The following documents all come from a volume about Vietnam edited by François Sully. After leaving the French army in 1947, Sully, a French photojournalist, spent nearly the rest of his life in Vietnam. He played an important role as a translator of Vietnamese culture to the western world. The photographs that he took, as well as these articles from his book, will be featured on this website.

The documents in this section can be divided into three parts: myth, history, and guide book to Vietnam. The American Heritage Dictionary defines myth as "a traditional story presenting supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that serve as primordial types in a primitive view of the world." While "primitive" has connotations of its own, the first four documents in this section, qualify as myth. They seek to explain parts of the early history and culture of Vietnam without the benefit of the sort of documentation and testimony that historians rely on.

The next three documents qualify as history. They recount events for which records exist--even though some of those events occurred long ago. While some of those incidents have gained legendary status, we can be pretty sure that, for example, the Trung sisters really existed.

The final four documents in this section were written by Vietnamese and observers of Vietnam and were attempts to give incoming westerners a sense of Vietnamese culture and traditions. They were an attempt to help westerners "fit in and make friends" in Vietnam.

1. The Origin of the Vietnamese People and Land
   These folk tales explained the origin of Vietnam. The stories emphasize the difference between the Vietnamese and the Chinese as well as the power of nature.



2. Origin and Meaning of the Name Vietnam
   This piece, by a member of what was, in 1958, the North Vietnamese government, traces the history of the name "Vietnam" and provides a short history of the relationship between the Vietnamese and the Chinese. Note the description of the Vietnamese as a "race" in the first paragraph of this document.



3. Magic Landscaping
   The article explains a Vietnamese tradition that was unfamiliar to westerners. This custom, geomancy, used concepts of landscape architecture to allow Vietnamese society to deal with many of the uncertainties of life.



4. Ancestor Worship
   In contrast to the new religion brought to Vietnam by French missionaries, ancestor worship had a long history in Vietnam. In a North Vietnamese publication in 1958, the traditional Vietnamese understanding of the reason for worshipping one's ancestors was described.



5. The insurrection of the two Trung Sisters
   The Trung sisters are often cited as the examples of the age-old Vietnamese desire for independence. This piece, published in Hanoi in 1960 even at a time when China was a sponsor of North Vietnam's policies, still asserted the power of the Trung sisters and the revolt they led against the Chinese.



6. Request of the Mandarins Against the Christians - August 1826
   French missionaries in Vietnam found themselves involved in politics. Supporting those Vietnamese who protected their policy of conversion to Roman Catholicism, the missionaries found tehmselves bitterly opposed by other segments of society. In this 1826 petition, Vietnamese mandarins, the members of the elite class in society, requested that the Vietnamese ruler remove the evil foreign missionaries from Vietnamese soil.



7. Saigon: From Citadel to Nation's Capital
   This piece, written in the late 1950s, emphasizes the growth of Saigon in the period before the French conquered the area. The disunity of Vietnam before the French is a subtext of this argument.



8. Street Vendors of the Cities
   This June 1961 article, originally published in Viet My, a monthly magazine published in Saigon by the Vietnamese American Association, described the bustling industry of food vendors in the capital of South Vietnam. As Saigon grew in size and received more and more American officials and advisors, this guide to the cuisine of the streets was doubtlessly very practical.



9. Vietnamese Names Mean a Lot
   Americans have often been uncomfortable with traditions in which unfamiliar names abound. This 1969 article unravels the cultural history of Vietnamese names for American readers.



10. The Translucent Beauty of the Ao Dai
    This article appeared in the Saigon Daily News in 1968. It celebrates the traditional beauty of the "ao dai." It also talks about the changes in the garment since the arrival of the western powers in Vietnam.



11. How to be Liked in Vietnam
    An article that appeared in 1968 as a guide to westerners. The article was an attempt to help westerners avoid the sorts of cultural faux pas that could be embarrassing or harm relations between allies.