Satire in the Asian culture - VietnamA. Literature

Why?-Wartime and the meantime government prevented poets and writers to talk about wars

-Being discreet and usually avoid being frank

-Comedic use of works makes it more approachable for everyone, including kids, poor people who were not very well-educated

Purpose? Using humor to criticize the government, war, society issues, women rights, etc.

How?-By switching vowels to hide the intended words (lẹo lồn → lộn lèo)

-By using metaphors

-By using different tones

ExamplesQuả mít

Thân em như quả mít trên câyDa nó xù xì, múi nó dầyQuân tử có thương thì đóng cọc,

Xin đừng mân mó, nhựa ra tay.

(Hồ Xuân Hương)

JackfruitI am like jackfruit in the treeThe skin is rough, the texture is thickIf you love me, please support me (with the stick)But don’t just randomly touch me, the sticky substance will appear

Using the image of planting the jackfruit tree as a metaphor for human sexual intercourse, Ho Xuan Huong was criticizing the fact that women were treated as sexual objects by men.

Bánh trôi nước

Thân em vừa trắng lại vừa trònBảy nổi ba chìm với nước nonRắn nát mặt dầu tay kẻ nặnMà em vẫn giữ tấm lòng son

(Hồ Xuân Hương)

(a traditional Vietnamese food – deliciousness guaranteed)

I am white and roundI drown and then float on waterWhether I’m good or ruined depends on the makerBut no matter what, I still keep my sweet red filling

Meaning #1: The process of making a Bánh trôi nước. The food depends solely on the skill of the maker

Meaning #2: Female’s chest. The shape and appearance depends on the one who “kneads” it…

Meaning #3: A woman’s life and fate depends on her family, her husband, etc. the ones who control her. No matter how much she has to suffer, she still manages to keep her beautiful soul.

Since the Vietnamese language and vocabulary consists of two different influences. The first one is Hán-Việt vocabs, which originates from Chinese. Later on Nôm vocabs appeared as the words were more simple and closer to people’s life. They still exist today and are parallel with each other, means that we use both of them together in a sentence, not separately… It’s kinda complicated, that is why I needed to translate some specific words up there in order to make it easier to understand the sentence as a whole.

B. Traditional Arts

We use animals for satire purpose. Wait, we use animals for a lot of things in life.

The cat is more powerful than the rats/mice in order to have a peaceful wedding, the mice needed to provide the cat with food.

C. Modern Media