Chinese Culture
CHINESE INFLUENCE ON YOUR CULTURE
Historically, Vietnam has undergone many wars with some countries all over the world. After each war, Vietnamese culture was influenced by those countries. Especially, China is the huge country, which dominated Vietnam for a thousand years, (countryside, n,d). Thus, it is no surprise that Vietnamese culture has been affected by Chinese culture in many aspects such as calendar, language, religion and food.
The most obvious influence can be seen is the calendar. In Vietnam, there are two different kinds of calendar. First calendar is International calendar, which is counted by the sun's circulation. Another calendar is counted by the moon's circulation, which is also known as lunar calendar, (fullmoonphases, n.d). Based on lunar calendar, we have some celebrations such as Lunar New Year, which is also called "Tet" holiday. It is the most important celebration in both countries. Besides that, in August of lunar calendar, Vietnamese have Moon day on 15th, August, which is known as Mid-Autumn festival. In that day, Vietnamese eat moon cakes and children bring lanterns, walking around their neighbors' houses. Vietnam and China share similarities in celebrations due to the effect of Chinese calendar.
Secondly, the influence of Chinese culture is apparent in Vietnamese language. Because China colonized Vietnam for over a thousand years, the Vietnamese language developed based on Chinese. In the 13th century, "Chu Nom", which was known as Vietnamese writing, was developed but it was not popular in daily life of Vietnamese, (lonelyplanet, n.d). Until the 15th century, Vietnamese still used traditional Chinese language and after the middle of 20th century, it was superseded by the new, Latin alphabet, (languagetranslation, n.d). However, the greatest influence on Vietnamese language is Chinese language. It is about 60% of the Vietnamese words that can be known as original Sino-Vietnamese, (Chinatravel, 2014). Besides language that
Historically, Vietnam has undergone many wars with some countries all over the world. After each war, Vietnamese culture was influenced by those countries. Especially, China is the huge country, which dominated Vietnam for a thousand years, (countryside, n,d). Thus, it is no surprise that Vietnamese culture has been affected by Chinese culture in many aspects such as calendar, language, religion and food.
The most obvious influence can be seen is the calendar. In Vietnam, there are two different kinds of calendar. First calendar is International calendar, which is counted by the sun's circulation. Another calendar is counted by the moon's circulation, which is also known as lunar calendar, (fullmoonphases, n.d). Based on lunar calendar, we have some celebrations such as Lunar New Year, which is also called "Tet" holiday. It is the most important celebration in both countries. Besides that, in August of lunar calendar, Vietnamese have Moon day on 15th, August, which is known as Mid-Autumn festival. In that day, Vietnamese eat moon cakes and children bring lanterns, walking around their neighbors' houses. Vietnam and China share similarities in celebrations due to the effect of Chinese calendar.
Secondly, the influence of Chinese culture is apparent in Vietnamese language. Because China colonized Vietnam for over a thousand years, the Vietnamese language developed based on Chinese. In the 13th century, "Chu Nom", which was known as Vietnamese writing, was developed but it was not popular in daily life of Vietnamese, (lonelyplanet, n.d). Until the 15th century, Vietnamese still used traditional Chinese language and after the middle of 20th century, it was superseded by the new, Latin alphabet, (languagetranslation, n.d). However, the greatest influence on Vietnamese language is Chinese language. It is about 60% of the Vietnamese words that can be known as original Sino-Vietnamese, (Chinatravel, 2014). Besides language that