Final Research Results Supported by the KFAS International Scholar Exchange Fellowship program, 2008 – 2009
INHERITING AND DEVELOPING VIETNAMESE TRADITIONAL MORAL VALUES IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION WITH REFERENCE TO KOREA’S EXPERIENCES
Dr. DANG THI LAN
Vietnam National University, Hanoi
Host Scholar: Prof. SONG JUNG NAM
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
Date of submission: August 14, 2009
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my deep gratitude towards KFAS and President Jae – youl Kim who sponsored scholarship and offered me an opportunity to study and do research for one year in South Korea. During that time, I have learnt precious knowledge which is valuable in developing my specialty.
My special thank is given to my host scholar – Pro. Song Jung Nam at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, who helped and provided precious ideas for me to complete this research.
My sincere thank to officers in International Academic Division of KFAS: Mr. Taeg Kim, Mr. Taeseok Kang, Ms. Mary Lee, Ms. Gyungmi Kim and Ms. Sara Jang who always took care, helped and created favorable conditions for us; we always feel warm like living in our own family.
Many thanks are also given to other members of KFAS who provided us with valuable support. Especially, I would like to thank Mr. Chan Ho, a sincere and best friend of all Vietnamese scholars. Thanks to you, we had opportunity to learn about country, culture and people of South Korea.
During one year living and working here, I realize that South Korea is so close and friendly like my second homeland. Once again, I would like to thank you so much for everything!
Seoul August 2, 2009
Dang Thi Lan
ABSTRACT
Nowadays, globalization is taking its long stride and positioning as an indispensable process of all countries in over the world, in which, every nations is in need of deeply integrating into the process of globalization unless they are left backwards from the others. In the context of globalization, Vietnam is enjoying great opportunities unparallel to facing various challenges. One of the challenges for the society development in Vietnam now is crisis of Vietnamese ethic and traditional values.
At present, following tendency of globalization and regionalization, Vietnam and Korea are expanding the closed relationship. Thus, precious experiences of Korea in their constructing country, especially experiences in maintaining and developing traditional moral values are significant important for Vietnam in our process of renovation.
Trong bối cảnh thế giới hiện nay, toàn cầu hóa như một quá trình tất yếu khách quan lôi cuốn tất cả các quốc gia, dân tộc trên thế giới. Nó đòi hỏi các dân tộc phải hội nhập vào dòng chảy toàn cầu nếu không muốn ngày càng tụt hậu xa so với quốc tế và khu vực. Tiến trình hội nhập quốc tế đã tạo cho Việt nam nhiều cơ hội và nhiều thách thức. Một trong những thách thức đối với sự phát triển của xã hội Việt Nam hiện nay là sự khủng hoảng các giá trị đạo đức và truyền thống dân tộc.
Hiện nay, trong xu thế toàn cầu hóa và khu vực hóa, mối quan hệ giao lưu giữa Việt nam và Hàn Quốc ngày càng được mở rộng. Kinh nghiệm của Hàn Quốc về xây dựng đất nước, đặc biệt là kinh nghiệm bảo tồn và phát huy các giá trị đạo đức truyền thống dân tộc sẽ có ý nghĩa thiết thực và quý báu cho Việt Nam trong quá trình đổi mới đất nước hiện nay.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgment 2
Abstract 3
Chapter 1. GLOBALIZATION – OPPORTUNITY AND CHALLENGE TO TRADITIONAL MORAL VALUES OF VIETNAM 6
1.1. Traditional value of Vietnam in globalization context 6
1.1.1. Concept of Globalization 6
1.1.2. Definition of Vietnamese traditional moral values 7
1.2. The effects of globalization to Vietnamese traditional moral values 9
1.2.1. Globalization – opportunities and challenges for Vietnamese traditional moral values 9
1.2.2. Changes of Vietnamese traditional moral values under the effects of globalization 11
Chapter 2. INHERIT AND PROVE TRADITIONAL MORAL VALUES IN BUILDING NEW MORALITY IN VIETNAM TODAY 16
2.1. Real situation of morality in Vietnamese society today 16
2.1.1. Positive moral symbols 16
2.1.2. Negative expression and depressive morality in Vietnam nowadays 18
2.2. Role of traditional morality values in improvement of national morality 23
2.2.1. Traditional morality values – basic of national morality improvement 23
2.2.2. Method of inheritance and developing the Vietnam’s traditional moral values in process creating new morality. 25
Chapter 3. EXPERIENCES OF KOREA IN MAINTENANCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF TRADITIONAL MORAL VALUES AND SOLUTIONS TO VIETNAM 29
3.1. Confucianism – Foundation of morality in Korea society from tradition to modernization 29
