Recent puritanical changes to the ending of an ancient and popularVietnamese folk story, Tam and Cam, in a 10th grade text book hasstirred much controversy.
In the original version compared to theWest's Cinderella, Tam, a beautiful young girl, takes revenge againsther evil stepsister Cam and her stepmother for all the suffering theycaused to her when she married a king. The story goes that Tam wasre-incarnated five times after being murdered by the jealous pair. Shefirst came back as a bird, then as a tree, then as a weaver's loom, thena fig - and then finally, she was re-incarnated as herself, the Queen.
WhenTam re-appeared for the final time - and looking more beautiful thanever - Cam was overcome with jealousy and hatred. She asked her sisterthe secret of her incredible beauty and was told to take a bath inboiling water.
She was so greedy for the beauty and adorationthat Tam enjoyed, she did as she was advised - and took the scaldingbath. When the stepsister finished shrieking and fell lifeless, Tam cuther body up and used it to make sauce. She sent a jar to her wickedstepmother, who ate it and died of shock after finding the sauce wasmade from her daughter's flesh.
The cannibalism element has beendeleted from the newly amended version of the text book as the compilersclaim it was too brutal for today's moralities.
Young mother LeMinh Thuy from Hanoi is among those who support the change. She alwaysmade up a more humanitarian ending when she read the tale to her youngdaughter. "I didn't want a young mind to be affected by cruelty," shesaid.
Primary school teacher Hoang Hoai Nhon recalled how hard itwas to teach Tam and Cam to her students before the story was taken outfrom primary school classes and added to the high-school curriculum."Tam represented the good as we taught our students," she said, "but inthe end she was as brutal as the evil sister. How can we say that shewas still good?"
While the modified version is supported by some,many others are appalled that people in the 21st century take it onthemselves to censor a story that is 2,000 years old.
"Thecompilers don't understand the nature of folk tales. The modifiedversion does not respect Vietnamese history," said Folk Literaturelecturer Nguyen Hung Vi from Hanoi National University of SocialSciences.
The original ending was not over the top, he said, whenone thought of "how hell is described in Biblical or Buddhist texts,both of which aim to make people live better lives".
The good andevil Vietnamese stepsisters are similar to folk stories in Asian andWestern literature. The giant in Jack and the Beanstalk, for instance,always said: "Fee, fi, fo, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman, behe alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread."
Associateprofessor of Literature Tran Nho Thin also strongly opposes themodifications because they tamper with the truth – the mindset of ourancestors in an early mists of time when the structure of society wasstill forming.
But Vietnam's Cinderella folk tale is not the onlyone being sent to the cleaners. Several other of Vietnam's best-knownliterature pieces, including short stories Chi Pheo by Nam Cao or VoNhat (Wife Randomly Found) by Kim Lan are now being taught to highschool students with some of the best parts removed because they involvesex.
Associate professor Thin said the truncated versions werelame representations of famous Vietnamese literature. According to him,renowned novelist Nam Cao spent one sixth of Chi Pheo, for instance,describing how the male and female characters meet each other by a riverunder a banana tree, but in the new version, compilers have removedalmost all of this fearing it might affect teenagers' mental outlook.
Thinsaid it turns a story of humanitarianism into a story only againstfeudal oppression. "That's a distortion," he said, adding that highschool students are mature enough to be taught about sex.
Amidthe controversial and on-going reform of text books, literature expertsaccuse compilers of doing their job without adequate research orknowledge. "Where are they (compilers) based to decide this or that willbadly affect students' psychology?" said Vi.
Vietnam's Ministryof Education and Training has done no research on school psychology fordifferent ages for years, and until it does, all modifications and evencomments must be considered arbitrary.
This raises questionsabout the teaching methods now being applied at Vietnamese schools.Instead of insisting that Tam is so nice, let students discuss and arguefor themselves. At the end of the day, the changing the most famousfolk tale may indicate problems within the whole education system./.
In the original version compared to theWest's Cinderella, Tam, a beautiful young girl, takes revenge againsther evil stepsister Cam and her stepmother for all the suffering theycaused to her when she married a king. The story goes that Tam wasre-incarnated five times after being murdered by the jealous pair. Shefirst came back as a bird, then as a tree, then as a weaver's loom, thena fig - and then finally, she was re-incarnated as herself, the Queen.
WhenTam re-appeared for the final time - and looking more beautiful thanever - Cam was overcome with jealousy and hatred. She asked her sisterthe secret of her incredible beauty and was told to take a bath inboiling water.
She was so greedy for the beauty and adorationthat Tam enjoyed, she did as she was advised - and took the scaldingbath. When the stepsister finished shrieking and fell lifeless, Tam cuther body up and used it to make sauce. She sent a jar to her wickedstepmother, who ate it and died of shock after finding the sauce wasmade from her daughter's flesh.
The cannibalism element has beendeleted from the newly amended version of the text book as the compilersclaim it was too brutal for today's moralities.
Young mother LeMinh Thuy from Hanoi is among those who support the change. She alwaysmade up a more humanitarian ending when she read the tale to her youngdaughter. "I didn't want a young mind to be affected by cruelty," shesaid.
Primary school teacher Hoang Hoai Nhon recalled how hard itwas to teach Tam and Cam to her students before the story was taken outfrom primary school classes and added to the high-school curriculum."Tam represented the good as we taught our students," she said, "but inthe end she was as brutal as the evil sister. How can we say that shewas still good?"
While the modified version is supported by some,many others are appalled that people in the 21st century take it onthemselves to censor a story that is 2,000 years old.
"Thecompilers don't understand the nature of folk tales. The modifiedversion does not respect Vietnamese history," said Folk Literaturelecturer Nguyen Hung Vi from Hanoi National University of SocialSciences.
The original ending was not over the top, he said, whenone thought of "how hell is described in Biblical or Buddhist texts,both of which aim to make people live better lives".
The good andevil Vietnamese stepsisters are similar to folk stories in Asian andWestern literature. The giant in Jack and the Beanstalk, for instance,always said: "Fee, fi, fo, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman, behe alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread."
Associateprofessor of Literature Tran Nho Thin also strongly opposes themodifications because they tamper with the truth – the mindset of ourancestors in an early mists of time when the structure of society wasstill forming.
But Vietnam's Cinderella folk tale is not the onlyone being sent to the cleaners. Several other of Vietnam's best-knownliterature pieces, including short stories Chi Pheo by Nam Cao or VoNhat (Wife Randomly Found) by Kim Lan are now being taught to highschool students with some of the best parts removed because they involvesex.
Associate professor Thin said the truncated versions werelame representations of famous Vietnamese literature. According to him,renowned novelist Nam Cao spent one sixth of Chi Pheo, for instance,describing how the male and female characters meet each other by a riverunder a banana tree, but in the new version, compilers have removedalmost all of this fearing it might affect teenagers' mental outlook.
Thinsaid it turns a story of humanitarianism into a story only againstfeudal oppression. "That's a distortion," he said, adding that highschool students are mature enough to be taught about sex.
Amidthe controversial and on-going reform of text books, literature expertsaccuse compilers of doing their job without adequate research orknowledge. "Where are they (compilers) based to decide this or that willbadly affect students' psychology?" said Vi.
Vietnam's Ministryof Education and Training has done no research on school psychology fordifferent ages for years, and until it does, all modifications and evencomments must be considered arbitrary.
This raises questionsabout the teaching methods now being applied at Vietnamese schools.Instead of insisting that Tam is so nice, let students discuss and arguefor themselves. At the end of the day, the changing the most famousfolk tale may indicate problems within the whole education system./.
