bichxa
New Member
Below is an interesting article that CVA forum members (especially high school students) might want to take a look. If you are hesitating as it looks long, then the truth is that it doesn't take as much time as it looks to read so READ it. Otherwise...loser ^ ^.
[***Disclaimer: The following article do not reflect the views of the poster. Take ‘em for what they are: black words on a white page.]
Vietnam needs to look at herself before flying
14:39 18/02/2007
VietNamNet Bridge * To have a successful flight, not only does Vietnam need outstanding leaders, but she also has to look into the mirror to see her defects and be determined to improve herself.
The portrait of Vietnamese people a century ago
In intellect and personality, Vietnamese people have both good and bad points.
100 years ago, in a book called The Brief History of Vietnam, first published in 1921, author Tran Trong Kim painted the following portrait of the Vietnamese people:
"In intellect and personality, Vietnamese people have both good and bad points. In general, they are clear-minded, quick to understand things, dexterous, creative, and fond of knowledge, politeness, and ethics; they live according to the 5 principles: kindness, dedication to good causes, politeness, intelligence and trustworthiness.
However, they are cunning, and often mock others. They are usually timid, easy to be frightened, and love peace, but on the battlefields, they have courage and discipline. They are superficial, reckless, impatient, boastful, and fond of fame, entertainment and gambling. They are superstitious and like worshipping but don’t follow any particular religion. Though arrogant and boastful, they are kind-hearted and grateful to acts of kindness*”
Vietnamese people today
According to the American Institute of Social Research, the Vietnamese people have 10 major characteristics. First, they are hard working but easy to satisfy. Second, they are smart and creative to cope with short-termed difficulties, but lack long-termed and active reasoning abilities. Third, they are dexterous but hardly pay attention to the final perfection of their products.
Fourth, they are both practical and idealistic, but don’t develop either of these tendencies into theories. Fifth, they love knowledge and have quick understanding, but hardly learn from the beginning to the end of things, so their knowledge isn’t systemic or fundamental. In addition, Vietnamese people don’t study just for the sake of knowledge (when small, they study because of their families; growing up, they study for the sake of prestige or good jobs).
Sixth, they are open-hearted and hospital, but their hospitality doesn’t last. Seventh, they are thrifty, but many times squander money for meaningless reasons (to save face or to show off). Eighth, they have solidarity and help each other chiefly in difficult situations and poverty; in better conditions, this characteristic rarely exists.
They love peace, and can endure things, but they are often not frank for sundry reasons, so sacrifice important goals for the sake of small ones. And last, they like to gather, but lack connectivity to create strength (one person can complete a task excellently; 2 people do it poorly, and 3 people make a mess of it).
Cunning, pushy, superficial and lacking solidarity
A foreign journalist commented thus about the Vietnamese, “You are very smart (and he cited examples of Vietnamese students winning high prizes at international contests as well as Vietnamese people’s IQ index), but you seem to be smart only in small things! When facing momentous things, you still keep your short-sighted opinions, so often jeopardise great goals and lose opportunities.”
Perhaps, more importantly, the “cunning tradition” seems be developed into an “art of life.” An overseas Vietnamese once said, “I’m so surprised at the tendency to jostle of the Vietnamese. When they take the train or the bus, they still push each other though every one has a ticket with the seat number.” Also according to this person, the Vietnamese people are “one of the most curious peoples” in the world. For instance, as soon as 2 Hondas scratch each other on the street, throngs of people will gather to watch.
If one wants to witness how the Vietnamese cunningness and jostling tendency demonstrated in real life, one only needs to buy a ticket to a buffet at any restaurant or hotel. What strikes one’s eyes is the image of people jostling each other to take as much as possible of their favorite food, only half of which will be eaten.
What’s about “superficial"? Superficiality is evident in the endless races for degrees, wealth and fame very common among the people who believe themselves the “upper class”.
As for solidarity and the ability to work in groups, one often hear such satirical sentences as “3 Russians are equal to one Jew; three Jews equal one Vietnamese, but 3 Vietnamese are equal to*” or "a Vietnamese falling into a lake can climb up by himself, but 3 Vietnamese can’t.” Professor Cao Xuan Hao once asked the question, “Is it true that there is a high-position official in the heart of every Vietnamese? Vietnamese people seem to want to be superior to even one person? They rather die than yield?”