3.1.1. Confucianism and Korean traditional morality 29
3.1.2. New Confucianism and inheritance and promotion of traditional morality 30
3.2. Promoting the thought of considering human education of Confucianism – Origin of health of Social morality in Korea 33
3.2.1. Educational policy of Korea 33
3.2.2. Promoting the prominence idea in human personality education of Confucianism 34
3.3. Solutions for Vietnam in preserving and promoting traditional moral values basing on receiving experiences of Korea 37
3.3.1. Inheriting active values of Confucianism in constructing morality in family, school and society 37
3.3.2. Educational renovation, concentration on the goals of training people and developing comprehensively both knowledge and morality 44
Conclusion 48
References 50
Index 52
CHAPTER 1
GLOBALIZATION – OPPORTUNITY AND CHALLENGE TO TRADITIONAL MORAL VALUES OF VIETNAM
1.1. Traditional Value of Vietnam in globalization context
1.1.1. Concept of globalization
Before 19 Century, globalization was known from the Silk Road, establishing economic and cultural relationship between Asia and Europe. It may be considered as primary globalization of middle age world.
According to general knowledge, globalization is a strongly increasing process of relations, interactions and mutual dependency of all areas and nations over the world in development and mobilization process. Many studies show that the nature of globalization concept includes historical reality which appeared and have existed for a long time, originated from socialization of social manufacture.
The current globalization has basic changes in term of quantity and quality in all fields, in which economic globalization plays as the base. There are several characteristics of globalization as follows:
- Rapid increase of international and aerial institutions in order to regulate global and aerial economic relations.
- Rapid increase in number of multinational companies and great flow of commerce service, capital, technology and human resources, and so on.
- The explosion of informative science: revolutionary changes of digital information technology is changing manufacturing and traditional business methods by nature as well as eliminating all barriers, blurring border between nations.
- Current globalization is international economic integration combined with liberalization.
The objective base of globalization originates from strong development of productive force, leading to high socialization of production volume, enhancing rapid division of labor and wider and deeper international cooperation. The outstanding development in information sector creates great change in economic activities and social life. The information system is considered to be mean of social activities, especially economic activities.
The communicational information technology like internet, super-speed digital information net, etc makes transaction among business organizations and individuals all over the world convenient and fast, reducing cost and increasing benefit.
The development of global information makes business organizational and managing methods change by nature. People can be at controlling center and manage all units, or they can make transaction and exchanges with each other over the world without meeting in person. Information becomes “material”, “collecting” and “processing” information for purchase is becoming important industry in economy.
In biology field, discoveries in gene structure and genetics enable people to create new plants and animals proactively with high productivity, quality and effectiveness, producing rich sources of food.
Development in new technology also creates many new materials and fuels to replace traditional ones, manufacturing various products to satisfy increasing demand of human beings. Changes in material technology produce cheap and beautiful goods for consumers; therefore it promotes international commercial transaction.
Multinational companies are important factors which strongly promote globalization trend. The wave of incorporating multinational companies is not only result of globalization process but also factor boosting globalization trend to take place rapidly and strongly. This reduces state role and therefore, the economic liberalization is increasing.
In conclusion, together with development in science, technology and knowledge economy, globalization has become objective trend which has strong influence on not only economic sector but also political, social and cultural sectors. However, one nation would not be itself anymore if it loses national cultural tradition. International integration and conservation of national cultural tradition are two aspects having close relationship and are objective demand for a nation to exist and develop in globalization trend.
