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ABSTRACT
The notion of post-Chineseness is enlisted to analyze Vietnamese Sinology as a comparative agenda. Post-Chineseness refers to the cultural preparation and the political process of mutual acknowledgement among those who consider one another sharing (some kind of) Chineseness, practically defined according to the context and its trajectories, at each time and each site. Chineseness can thus have various, if not entirely irrelevant, meanings. Vietnamese Sinologists have relied on different kinds of post-Chineseness to make sense of their relationship with the encountered Chinese to select and determine the mode of self-understanding, the purpose and a strategy to reconnect, and the normative criterion to assess and manage the relationship. Chinese Vietnamese are significantly less numerous than Chinese Malaysian, Thai, and Indonesians. However, the history of Vietnam is considerably closer to China than are those of Korea and Japan, in terms of length of merger. The post-Chineseness of Vietnamese scholarship therefore complicates its role-identity vis-à-vis China, intellectually as well as practically.
Notes on contributor
Chih-yu Shih teaches anthropology of knowledge and international relations theory at the Department of Political Science, National Taiwan University. His recent publications include Post-Western International Relations Reconsidered: The Premodern Politics of Gongsun Long (Palgrave), Civilization, Nation, and Modernity in East Asia (Routledge), Sinicizing International Relations: Self, Civilization, and Intellectual Politics in Subaltern East Asia (Palgrave), and Harmonious Intervention: China’s Quest for Relational Security (Ashgate).
Notes
1. A sentiment revealed in the oral history of a good number of Senior Sinologists, to be discussed later.
2. Oral history of Phan Van Cac, accessed 11 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/vietnam_04.doc.
3. Nguyen Huy Hoang enlightens me on this phenomenon.
4. Oral history of Nguyen Bang Tuong, accessed 11 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/vietnam_05.doc.
5. I benefit from an interview with Tran Thuy Anh on this particular reflection.
6. Oral history of Ly Viet Dung, accessed 11 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/interviewV%20Ly%20Viet%20Dung.pdf.
7. Oral history of Phan Van Cac.
8. Oral history of Le Huy Tieu, accessed 11 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/interviewV%20Le%20Huy%20Tieu.pdf.
9. Oral history of Le Huy Tieu.
10. I am indebted to Vu Duoan Luan for this observation.
11. I am indebted to Nguyen Tran Tien for this reflection.
12. I am indebted to Nguyen Huy Hoang for this observation.
13. I am likewise indebted to Nguyen Huy Hoang for this observation.
14. Oral history of Nguyen Huy Quy, accessed 11 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/vietnam_03.doc.
15. Oral history of Phan Van Cac.
16. Nguyen Van Hong shares his own reflection with me in an interview.
17. Oral history of Nguyen Ton Nhan, accessed 11 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/interview%20VN%20NGUYEN%20TON%20NHAN%20CH.pdf.
18. Oral history of Hồ Sĩ Hiệp, accessed 11 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/interviewV%20Ho%20Si%20Hiep.pdf.
19. Oral history of Pham Thi Hao, accessed 11 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/interview%20VN%20PHAM%20THI%20HAO%20CH.pdf.
20. Oral history of Pham Tu Chau, accessed 11 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/interviewV%20Pahm%20Tu%20Chau%20Chinese.pdf.
21. Pham Quang Minh shares this general impression with me in an interview.
22. Phung Thi Hue shares her experiences with me in an interview.
23. Nguyen Van Hong enlightens me on this particular reflection in an interview.
24. Oral history of Nguyen Van Hong.
25. Oral history of Ha Kien Hanh, accessed 11 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/vietnam_13.pdf.
26. Pham Quang Minh enlightens me on the situation of this period.
27. My impression is indebted to Dao Thi Tam Khann’s research experiences.
28. Oral history of Nguyen Van Khang, accessed 12 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/InterviewV%20Nguyen%20Van%20Khang%20Chinese%201.pdf.
29. Oral history of Ha Kien Hanh.
30. Oral history of Ly Viet Dung.
31. Oral history of Nguyen Bang Tuong.
32. Oral history of Pham Thi Hao as well as that of Tran Tuan Man, accessed 12 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/InterviewV%20Tran%20Tuan%20Man.pdf.
33. Phung Thi Huy shares her son’s learning experiences in China as being positive, for example.
34. Oral history of Ly Viet Dung.
35. I am indebted to Pham Quang Minh on the feeling of disloyalty and betrayal directed at Vietnam among Chinese.
36. Pham Quang Minh agrees that confrontations are by all means transient from the Vietnamese perspectives.
37. Oral history of Vu Khieu, accessed 12 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/vietnam_07ch.pdf. Also see oral history of Nguyen Van Khang, accessed 12 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/InterviewV%20Nguyen%20Van%20Khang%20Chinese%201.pdf. In addition, one anonymous interviewee says that her experiences living in the border area since childhood makes no distinction between the two people except in the language each uses.
38. Oral history of Tran Le Bao as well as that of Nguyen Khue, accessed 12 March 2017. See http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/InterviewV%20Tran%20Le%20Bao%20Chinese.pdf, and http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/interview%20VN%20NGUYEN%20KHUE%20ch.pdf.
39. Oral history of Nguyen Huy Quy as well as that of Phan Van Cac.
40. Oral history of Nguyen Ton Nhan.
41. Oral history of Tran Xuan De, accessed 12 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/InterviewV%20Tran%20Xuan%20De.pdf.
42. I am indebted to both Tran Hoang Quan Nguyen Tran Tien on this observation.
43. Oral history of Le Huy Thieu, accessed 12 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/InterviewV%20Le%20Huy%20Tieu%20Chinese.pdf.
44. Hoang Thu Anh enlightens me on the impression that the Vietnamese easily distinguish the Chinese people from the Chinese government and understand that the desire to control Vietnam is primarily a government policy.
45. More than that between China and any other country according to Ho Si Hiep, see his Oral history, accessed 11 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/interviewV%20Ho%20Si%20Hiep.pdf.
46. Oral history of Vu Khieu.
47. Oral history of Nguyen Bang Tuong.
48. Sinology enables one to understand modern nationalism and the thought of Ho Chi Minh. See oral history of Nguyen Van Hong.
49. Oral history of Buu Cam, accessed 12 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/interview%20VN%20BUU%20CAM%20ch.pdf.
50. Oral history of Pham Tu Chau.
51. Oral history of Cao Tu Thanh, accessed 12 March 2017. http://politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/interview%20VN%20CAO%20TU%20THANH%20ch.pdf.
52. So, China assessed by democracy and peace is a harbinger for Vietnam assessed by the same criteria. See oral history of Tran Le Bao.
53. Oral history of Nguyen Van Khan.
54. Strongly emphasized by many Sinologists, for examples, see oral history interviews of Tran Le Bao, Nguyen Ton Nhan, and Pham Thi Hao.
55. Oral history of Phan Van Cac as well as that of Vu Khieu.
56. Oral history of Tran Xuan De.
57. Oral history of Tran Tuan Man as well as that of Nguyen Khue, who expresses pride and satisfaction in becoming a Sinologist.
58. I am indebted to Nguyen Huy Hoang for this reflection.
59. I am indebted to Tran Viet Thai for this reflection.
60. I am indebted to Nguyen Tran Tien who shares the brotherhood analogy given by his father.
61. The anonymous interviewee uses “PGS TS Tran Le” as a pen name.
62. From oral history of Tran Tuan Man. The quotation, originally in Vietnamese, is translated by the author.