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Abstract of A HANDBOOK ON THE BACKGROUND OF ETHNIC CHINESE FROM NORTH VIETNAM

by Nhi Quynh Luong

Statement of Problem

From 1979 to 1982, 86% of the second wave of Indochinese refugees who entered Sacramento County were ethnic Chinese from North Vietnam. Background information is fairly readily available on Vietnamese and the ethnic Chinese from South Vietnam. However, information is virtually non-existent on the ethnic Chinese from the North. Yet it is this group that has dominated the ranks of refugees and constituted a challenge to many teachers, aides, administrators, and community members. A handbook that contains background information on this group is needed to improve educators' understanding of this student population. This project is attempted to provide this handbook for teachers.

Sources of Data

Data was gathered from sources which included journals, periodicals, books, government publications, questionaires and interviews from selected families in the Sacramento area.

Conclusions Reached

The ethnic Chinese from North Vietnam has similar culture and values as the Chinese in the mainstream. Due to war and isolation, their educational background is much lower than other Chinese: It is this difference that educators should acknowledge and consider in order to help them to succeed in the American school system.

Committee Chair's Signature of Approval

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks for the completion of this handbook should be given to Judy Lewis — the Chairman of English Transistional program in the Folsom Cordova School District. Her experience, expertise knowledge and valuable resources on the ethnic Chinese from Southeast Asia have contributed greatly to this project. Also, I thank my husband, Gary, for his encouragement and support.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

                                                                                                                               

		Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS		v
ILLUSTRATIONS
Map		ix
Enlarged map		32
LIST OF TABLES		x
Chapter
1.	INTRODUCTION	1
	Statement of the Problem	2
	Purpose of Project	2
	Methodology	3
	Definition of Terms	4
	Delimitation	5
	Organization of the Remainder of Project	5
2.	REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE	6
	Origin	6
	1978'S Exodus	9
	Education	15
	The three islands	15
	Cat Ba	16
	Haiphong	17
	Culture	18
	Interpersonal Relationships	19
	― vii ―
	Social Structure	19
	School	20
	Kinship	20
	Ancestor Worship	21
	Place of Men, Women, and Children in Society	21
	Marriage	22
	Pregnancy and Birth	22
	Child Rearing Practices	24
	Death and Burial	24
	Taboos and Customs	25
	Etiquette	25
	Traditional Festivals	26
	Occupations	26
	Politics	27
	Resettlement in Sacramento County	28
3.	ETHNIC CHINESE FROM THE REGION	31
	The People from Quang Ninh	31
	Interaction with Vietnamese	33
	Occupation	34
	Housing	35
	Transportation	36
	Custom	36
	Post War period (After 1975)	38
	Resettlement	39
	The People from Cat Ba	40
	Degree of Isolation	42
	― viii ―
	Life-Style	42
	Post War period (After 1975)	43
	Resettlement	44
	The People from Haiphong	45
	Custom	48
	Post War Period (After 1975)	48
	Resettlement	49
4.	SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS	51
	Summary	51
	Conclusion	51
	Recommendations	52
APPENDIX		53
BIBLIOGRAPHY		60

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LIST OF TABLES

             

Table		Page
A	Number of Chinese in Vietnam	9
B	Number of Indochinese Refugees in Hong Kong (January to August 1979)	14
C	Years of Schooling	15
D	Influx of Indochinese Refugees to Sacramento 1975 to 1987	30

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1. INTRODUCTION

The arrival of Southeast Asian refugee children in U.S. schools over the past twelve years has challenged teachers, aides, administrators, and community members to accomodate the special needs of yet another distinct group of youngsters who in some ways do not “fit the norm” in the regular American classroom. Efforts to learn about the background of the Indochinese students tell us that they are all from the countries known collectively as Indochina — literally the meeting ground of India and China. Studies about this region tells us something about the general characteristics common to people from developing nations who are heavily influenced by Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and animism, and who have for centuries seen shifting balances of power and conflict.

Once the general characteristics are learned, many of which are common to others from the Eastern hemisphere — Japanese, Korean, Chinese, it becomes necessary to realize that the three countries of Indochina are Laos, Cambodia (Kampuchea), and Vietnam. There are materials available on the general characteristics of people from these countries. What is limited in availability, however, is background information on the different groups within each country: It is these differences that are important when a teacher is dealing with several refugee children in one classroom.

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Statement of the Problem

Background information is fairly readily available on the urban South Vietnamese of higher social status, and advanced educational levels. One can also find information on the ethnic Chinese who lived in the South, primarily urban, educated merchants. The ethnic Chinese in South Vietnam are better educated due to their wealth and contacts with both the eastern and western outside worlds (Indochinese Refugee Education Guides, 1980). There are books and articles describing the rural, uneducated Vietnamese from the South, as well as the minority groups who lived in the highlands. What is virtually non-existent, is material on the ethnic Chinese from the North, especially, from the three regions of Quang Ninh, Cat Ba and Haiphong (see map, p. ix). Yet it is refugees from these regions that have dominated the ranks of the more recent arrivals (1979—1982), the so-called “second wave” of refugees. In addition, these groups have no literate, English-speaking spokesmen to tell their stories. A handbook that would provide background information on these groups is needed to help educators and others who work with this population. This project attempted to supply this information.

Purpose of the Project

The purpose of this project is to develop a handbook for teachers and aides to help them become aware of the background of the ethnic Chinese from North Vietnam. The major goal is to facilitate teachers

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in their important initial contact with these ethnic Chinese students. These students' chances for success within the American school system will be dependent on the teachers' level of knowledge of their background. Moreover, of particular concern will be the relations of the teacher's expectations of potential academic performance to the background of these students.

The handbook will address the following questions:

1. What are the characteristics of the ethnic Chinese from North Vietnam?
2. What is their historical, educational and cultural background?
3. Because of their diverse background, what problems do they face sociologically and psychologically after their resettlement in this country?
4. What can schools and teachers do to help them?

Methodology

Information on general historical and cultural background were obtained from related literature. Information on the historical, educational, and cultural background of the three specific regions were obtained from 30 telephone interviews. Sample interview questions asked were as follows:

1. Where did you live in Vietnam? How long? How many generations?
2. Where did your ancestors come from? Why?

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― 4 ―
3. What was your occupation in Vietnam?
4. Did you go to school? Was it Chinese? Was it Vietnamese?
5. Why did you leave Vietnam?
6. Did you come to the U.S. under “family reunification”? Who was the first family member to come here? Did they come from North Vietnam or South Vietnam?
7. What are your goals for your children? Do you want them to read and write their native language? Should the schools teach it?
8. What problems do you and your children face?

Detailed follow up studies on the ethnic Chinese from the three regions of Quang Ninh, Cat Ba and Haiphong in North Vietnam were done through home interviews from nine selected families (three families from each region).

Definition of Terms

First wave refugees. Refugees who left Vietnam when the country fell to the North in April, 1975. There were approximately 235,000 Vietnamese from the South. Five percent of these refugees were ethnic Chinese; all of them were educated and some had contact with the United States government.

Second wave refugees. Refugees who were forced to leave North Vietnam in 1978. There were approximately 150,000 Vietnamese from the North. Ninety-five percent of these refugees were ethnic Chinese; the majority of them had limited education; some of them were uneducated.

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Delimitation

The focus of this handbook would be on the background of the ethnic Chinese from the three targeted regions in North Vietnam. It included information on their historical, educational and cultural background, their everyday sociological and psychological problems, and recommendations for schools and teachers for helping these students.

Organization of the Remainder of Project

Chapter Two would be devoted to a review of literature related to the following topics:

1. Their origin
2. The 1978's exodus
3. Their education
4. Their culture
5. Their resettlement in Sacramento County

Chapter Three was the background study of the three specific regions - Quang Ninh, Cat Ba and Haiphong in North Vietnam. The study would concentrate on their interaction with Vietnamese, occupations, life-style, custom, after the war, the resettlement and their problems in the U.S.

Chapter Four was the summary, conclusion and recommendations for this handbook.

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2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

One of a teacher's major goals is for all students to succeed. Therefore, teachers and aides should know the academic limitation of the ethnic Chinese from North Vietnam, in order for them to adjust their expectations of these students. Moreover, to differentiate students' differences and needs, teachers should have an understanding of their cultural/ethnic background. This chapter would review the related literature on the following topics:

1. Their origin
2. The 1978's exodus
3. Their education
4. Their culture
5. Their resettlement in Sacramento County

Origin

Chinese emigration to Vietnam has been a constant part of the history of the region. Whenever China experienced political upheavals, economic problems, or natural disasters, a new wave of Chinese left China for Vietnam. For political, economic, and historical reasons, most of the Chinese have tended to emigrate southward. Vietnam and other Indochinese countries were located on

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the southern border of China. There have been movements between Vietnam and China over the centuries.

