And Now for Something Completely Different, Part II

In recent news, China and Vietnam entered into what was the most outwardly aggressive tussle in the last 13 years. If you didn't catch it, you can read more here. I wrote about the conflict between China and its Asian neighbors before, but I wanted to revisit the issue, this time with more of a focus on Vietnam. The situation is a lot less tense now, but feelings are still hot around the city.

A Chinese Coast Guard ship using a water cannon to spray a Vietnamese police boat. The Chinese initially denied such actions, but later claimed responsibility.

A Chinese coast guard vessel (R) rams a Vietnamese marine police boat to protect an oil rig China towed into Vietnam's territorial waters in the South China Sea. Credit: Tuoi Tre

I took a trip to Mui Ne recently and saw this little guy moored in a marina close by my friend's house. Note the covered machine gun mounted on the bow of the ship.

The kids here are exposed to propaganda-like signs regarding the ownership of the island pretty early on. This sign is mounted in the quad of one of the primary schools that I teach at. The irony of it is that this sign calls for people to make donations to the cause by texting the number on the board.

I saw this sign on the way back from Mui Ne. I don't understand the logic of reminding people that the Paracel and Spratley Islands are Vietnam's on a dirt road people use to travel home from vacation.

There was, of course, an explosion of posts on Facebook in response to the event. On the more subtle and conservative side, people were encouraging Vietnamese patriotism.

Others on Facebook called for action. As you might guess, this sign calls for the boycotting of goods made in China.

I saw this picture a lot as people's profile pictures. This is another subtle patriotic picture that can roughly be translated as, "look towards the Eastern Sea."

Others were a lot less subtle in their response to China's actions.

There was plenty of derogatory and racist language being used in the comment sections.

Comments

Chinese Chess - Cờ Tướng - 象棋

The latest interest I've taken in my quest to learn more about my Vietnamese heritage is the game of Chinese chess. It is a bit ironic to look for Vietnamese culture in a game that has the word "Chinese" in its name, but I found that it is only so for the sake of translation. I have taken to this game for a number of reasons. 1. The game has cool historical references that have survived even today. Let's start with the board itself. Unlike a chess board, which is played on the squares, Chinese chess is played on the intersections of lines. What is most recognizably different from normal chess boards, however, is the large gap in the middle of the board as well as the lines that form an "x" on opposites sides of the board. The square that contains the "x" is known as the "fortress," or 宮(gōng ) in Chinese. The center divider is the river where s ome Chinese words are visible. The words on the left say, 楚河 (chǔ hé ) , mean...

It's official!

"Within the first nine months of 2015, zero cases of corruption were found in this city!" "...but we're not saying that corruption doesn't exist, just that none of our inspectors caught anyone." Are you kidding me? Thank you for the freaking clarification, Ms. Nga.

It's Been a Long Time

....and what better way to start again than with a quote and fuzzy feelings. “To see life; to see the world; to eyewitness great events; to watch the faces of the poor and the gestures of the proud; to see strange things — machines, armies, multitudes, shadows in the jungle and on the moon; to see man’s work — his paintings, towers and discoveries; to see things thousands of miles away, things hidden behind walls and within rooms, things dangerous to come to; the women that men love and many children; to see and to take pleasure in seeing; to see and be amazed; to see and be instructed; Thus to see, and to be shown, is now the will and new expectancy of half of humankind." -Henry R. Luce, in collaboration with Archibald MacLeish

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