Fond of anything foreign: a chronic sickness
Though arrogant and boastful, Vietnamese people can sometimes fall into such an inferiority complex that they almost become metal slaves and don’t believe they can do anything well. The foreignness loving mentality makes many people, especially the young, worship foreign things to the extreme, and imitate blindly anything imported from abroad.
The cause of this “sickness” is a “weak body.” When one isn’t strong from the inside, or doesn’t have anything worthy to be proud of, one tends to imitate, and run after appearances. A perfect example is the face of Vietnamese urban architecture which includes confusingly numerous styles and schools.
With what do the Vietnamese think?
Do Vietnamese people think with the head or the “stomach” (indeed, we often use the word “nghi bung” which is the combination of the 2 words “think” and “stomach”). At present, sentimental reasoning based on prejudices or experiences hamper our development. When will Vietnamese students have true systemic reasoning skills?
Are the Vietnamese hard-working and patient? One is tempted to answer in the negative, especially when this question is about the 8x generation or younger. Young Vietnamese people often do things perfunctorily. As long as we can’t cure the root of this “sickness” which is the habit of avoiding difficulties and the lack of motives in life, to help Vietnam fly will be an impossible mission.
So where do we start?
To have a successful flight, not only do we need outstanding leaders, but we also have to look into the mirror to see our defects and be determined to improve ourselves.
Perhaps what we need is a program with a specific time frame and targets, the first of which is to lead a life of integrity. We have to fight with all our might against the diseases of “thinking insincerely, speaking insincerely, studying insincerely, and making things insincerely” which are turning into a sort of culture and way of living of many people.
We can start from such simple things as obeying traffic laws. For instance, we should be determined to stop at the red lines, though we don’t see any policeman nearby. There should also be strict fines for irresponsible conducts like littering or motorbike racing and swinging and honking.
Only when integrity becomes our watchword can Vietnam take off.
Nguyen Thuy
Source: email :| (but definitely not a spam)
[***Disclaimer: The following article do not reflect the views of the poster. Take ‘em for what they are: black words on a white page.]
Vietnam needs to look at herself before flying
14:39 18/02/2007
VietNamNet Bridge * To have a successful flight, not only does Vietnam need outstanding leaders, but she also has to look into the mirror to see her defects and be determined to improve herself.
The portrait of Vietnamese people a century ago
In intellect and personality, Vietnamese people have both good and bad points.
100 years ago, in a book called The Brief History of Vietnam, first published in 1921, author Tran Trong Kim painted the following portrait of the Vietnamese people:
"In intellect and personality, Vietnamese people have both good and bad points. In general, they are clear-minded, quick to understand things, dexterous, creative, and fond of knowledge, politeness, and ethics; they live according to the 5 principles: kindness, dedication to good causes, politeness, intelligence and trustworthiness.
However, they are cunning, and often mock others. They are usually timid, easy to be frightened, and love peace, but on the battlefields, they have courage and discipline. They are superficial, reckless, impatient, boastful, and fond of fame, entertainment and gambling. They are superstitious and like worshipping but don’t follow any particular religion. Though arrogant and boastful, they are kind-hearted and grateful to acts of kindness*”
Vietnamese people today
According to the American Institute of Social Research, the Vietnamese people have 10 major characteristics. First, they are hard working but easy to satisfy. Second, they are smart and creative to cope with short-termed difficulties, but lack long-termed and active reasoning abilities. Third, they are dexterous but hardly pay attention to the final perfection of their products.
Fourth, they are both practical and idealistic, but don’t develop either of these tendencies into theories. Fifth, they love knowledge and have quick understanding, but hardly learn from the beginning to the end of things, so their knowledge isn’t systemic or fundamental. In addition, Vietnamese people don’t study just for the sake of knowledge (when small, they study because of their families; growing up, they study for the sake of prestige or good jobs).
