Article about life in Hanoi

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363-06886 to 363-06894.pdf

Digital Object Identifier

363-06886 to 363-06894

Title

Article about life in Hanoi

Description

Original title: "Hanoi life", Keever's title: "North Vietnam Communist Party Dictates Life Beginning with 4-Month-Old Babies", article about life in Hanoi from the French colonial period to the 1960s

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Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.

Transcript

Deepe Hanoi life page 1 Sept. 1, 1965 (Twenty years ago this week, on September 2, there was a brief, but historic event in Hanoi. In the airy public plaza facing the Palace of the French Governor-General, provisional president Ho Chi Minh defiantly read the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, stating Vietnam was no longer a French colony. Then commander-in-chief General Vo Nguyen Giap reviewed the Vietnamese (Communist) Army, which had been fighting Japanese forces and helping the Americans troops in the jungles during World War II. “It was a ragmuffin army of one thousand peasants with all sorts of uniforms and all sorts of weapons,” one Vietnamese recalled. Only days earlier, Emperor Bao Dai abdicated his throne, handed power over the Ho Chi Minh, and made the famous statement, “I prefer to be a citizen of a free country than king of a slave country.” The French colonial government considered the Declaration invalid; but after eight-years of bloody fighting during the French Indo-China War, [deletion: is] could not rescind it. This week, a twenty-eight year old defector told this story of life in North Vietnam:) deepe hanoi life page 2 sept 1, 1965 SAIGON--The Communist regime begins to raise a North Vietnamese baby from the time it is four months old. From then on, the Hanoi regime shapes, molds and directs the individual’s life, including the most personal details of love, sex, marriage and the family’s worship of ancestors, which had [deletion: previ] prevailed through the past [deletion: four] several thousand years. (More) deepe hanoi life page 3 In an exclusive interview, the young defector discussed the Hanoi regime’s policies and practices on love, sex, marriage and religion. ON CHILD-BIRTH. AT the time of child-birth, the expectant mother goes to a government-operated hospital or maternity clinic, remaining there for a week to ten days after the baby is born. For the next four months, the mother is allowed to stay home to breast-feed the baby. At the beginning of the fifth month, the baby is placed in a government-operated nursery and the mother goes to work. The mother takes the baby home during the night-time and during the lunchtime; the mother generally works near her house so she can come back and breast-feed the baby when it’s necessary. When the [deletion: child] baby is one year old, the mother works farther from the house, if the government decides it is necessary. At the [deletion: nurser] government-operated nursury, run mostly by women, the baby is first taught to walk and then to talk--and then to sing and to dance. [deletion: When] The child is [XXXX indicating deletion] taught the alphabet when it is five or six years old--and is then ready for formal kindergarten and schooling. deepe hanoi life page 4 Following the birth of the baby, the family has one week to report the birth to the government authorities--and the sooner the better--the defector added hastily, for then the baby is issued it’s own rations, rather than using the rations of the family. Rice and clothing are rationed in the North. But, he explained, families are slow in reporting a death [deletion: is] so that [deletion: food and rice] the rationed food and [deletion: rice] clothing quotas of the dead can [deletion: issued to the living] still be received. But the government authorities can always find out about the deaths because they have alot of cadre checking [deletion: it] them. If a family continues to draw the rationed quotas of the [XXXX indicating deletion] dead, the quotas are simply subtracted from the family’s rations the next month. So, it’s difficult to the cheat the government. (More) deepe hanoi life page 5 The [XXXX indicating deletion] most intelligent and most obedient schoolchildren, under fifteen years of age, are selected to join the Redkerchief organization, where they are taught “the five commandants of Uncle Ho.” These commandants include being obedient to the family and teachers, to be virtuous and hard-working. The school-children compete to become selected into the Redkerchiefs and regularly copy the five commandants [deletion: to be followed] and paste them on the walls of their [deletion: house] home. Those who are selected proudly wear [insertion: both in and out of school] a red [deletion: nec] bandana around their necks [deletion: --neckerchiefs]. Then the cream of the Redkerchief crop is selected for [insertion: membership in] the Lao Dong (Communist) Youth League, where