Strength from national consciousness

Professor Ngo Duc Thinh

NDO – The national consciousness has played a crucial role in generating national strength and moving the country forward. Nhan Dan journalist Minh Nhat held talks with Professor Ngo Duc Thinh, former Director of the Vietnam Institute of Cultural Studies and member of the National Council for Cultural Heritage, to further explore this idea.

Professor, from your studies, can you say something about when a national consciousness first appeared? Professor Ngo Duc Thinh: All researchers in the field of Vietnamese studies hold that the time of the Hung Kings and An Duong Vuong (about the middle of millennium II and millennium I B.C.), the foundation of which was the Dong Son civilisation, marks the formation of the ancient ethnic Viet people, the foundations of traditional culture, and the formation of the first nation of Van Lang-Au Lac. The community in this pre-historic time required a consciousness of the natural and social world and of themselves. This is when they began to build for themselves the symbols and the value system; together with the development of feudal society, and the ruling class representing the then social system, consciousness in the development and consolidation of the symbols and value system was turned into the social ideology.

This was the early consciousness and above all else, it was the consciousness of the root of the the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese, old and young, male and female, have always remembered that they are the children of the Dragon and the Fairy, of the same yellow skin, born of the same race and of the same homeland. That is why it is the same for all generations: whether in peace or when the country is in danger of being threatened by foreign invasion, the whole nation is united in its fight, thus creating a strength that has been tested over thousands of years and has become the strength to win against the enemy.

From natural conditions to its geographic position, which elements of the country created a national consciousness in the very early stages, professor?

Humans and community need a space to exist and develop – it is the consciousness of a Homeland, and of a Fatherland, in which there are two important elements: earth and water. Early on, the Vietnamese were conscious of protecting and living harmoniously with nature. The philosophy of worshipping Mother Goddesses (the religion appeared earliest in the society of the Viet ethnic people) has reflected this. The Viet ethnic people worshipped Mother Nature, Mother Earth, Mother Water, Mother Mountain and others. Human beings worked to exist in association with their space and also fought to protect that space. The Son Tinh- Thuy Tinh Legend says, “the higher water rises, the higher Mountain is” and shows the indomitable will in face of nature, and the enemy.

It is also due to Vietnam’s geographic position that fighting against foreign invasion is one of the earliest components of the national consciousness. Our nation, since the formation of its first ancient state, has for the most part of 12 centuries, had to fight against foreign invasion. In the time of the Hung Kings, our forefathers fostered a consciousness of fighting against foreign invasion and cultivated a love of the homeland. From the dawn of history, Vietnam like no other nation, had the Saint Giong Legend: a three-year-old boy, speaking his first words, begged the king to allow him to go and fight against the enemy. Over 2,000 years later, in the 19th century, poet Cao Ba Quat wrote: “Fighting against the enemy, it is too late to have only hostility!” In Vietnamese folklore, there is a saying that goes: When the enemy comes to our home, even women will fight! With such a nation, how can it bow to any enemy?

So can it be said that through historical upheavals, all the dynasties placed that national spirit in the first and foremost position and steered the nation over all challenges and difficulties?

This is really the strength of the root of the nation. We have gone through thousands of years of fighting and at times we were in the greatest ordeals. There were century-long struggles such as the Trinh-Nguyen conflict, the century-long struggle against French colonialists and US imperialists, and the division of the North and South. It took much time and was at a very high cost in blood and flesh, with so many people laying down their lives, that our country could be reunified, and our nation could live in independence. It is an iron will that kept our country from being divided; the land of the nation cannot be lost. Now, as the country is in a time of peace, that root strength has been fostered into the will to build and develop the country — the national spirit at any time is the strength to overcome all challenges.

Since the nation’s founding, history shows one thing: our predecessors had never been ambiguous about the national consciousness. The will to protect territorial integrity, to reunify the nation and to build a powerful nation has overwhelmed all eras, and all institutions. This consciousness has run in the blood of all generations of Vietnamese, whether they are at home or abroad. This explains why the Vietnamese are always turning their minds towards the Fatherland, in spite of how far they are away from it, and why the Vietnamese compatriots in the South, as well as the overseas Vietnamese, have also worshipped the Hung Kings and remembered the death anniversary of the Ancestors. It is the root strength of the nation that lies in this.

So, in such a flat world, together with a lot of upheavals in the world, how can the national spirit and this root strength be fostered and nurtured to help the Vietnamese integrate in the world and build an independent and sovereign nation?

Since the Hung Kings’ time, the names of Lac Long Quan-Au Co, and National Ancestor Hung King, Son Tinh, Saint Giong, Chu Dong Tu and Tien Dung have become historical and cultural symbols, in which the first consciousness of our nation was formed. It is the consciousness of the root of the country; it has fostered the love of the country and the spirit of the fight against foreign invasion and the construction of a harmonious, free and happy society. This consciousness has an extremely great value, creating the strength of the nation, and helping the country to overcome innumerable difficulties and obstacles. This is the wisdom of the nation. A wise consciousness bears an extremely great and important significance, but our forefathers had entrusted in the legends and myths filled with poetic inspirations. Thanks to the legends, the root consciousness and great strength have over time been implanted in each Vietnamese person since the dawn of the nation, anywhere in the world. This is also the spirit to “locate” the Vietnamese in the flat world, in the global society.

Thank you, Professor, for this conversation.

By Minh Nhat/ Translated by Manh Chuong

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