Vietnam War

Vietnam War is probably one of the most well-known warfare by Americans. It's a synonym of pain, tragedy, and reflection of war.  

Vietnam War has been widely studied and discussed in the United States. It's not merely a diplomatic event for the United States but also related with Civil Rights movement. This post will not cover too much about historical details or Civil Rights movement since this whole project, "Domination of Aisa Pacific" aims to show some history that's absent in our textbook. Instead, this post will mainly focus on how Vietnamese concern about Vietnam War. In another word, this post focus on the structure of feelings of Vietnamese people.

Feelings of Vietnam War has been integrated into Vietnamese Pop Music (VPOP). The song below is called "Cô Gái Mở Đường" and is an example VPOP related with the Communist girl in the age of Vietnam War. I am sorry that there's no English version or subtitle for this song but I managed to get the English lyrics.


Lyrics: [1]

Bài hát: Cô Gái Mở Đường 
Ca sĩ: Thu Hiền 

Đi dưới trời khuya sao đêm lấp lánh 
Walking under the starry night sky
tiếng hát ai vang vọng cây rừng 
I hear someone’s voice echoing through the trees
phải chăng em cô gái mở đường 
Could it be a maiden opening the road?1
không thấy mặt người chỉ nghe tiếng hát 
I don’t see a face, I just hear her singing voice
ôi những cô con gái đang ngày đêm mở đường 
Oh, to the girls who are toiling day and night to build a road1
hỏi em bao nhiêu tuổi mà sức em phi thường 
How old are you to have such extraordinary strength?

em đi lên rừng cây xanh mở lối 
I’m (the girl) going up to the forest of green trees to open a route5
em đi lên núi, núi ngã cúi đầu 
I’m going up to the mountains. The mountains bow their heads
em đi bắt những nhịp cầu 
I’m going to bring joy and entertainment2
cho những con đường tổ quốc yêu thương 
For the sake of these roads in our beloved country
cho xe thẳng tới chiến trường 
So that our cars (military vehicles) can drive straight to the battlefield

cô gái miền quê ra đi cứu nước 
You, a countryside girl who has left home to save her country
mái tóc em xanh tuổi trăng tròn 
Your hair is black, the age of the full moon3
bàn tay em phá đá mở đường 
Your hands are digging, smashing stones to build the road
giang khó phải lùi nhường em tiến bước 
Even the rivers must give way for you to continue forward4 

em có nghe tiếng súng nơi tiền phương giục lòng 
Have you (the girl) heard the sounds of gunshots at the battlefield?
miền nam tha thiết gọi cả nước ta lên đường 
The south, from the bottom of its heart, calls us to leave our homes and go on this journey6

tiếng nói Bác Hồ trong tim ngời sáng 
The voice of Uncle Ho (Ho Chi Minh) rings bright in our hearts
như sao mai lấp lánh gọi núi rừng 
Like twinkling stars over the mountains and forests
soi cho em đấp đập đường 
Shining so that I (the girl) can continue building the road
vì đất quê nhà tổ quốc yêu thương 
For the sake of our beloved homeland and country
ôi con đường mới anh hùng 
Oh! This new road and our heroes!


Đi dưới trời khuya sao đêm lấp lánh 
Walking under a starry night sky
tiếng hát ai vang vọng cây rừng 
I hear someone’s voice echoing through the trees
phải chăng em cô gái mở đường 
Could it be a maiden opening the road?1
không thấy mặt người chỉ nghe tiếng hát 
I don’t see a face, I just hear her singing voice
ôi những cô con gái đang ngày đêm mở đường 
Oh, to the girls who are toiling day and night to build a road1
hỏi em bao nhiêu tuổi mà sức em phi thường 
How old are you to have such extraordinary strength?

em đi lên rừng cây xanh mở lối 
I’m (the girl) going up to the forest of green trees to open a route
em đi lên núi, núi ngã cúi đầu 
I’m going up to the mountains. The mountains bow their heads
em đi bắt những nhịp cầu 
I’m going to bring joy and entertainment2
cho những con đường tổ quốc yêu thương 
For the sake of these roads in our beloved country
cho xe thẳng tới chiến trường 
So that cars (military vehicles) can drive straight to the battlefield

