Economic growth must include cultural development: Scholar

People call him a cultural researcher, a translator, a journalist, a “culture importer and exporter”, and a bridge between Vietnamese and other cultures. However, for many foreigners, he is simply known as Mr. Huu Ngoc, a “must-see address” when they visit Vietnam.

At the age of 97, he has made significant contributions to Vietnam’s culture and has helped international friends learn more about Vietnamese culture.

He shared his thought about the beauty of Vietnamese culture and how to preserve Vietnamese culture in the global integration process in a talk below with Nhan Dan Newspaper.

People are amazed that every year you release new books. Many of them have been reprinted many times and have been appreciated by many foreigners, including ‘Lang Du Trong Van Hoa Viet’ (Wandering through Vietnamese Culture), which has been published in English, French and Vietnamese.

I just completed a book entitled ‘Dong Hanh Cung Van Hoa – Lich Su Viet Nam’ (A Century of Vietnamese Culture and History) last summer. Over the past two years, I have introduced and reprinted six books, most of them collections of my articles and lectures. One book of mine, ‘Wandering through Vietnamese Culture’ has been published with 20,000 copies so far in English, and has been reprinted 11 times; the French version, seven times; and Vietnamese version, four times.

Turning 97 this year, you have experienced nearly a century of Vietnamese culture, just like the title of your latest book. In your opinion, throughout the many historical ups and downs and the influx of exotic culture, how can we realise the beauty of Vietnamese culture?

It is impossible to compare which culture is more beautiful than another. The culture of each nation can be called the coat of that nation. That “coat” only fits the nation it belongs to, so no culture is better than another. And there is no culture staying unchanged without receiving and being affected by others.

Throughout its development, Vietnamese culture has been influenced by foreign cultures. Due to cultural contact and exchanges, many traditional Vietnamese cultural features have faded and are being replaced with better ones. For example, in the old days, Vietnamese women who had just delivered a baby were banned from many practices, but they are not any more. Many old conceptions have also been replaced with new ones, which are in line with today’s common trend. However, it is difficult to judge which features of our culture are good and which features we learn from other cultures are not good.

Many people raise concern that the global integration process and open-door policy have affected to some extent the preservation of cultural identity of a nation. What do you think about this issue?

We should not acknowledge culture as a static concept but as a dynamic notion. I remember it is said that if a country closes its door to exotic winds, its national culture will be withered like a tree without cultivation. However, if the door is opened too widely, the tree will also wither.

Generally speaking, the integration process, cultural contacts and exchanges are inevitable. However, as long as our tree’s roots are deep, and new and exotic factors are carefully selected, our traditional values will not be lost or faded.

Many foreign Vietnamologists have held that since Vietnam possesses thousands of years of culture with a deep national identity and firm foundation, exchanges with Western and other cultures have enriched Vietnamese culture.

However, the question is how to boost the integration process and national development without blindly running after GDP growth. Economic development must include cultural preservation — otherwise the economy will fall into ruin. We must work out a sustainable and long-term policy for safeguarding culture. Globalisation and the emergence of a pragmatic lifestyle have made real impacts on national identity and lifestyle.

Many manifestations of deviation in lifestyle and aesthetics have arisen in today’s life, leading one to think that good values have been lost.

As I have mentioned above, throughout the flow of history, Vietnam has seen some changes in culture and received new practices while keeping its cultural roots.

However, in the past two decades, I have noticed at the emergence of a middle class and millionaires; they have quickly become rich and some of them are even fabulously rich. They have a luxurious, materialistic and vain lifestyle. Although they are rich, it is difficult to evaluate how they have contributed to their motherland or what type of impact they have on the community’s spiritual and cultural life. However, since they have money, a lot of money, some people set them as an exemplary lifestyle to reach. It is really a worrying issue.

What is a sound lifestyle, in your opinion?

I saw that people had a sound lifestyle during the time of the resistance wars. People treated each other with compassion and acted with noble purpose. They were willing to sacrifice their property to serve a higher purpose for their countrymen and their motherland. They respected money’s value because it was used to help others and their country, rather than as a tool to meet their own desires.

Nowadays, many people fall into vulgar materialism as they indulge themselves in pleasure with the intention to only satisfy their own demand. It is a consequence resulting from the market economy which focuses solely on boosting economic growth without nurturing human dignity.

From my point of view, a sound lifestyle includes improving oneself, making contributions to society, and helping others.

How to encourage the sound lifestyle among younger generation is a question raised by cultural managers and policy makers in recent years. Actually there have been some resolutions, guidelines and policies touching on this issue. What is your answer to the question?

Policies and guidelines on building culture and lifestyle, in my personal thinking, is somehow formalistic. Many of them say one thing and when it is put into practice, another thing is done.

In my opinion, there are two things to deal with to answer the question. Firstly, leaders at all levels should be an example. In our history, there was a period of time when people followed the leaders. Secondly, education is key to the problem. For example, let’s find out why youngsters nowadays are less fond of traditional art forms, such as tuong (classical drama) and cheo (traditional opera). It is because they were not taught about the beauty of the art forms, so even though they are encouraged to watch these performances, they cannot figure out their essence well enough to like them.

Japanese people teach children to enjoy traditional culture at a very young age — they have cultivated an appreciation for cultural preservation rather than exhorting people to do it.

As education helps form one’s personality, a sound lifestyle must come from families and schools at the youngest ages.

Nhan Dan

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