The earliest Chinese emigration to Vietnam was due to colonization in as early as Han Dynasty or the III century B.C. In the III century B.C. a kingdom known as Nan-Yueh (Nam-Viet) was extended from the region of Canton far into the Indochinese penisula. This kingdom was conquered by Chinese (Purcell, 1965). The second period of Chinese immigration into Vietnam was marked by the arrival of the partisans of the Sung dynasty in the eleventh century. By the eleventh century, under the Sung Dynasty (920—1279), merchants were developing a fast-growing trade, particularly with the coast of Vietnam (Hunter, 1966). The third period of large-scale immigration into Vietnam was dictated by a similar set of circumstances in Ming Dynasty. In 1680, Chinese officers and several thousand men, supporters of the overthrown Ming Dynasty which had now been replaced by the Ch'ing (Manchu) Dynasty, arrived in Vietnam and settled in the southern part of Vietnam (Purcell, 1965). During the great world trade depression of 1929—1933, vast number of Chinese in Vietnam returned to China due to the economic crash (Purcell, 1965). In 1954, 45,000 Chinese in North Vietnam went to the South after the division of Vietnam at the seventeenth North paralled (Purcell, 1965). However, under the citizenship ordinance in South Vietnam, a large number of Chinese went back to China and Taiwan in 1956 for not being citizens of Vietnam. Ordinance No.48, conferring Vietnam citizenship automatically on all Chinese in Vietnam, was promulgated on 21 August 1956: All Chinese born in Vietnam were henceforth to be considered as

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Vietnamese nationals and must take Vietnamese names (Purcell, 1965). Immediately this Ordinance, a Decree (NO.53) was promulgated on September 6, 1956 prohibiting non-Vietnamese nationals to engage in eleven major occupations which were mostly occupied by the Chinese. Again, during the border war of China and Vietnam in 1978, Chinese left Vietnam due to the expulsion by the Vietnamese. In April and May of 1978, the Vietnamese gorvernment expelled the ethnic Chinese in North Vietnam that resulted in a massive exodus of them overland into China (Indochinese Refugee Education Guides, 1980). Approximately 150,000 Chinese left North Vietnam in 1978 and an additional 90,000 of them returned to China in 1979.

Census figures of Chinese in Vietnam were inconsistent and very unreliable. Part of the problem came from the definition of who was Chinese. Vietnam faced this dilemma when the government insisted that the Chinese adopt Vietnamese citizenship and Vietnamese names in 1954. It was decided that those who were born in Vietnam, with at least one parent also born in Vietnam, were to be considered Vietnamese citizens (Indochinese Refugee Education Guides, 1980). In 1956, the government in the South forced the Chinese to take Vietnamese citizenship while the North planned on “voluntary” compliance with the citizenship issue. Many of the ethnic Chinese in the Northern urban areas of Hanoi and Haiphong did not choose to become citizens while those in the rural areas of Quang Ninh and the islands did.

In the North, the number of ethnic Chinese was reduced considerably during the period of hostilities between the French and Viet Minh (1946—1954). Many Chinese went South to avoid the fighting.

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Again in 1954, when the country was divided by the Geneva Accords, many people from the North emigrated to the South — about 45,000 of them were Chinese (Indochinese Refugee Education Guides, 1980).

The majority of the ethnic Chinese in Vietnam were the third or fourth generations offspring of those who were mostly from GuangDong and Fujian provinces in China. The Chinese in the North in the areas of MongCai (near China's border), Cat Ba, and the islands were originally from the coastal areas around Beihai, Hepu (Happo), and Anpu of the present GuangXi province (these areas were in GuangDong province until the Chinese government changed the boundary in 1958).

1978's Exodus

The newest minority members in this country, the Indochinese refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, fled their homeland when

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their countries fell to the communist rulers in 1975. Of the three groups of refugees, the majority of people residing in this country were from Vietnam. The six phases of the Vietnamese refugee exodus were out lined in the following chart.

SIX PHASES OF REFUGEE EXODUS

1. First Wave INITIAL-April, 1975: South Vietnam fell, U.S. evacuation of 130,000 Vietnamese, and the exodus of 105,000 others from the South. (St Cartmail, 1983)
2. MID-1975 to LATE 1977: Steady flow of about 1,500 per month, both by boat and over land, exited from South Vietnam. (Grant, 1979)
3. Second wave 1978-Mid 1979: China-Vietnam border war began. Heavy flow, (over 250,000 ethnic Chinese from the North - 2/3 still remain in China) primarily ethnic Chinese, from North and South; exited flow peaked at about 60,000 per month by June, 1979, mostly by boat. (Grant, 1979)
4. LATE 1979 to MID 1982: Exodus declined from 60,000 per month to about 8,000 per month (heavier during good weather, lighter during monsoon). Mostly by boat. (Newcomers News, 1987)
5. MID 1982 to 1983: Changes in priority status shifted the exodus to largely ethnic Vietnamese once agian. These measures in first asylum countries and U.S. policy were an attempt to deter refugee flight from Vietnam. (Newcomers News, 1987)
6. 1983 to PRESENT: Orderly Departure Program (ODP) allowed families to sponsor relatives to leave Vietnam directly based on the priorities. Usually approximately 250 people per week departed from Ho Chi Minh City (the former Saigon) to the refugee processing center in Bangkok and to their destination later. Additionally, there have been over 6,000 boat people escaping from the South per year (Newcomers News, 1987)

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For over two centuries, those ethnic Chinese who had immigrated to Vietnam were fairly satisfied with their life in their second homeland. Although some of the fishermen (usually from the islands) occasionally went back to mainland China to stay for a short while, they always returned to Vietnam — “Living under North Vietnam's communist rules was better than under the rules in mainland China.” As long as they met the government's work-requirement quotas, they were usually left alone, and experienced little restriction or monitoring by the government officials. Life was hard but peaceful. But in 1978, the China-Vietnam border war changed the situation completely.

Virtually all the northern ethnic Chinese interviewed in Hong Kong described relations between the two ethnic groups prior to 1978 as `normal', `good', or even `warm'. Nearly everyone however, had some reservation. (Grant, 1979, p. 94)

…said that in Hanoi the average Vietnamese was still friendly towards Chinese. But because of the government's policy it was common for Vietnamese to tell their Chinese friends that they could no longer associate. The wife (Chinese couple who left in April 1979, from Hanoi) had noticed that since the Sino-Vietnamese war, some Vietnamese kept watch on Chinese and reported their movements to public security officials who checked their home regularly. The local radio station broadcast daily the names of ethnic Chinese who had been arrested for `spying'. (Grant, 1979, p. 94)

The Chinese government closed its border to Vietnamese in July of 1978, after 150,000 ethnic Chinese fled into China, evidently due to widespread rumors of an imminent Chinese attack that would result in them being rounded up and jailed, or executed.

In April and May of 1978, there was a massive exodus of ethnic Chinese from North Vietnam into China. The 150,000 who fled constituted about a half of the ethnic Chinese population of North Vietnam, and were valuable people in terms of skills and abilities. (Indochinese Refugee Education Guides, 1980, p.16)

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Then in February of 1979, China invaded Vietnam, and for three weeks fought what has come to be called the “Punishment War” (the reasons for punishing Vietnam were the invasion of Kampuchea and the defeat of the Chinese backed Pol Pot forces by Vietnam). This interim period may be described as a “twilight phase in which the ethnic Chinese were viewed with increasing suspicion by Vietnamese authorities on national security grounds” (Grant, 1979). Nearly all the refugees interviewed in Hong Kong by Grant concurred that measures against them, tantamount to expulsion, started in the latter part of March, 1979, in the wake of the Chinese attack on Vietnam.

What did the interested governments say about the exodus from North Vietnam?