đêm đã về khuya sương rơi ướt áo 
Deep into the night, the fog dampens your shirt
tiếng hát em vẫn vọng núi rừng 
Yet your voice still echoes throughout the mountains
mặc bom rơi pháo sáng mịt mùng 
Ignoring the bombs and gunshots that light up the night 
em vẩn mở đường để xe đi tới 
You continue to toil at the road so that our cars (military vehicles) can proceed

yêu biết bao cô em gái vui ngày đêm mở đường 
How dearly I love the girl who is, day and night, happily building our roads 
rừng trăm hoa thắm nở chẳng có hoa nào bằng 
The forest has thousands of flowers, but not one equals you in beauty

em đi sang rừng, em đi bạt núi 
I (the girl) cross forests, I cross mountains5
em như con suối, nước chảy không ngừng 
I’m like a waterfall, its water flowing without pause
em đang bưng tiến chặng đường 
theo những anh hùng tổ quốc yêu thương 
Following the heroes (soldiers) of our beloved country
góp công cùng tiến thắng thù 
Together, we work towards victory
góp công cùng tiền phương tiến thắng thù 
Together, we will be victors on the battlefield

Notes by the translator (Quynhmy Nguyen)
1. Literally translated, “mở đường” means to “open a road or path.” I asked my mom about the historical relevance of this term, and she said that when the communists took over South Vietnam, the communists forced many youths, both male and female, into labor. They made them build roads into undeveloped areas. For example, many youths had to build roads across mountain paths. In short, “mở đường” means to open a route into a place where there was no other route.
To me, it seems like this song is referring to the time period before the end of the war. So in this case, the girls are building roads through undeveloped terrains so that the Northern soldiers can advance toward the South.
2. I don’t really know how to translate “nhịp cầu.” Basically, during war, the soldiers get tired of hearing only gunshots and bombs, so oftentimes girls are sent to entertain the soldiers with singing. It can also refer to letters that are sent to the soldiers so that they can read them and be distracted from their hardships.
3. This wording is also a little weird. I’m guessing that the guy is saying that the girl’s hair is so black and pretty because she’s still young. (The moon is full on the 16th of every month of the lunar calendar, so in poetry, when the poet talks about a pretty maiden, he usually says that she’s the age of the full moon, which would be 16 years old).
4. Basically, nothing can stand in her way.
5. Thanks to Vietnamese grammar, any sentence that says “I (the girl) do something something something” can also mean “You (the girl).” It depends on whether a guy or a girl sings the part.
6. During the Vietnam War, the northern people suffered greatly from poverty. The Viet Cong told the northern people that the Americans were oppressing the southern people so much that the southerners were suffering even more than the northerners, and that it was the northerner’s duty to liberate the South.

This song brings us a very interesting Vietnamese narrative of Vietnam War: the Vietnamese people consider violence in Vietnam war as a necessity for the just defense of their own country. Rapid Industrialization was considered as another achievement besides the victory on the battlefield.

There are also abundant Vietnamese authors who wrote fictions related to Vietnam War. Compared to VPOP songs, those fictions usually emphasizes on more elaborate topics including the domestic social contradictions, post-war disillusion, trauma by Vietnam War and immigrant issue after Vietnam War. Many of them also cover gender, class or race topics during or after Vietnam War.

Here are some examples of those literature work:

Vu Tran's Dragonfish: [2]

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/books/review/vu-trans-dragonfish.html




Animee Phan's: We shall never meet [3]

 https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-312-32266-3


There are so many books written by Vietnamese American portraying the image and the structure of feeling of Vietnam War in Vietnamese. However, few of us study them when talking about Vietnamese War. We talk about Vietnam War veterans, talk about Civil Rights Movement, talk about the loss of United States in Vietnam but that's only half part about Vietnam War. The another part is in the heart and soul of Vietnamese people. To obtain a total understanding of Vietnam War, we have to dig out the other half from the Vietnamese art and think of Vietnam War in their position.

Works Cited

[1] Quynhmy Nguyen, Translation of Cô Gái Mở Đường May 29 2017

[2]: Chris Abani, “Vu Tran’s ‘Dragonfish’”, nytimes.com,The New York Times,Web, Aug.10.2015, May 31.2017.

[3]:Aimee Phan, “ WE SHOULD NEVER MEET”, publishersweekly.com, PW,Web, May 31,2017

[4]: LAN CAO, “The Lotus and the Strom”, penguinrandomhouse.com, Penguin Random House,Web, Aug,28 2015, May 31,2017

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