1.1.2. Definition of Vietnamese traditional moral values
1.1.2.1. Definition of value
The definition of value came from the ancient time, associated with philosophy and belonged to morality’s structure. Later, definition of value was used in many different sciences with many different broad senses as well as literal meanings.
From the point of view of morality, values are considered in the ranges of humans’ moral and spiritual life. Moral values are the attitudes and behaviors that are selected and thought to have positive meanings to social life. They are approved by conscience and praised by the public opinions, so they are appropriate to moral standards of the society in each particular historical period.
The morphological manifestations of value are various. Generally, there are two major values: material value and spirit value. Spirit value system of social life in general, moral values in particular are always considered to be the factors that constitute appearance of a nation, a period, a culture, etc. Values play an important role in humans’ life; they include awareness, emotion and behavior factors of human being in the relationship with subjects, phenomena and they express humans’ decisions and evaluations. Values are the basis for people to specify their purposes and orientations. They are also the basis to assess people’s wrong and right behaviors.
Moral values:
In the spiritual value system, moral values are stimulated to be the standards, the ideal models, the behavioral rules to adjust and standardize humans’ behaviors. Moral values have both the standard and the flexibility; and always mobilize as well as change along with the common mobilization and changes of economic, social life. This can be seen through the conflicts between traditional and modern values. At these times, humankind faces a difficult option. This moral value can be unchangeable but other moral values can be changeable. This change is because the awareness of each person, each generation, each period has a different conception about moral values.
1.1.2.2. Vietnamese traditional moral values.
Traditional moral values are the whole moral ideas, emotions and habits transferred from this generation to another generation and followed voluntarily by people.
Vietnamese moral values have a deep origin from geological condition, natural, historical and social environment. All traditional moral values of the nation are represented the most condensed, unique and obvious about the country’s nature. They are also the civil power for an ethnic, a country’s survival and development. These traditional moral values are both the basis and the motivation for the fighting process of constructing, maintaining the country and nation’s long-term cultural exchanges, contributing to the creation of nation’s stuff and Vietnamese people’s personality.
Vietnam has an abundant moral heritage, including following major values: Spirit of patriotism, deep mercy, spirit of solidarity, studiousness spirit, spirit of hard-working and mental saving.
In the globalization background nowadays, besides the acquirement of quintessence of other nations all over the world, we need inherit and bring into play moral tradition, fine customs of the nation in order to create a new moral standards system that have the rich ethnic and is suitable for the modern society.
When the history had great changes, nations were not so that they denied absolutely the traditional values coming from the ancient time. On the contrary, they knew how to filter these values, complement and promote them to become the motivation of developing process of our country.
1.2. The effects of globalization to Vietnamese traditional moral values.
1.2.1. Globalization – Opportunities and challenges for Vietnamese traditional moral values.
Globalization nowadays has a strong influence to the countries and the social life of the whole humankind community. Globalization itself always has two distinct sides, both negative and positive, both opportunities and challenges for all countries, especially for developing countries like Vietnam.
Opportunities:
Globalization provides chances to the economic development of all countries through liberalization trade, attracting investment, transforming science – technology and improving competitive capacity of products and services. On the other hand, globalization creates conditions to capture new information, knowledge as well as to enhance Yu the competitive capacity of the economy. To developing countries, globalization is an opportunity for them to reduce the gap with other countries in the area and all over the world due to selecting and applying the advanced science achievements to promote production force, improve economy’s capacity, increase the competitive ability of exported products and boost trade balance thanks to taking shortcut mode and firstly using latest science – technology advances.
In term of politics, globalization increases the interdependence that is beneficial for the struggle of peace, cooperation and development, because advanced industrial countries also depend greatly on developing countries.
In social respect, globalization create good conditions to solve the global urgent issues which no country can deal with by itself such as environment pollution, population bombing, disease, etc.
In the aspect of culture, globalization brings about many opportunities to widen exchanges of culture, science and education among countries. Through these exchanges, traditional values of a country can be propagated to many nations in the world. On the other hand, also through these exchanges, each country can acquire the cultural quintessence of other countries to make its culture rich and abundant.