Vietnam … Nguyen Co Thach, Vietnam's Secretary of State said, “Ethnic Chinese in Northern Vietnam are caught in a crossfire. If they support the Vietnamese against China, the Chinese are suspicious. If they support the Chinese against the Vietnamese, the same. It they are neutral, they are doubted by both sides. So it's very difficult for them to stay.” (N Y Times, 1979, p.12)

China … Han Nianlong, China's Vice foreign minister said, “The Indo Chinese refugee problem is a product of the reactionary domestic and foreign policies of the Vietnamese authorities. To suppress popular resentment and shift the burden of their economic difficulties onto others, the Vietnamese authorities have been inciting ethnic animosity. They not only persecute Chinese nationals who have lived in Vietnam for many generations, but also persecute Vietnamese citizens of Chinese descent, other ethnic minorities, and those

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Vietnamese who disapprove of their reactionary policies. They deprive those people of their means of livelihood by various despicable methods and forcibly expel them from the country.” (Grant, 1979)

Soviets … Nikilqi Firyubin, USSR's deputy foreign minister said, “The main reason for the departure of ethnic Chinese from Vietnam is actually instigation from the outsides, as a result of which hundreds of thousands of the deceived ethnic Chinese started leaving …” (Grant, 1979)

Hong Kong … Governor said, “This is something that has been in most Vietnamese minds a long time. They just don't like the Chinese, and are suspicious of them, and have always had the feeling that they tend to get the cream out of the country.” (Asian Wall St. J., 1979, p.23)

U.S. State Department … Tom Reston said, “It is clear that Vietnam has adopted a centrally directed deportation policy aimed at the wholesale expulsion of … ethnic Chinese … We and other government know why refugees are fleeing Indochina and we do not accept the concept that a government can simply shift the obligation it has to its people to the international community.” (Grant, 1979)

Britain … Lord Carrington, Secretary of Sate said, “One can only conclude that they have left because the policies of the Vietnamese government made it impossible for them to remain.” (Grant, 1979)

Grant, the author of The Boat People, stated that “China, for its part, has deliberately harassed Hanoi, armed Pol Pot, roused the

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invaded Vietnam, killing and destroying in order to teach a lesson.” (Grant, 1979)

In fact, the number and ethnicity of the refugees arriving in Hong Kong tended to bear out the claim of the deliberate expulsion of the ethnic Chinese after the border war in February and March 1979. There was a trickle of ethnic Chinese refugees who arrived in late 1978 who also claimed persecution. This coincided with China's closure of the border. The real onslaught, though, began about six to eight weeks (the sailing time) after the punishment war.

According to the study by the Committee on Foreign Affairs of U.S. Congress (1979), the number of those who arrived in Hong Kong, broken down by months approximated the following:

The great majority of these refugees were ethnic Chinese, and sixty-two percent of them were from North Vietnam.

Once the islanders were told to leave, some of them decided to risk the trip to Hong Kong rather than walk across the border into China because they had experienced the working conditions in China while visiting their relatives before the border war in 1978. The

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typical voyage took four to eight weeks in small, unseaworthy sailing junks. They island-hopped across the Gulf of Tonkin, nipping between China's Hainan Island and the mainland, and then hugged the coastline of southern China until they reached Macao or Hong Kong. There were frequent stops along the way — to wait out a storm, to repair a badly leaking boat, to buy provisions and water, and to overcome seasickness.

Education

There were no resources nor any available data on this topic. The following information was based on the home interviews of the teachers from the three islands and Cat Ba, and the parents from Haiphong. Learning English was the main difficulty for the ethnic Chinese from North Vietnam to overcome. Moreover, the learning progress was totally depended on whether they were from the islands or the cities. The following chart gives an outline of their educational backgrounds.

The three islands

Big Kao Tao (population approx. 4,000), Small Kao Tao (population approx. 300) and Tching Lan Xan (population

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approx. 2,700) with all Cantonese speaking residents were isolated from the ouside world for over six decades until 1968. Therefore, the school curriculum was set by teachers who decided what was suitable. The curriculum consisted of reading and writing, math, and political propaganda. In fact, the political teachings were often the subject of reading and math — “How many counter-revolutionary capitalists were left? There were five. Three were killed and two remained.” A teacher's qualification requirement for these islands was graduation from junior high school. Parents had to buy school supplies. Part of their salaries were used to pay for the supplies and to support the schools. Teaching instruction was in Cantonese. Only one hour per week was spent learning in the Vietnamese language. There were one elementary school on Small Kao Tao, two on Tching Lan San, and three on Big Kao Tao. Grade levels were from the first to the fourth. For further education it was necessary to go to Cat Ba or the cities of Haiphong or Hanoi. The school year was from September to June with five four-hour days of instruction each week. Older girls usually remained at home to help with house chores and to take care of younger brothers and sisters. Boys were usually sent to school at the age of six. When the girls were strong enough to do heavy work, they would go out to sea with their elders to fish instead.

Cat Ba

(population approx. 10,000, mostly Chinese) also had a limited bilingual school system with one hour of Vietnamese language instruction per day. There were five elementary schools and one Junior High school on this larger island. For further education it

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was necessary to go to Haiphong or Hanoi. The school year was also from September to June. There were five session periods per school day; three periods in the morning (7:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon) and two periods in the afternoon (1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.). There was some interaction with Vietnamese; therefore, the residents spoke passable Vietnamese. Schooling since the bombing began in 1969 had been erratic; thus, students now entering grade school or junior high in the U.S. had probably spent very little, if any time in school. Usually children left school before sixth grade to help the family with daily chores or fishing.

Haiphong

had a Chinese bilingual school system and a Vietnamese public school system. The schools went through the tenth grade. These schools functioned on a tuition basis, so a child could attend school as long as the family could afford the semester-by-semester tuition. Before 1954, families could choose schools that were taught in Chinese, but even then about one third of the school day instruction was taught in Vietnamese. The schools were in session all day. After 1954, the schools were cut to half a day, and the curriculum became heavily political. The Chinese bilingual school system had the same curriculum as the ones in Cat Ba. Parents who wanted their children to receive further education would send them to the public school rather than the private bilingual school. To attend the university, one had to go to Hanoi. Nevertheless, there were only a few Chinese admitted (“They looked at your ethnic group first”.) Probably, higher education was reserved for children of the party faithfuls, and Chinese, who were not even citizens, could

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hardly claim to be in the party.

All of the Chinese bilingual schools were eliminated in 1968 and converted to the public school system. Most of the girls (twelve years or older) from the islands were illiterate. Boys and girls from the islands, including Cat Ba, who are currently attending U.S. secondary schools are facing learning difficulties because of their limited educational background, while their younger brothers or sisters have had little or no difficulty in school. Additionally, students who had gone through the same number of years of schooling back home might not have achieved skills meeting the standards of U.S. schools. There was no kindergarten in the North. Children normally started school between six and seven. The grade levels in the Chinese school system were: grammar school, first-sixth, junior high, seventh-ninth, and senior high, tenth-twelfth. There was no age limit when entering school. A twelve year old girl might attend the first grade when her parents could afford to allow her to go to school. She might skip grades if exceptional progress was shown.

Culture

The general aspects of Chinese culture in North Vietnam were summarized from MINORITY GROUPS IN NORTH VIETNAM (1972) by Joann Schrock et al., and cited from publications by Francis Hsu—the known scholar on Chinese culture. Information based on interviews of some of the local residents have helped update the information so that it is more representative of current situation.

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Interpersonal Relationships.

Ethnic Chinese have always had a strong sense of loyalty to their family, both past and future as well as present, and to the Chinese community. Between good friends, business dealings, contracts, loans etc., are based on mutual trust and not on formal contracts. Between others, witnesses are brought in to complete a transaction. Their major goal is the economic prosperity of the family. The social and economic position of the family can be improved through hard work. Interaction with outsiders is characterized by politeness and patience. The Chinese would expect others to show them the same patience. The Chinese seldom reveal their innermost thoughts. There is an attitude or a firm conviction of the cultural superiority of the Chinese. Different dialect groups also have different practices.

Social Structure.

Traditionally, the family fulfills many functions that are met in Western society by health and unemployment insurance, old age pensions, and life insurance. After 1954 the government supplied the basic care for the people who worked for the government. Otherwise, the families took care of their own. There is a fear that this will change in the U.S. The whole family is held morally accountable for the actions and well-being of its members. Great respect is paid to the elder members of a family. Social ties are governed by Confucian principles relating to five relationships: Between ruler and subject, father and son, older brother and younger brother, husband and wife, and friend and friend. The younger generation do not learn the principles in the same way that the older people who attended Chinese school did. They just imitate the

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behavior of the elders. “Hsiao”, or filial piety, stresses loyalty and devotion to one's parents. This concept extends to the relationship between older brother and younger brothers—there are reciprocal duties that are expected. The family is patriarchic; the husband is the head, and is the living link between the past and the future generations. The primary motivation for emigration from China to Vietnam was economic betterment.

School.

The Chinese culture has traditionally structured its class status into four orders: scholar, farmer, worker, and businessman. The scholar has held the highest respect and rank since the social structure formalized. Historically, it is the scholar who takes the total responsibility for student education and dicipline. Parents have never held a participatory role in the school system. Without question they assume schools and teachers are doing the best for their children. For this reason parents do not attend parent/teacher conferences or become involved in PTA. (“They are the trained experts for teaching. How can we tell them how to do their job?”)

Kinship.

The basis of kinship is patrilineal, and the most important relationship is that of father and son (Hsu, 1967). The father has authority over the son, and the son has to revere and support his parents. Mourning and worship after the death of the parents are integral parts of the son's responsibility. All other relationships in the family group are regarded as extensions of the father-son relationship or subordinate or supplementary to it. The husband-wife relationship is strictly held to be supplementary and

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subordinate to the father-son relationship. The relationship between brothers is also supplementary, but not subordinate, to that of the father and son. In fact, harmony among brothers is greatly desired in order to maintain and enhance the father-son relationship. The relationship between brothers and sisters is, similarly, less well defined or socially emphasized than that between brothers.

Ancestor Worship.