Sixth, they are open-hearted and hospital, but their hospitality doesn’t last. Seventh, they are thrifty, but many times squander money for meaningless reasons (to save face or to show off). Eighth, they have solidarity and help each other chiefly in difficult situations and poverty; in better conditions, this characteristic rarely exists.
They love peace, and can endure things, but they are often not frank for sundry reasons, so sacrifice important goals for the sake of small ones. And last, they like to gather, but lack connectivity to create strength (one person can complete a task excellently; 2 people do it poorly, and 3 people make a mess of it).
Cunning, pushy, superficial and lacking solidarity
A foreign journalist commented thus about the Vietnamese, “You are very smart (and he cited examples of Vietnamese students winning high prizes at international contests as well as Vietnamese people’s IQ index), but you seem to be smart only in small things! When facing momentous things, you still keep your short-sighted opinions, so often jeopardise great goals and lose opportunities.”
Perhaps, more importantly, the “cunning tradition” seems be developed into an “art of life.” An overseas Vietnamese once said, “I’m so surprised at the tendency to jostle of the Vietnamese. When they take the train or the bus, they still push each other though every one has a ticket with the seat number.” Also according to this person, the Vietnamese people are “one of the most curious peoples” in the world. For instance, as soon as 2 Hondas scratch each other on the street, throngs of people will gather to watch.
If one wants to witness how the Vietnamese cunningness and jostling tendency demonstrated in real life, one only needs to buy a ticket to a buffet at any restaurant or hotel. What strikes one’s eyes is the image of people jostling each other to take as much as possible of their favorite food, only half of which will be eaten.
What’s about “superficial"? Superficiality is evident in the endless races for degrees, wealth and fame very common among the people who believe themselves the “upper class”.
As for solidarity and the ability to work in groups, one often hear such satirical sentences as “3 Russians are equal to one Jew; three Jews equal one Vietnamese, but 3 Vietnamese are equal to*” or "a Vietnamese falling into a lake can climb up by himself, but 3 Vietnamese can’t.” Professor Cao Xuan Hao once asked the question, “Is it true that there is a high-position official in the heart of every Vietnamese? Vietnamese people seem to want to be superior to even one person? They rather die than yield?”
Fond of anything foreign: a chronic sickness
Though arrogant and boastful, Vietnamese people can sometimes fall into such an inferiority complex that they almost become metal slaves and don’t believe they can do anything well. The foreignness loving mentality makes many people, especially the young, worship foreign things to the extreme, and imitate blindly anything imported from abroad.
The cause of this “sickness” is a “weak body.” When one isn’t strong from the inside, or doesn’t have anything worthy to be proud of, one tends to imitate, and run after appearances. A perfect example is the face of Vietnamese urban architecture which includes confusingly numerous styles and schools.
With what do the Vietnamese think?
Do Vietnamese people think with the head or the “stomach” (indeed, we often use the word “nghi bung” which is the combination of the 2 words “think” and “stomach”). At present, sentimental reasoning based on prejudices or experiences hamper our development. When will Vietnamese students have true systemic reasoning skills?
Are the Vietnamese hard-working and patient? One is tempted to answer in the negative, especially when this question is about the 8x generation or younger. Young Vietnamese people often do things perfunctorily. As long as we can’t cure the root of this “sickness” which is the habit of avoiding difficulties and the lack of motives in life, to help Vietnam fly will be an impossible mission.
So where do we start?
To have a successful flight, not only do we need outstanding leaders, but we also have to look into the mirror to see our defects and be determined to improve ourselves.
Perhaps what we need is a program with a specific time frame and targets, the first of which is to lead a life of integrity. We have to fight with all our might against the diseases of “thinking insincerely, speaking insincerely, studying insincerely, and making things insincerely” which are turning into a sort of culture and way of living of many people.
We can start from such simple things as obeying traffic laws. For instance, we should be determined to stop at the red lines, though we don’t see any policeman nearby. There should also be strict fines for irresponsible conducts like littering or motorbike racing and swinging and honking.
Only when integrity becomes our watchword can Vietnam take off.
Nguyen Thuy
Source: email :| (but definitely not a spam)