Vietnam is a small country in south-east Asia enriched with a beautiful culture very different to our own in the western world. One major turning point in Vietnamese culture was the formation of French Indochina in, which was made up of what is now known as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. French Indochina was formed in October 1887, after the Sino-French War, in which France was successful in fighting China for power over Vietnam. Once France had taken control over Vietnam, its culture immediately began to alter. Although the Vietnamese government has attempted to remove any sign of French rule since its declaration of independence in September 1945, French influences throughout the country are still very apparent; Vietnam was under the control of France for so many years that French culture has become a part of its own.
The influence of the French is clear in the Vietnemese cuisine. Before the French colonisation, Vietnam had a relatively diverse cuisine, with the main source of influence being China, as they are neighbouring countries, and so ingredients and even specific dishes, such as wontons, were passed to Vietnam from China. The cuisine was also based on the idea of a balance of five different elements – bitter, salty, sweet, sour, and spicy, as well as a balance of ‘warm’ and ‘cool’ ingredients, but not in a literal sense that would be obvious to western tasters. However, nowadays, many of Vietnam’s national dishes are just Vietnamese versions of French dishes, that have been modified in order to make use of local ingredients. For example, ‘banh mi’ is a type of sandwich that emerged as the Vietnamese took on the French tradition of baking baguettes, but instead of using plain flour, they use rice flour to make the dough, as rice flour is widely available in Vietnam. The reason why cuisine in Vietnam changed during the French colonisation of Indochina is that the traditional Vietnamese food was not fit to the taste of the French colonists and their families, and they wanted a cuisine that was more similar to their cuisine back home. An example of economic exploitation which led to a change in Vietnemese culture, was interestingly coffee. Before Vietnam was taken over by France, the preferred hot drink was tea, just like it was in China. However, when France first came to Vietnam, they brought coffee with them, and later discovered that the climate there was perfect for growing coffee beans. This led to many coffee bean plantations being set up, and coffee was quickly integrated into the Vietnamese culture. Similar to how Vietnamese baguettes are made with rice flour rather than plain flour, Vietnamese coffee is drunk cold with condensed milk as a sweetener, rather than hot with no milk, like the French usually drink it. However, the reason for this is not to make use of local ingredients like it is for the baguettes, but instead because the type of coffee drunk by the French was so different to the basis of Vietnamese cuisine that instead of fully accepting the coffee as it was presented to them by the French, they modified it to fit their own taste. Today, even though Vietnam is an independent country, it is the second largest coffee exporter in the world, and as well as being a huge part of their culture, it is vital to their economy.
The French influence in Vietnam can also be seen in religion. One of the original reasons why France wanted to colonise Indochina, alongside the economic reasons, was to spread Christianity: the French leaders of Roman Catholicism and Protestant Christianity believed that they had a sacred duty to spread their religious beliefs into other countries and eliminate non-Christian religions. Before Vietnam was taken over by France, Vietnam was officially atheistic, with the main religions being Vietnamese Folk religion (which is a set of local worship traditions devoted to multiple gods, rather than an organized religion) and Buddhism. Even though today Vietnam still identifies as an atheist country, due to the French missionaries, Christianity has become more popular in Vietnam, with 7% of the Vietnamese population labelling themselves as Christian today, as a result of Christianity being passed down through generations. It is not uncommon in Vietnam for people to wear the Catholic cross or have a shrine for Jesus in their home in addition to their ancestor altar, which is part of a Vietnamese tradition where people worship their late ancestors. This tradition is upheld due to the belief that deceased ancestors continue to live in another realm, and will give advice and bring good fortune in return for offerings made at the altar. Christian holidays in Vietnam have their own Vietnamese traditions, for example, for Christmas, people attend a midnight mass on Christmas eve and then return home for a Christmas dinner, consisting of duck rather than turkey. The introduction of Christianity in Vietnam is also reflected in the architecture. Some of the most famous buildings in Vietnam today are churches, for example, the Notre-Dame Basilica in Saigon. The architecture of the churches and other buildings in Vietnam are also clearly influenced by the French colonisation of Indochina. Before the colonisation of Vietnam, the architecture was designed to both fit in with Vietnamese folk customs and protect people from wild animals, and so buildings often took on the shape of a boat or a tortoise shell, with decorative roofs. Now when visiting Vietnam, many of the building features include symmetry, columns, and arches, which are all also common in French architecture, although it had to be modified in order to fit the climate in Vietnam, which is very different to that in France.
Overall, there are many differences in Vietnamese culture before and after the French colonisation of Indochina, which include changes in cuisine, religion, and architecture. While much of France’s influence is still visible in different aspects of Vietnam’s culture, since Vietnam has become an independent country, it is slowly gaining back some of its beautiful, original culture and character.
Comentarios