It is the central link between the world of men and the world of spirits. There are three basic assumptions: (1) all living persons owe their fortunes or misfortunes to their ancestors; (2) all departed ancestors, like other gods and spirits, had needs that are not different from those of the living; and (3) the departed ancestors continue, as in life, to assist their relatives in this world just as their living descendants continue to lend a hand to them.

Place of Men, Women, and Children in Society.

Male children are preferred because they continously contributed to the family's economic prosperity and the family name. Female children are an economic loss since they are lost to the household at marriage. Traditionally, the man was the “rice-winner”. He conducted the ancestral ceremonies, managed the family finances, and dealt with the outside world. Since 1954, both husband and wife worked, and a strong and capable woman could become the manager of the family, or very dominant in the family. Traditionally, Chinese women had less social freedom and fewer occasions to modify their traditional roles as mother, mother-in-law, or grandmother. Since 1954, the “equal rights” emphasis of the government had conflicted with the

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traditional ways. Children traditionally submitted to their parents' wishes in regard to education, occupation, courtship, and marriage. Parents prefer that children speak their dialect at home, but realize that times will change.

Marriage.

Marriage was prearranged by parents for the people who were in the three islands. After the settlement in this country, marriage arrangements have changed to only requiring both the male and female parents' approval and consent. Marriage arrangements are often negotiated between the families. The groom's family is expected to pay the bride's family to help with the expenses of the wedding—feasting, jewelry, etc. The bride's family might return most of the money via a “dowry” taken to the husband's home at the time of marriage, resulting in a “no-profit” arrangement. There is social status from a daughter bringing a large gift from the groom's family. This is not so common any more, since both families usually help to meet the expenses of a wedding. Families may go into debt to provide an “appropriate” wedding. The wife goes to live with the husband or husband's family after the marriage (“patrilocal residence”). A wedding in the country may go on for three days, while in the cities, celebrations are limited to days off work (one or two days). Divorce is possible, if both parties agreed. In the city, a judge would make the final determination. However, it was not commonly practiced since people were too busy working and surviving to worry about happiness or divorce. Both widowers and widows can remarry, but a woman is admired for remaining loyal to her husband even after his death.

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Pregnancy and Birth.

A pregnant woman has to observe various restrictions and taboos, some of which are intended to influence the fetus (Hsu, 1967). During interviews, women provided their traditional ideals that could influence the birth of a child as follows. A pregnant woman must not get angry or quarrel with anyone. If she does so, her child will have a bad temper. She should not work on jobs which require the lifting of heavy weights or reach for things high above her head so the fetus would not drop out from her womb. She must not go to temples to look at certain images, particularly those of the cow-faced and horse-faced gods. She must not not look at an eclipsed sun or moon, neither must she sleep during any elipse. Violation of this taboo means that her baby will be born with a harelip. She can attend wedding and birthday events because her condition of carrying a new life means bringing good luck. However, She must not attend any funeral events for her child would cry for one hundred days after born. If she remains happy and not quarrelsome during her months of pregnancy, her baby will be good-natured and clever. After the childbirth, she is in confinement which usually lasts about a month. During the period of confinement, she cannot pass through the main portal to the family home because her “unclean” body will give offense to the gods guarding it. If she is obliged to go out by the house door, she must wear a hat. She is usually assisted by her mother-in-law or some other relative. Rarely does her own mother come to her for this purpose. She must not attend any wedding or funeral events in order to prevent the blame of bringing bad luck. In the country, birth takes place at home with

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the help of a grandmother or neighbor. In the city, babies are born in the hospital. Successful birth means family celebrations and feasting. After thirty days there is a celebration, expecially if the baby is a son. One custom calls for roasting a whole pig, cutting it into pieces, and assembling packages of roast pork, an egg dyed red, and pickled ginger to pass out to friends and neighbors. The baby often receives “lucky money” (lai xi) in red envelopes.

Child Rearing Practices.

Chinese are usually devoted to their children and are proud of their accomplishments. Parents are more tolerant of boys' behavior than girls'. Girls are generally required to follow more rules and taboos than boys. Girls begin to help with the daily chores at an earlier age than boys. From the age of six or seven, children supervise the play of younger siblings. Birthdays are not celebrated in a big way until a person attains old age, especially 60. A child's birthday might be observed with a dish of noodles (long life) and an egg. People are usually regarded as becoming one year older on New Year's Day, rather than on their birthday.

Death and Burial.

Death is the event which marks the passage of an individual from the world of man to the world of spirit (Hsu, 1967). All rites normally aim at one of four things: (1) expending the spirit's safe entry into that world; (2) its comfort in that world; (3) expressing sorrowful feelings on the part of the living and their reluctance to let the dead go; and (4) making sure that the death has not created conditions for future disaster through circumstances which are beyond his or her control (Hsu, 1967).

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Ground burial is preferred over cremation. The elders are often a member of a local Chinese association for the elderly, and the membership deposit is enough to cover the burial (coffin, lot) cost. The elaborateness of the funeral is associated with the economic and social status, age, and sex of the deceased. The name and often the picture of the deceased is placed on the family altar. Incense is burned three times a day at the altar, and prayers and offerings are made in conjunction with festivals and emergencies. Traditionally, the wives and daughters from the islands did not inherit unless there were no male heirs. In recent times, inheritance is divided more or less equally among male and female heirs.

Taboos and Customs.

The Chinese have many folk stories, passed from mother to child, of an unbelievable or superstitious nature. A son may not use his father's given name. Fortune tellers were ocasionally consulted at important life events (birth, marriage, death). More recently, a Chinese family might try to select an auspicious day for the marriage of their daughter. There are twelve animals associated with years in the twelve-year cycle of the lunar calendar (sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, pig, rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, and horse). Traditionally it was believed that the year of one's birth gave one the characteristics embodied in the animal symbolizing that year. Persons with incompatible animals were not allowed to marry. This adherence to the lunar calendar has faded, and people may not even know the twelve animals. A popular pastime is gathering together to exchange news and gossip. Among the old, games of chance are popular (cards and mahjong). The folowing

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sports are now popular: basketball, table tennis, soccer, swimming, track events, and marksmanship. Chess is a popular game for all ages.

Etiquette.

There are traditional and complex rules governing social conduct (Li Chi, or Confucian Book of Rites). These have been modified with the absence of Chinese schools because of Western influence. “Saving face” is very important. Chinese will sometimes compromise greatly to prevent hurt feelings, public humiliation, or loss of reputation to another individual.

Traditional Chinese Festivals.

Chinese New Year occurs between January 21 and February 19, on the first day of the lunar new year. This is the most important festival and the only one for which there are days off from work. It is the same as Tet, the Vietnamese New Year. Ch'ing Ming, the Great Spring Festival, occurs on the 29th day of the second lunar month. It is not as important among the overseas Chinese. Chung-Yuan, on Receiving Ancestors Festival, occurs on the 15th day of the seventh month. It involves remembrance of ancestral spirits and repair of family gravesites. Mid-Autumn, or Moon Festival, occurs on the 15th day of the eight month. It is second only to the New Year in importance and enjoys an enthusiastic celebration.

Occupations.

Formerly, (before 1954) Chinese were engaged in trade. In recent years almost all business has been taken over by the government. Chinese in the north were largely engaged in:

1. Ceramics at Mong Cai;
2. Machine and ship construction at Haiphong;

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― 27 ―
3. Spices and supply of meat;
4. Chinese medicines;
5. Restaurants and tea-houses;
6. Fishing; and
7. Laboring in the repair of roads and other facilities damaged by U.S. bombing raids.

In Haiphong, Chinese often worked as dock workers, seamen, handicrafters, workers in transportation and communication cooperatives, workers at electrical power plants, workers at casting plants, handicrafters, and workers in textile and machine shops. In Quang Ninh provinces, Chinese were usually employed in fishing, coal mining, or ceramics. The Hakka dialect group were almost exclusively rice farmers in Quang Ninh.

Polictics.

The Chinese were generally apolitical. However, Chinese in the South held the economic reins of the country and thus considerable power (Hunter, 1966).

The following quote discussed the historical relationship between the Vietnamese and Chinese: “The Chinese have traditionally maintained an attitude of cultural superiority, vis-a-vis all other non-Chinese groups. This feeling is not a matter of arrogance but one of sincere conviction. For their part, the Vietnamese, while retaining their national identity, more closely resemble the Chinese in religion, language, and other cultural aspects than any other Southeast Asian people. At the same time, however, the Vietnamese have feared and resented the Chinese because of the latter's repeated attempts at dominating the country in the past and the strong

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position they have occupied in the Vietnamese economy.” (Schrock, 1967)

Resettlement in Sacramento County

The Chinese government has claimed that over 250,000 ethnic Chinese from North Vietnam returned to mainland China during 1978 to 1979 (Grant, 1979). However, according to the local interviews, only two third of that number still remain in China, and one third, or approximately 90,000 ethnic Chinese from North Vietnam passed by China's soil and went to refugee camps in Hong Kong and Macao. They believe most of the ethnic Chinese in Cat Ba, many in Haiphong, and 1,500 from the three islands were among the refugees in these camps.

