IMPACT OF CHINESE CULTURAL PRODUCTS ON THE VIETNAMESE STUDENTS BY MISS THI XOAN TRAN A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (ASEAN STUDIES) PRIDI BANOMYONG INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC YEAR 2017 COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY Ref. code: 25605827040113DKP IMPACT OF CHINESE CULTURAL PRODUCTS ON THE VIETNAMESE STUDENTS BY MISS THI XOAN TRAN A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (ASEAN STUDIES) PRIDI BANOMYONG INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC YEAR 2017 COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY Ref. code: 25605827040113DKP THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY PRIDI BANOMYONG INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE THESIS BY MISS THI XOAN TRAN ENTITLED IMPACT OF CHINESE CULTURAL PRODUCTS ON THE VlETNAMESE STUDENTS was approved as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (A SEAN Studies) on July-30, 2018 Chainnan �� (Professor Thanet Aphomsuwan, Ph.D ) Advisor ,{! External Examiner Dean ( Associate Professor Nithinant Wisaweisuan, Ph. code: 25605827040113Dl<P (1) Thesis Title IMPACT OF CHINESE CULTURAL PRODUCTS ON THE VIETNAMESE STUDENTS Author Miss Thi Xoan Tran Degree Master of Arts (ASEAN Studies) Department ASEAN Studies /Faculty/University Pridi Banomyong International College Thammasat University Thesis Advisor Professor Yang Bao Yun, Ph.
Academic Year 2017 ABSTRACT The research aims to explore how Chinese cultural products have made impacts on the Vietnamese students in the 21st century by answering following questions: (1) is the consumption of Chinese cultural products a phenomenal evaporation or will it pose any impact on the Vietnamese students? (2) will the consumption have any impact on the perception of China and its products amidst the Vietnamese students as well as broaden their horizon? (3) how does the consumption affect the student’s behavior and lifestyle? (4) will the consumption make the Vietnamese own culture be unappreciated? To find out the answers, the paper revisited conventional studies of cultural flows and drew on cultivation theory and formation of stereotypes. Four hundred twenty four (424) undergraduate students in universities locating in Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh and Da Nang, Vietnam were randomly recruited to conduct surveys. Linear regression analyses revealed that the level of the consumption of Chinese cultural products has already reached a stage which could affect their perception and feelings towards Chinese and Chinese products in a Ref. code: 25605827040113DKP (2) favorable way.
This paper thus demonstrates the need for better understanding Chinese popular products’ penetration into Vietnam in contemporary context. Keywords: Cultural and Media studies, Chinese popular culture, Cultural products, Impact, Vietnamese students Ref. code: 25605827040113DKP (3) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been successfully completed without great assistance and support from several individuals. First of all, I would like to sincerely express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Yang Bao Yun for his generous instruction, continuous support, and helpful advice.
My sincere gratitude is for my thesis committee, Professor Thanet Aphornsuwan, Dr. Thanyathip Sripana, along with Ajarn Sunida Aroonpipat for their time reading my study and giving me valuable comments. I am also indebted to the guidance from Vietnamese scholarship and the willing of my Vietnamese informants. I would specially like to thank all faculty members and my classmates for their encouragement, and support given throughout my academic years which I greatly appreciated.
Last but not least, the paper is wholeheartedly dedicated to my brother, my dearest family, and friends who willingly bring me their supportive power to encourage me on this journey. Miss Thi Xoan Tran Ref. code: 25605827040113DKP (4) TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT (1) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (3) LIST OF TABLES (7) LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS (8) CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Rationale of the study 1 1.3 Scope and limitation 3 1.1 Scope of content 3 1.2 Scope of population 3 1.3 Scope of region 4 1.5 Design of the study 4 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 6 2.2 Nation, power, mass media: an emergence of Chinese popular culture 9 2.3 Impacts of International Cultural Exchanges 10 Ref.4 Theories of cultivation 11 2.5 The formation of perceptions 12 2.6 Chinese cultural products in Vietnam 13 2.7 Overview of Chinese – Vietnam social linkages 14 2.1 Economic and Political indicators 15 2.2 Educational and Cultural exchange 17 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 18 3.1 Study design and conceptual framework 18 3.1 Population and sample size 20 3.3 Data processing 24 Ref.4 Measurement of rating variables 24 CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 26 4.1 Characteristics of sample group 26 4.2 Impact of Chinese cultural products on the Vietnamese students 29 4.3 Discussion 40 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 44 5.1Concluding remarks on the consumption and impacts of Chinese products among Vietnamese students 44 5.2 Theoretical and methodological contributions 44 5.4 Future work suggestion 46 REFERENCES 48 APPENDICES 54 APPENDIX A 55 APPENDIX B 60 BIOGRAPHY 65 Ref. code: 25605827040113DKP (7) LIST OF TABLES Tables Page 2.1 Chinese projects in Vietnam, 1995-2016 15 4.3 Frequency of Chinese Cultural Products’ use by the Vietnamese Students 31 4.4 Correlations among various variables 33 4.5 Regression Predicting Respondents' Perception of Chinese Products 35 4.6 Regression Predicting Stereotypical Feelings of Respondent 36 4.7 Regression Predicting Respondents' Perception of the Chinese products in comparison with the Vietnamese products 38 4.8 Regression among various variables 39 4.9 Frequency use of Chinese Cultural Products among Vietnamese students 41 A.1 Frequency of Chinese cultural products’ consumption 57 B.1 Vietnam’s official trade in goods with China, 1991-2016 61 Ref.
code: 25605827040113DKP (8) LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Symbols/Abbreviations Terms CCCS Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies General Agreement on Cultural GACC Cooperation mean x̄ Standard Deviation S.D Pearson’s Products standardized beta r Coefficients p Significant Value * Significant statistically at 10% ** Significant statistically at 5% *** Significant statistically at 1% Ref. code: 25605827040113DKP 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study Given a wave of transnational culture has been expanded, the penetration of East and Southeast Asia culture has been floating since the mid-1990s (Huat, 2004). Since the implementation of China’s first connection with the World Wide Web in 1994, the presence of Chinese products has stepped beyond its border. However, scholars and policy makers alike are still apprehensive of Chinese products which might be taking after the steps of Japanese tsunami, Korean waves.
