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Chinese influence permeated all aspects of traditional Vietnamese culture, while Western influences have been strong in the 20th century. Vietnam's Confucian heritage is seen in the importance of family to the Vietnamese. Families are essentially patrilineal, but Vietnamese women work alongside men in many jobs and play a major role in raising children and managing family finances. When possible, the Vietnamese prefer to work from early morning until early evening, with an extended rest period in the heat of midday. In rural areas, both men and women wear trousers and shirts or blouses. On formal occasions and in urban areas, Western-style clothing is common, including skirts and blouses for women. Women still sometimes wear a form of the traditional ao dai, a long, slit tunic worn over pants. Rice is the staple food. Vietnamese cuisine incorporates elements of both Chinese cooking and the cuisines of other Southeast Asian countries. Noodle soup with chicken or beef broth (pho), a distinctive kind of spring roll (cha gio), and the use of fermented fish sauce (nuoc mam) for dipping and seasoning are among the many noteworthy dishes. Early Vietnamese poetry was written exlusively in Chinese until the end of the 13th century. By the 15th century, however, a demotic script called chu nom ("southern writing") had evolved into a vehicle for writing in vernacular Vietnamese. The Chinese heritage of the elite merged with local oral tradition, producing a truly national literature. A distinctly Vietnamese long narrative poem in verse developed, culminating in the masterpiece of Vietnamese literature, Kim Van Kieu (The Tale of Kieu), by Nguyen Du (1765-1820). In the 20th century, Vietnamese literature came to be written in a romanized script. In the 1930s a modern Vietnamese literature developed under French influence, featuring poetry, novels, and short stories. Between 1954 and 1975 a cosmopolitan literature stressing creativity and individual freedom flourished in the south, while a state-sponsored literature of Socialist Realism was promoted in the north. After 1975 Socialist Realism became a national orthodoxy, although in the 1980s literature became more lively and diverse in content.
Under communist rule the theatre has been strictly controlled, and all professional performers and other technical staff have become employees of the state. The indigenous cai luong, a satirical musical comedy genre that emerged in the south in the early 20th century, is still enormously popular, as are modern plays. There also are theatrical troupes specializing in traditional Chinese opera (called hat tuong in the north and hat boi in the south), traditional popular operettas (hat cheo) of indigenous origin, distinctly Vietnamese water puppetry (mua roi nuoc)--in which performances take place on a pool or pond, and water activates the puppets and hides the manipulating apparatus--and circus performances. Painting has developed slowly and unevenly, bound first by traditional Chinese forms, then by a style imitative of French Impressionism, and more recently by Socialist Realism. High-quality lacquerware, however, continues to be produced. Folk arts persist among the peoples of the central highlands. Women weave blankets and clothing, while men weave baskets and mats. Gongs are the most common of a variety of musical instruments. Crossbows and figures are carved from hardwoods. The Cham and Khmer minorities retain some folk arts, but their traditions seem to be fading. Sporadic early efforts to develop a film industry in Vietnam have met with little success. Prior to 1975, a small number of undistinguished films were produced in both the north and the south, while the north made a few fine documentaries. Despite continuing financial constraints and technical deficiencies, higher-quality feature films began to appear in the 1980s. Vietnam abounds with a variety of historical sites. Hanoi contains the 11th-century Temple of Literature, the One Pillar Pagoda, and many other ancient sites, as well as the Vietnam History Museum, the National Art Gallery, and the National Library. Its recent past is amply illustrated in the Vietnam Revolution Museum, the People's Army Museum, and a large complex that includes Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, the house he lived in as president, and the Ho Chi Minh Museum. Hue and its environs contain the royal citadel of the last dynasty and numerous royal mausoleums and tombs, as well as many Buddhist pagodas. Ho Chi Minh City has a noteworthy zoo and botanical garden on the edge of the downtown area. Soccer (association football) is exceedingly popular in Vietnam, and volleyball, badminton, wrestling, bicycling, chess, and dominoes are also widely enjoyed. Urban Vietnamese stroll in great numbers on evenings and weekends, especially in the parks and along the banks of lakes and rivers in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. In the larger cities, some young people enjoy Western dancing and listening to Western and modern Vietnamese music in coffeehouses. Radio, television, and some newspapers and journals are owned and operated by the state. The publishing of newspapers, magazines, and books is regulated by the government, but the strict controls of earlier years were somewhat relaxed during the 1980s. The circulation of many books published in the south between 1954 and 1975, however, is still forbidden.
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