When they were in the refugee camps, they were allowed the opportunity to resettle in the U.S. or other western countries such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. A great proportion of them chose to resettle in the U.S. due to the information they had obtained from the relatives in the states, especially in Sacramento, California.

Evidently, the first group of the ethnic Chinese from North Vietnam resettled in the U.S. as early as the first wave refugees from the South, in 1975. During the evacuation (in late April 1975 in South Vietnam), a group of fishermen (about 200, some with families on board) were in the southern border open sea on a regular fishing trip. They were stopped and rescued (actually transferred) by a U.S. ship docked in the Pacific Ocean. They were mistaken for

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refugees from the south trying to flee the country, and did not manage to communicate the error until later. While they were in the temporary camp at Camp Pendleton (near San Diego, the first temporary refugee camp until the protest from Californians closed the camp three months later), they were sponsored by a farmer from Davis, California, for a farming project. The project failed due to some misunderstanding and misarrangement. They were later resettled in South Sacramento, in Lemon Hill Avenue's low income housing, through the help of the United Social Catholic Conference (USCC) which is one of the largest organizations involved in refugee resettlement programs. It is this group of settlers that their relatives have been joining in Sacramento since 1979.

Thus, they resettled in Sacramento County first. Since then some have moved to the bay area and even to New York City for job opportunities.

According to the United Social Catholic Conference's record, the ethnic Chinese from Vietnam had the biggest influx during 1979 to 1982.

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During the period from 1975 to 1978, 13% of the refugees arriving in Sacramento County were identified as ethnic Chinese; these were primarily from the South. During 1979 to 1982, 86% of the arrivals were ethnic Chinese; the majority listed Haiphong, Cat Ba, or Quang Ninh as their place of residence and/or birth. The total number (the first resettlement and second migration from other states) of Indochinese refugees in Sacramento County is approximately 25,000. The first wave of refugees were generally successful in adjusting to the school system and the community. The second wave of refugees, with a majority from Haiphong, Cat Ba, and Quang Ninh, however, were less successful. It is this group that constitute a large part of the challenge to the county's teachers, aides, administrators, and community members.

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3. ETHNIC CHINESE FROM THE THREE REGIONS

As mentioned in the previous chapter, the ethnic Chinese from North Vietnam in Sacramento County are from the three regions of Quang Ninh, Cat Ba, and Haiphong. The information in this chapter is gathered through the selected nine families, three families for a region. The participants for the interviews were the grandparents and parents. Occasionally, some teenagers were sitting in the group and listened to their elders' recalling their past.

The People from Quang Ninh

The province of Quang Ninh is formed from two previously separate provinces, Hai Ninh and Quang Yen. It lies in the northeast corner of Vietnam, adjacent to China and bordering on the sea (see p.32). (Locally, this part of the ocean is called the North Sea - Bac Hai.) It consists of seven prefectures, or districts: Tinh Lap, Binh Lien, Ba Che, Tien Yen, Ha Que, Mong Cai, and Kao Tao. Kao Tao is comprised of all the offshore islands, including the three larger ones which are referred to as “Kao Tao islands”. Seven thousand people lived on these three islands. The eastern island which is about 60 miles south of Mong Cai is named Tching Lan Xan. The northern one is “small Kao Tao” and the Southern one is “big Kao Tao”.

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The population was entirely ethnic Chinese, all speakers of the Cantonese dialect. The people called themselves `Chinese immigrants', or `overseas Chinese', or even `Vietnamese Chinese'. The Vietnamese government called them `Han Rai', meaning descendents of the Han race. There was very litle marriage ouside the Cantonese group, and most of the inhabitants of the islands were related to each other in some way. (According to Chinese custom, it was permissible for first cousins to marry if they had different family names.) The inhabitants of Kao Tao islands had lived there for two to four generations. After North Vietnam became a socialist nation, the government sent an official to act as the leader on the islands. He also operated the government “PX”, conducted the semi-annual census, issued ration cards for food, collected taxes, and gave credit for fish brought in.

Interaction with Vietnamese.

The communities on the islands were intact Chinese cultural groups. There was very little interaction with the Vietnamese except for occasional business ventures to the mainland or annual forays into the black markets of Mong Cai or Dam Ha. They could get along for most of their lives without ever speaking Vietnamese. In 1954 they were required to take Vietnamese names and citizenship at the government's insistence. They were issued ID cards, and would be stopped at sea and asked for identification. A census was conducted every six to twelve months to get names of men for the draft and to add or delete names to the list for food rations. Several people pointed out that in Hanoi, Haiphong, or Nam Dinh, there were large enough Chinese communities

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that they could ignore the order to register as Vietnamese citizens. There was evidently a reisistance movement in the rural part of the mainland at the Hai Ninh end of the province. The leader of the resistance was imprisoned for life. Many Chinese left and returned to China or Taiwan at that time. The main disadvantage to taking Vietnamese citizenship, other than on principle, was eligibility for the draft, and the inability to come and go freely across the Chinese border. As the ethnic Chinese became citizens, the men were eligible for the draft. It was evidently fairly easy to avoid serving, however. All the sons except the eldest one were eligible for the draft, but most of them managed to slip back to the islands without much trouble. One man reported that his brother (from the mainland) had enough money that he could bribe the draft official to keep him out of the army.

Occupation.

The main occupation of the people of the Kao Tao islands was fishing, about 3,000 were fishermen; the rest were in farming and other trades. The fishermen were assigned to a twenty to thirty man crew of a fishing boat by the government every six to twelve months. The crew was responsible for maintaining the boat, and the men made excellent nets that could catch even the tiniest fish. The larger boats, with engines, could reach the open sea in two to three hours. If fishing was good, they would return in three or four hours with a full load. Sometimes they could make two trips in one day. If fishing was poor, the boat might stay at sea for three or four days until they had their catch. Generally the fish were abundant (a favorite kind to catch was “sap pan” - a type of red

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striped bass). They would occasionally see boats from China, or even Hong Kong, fishing in the same waters. There were rarely ever hostilities between boats, but the Vietnam crews were careful to avoid Chinese waters. The load of fish was “sold” to the government, and a percentage of each kilo was assigned to taxes. The remainder was credited to their accounts, and ration cards for rice, meat, sugar, etc., were issued based on the number of adults and the credits earned through fishing. Sometimes there were surplus fish (although the government made sure there was not too much excess!) which the men or their wives would dry or sell. A crew needed to bring in about 100 tons of fish a year. Some of the credit would be advanced in cash. With the cash, they would make the two to four day trips to Mong Cai to buy at the black market. Credits were used to pay rent on the boat, to buy food with ration cards, for medical care, and for school supplies, etc. The women cleaned and fried fish, and grew vegetables to supplement their diets. The men agreed that the women had hard lives. Except for the 30 days after childbirth, where bed rest is assumed, the women worked usually with new borns in the sling-shawl. (“It was nothing to carry a hundred pound bag of fish…”)

Housing.

Houses on the islands were primitive. With the neighbors' helps, a house could be erected in about one week by using mud bricks for the walls, coconut thatch for the roof, and packing the dirt for the floor. The one to three rooms houses had no electricity or plumbing. Oil lamps were used for illumination. The toilet was any convenient spot up the hill. Cooking was done inside

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the house over a wood fire. Water was drawn from a well. When it rained, the entire house might be covered with a sheet of plastic. People took sponge baths only occasionally. To wash the body, one had to collect a bucket full of water, drape a cloth around nearby trees, and inside, sponge off with water from the bucket.

Transportation.

Bikes were the main transportation on these islands and only a few people possessed them. On small Kao Tao, there was one lone trading post where residents would get their necessities such as sugar, tea, needles and thread, fabrics, utensils, etc., by paying higher prices and in cash (It took them a half day to make a round trip to the trading post.) There were no street names on the islands. A person's address consisted of the name and general location such as in “central bay”, “east bay”, or “west bay”. People on the islands knew each other so well that a letter from the mainland would get to the right person without any mistakes.

Custom.

The customs this population has observed were Chinese. It appears that there has been less change to traditional Chinese customs in this isolated locale than there has been on the mainland. They followed confucianism. All children were expected to marry, otherwise, they would be thought of as refusing to grow up, and thus remaining in the parents' home as an inmature adult, no matter how old. Most of the medicine practiced was Chinese folk medicine There was a rudimentary hospital but it provided little more than first aid. The local saying was, “If the death god calls, you go.”

