Remote places - Vietnam

Remote places - Vietnam
Hoang Thao, Manager, Vietnam

 
Hoang Thao, a young lady living in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, gave the first interview from this part of the world, in which she openly expressed feelings that are held by the younger Vietnamese generation of today. She even openly answered questions regarding the current problems of her country. A country where people are closely tied by tradition and where the family stands at the forefront of life. Read the interview with this young lady who represents the young Vietnam generation.

1) How did you learn about the Week of Life project and what convinced you to take photos of your own week of life?
I often visit www.vladstudio.com, the page of illustrator Vlad Gerasimov, where he wrote that he really enjoyed Week of Life, so I had a look at the homepage, looked at a lot of amazing photos by the others and then wanted to contribute with some images of my life, my area to the Project. So I just went for it.

2) How would you describe the life in Vietnam? What do you appreciate the most about your country and on the other hand, what would you like to change?
In Vietnam, the lifestyle is different among different cities. My home city, which is the capital, surely has a busier lifestyle than all the smaller ones, but it is not as fast as the biggest city of our country, Ho Chi Minh City. Of course everywhere people have to work hard to earn a living but here they highly consider also the non-material value and they enjoy every moment of their life with other people.
The advantages of my country: People: quite peaceful, friendly, strong connection among the community, caring and generous. Nice landscape. Food: always cheap, fresh and new. It is also famous for Silk and Coffee.
The disadvantages: too many protocols if there’s a problem related to documents. Traffic is bad in the two biggest cities. People are poor. Sometimes customers do not have any power. We need a more active attitude. We need to improve education and books.

3) We can see from your photos that the members of your family are often together and that you respect traditions. Do you think that people in Vietnam follow national habits more than people, for example, in European countries? And what is the attitude of young people towards respecting traditions?
I think that Vietnamese people, just as European people, have their own special days. Perhaps they are not the same: for example you have Christmas, we have Lunar New Year. However I must say that people here in Vietnam really highly appreciate the value of the family. Normally no one leaves their home to live alone until they get married and family members are always very close to each other. Young people are less meddled by their parents, nevertheless, they still obey their parents a lot. It does not mean they don't have their own point, but it means they respect and always want to please their parents.

4) The things you say are very interesting. In Europe and I think in America too, the situation is different. Perhaps that‘s the reason why there are more and more singles who live alone, because today everyone wants to be independent soon. What about you? Do you live alone or with your parents? Do you have brothers and sisters? May I ask you how old you are?
I am 23 and I am not married so I still live with my family. I have a younger sister who is 8 years old (small, right?). Actually I have my job and if I wanted I could move out. But it's also a problem of finances. It's more economical when you don’t have to rent a house and the meal (made by mom) is ready every evening after work. I kind of love living with them :) People here are closely attached to their family. For example, if a woman has 2 sons, one of them has to live with the parents to take care of them even if he's married. Normally that's the 2nd son :). Next year I'll go to England for my Master course (Art Management) so of course at that time I won’t live with my family.

5) You say that you learned about the project from Vlad Gerasimov´s website, Vladstudio. Does it mean that you are interested in visual and graphic arts and design?
I'm interested in interesting things, especially arts. I worked for an art foundation, projects and websites. My hobby is following art events, see what's happening today... :)

6) What must people in your country do or be to have a good life in Vietnam and not be poor?
To be honest, while a part of the Vietnamese people study a lot, work harder and harder everyday to get high salary and better living standard, others are fond of making big money in short time periods in ridiculous ways that you can not imagine. Mostly they are not criminals but they are fond of things like "lottery and gambling", which are highly illegal. There are no adequate words for them in English so I’m sorry I cannot explain more :)

7) What would you say about freedom of speech in your country? Is it easy to access information from abroad, for example through the internet, or is there any blockage of sites that are “unsuitable”?
We have freedom, however we never mention sensitive problems such as politics. We cannot access many sites from abroad like Talawas, and even Facebook :) However people always find a way to connect. The government hasn't released any strict rules concerning these issues.

8) Buddhism is the most practiced religion in your country. What does it mean exactly for a modern person? Do you feel any difference between the attitude of young and older generations to this faith?
The Vietnamese people have a habit of going to pagodas, especially on Full moon or Lunar New Year. Many of them are Buddhist, however if someone goes to the pagoda it does not mean that he is Buddhist, it’s just something we love to do. Buddhists normally concentrate in certain areas, and they are mostly seniors who have free time. I myself do not like and care about religion, however I love going to the pagodas and wish for better things to happen. Thailand is much more into Buddhism than Vietnam. Both young and old people always respect the faith and the monks, whether they are Buddhist or not. One of the reasons is that Vietnamese people believe monks and Buddhism in general is very pure and believable. Another reason is that during the war, pagodas and monks helped many families hide and live there, they protected them, taught them to write and to speak.

Weeks of Hoang Thao