As a result, statements related to assessing Chinese products are wondering whether Chinese cultural products are attracting a new generation of consumers in Asia. As the marketing of Chinese popular products expands widely, the impact of Chinese cultural products begins to be harvested overseas, especially relevant to the states in Asian countries, given their cultural similarities with China. Vietnam, which has been exposed to foreign products as a result of globalizing process, is naturally catching the trend of Chinese popular culture. The presence and certain impacts of the Chinese culture are especially witnessed from the young Vietnamese.
For instance, though resistance exists from foreign views due to their political and ideological tongue conveyed by such a genre, Chinese contemporary drama sells well in places such as Vietnam and Malaysia 1. A wide range of Chinese products mediated such as a number of associated movies and the craze for Chinese celebrities has captured among the youth. In addition, the first online version of “Xin loi, em chi la con Di” translated by Trang Ha attracted huge number of readers in 2007i. This turning point has marked a new period for book industry though it has been tolerated harsh criticism from the ground concerning with its negative consequences.
Another example is a study on Chinese romantic novels 1 Qin: 2004 cited in Xu: 2015 Ref. code: 25605827040113DKP 2 conducted by Hoa Tranh (Tranh, 2016) about Chinese novels which reported significant data, - There are around 11.000 results for Chinese romantic novels within 0.57 seconds - Various links to Chinese novel’s websites - Top websites for Chinese novels - Thousands of fan-page for novels In another case, Chinese reality show such as “Sing my Song” was formatted in British (2014) and Vietnamese (2016) version. It goes without saying that the proliferation of Chinese products had faced with murkiness. In details, critics are operated from general assumption of Chinese romantic novels with “toxic” elementsii.
Likewise, the controversy was provoked as Chinese celebrities supported Chinese nine-dashed map iii. All in all, much of the literature concerns that Chinese products were considered as negative input into the Vietnamese society. Ultimately, literature gap is partly established since majority of studies disregard the possibility of the danger of Vietnamese self-identity on young Vietnamese today because the concern is by no means groundlessiv. As for that, this thesis looks specifically at Chinese products and their circulation based on the author’s observation as well as gathering response from various sources in Vietnam.
Meaning that, the products are culture as being reflected in everyday life referring to Raymond William’s famous assertion that “culture is ordinary”. Thus, Chinese cultural products in Vietnam provide a worth case study of Chinese products moving beyond its border given Vietnam unique cultural interaction with China. Additionally, this paper adopts a distinctive analytical approach through lenses of Cultural and Media theories by focusing on how the Vietnamese consumed the products and posing impacts on the Vietnamese students as representative, rather than how Chinese goals toward their audiences in the 21st century.2 Research questions This thesis addresses a broad question of how Chinese cultural products have been consumed and made impacts on the Vietnamese students – hereby the consumers in the 21st century by answering the question: - Is the consumption of Chinese cultural products a phenomenal evaporation or will it pose any impact on the Vietnamese students? - Will the consumption have any impact on the perception of China and its products amidst the Vietnamese students as well as broaden their horizon? - How does the consumption affect the student’s behavior and lifestyle? - Will the consumption make the Vietnamese own culture be unappreciated? For the sake of brevity, these terms used will be explained in greater details in Chapter Two (2).3 Scope and limitation 1.1 Scope of content First, this research focuses on studying the impact of Chinese cultural products which comprises products consumed through a judicious observation on Vietnamese environment. Second, the case is situated in the period from 2007-2018.
Therefore, this paper’s findings are only immediately applicable to that time period.2 Scope of population This research draws the research studies 3 groups of Vietnamese students who have experiences in consuming Chinese cultural products Ref.3 Limitation Due to time constraint and cost, this study tends to investigate the students currently studying in Ha Noi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City which consists of a density of universities in Vietnam.4 Hypotheses In general, the author expects to find that more exposure to Chinese products will be correlated to more positive stereotypical perception of Chinese. While the Chinese image through the Vietnamese might be attached with a giant neighbor image holding a long-hostility relationship, it is argued in this paper that the “typical Chinese” is generally portrayed in a positive light. This leads to expect that perceptions of Chinese will be positively influenced by Chinese media exposure among the foreign audiences selected for this study. For that reason, to answer these above questions, the study proposed 4 hypotheses as follow: - (H1) the subjects with certain level of exposure of the products would perceive Chinese products favorably - (H2) the students with certain level of exposure of the products would have positive feelings towards the Chinese - (H3) the respondents experiencing Chinese cultural products would perceive the Chinese as superior to Vietnamese - (H4) the respondents experiencing Chinese cultural products would have a stronger desire to own Chinese things 1.5 Design of the study This thesis is divided into five sections as following, Chapter 1 describes the background, problem, questions, objectives, scopes, and structure of the study; Ref.