The people on the islands seem to have followed the custom of giving the child a temporary name, waiting for the teacher to suggest

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a suitable name after the child began school. Often the child is named for his position in the sibling order:

There exists much confusion about the names, in addition to “which name comes first, and which one last?” The children's names are written by their Chinese families with Chinese characters. When the government required them to take Vietnamese citizenship, or when processing through a refugee camp, someone in the family would convert the Chinese character into an existing Vietnamese name of similar meaning or roots, or spelled it using the Vietnamese phonetic system. This results is more confusion. The pronunciation of the

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name can differ depending on whether the speaker is Chinese or Vietnamese. However, the child knows that it is the same name. Two names with identical spellings can be entirely different names with different meanings depending on whether it is done in a Vietnamese context or a Chinese context.

The syllable “A” has been transcribed onto the ID cards as part of the given name, but the “A” is usually only appended to the name in conversation. Thus a child name “Cuong” will be “A Cuong” when the name is mentioned in speech only. Very often, the child will have to be taught to respond to his “school name”, since he/she is called by a nickname at home. These problems could arise even if American teachers have pronounced the name accurately. The end result is that usually the child will learn to respond to whatever it is that the teacher uses as his name.

Post War Period (After 1975).

Most of the target population said that they had heard that a war was going on, but the only signs they saw were an occasional plane flying overhead, or a patrol boat at sea.

Although life on the islands had never been easy, after the war, conditions became even worse. They had to catch twice the fish to get the same credits, and the rations for rice were cut to 20 or 25% of the amount they were able to buy before. The government claimed that they would all have to do with less, so that the south could be rebuilt. However, one individual observed that the rice probably went to feed the troops in Cambodia. People were hungry most of the time. To travel to another village or to visit another house, one

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had to have an ID and two official passes. If someone had a visitor who was unauthorized, after two or three days the official would come and arrest the visitor. Neighbors and even the children spied on each other. Especially when food was scarce, extra rations might be given to someone who was especially “patriotic” or “cooperative”.

Resettlement.

Although everyone interviewed said that they had never even thought of leaving their islands until the government forced them to leave, they indicated that they would not want to go back now. They claimed that the best thing about the U.S. is human rights (“people are fair - there's no need to bribe a person to get something done”), the living standard (plumbing, electricity), education, the right to defend yourself, and the services for people. The worst part seemed to be (no one could actually think of a worst part) the frustration of not finding jobs at an unskilled level. The main goal for the children is for them to learn English. They feel that the children can learn English in an all-English class, but the adults can not. They want the children to learn skills that will enable them to work. They have experienced no conflicts with other ethnic groups here, nor did they suffer much discrimination at home…“on the island, everyone was Chinese, and no one was much richer than the rest”. Once in a while, there is a “play fight” at school here, but because of the languages, no one can really tell who is right and who is wrong - just a misunderstanding, usually. They feel that they would not object to their sons or daughters marrying outside the Cantonese group in this country. “It's a free country, how can you control the kids anyway?” “In America a person is free

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to choose for himself.”

Parents have high expectations for their children. Nevertheless, if the children are not doing well in school, they would not find this to be neglective since they themselves had little or no schooling. As long as the children can learn to speak English and be able to work to support themselves later, they felt that this was a big achievement.

Parents appear to be having communication problems with their older children (teenagers). They think that the children have adopted the American ways of life such as “materialistic enjoyment”, “searching for fun”, “live for the day not the future”, and “keeping up with others”. In a very short time, they feel that a generation gap has already developed. Normally physical punishment is one way to discipline a child's bad behavior. However, they were told by the children that they would get into problems with the law if the children were punished physically. Such changes will always be a problem for them to adjust to.

The People from Cat Ba

Many of the ethnic Chinese arriving here in 1980 and 1981 listed Cat Ba as the place of birth/residence on their immigration forms (I-94). Cat Ba (variant spelling Cac Ba”) is a district name, in the same province as Haiphong. Cat Ba island is the name of the large island that lies just east of Haiphong, and is also the collective name for all the small islands associated with the large one. There

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are many similarities between the people from the fishing villages of Kao Tao island (Quang Ninh) and people from Cat Ba. The differences will be pointed out in this segment of their description.

The general impression of the people from Cat Ba is that they are somewhat less bewildered by the turn of events over the past few years, but they are by no means “westernized”. They, too, have lived in a socialist state for 35 years, and probably felt its effects earlier than the more isolated Kao Tao people. They have not seen the technological changes seen by the western world in the past three decades, and have been in a country where anything western has been discouraged or forbidden. They have come from a place where they worked for the government in exchange for the basic survival needs, and had virtually no opportunity to possess non-essential items or to improve their economic lot. It seems strange to them that here in the U.S. the government also provides for the basic survival needs, but requires that one does not work in order to qualify. This feeling was even more evident with the Kao Tao people than the Quanhg Ninh people.

The island of Cat Ba had over 10,000 inhabitants. Natives estimated that 90% were ethnic Chinese and 10% Vietnamese. Ancestors of the families that were interviewed arrived on the islands from three to six generations ago, all from China, with the majority from Kwangsi province and the rest from GuangDong province. The ancestors had been fishermen. These men tended to bring their families with them rather than come alone as many of the Chinese merchants did. No one was sure why their ancestors had decided to emigrate from China,

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nor the reason for their choosing the islands near Cat Ba. Most people lived in or near the same house for all of their lives. However, a married woman would go to her husband's house to live. There was some intermarriage with the Vietnamese but not too frequently. Generally, a Chinese man might take a Vietnamese wife, but intermarriage seldom occurred between a Vietnamese man and a Chinese woman. Such marriage is very unpopular.

Degree of Isolation.

The ethnic Chinese said that they could function very well without knowing any Vietnamese even though the government officials were all Vietnamese. After the “liberation” in 1954 they took Vietnamese names, spelling them themselves. There was some discrimination against the Chinese, primarily in dealing with the government officials. For example, a Chinese might have to bribe government workers in order to have required paperwork completed. They called themselves `overseas Chinese' and were not drafted into the army. They followed Chinese customs at home, and spoke Cantonese on all the islands. The standard of living on the islands was very poor. There was no acknowledged leader other than the government official (“and he was no leader!”). Generally, it was “live or die”. Families did not rely on each other very much.

Life Style.

The main occupation on Cat Ba was fishing. Like those from Kao Tao, fishermen were assigned to crews once every year, and paid rent for the use of the government-owned boats. Those who worked for the government fishing crews were given housing. A house was a large barn-like structure, with wood walls and floors and tar-paper roofs. Because of the humidity, the termites, and the

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building techniques, the house had to be torn down and rebuilt every ten years or so. Several families lived together in one house with drapes separating the living areas. There was no electricity or plumbing. Cooking was done outside on mud stoves over wood fires. The water came from wells and there was sometimes a communal toilet. No currency was used. The fish that they caught were traded for rents, taxes, and food.

Occasionally a family was too large to support with government work alone, or for some other reason the wage-earner did not work on government crews. These families built their own boats, and the whole family, grandmother to toddlers, would go out on fishing trips to help bring in the catch.

Post War Period (After 1975).

The islands were right in the line of fire during the bombing of Haiphong. The damage was heavy. Many houses were burned. Bomb craters scarred the land, and many people died. Many of the people left the islands during the bombing and lived near Mong Cai until the end of the war. Those who stayed on the islands did not venture out when the harbor was mined.

After 1977 conditions on the islands became very bad. First, the rations were cut back severely and rice was supplemented by corn (“animal feed”) and poor quality Russian flour. Then the men lost their jobs on the fishing boats. Without fish to barter or ration cards for rice, the families began to starve. The government officials began telling the Chinese to leave the islands. There were flyers, visits to the houses, loudspeaker announcements, and radio broadcasts. (“They made us feel very low.”) The government didn't

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care how or where they went, so long as all the Chinese left the islands and left Vietnam. Most went back to China.

Several families would go together to buy a boat from the government. In the rush to leave, many families (the married members in the family) were separated. (“We don't know if they're at the bottom of the sea or where.”) The trip to Hong Kong took about two months, including stop for water or repairs. Once in Hong Kong, they were given three choices for emigration: United States, Australia, or Canada. The average stay in Hong Kong was thirteen to twenty months. The men were usually able to find work in Hong Kong as carriers, assembly line workers, or labors.

Resettlement.

Like the people from Kao Tao, they chose the United States because of the opportunities for their children, especially for education. “In Vietnam there were no chances!” Another reason is the refugee settlement programs in the United States. The primary goal for the children is to learn English and to be able to get jobs. They feel frustrated at not being able to work or learn enough English, but decided that they will go with the child who can get a job. Now that they are here, however, they will follow American customs. For example, the children may marry outside the Cantonese group if they choose to. They felt that it would be nice for the children to learn to read and write Chinese. But learning English is the most important. In fact, no one would move just to be near a school that teaches Chinese literacy (“Chinese and English are the most difficult languages to learn - the brain just can't hold that much all at once.”) They claimed that the children could learn

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English just by being in school with English-speaking classmates, but adults needed someone who could explain things in Cantonese and a lot of use of visual aids in order to learn English better.

