ve seen so far, compared to hundreds of women, but still. I also saw my first male garbage collector yesterday. Progress?

Slowly maybe, but the times, it seems, they are a changin’. In the meantime, I remain in awe of the work ethic of Vietnamese women.

P.S. If you want to learn a lot more, here’s another thorough take on gender equality and feminism in Vietnamese history and contemporary society.

A Vietnamese Halloween

HO CHI MINH CITY - I’m not sure what I expected to do when I first arrived in Saigon, but it certainly wasn’t decorating for Halloween. And yet, in my jet-lagged stupor, I found myself doing just that, for a Halloween party my hosts were planning. Ironically, Halloween has characterized my inaugural days in this city, country and continent.

I’ve asked everyone I could about the holiday in Vietnam, from expats to taxi drivers. I have found no data and only one article on the subject. Based on my language-constrained research, the consensus is that 2015 is the first year Halloween has been “so big” in HCMC. Meaning, most people seemed to know what Halloween is, and many main streets had signs of the holiday: themed decals on store windows, Halloween deals and events at bars (publicized in English), random decorations, sporadic costumes and groups of young trick-or-treaters. I found temporary structures in the middle of shopping malls selling all the typical Halloween costume regalia: capes, animal ears, wings, Rapunzel wigs, grim reaper masks, you name it. One of these structures (titled “Castle Freak”) featured a haunted house photo shoot background and costumed employees dancing and singing to pop music. (Sort of like posing with Santa at Christmas.) As one expat told me, Halloween has come to Vietnam by way of commercialism.

I witnessed an expat Halloween with my hosts and their young children and a Halloween on the streets of downtown Saigon later that night. The expat version felt familiar, complete with pumpkin sugar cookies and cupcakes. However, when it came to chaperoning the children’s trick-or-treating, we basically played a game of “which house does Halloween?” Those with obvious decorations were ready with candy. The rest were hit or miss. Some had candy but seemed unsure exactly of the protocol for giving it out; others thought the gaggle of children on their doorstep just wanted to come inside. Universally though, bystanders seemed to enjoy the whole trick-or-treating spectacle. Everyone smiled. Several people took photos.

I had purchased my costume that day at one of the aforementioned vendors, and it was admittedly weak: a gold cape and a purple Mardi Gras mask. I decided to go for sparkle over content. My two friends put more effort into their much cooler costumes: snow fairy and creepy doll. Surprisingly though, the three of us made something of a celebrity attraction while walking through a packed Nguyen Hue promenade at 11pm. A crowd of Vietnamese strangers gathered around, each wanting us to pose for photos with every member of the family.

In keeping with the smiles, Halloween here felt happy, not scary. The costumes of locals seemed to mostly consist of purchased accessories with regular clothes, whereas expats were decked out with the morbid face paint, etc. Halloween in Vietnam is being forged through commercialism, parties and fun, not as a spinoff of a “day of the dead” type celebration.

Ultimately, the happy fascination of the Vietnamese sums up how Halloween felt here. Walking down the street in our costumes, people on motorbikes and on the sidewalk would stare, then always smile and wave. The Vietnamese seemed enchanted by the trick-or-treaters, and the (albeit few) gaggles of Vietnamese trick-or-treaters were having the time of their lives. Vietnam doesn’t traditionally have any comparable “dress up as whatever” holiday like Halloween or Purim, so this is new.

Even if it were associated with the dead, I don't know if it would be scary. Ancestor veneration is common in Vietnam, a country influenced by a mixture of Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism and Christianity. Some of the illuminated altars you often find in Vietnamese businesses and homes are dedicated to deceased ancestors. The dead are thought to have the power to bring good fortune and protection to the living, in exchange for commemoration and respect. “The ritual is an expression of a spiritual belief that the world of the living and the world of the dead are not dichotomies, but rather, a shift of being, and a new becoming,” as one Vietnamese doctoral candidate wrote in a journal article on the subject. In this way, death does not seem to be associated with creepiness or morbidity. Ghosts aren't even traditionally considered that disturbing; they just have some unfinished business to work out. So, why would Halloween, or something connected with the beyond be scary? At least, this is my working theory. Any input is appreciated.

Regardless, Vietnamese Halloween definitely felt like a success. I even won second runner-up in a costume contest (somehow). Based on the enthusiasm we saw on the streets, I would expect next year’s Vietnamese Halloween to be even bigger, with more local participation. Guess we will all have to come back and find out.