Vietnamese is my second language. I was raised as an American with my grandfather’s culture sparsely scattered upon my childhood. I was fed Vietnamese food, mainly by my paternal grandmother, ba noi, who had a natural talent for cooking but mostly everything else was either completely American or a mixture of Vietnamese and American and so the term “Vietnamese-American” really … [Read more...] about My Native Tongue
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A Wedding of All Traditions
Young Vietnamese-Americans today have an expectation from their parents and grandparents to embrace their Vietnamese culture and pass it on to their own children. There are many traditions which may never die out such as passing out red envelopes for good luck during Tet every year. On the April 29, 2010 OneVietnam published the article “What’s the Big Deal with Vietnamese … [Read more...] about A Wedding of All Traditions
The Tale of Kieu: Old Story of Sexual Exploitations Parallels Modern Crisis
A few years ago, my brother married someone by the name of Vuong Kieu. My mom had mentioned that she had the same name as a character in a famous piece of Vietnamese literature. Intrigued, I hopped onto Google to find out who this other Vuong Kieu was. “The Tale of Kieu,” written by Nguyen Du, is a story about a beautiful and educated young woman, Vuong Thuy Kieu, whose family … [Read more...] about The Tale of Kieu: Old Story of Sexual Exploitations Parallels Modern Crisis
Áo Dài: History and Significance in Vietnamese Culture
This article was jointly written by Neil Nguyen and Isabella Nga Lai. Looking at my mom's old school pictures, (I) Isabella was inspired to write this article about one of the key essence of Vietnamese culture: the Ao Dai. Coincidentally, Neil also did a write-up about the ao dai so we decided to combine our two pieces into this story today. The beauty and gracefulness of … [Read more...] about Áo Dài: History and Significance in Vietnamese Culture
Officials Jailed in an Adoption Scam
Sixteen health and charity officials in northern Nam Dinh province were tried for getting involved in an adoption scam. Six of them were sentenced to jail terms of two to five and a half years; the other ten were were on suspended sentences of fifteen to eighteen months. These officials were accused of receiving babies from mothers with unwanted pregnancies, assembling false … [Read more...] about Officials Jailed in an Adoption Scam