Like the Kao Tao group, the concept of “freedom” is important. In fact, it appears that traditional discipline and standards of social conduct between people (“hsiao”) may flounder because they are now in a country where everyone is free to choose what they do.

The families interviewed reported no incidents of discrimination or conflict with other groups. There have been no problems at school because “the families are united—just like brothers and sisters.”

The People from Haiphong

The 1960 census reported by North Vietnam indicated there were nearly 175,000 `Han' (ethnic Chinese) in the north (Smith, p.558). A Haiphong resident guessed at 200,000 plus in North Vietnam (120,000 in Haiphong) and other sources put the 1960 figure at around 50,000 to 80,000 in the entire north. Obviously, the problem of counting ethnic Chinese in Vietnam was never really resolved. At any rate, the urban-dwelling ethnic Chinese were located primarily in Hanoi, Haiphong, and Nam Dinh. Some of these urban Chinese had migrated to the cities from the highlands near the Chinese frontier over the years, and others had relatives who came more or less directly to the cities from China.

Since the north became a socialist system in 1954, most of the commerce and trade (historically a Chinese-dominated field) has been

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taken over by the government. Most recently (after 1965), the Chinese in Haiphong had been employed as dock workers, seamen, workers in transportation and communication cooperatives, workers at an electrical power plant, factory workers at casting plants, artisans in handicrafts cooperatives, and workers in textile and machine shops. In addition, the Chinese laborer has probably been employed in the rebuilding of roads and other facilities damaged by U.S. bombing. One source thought that most Chinese in Haiphong worked in factories. There was no single “Chinatown” in Haiphong. Rather, ethnic Chinese lived in all areas of the city. There was daily interaction with the Vietnamese, but even so, one could get along without knowing a great deal of Vietnamese. They listed themselves as `overseas Chinese' on the census, and were able to ignore the governmental order that Vietnam-born Chinese take Vietnamese citizenship. Since they were not citizens, the men were not drafted. City residents reported that the Chinese living in rural areas were drafted, however.

Many of the ethnic Chinese in Haiphong emigrated from Guangxi or GuangDong provinces in southern China. Very few of the Chinese in Haiphong spoke any dialet other than Cantonese. One family interviewed said that the paternal grandfather had come to Haiphong forty years ago to work as a street vendor of sweet drinks. The wife had come from Hainoi, and her family still lived there.

The ethnic Chinese felt discrimination mainly in the workplace. The factories were run by Vietnamese, and the Chinese felt that they were denied opportunities for promotion. They were assigned the

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least desirable jobs, and generally had to work “harder”. The average wage in 1979 was 30 to 60 piastres per month. A family could live “comfortably” on about 60 piastres per month. The people who worked for government-owned business were issued ration cards for basic foods. Those who did not work for the government received about one tenth the number of rations. For example, a government worker could expect about three ounces of meat per adult per month, two ounces of sugar, about two pounds of fish, and fifteen kilos of rice per adult. For additional food, they had to buy on the black market, where prices were seven times higher. Laborers received rations for considerably more meat.

It cost twelve to twenty piastres per month to rent a place to live. Since the rent was such a high proportion of the salary, two or three families would go together to rent one place. As an example, twelve to eighteen people might occupy a place with one large room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. At night the people would cover the floor of the four by six meter room, leaving a small path to the bathroom. Typically, such a one-story brick residence had electricity, but no running water. The toilet was emptied every other day by a collector. The water had to be bought from someone in the neighborhood who had paid the expensive price for piped water. A member of the household would wait for an hour and a half to buy two large buckets of water, and would carry the one hundred pound buckets on the ends of a carrying pole back to the house. The cooking was done on a stove that burned wood or charcoal.

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Custom.

Although many of the traditional ones were “from the grandfathers' day”, most of the ethnic Chinese maintained Chinese customs. They observed Confucianism, and prepared Chinese foods. There was a Chinese association in Haiphong but it was powerless. They named their children once, and did not follow the custom of choosing temporary names like the people in Kao Tao. (It was commented that the Chinese in more remote areas still followed that custom.)

Post War Period (After 1975).

During the bombing of Haiphong that began in 1969, many families went to other provinces, such as Son Tay, south of Hanoi, to live. In 1975, as soon as Saigon fell, the government told all the evacuated people to return to their homes. (Obviously the children in school during the 1975 period have had much disruption of their lives; schooling has been sporatic, at best.) When the people returned to Haiphong, conditions became worse. Rations were very short. Three years after they returned, in mid 1978, the government began to force the Chinese to leave. There were neighborhood meetings, cars with loudspeakers, radio announcements, flyers, and government cadres calling at individual homes. All messages told the Chinese to leave. It was a choice they couldn't refuse: go into a concentration camp, and then to the interior (jungle) to eke out a living on a piece of undeveloped land, or “go abroad”. Eventually the government took over their houses, allowing people to sell a few things at greatly reduced prices.

One of the families interviewed left with two hundred others in April, 1979. Together they raised the 24,000 piastres to buy an old

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sailing junk badly in need of repair. In addition, they were charged 16,000 piastres by the harbor agent before they could depart. This, they think, was for his private profit. They had few personal belongings, and little food. There were no pirates, but just as they were almost to the open sea, a patrol boat fired on them, putting additional holes in an already leaky hull. During the voyage, someone had to bail out water twenty four hours a day. There were several stops along the way, the Chinese residents sold them water and other necessities. They estimated that 75% of the ethnic Chinese in Haiphong left, and the great majority fled into China.

Resettlement.

The U.S. was the first choice of most people in the group. Those who have moved to California from other states cite the weather, schools, Asian population, and relatives as the reasons for moving to California. The best part of life here has been the help given to the refugees and the educational opportunities for the children. Their aspirations for the children seem to be higher than among the island residents. For example, one man hoped to see his daughters attend the university, and fully expected that they would work. He hoped that his sons would go to a technical school and learn to be either an electrician or a mechanic. He thought that his children would become fully Americanized, and would retain few of their Chinese ways. He felt that it would be nice for them to learn to read and write Chinese, but most people thought that it was not the place of the schools to teach it. They thought that they could hire a private teacher. Or perhaps a church or an association would give classes on Saturdays or after school. They would not consider

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moving to another area just to be near a school that teaches Chinese literacy.

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4. SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The purpose of this chapter is to summarize the project's content. It also includes concluding statements and make some recommendations for this handbook.

Summary

The purpose of this project was to develop a handbook for teachers. Different programs in schools have changed to fit the students' academic abilities, but little attention has been given to the cultural backgrounds of the individuals. This handbook attempted to help teachers to examine and compare the differences of this student population to other ethnic Chinese groups.

Conclusion

Due to the many decades of isolation, the neds of the students of this population may differ from other non-native classmates in the American school system. Unlike other immigrant students, they have not necessarily attended schools previously, and lack a basic educational background. Thus, it is important for teachers to acknowledge this student population's historical, cultural, and especially educational background in order to help them to succeed.

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Teachers should become aware of the similarities and differences which distinguish each individual.

Recommendations

There is no consensus of opinion on how which approche should be emphasized because students' needs differ from individual to individual. With this in mind, any program to help this group of students should first determine individual needs and tailor the program to fit the special circumstances. However, general suggestions are as the following:

1. To provide an English transistional program for the new arrivals
2. To utilize cooporative learning rather than tracking (the same academic capability grouping)
3. To provide multicultural learning activities which would promote values, attitudes, and self-image and would develop an appreciation and an understanding of different cultures

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APPENDIX

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QUESTIONAIRE

“ETHNIC CHINESE FROM NORTH VIETNAM”

1. Who are these people? Do they constitute a group that is difference from other Chinese groups in Vietnam?
2. (If this is a “different” group of People) What is their background, and how their needs different from other refugee groups?
3. What are the implications for the schools and receiving communities?

QUESTIONS I WOULD LIKE ANSWERS TO:

1. WHAT IS THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE FAMILY?
   1. How long have their ancestos lived in Vietnam?
   2. When did the first one to emigrate from China come to Vietnam. Why? What was his/her occupation? What area did they settle in?
   3. Where in China did they come from?
   4. What kind of movement was there once they were in Vietnam? Did they move from place to place? Is the family still (1975) in the same general location that the first ancestor to come from China?
   5. Was there intermarriage with ethnic Vietnamese or other groups?
   6. Did the ancestor read and write Chinese? Do they? Do their children?
   7. Did the ancestor learn Vietnamese? Do they speak and understand Vietnamese? If so, where did they learn it? Do they read and write Vietnamese? Do their children?
2. WAS THERE A “LABEL” ATTACHED TO THEM IN VIETNAM? (MONG CAI, GAI, ETC,.)
   1. What were they called by the Vietnamese? By other Chinese?
   2. Did they belong to a support group if common …..
   3. ….. ancestry (surnames, relatives?)
   4. ….. religion?
   5. ….. dialect?
   6. ….. village or community?
   7. ….. occupation?
   8. or, was there no support group for them?
   9. In Vietnam, to whom did they go for help (financial, crisis, etc,.)
   10. To a family elder?
   11. To a village chief or leader?
   12. To a religious leader?