the members range in age from 15 to 25. From 25 upwards, the best members are then selected into the Lao Uc Dong (Communist) Pary--which has become the new [deletion: ele] elite. The Party then becomes the center of life, surpassing even family relationships. If, for example, a daughter and [deletion: ax] her father sit together for the same meeting of the government, of the Party or of government-run associations, they address each other as “dong chi”--meaning comrade, instead of [insertion: using their] traditional [deletion: as father] names. However, outside of working hours, the word comrade is dropped and the traditional family names are used. DEEPE HANOI LIFE PAGE 6 ON LOVE & SEX: The Hanoi regime has a puritanical view towards illicit male-female relations; free love is discouraged. If, however, a love affair occurs, the couple is not married and an illegitimate baby is born, a committee judges the percentage of guilt of the man, the woman, or [insertion: of] both, and that percentage will be applied to the future support of the child. For example, if the woman willingly submitted to the love affair, then she must also help support the child with her food and clothing rations and money; if however, the man imposed himself on the women, then he is judged to be more guilty than the woman and must contribute more to the upbringing of the child. deepe hanoi life page 7 ON MARRIAGE: Traditionally, the Vietnamese family arranged--and dictated--the marriage of the children; in North Viet Nam [insertion: now], the Party dictates marriage. Usually, the couple submits a request to be married to the [XXXX indicating deletion] leading committee of the association or organization to which the couple belongs. This committee is dominated by the Communist Party cadre. The committee then studies the marriage request and makes recommendations [deletion: and] or suggestions. The committee can approve or disapprove of the request of marriage; in case of disapproval, the couple can still go ahead with the marriage plan, but [XXXX indicating deletion] they will be indirectly punished, usually through economic discriminations of rations or government housings. From the government viewpoint, the marriage may not be wise because [deletion: they] it might want to send the [deletion: cadre] persons to different parts of the country. (More) deepe hanoi life page 8 Marriage ceremonies have been drastically simplified and standardized. The most important traditional aspect of these ceremonies in former times was a giant feast for the whole family, which might number hundreds including aunts, uncles and great-grandchildren. Now, in the North, couples can still have “collective celebrations with songs,” but there’s not enough food for the feasts. There are no church marriages. ON RELIGION. The ancient Confucianistic-Taoist worship of the ancestors, which had prevailed in Vietnam for [deletion: four] several thousand years, has also been very drastically simplified. The family altar, where the ancestors and the dead were traditionally honored, is now called “The Altar of the Fatherland.” Unlike before, the altar displays the national flag, a picture of Ho Chi Minh--and thirdly, [deletion: a] photographs of the ancestors and the dead. At best, now, the family can afford to have a candle or petroleum lamp to light the altar and a few cups of tea, a few fruits and flowers for [deletion: respect] reverence. But even if the family wants to and can afford to buy the traditional joss sticks and fake paper money used as part of the religious rites, the government stores do not sell them, except at special times such as the lunar new year. (More) deepe hanoi life page 9 As in the case of marriage [deletion: ceremony] ceremonies, the large family banquets formerly held to honor the dead on the anniversary of their death can no longer be held because of food rationing. About Catholicism, the defector said he knew there was once a heavily populated Catholic area in Ben Thuy, near the city of Vinh. But, he said, when he visited Vinh, there was no trace of the Catholics. He said he never saw a person wearing a Catholic cross or a home with a crucific or picture of Jesus Christ. Now, there’s no trace of the Catholics; [insertion: he explained] they have disappeared [deletion: , he explained].

Date

1965, Sep. 1

Subject

Vietnam (Democratic Republic)--Politics and government; Civilians in war; Vietnam (Democratic Republic)--Social life and customs; Authoritarianism; Communism; Communism and liberty; Communism and society

Location

Saigon, South Vietnam

Coordinates

10.8231; 106.6311

Size

20 x 26 cm

Container

B187, F6

Format

dispatches

Collection Number

MS 363

Collection Title

Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers

Creator

Keever, Beverly Deepe

Collector

Keever, Beverly Deepe

Copyright Information

These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.

Publisher

Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries

Language

English