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― 55 ―
3. DID THEY SUFFER DISCRIMINATION IN VIETNAM?
   • Because of ….. ethnicity (being Chinese)?
   • ….. occupation?
   • ….. economic status?
   • ….. education level (or lack of education)?
   • What are some examples of discrimination? From whom?
4. DO THEY CONSIDER THEMSELVES CHINESE OR VIETNAMESE BY CULTURE?
   1. When did they first get Vietnamese-spelled names?
   2. When did they give up their Chinese citizenship?
   3. Do they follow Chinese traditions or Vietnamese?
      1. Do they celebrate Chinese holidays and festivals?
      2. Do they observe Chinese customs?
      3. What kinds of cooking is done at home?
      4. How are the names of the children chosen?
   4. What religion do they follow?
   5. Did they ever plan to return China?
   6. In Vietnam, were they in a Chinese community entirely? Was there any interaction with the Vietnamese, or involment in Vietnamese life?
5. WHAT IS THEIR PRIMARY LANGUAGE? DIALECT? OCCUPATION (in Vietnam)?
6. WHAT WAS A TYPICAL DAY LIKE, IN VIETNAM?
   1. Where did they live? (house, aparment, boat, …?) (in the city, on the island, near the ocean?)
   2. What were the roles of the family members? Father, mother, older children?
   3. Who lived together as a family in Vietnam? (usually shared meals together) who lives together as a family now in the United States?
   4. Did the children attend school?
   5. Did the husband or sons fight in the war?
   6. Did the government know o their existence? (census, ID card, birth registration, etc,.)
   7. What kind of medical care did they receive?
   8. How was their daily life different before the war — during the war — after the war — after 1978?
7. WHAT WERE THEIR WAR EXPERIENCES?
   1. Did the family members fight with any army? Which one?
   2. Did they have any political ties?
   3. Did the actual fighting come close to them? Examples…
   4. What were their experiences with U.S. soldiers?
   5. Did any family members did during the war? How?
8. WHAT WERE THE CIRCIUMSTANCES OF THEIR FLIGHT FROM VIETNAM?
   1. Why did they choose to leave?
   2. Are any close family still there? How was it decided who would come and who would stay?
   3. From whom did they learn about leaving Vietnam? Who organized their escape?

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   ― 56 ―
   4. What were the conditions of the escape?
      1. By boat?
      2. From where?
      3. How much did they have to pay?
      4. Did they bring any personal belongings with them?
      5. (General description of those times…)
9. WHAT WERE THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THEIR RESETTLEMENT?
   1. What camp did they go to?
   2. How long were they there?
   3. (General description…)
   4. How were they chosen to come to U.S.? To Sacramento?
   5. Are there family members still in the camps? Which one?
   6. What kind of help have they received since arriving in the U.S.?
   7. Have they lived in other cities in the U.S.? If so, why did they move to Sacramento? Are there family members living elsewhere in the U.S.?
   8. Do they think they will move to another place? When? Why?
   9. Who do they look to for help and support in the U.S.?
   10. What has the best part of life in the U.S. been? The worst part?
   11. How is life here different from life under the Commulists?
   12. If it was possible, would they return to Vietnam?
   13. If they had it to do again, would they leave Vietnam or stay?
10. WHAT ARE THEIR GOALS?
    1. What do they think they will be doing in 10 years?
    2. ….. Living where?
    3. ….. Working where? At what kind of job?
    4. ….. Speaking English? (father/mother)
    5. What are their goals for their children (or grandchildren)?
       1. ….. to speak English?
       2. ….. to read/write English?
       3. ….. to read/write Chinese?
       4. ….. to read/write Vietnamese?
       5. ….. to learn what occupation?
       6. ….. to assimilate into American community society, or to stay within an intact Chinese community (China town).
11. Would they agree to a son's marrying outside the Chinese group? A daughter?
12. When there is an important decision to be made, which conciderrations are the most important?
    • ….. Keeping the family together?
    • ….. Staying near friends?
    • ….. Staying with their dialect group?
    • ….. health?
    • ….. finances?
    • ….. Opportunity for jobs?
    • ….. Climate?
    • ….. Schools?
    • ….. Others?

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13. NOW THAT THEY ARE IN THE U.S. ARE THERE ETHNIC GROUPS THAT THEY EXPERIENCE CONFLICTS WITH? WHICH ONES? WHAT KIND OF CONFLICTS?
14. LIFE IN THE U.S……
    1. What are their impressions of Americans?
    2. Do they fear that some of the “old ways” will disappear?
    3. Are there American ways that cause them worry?
    4. How much contact have they had with Americans? (government workers? health workers? store employees? at schools? in church? in the neighborhood? sponsors? TV and radio? other?)
    5. Are they enrolled in English classes?
    6. What kind of work could they do here?
    7. Are there things that Americans should know about them that would make life easier? Do they have a message for Americans?
    8. Do they have a message for other refugees?

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Name: … Phone #: … Place of residence on ID card: …

TELEPHONE INTERVIEW

SHORT FORM

1. Where did you live in Vietnam? How long (how many generation)?
2. Where did your ancestors come from? Why?
3. What was your occupation in Vietnam?
4. Did you go to schools? Was it Chinese? Was it Vietnamese?
5. Do you read and write Chinese? Vietnamese? English?
6. Do you understand and speak Cantonese? Vietnamese? English?
7. Why did you leave Vietnam?
8. Did you come to the U.S. under “family reunification”? Who was the family member to come here? Did they come from North Vietnam or South Vietnam?
9. What are you goals for your children? Do you want them to read and write their native language? Should the schools teach it?

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Date:…

From:…

RATING SCALES FOR DATA COLLECTION

1. 1. Degree of involvement with Vietnamese:
2. Isolate….. 2….. 3….. 4….. assimilated
3. Language skills
4. (Chinese) Literate….. Non-literate
5. (Vietnamese) Literate….. Non-literate
6. Understanding/speaking of Vietnamese:
7. Very little….. 2….. 3….. 4….. Bilingual or none
8. Education
9. None….. 2….. 3….. 4….. University
10. Chinese only….. Chinese/Vietnamese….. Vietnamese only
11. Social class
12. Lower….. Middle….. Upper
13. Economic status:
14. Poor….. 2….. 3….. 4….. Wealthy
15. How much orientation to US society did they receive upon arrival?
16. None….. Organized program
17. Goals for children: How Americanized should they become?
18. Totally Americanized….. 2….. 3….. 4….. Remain in a Chinese community.
19. American education: (What should it be?)
20. (Children) Half day Chinese, Half day English….. English only.
21. (Adults) Chinese/English….. English only.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, 96th Congress. (1979). The Indochinese Refugee Situation (Report of a study Mission August 2-11). Washington D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Grant, B. (1979) The Boat People: An `Age' Investigation. New York: Penguin Books, Ltd.

Hanoi. (1967). Mountain Regions and National Minorities. (Vietnamese Studies no. 15). Hanoi: Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Hunter, G. (1966). South-East Asia - Race, Culture, and Nation. New York: Oxford University Press.

Hsu, F. (1967). Under the Ancestor's Shadow: Kinship, Personality, and Social Mobility in Village China. New York: Doubleday and Company, Incorporated.

Indochinese Refugee Education Guides. (1980). General Information Series No. 22. Washington D.C: Language and Orientation Resource Center.

Niehaus, M. (1980). Indochinese Refugee Exodus: Causes, Impact, Prospect. (Appendix VI from the “Refugee Crisis in Cambodia, Hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate. Washington D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Newcomer News. (1987, October 10). Newcomer News. p.1.

Purcell, V. (1965). The Chinese in Southeast Asia. London: Oxford University Press.

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Smith, H. et al. (1967). Area Handbook for North Vietnam. Washington D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Schrock, J. et al. (1967). Minority Groups in North Vietnam. (Ethnographic Study Series, Dept. of Army Pamphlet no. 550-110). Washington D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office.

St Cartmail, K. (1983). Exodus Indochinese. New Hampshire: Heinemann Publishers.

The Boat People. (1979, August). Asian Wall Street Journal, p. 12.

The Indochinese Refugee Situation. (1979, August). New York Times, p.23.

About this text
Courtesy of Special Collections and Archives. The UC Irvine Libraries, Main Library 5th Floor, PO Box 19557, Irvine, CA 92623-9557; https://special.lib.uci.edu
http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb2580043w&brand=oac4
Title: A handbook on the background of ethnic Chinese from North Vietnam
By:  Luong, Nhi Quynh, Author
Date: 1988
Contributing Institution: Special Collections and Archives. The UC Irvine Libraries, Main Library 5th Floor, PO Box 19557, Irvine, CA 92623-9557; https://special.lib.uci.edu
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Luong, Nhi Quynh