A Study Of The Propagation And Influence Of Existentialism In Vietnam

In the 20th century,existentialism ranks among the most influential schools of thought in the west,exerting profound impacts on thought,arts and social life etc.in many countries including Vietnam.Since 1950s,Vietnamese intellectuals have intorduced and disseminated European existentialism,and quickly set off its vigorous presence in Vietnam.In 1960's and 1970's,existentialism exerts its direct impact on South Vietnam's thought,literature,painting,music and lifestyle.Intellectuals,with their high concerns with existentialist trend,publish a huge number of articles about existentialism in various kinds of academic periodicals and artistic magazines,so heated debates have been launched around the country.Having laid the theoretical basis for South Vietnam's academic and artistic field,existentialism has so quickly exerted its profound effect on the lifestyle of the younger generation that hippies and feminist movements come into the stage as a result.However,during the period from 1975 to the end of the 1980's,along with great changes in social and political fields,Vietnamese began to turn against existentialism.Since 1986,Vietnamese government has practiced its reform policy in economy and polity,so Vietnamese social life once again has been influenced by western thoughts including existentialism.Vietnamese theorists and artists review existentialism's multidimensional impacts on Vietnamese society.Existentialism spreads extensively and poses various problems and embodies complex social sense in Vietnam,so a comprehensive assessment of its influence will be helpful for the development of Vietnamese polity,economy and society.Thoughts of Heidegger and Sartre as famous existentialists are a theoretical source and foundation of Vietnamese academy and art.Existentialism spans a long process and performs uniquely to Vietnam.From 1954 to 1975 period,Vietnamese society was immersed in the midst of war,death,pain,hatred,so existentialism found in South Vietnam a fertile field for its prosperity.Existentialism's dissemination and influence in Vietnam can be divided into four stages,namely,(1)from 1955 to 1963,the early stage,(2)from 1963 to 1975,the influential stage,(3)from 1975 to 1986,the rejection stage,(4)since 1986,the return period.Existentialism ignited amount of discussion in the fields of thought and art,expanding its influence to the youth's lifestyle and writers' literary creation.The acceptance of existentialism in Vietnam shows four main features:first,influenced deeply by French existentialism;secondly,losing the anti-rationalism of existentialism;thirdly,becoming a thought tool of Saigon government;fourthly,interwoven with some other philosophical schools.Vietnamese existentialists are mainly university professors who engage actively in spreading existentialism.Ruan Wenzhong disseminates Sartre's atheistic existentialism and Chen Taiding receives and disseminates theistic existentialism.Despite of embracing existentialism in common,they share different views or even make debates among themselves.Debates happen between atheistic and theistic existentialism,as well as between existentialism and Marxism.These debates actually promote rapid integration and development between the local and western thoughts.Existentialism in literature creation and literary criticism flourished,with literary works doubled and existential themes varied.The typical examples are short stories and novels,following the prosperity of literary criticism.In other arts' field,existentialism exerts great impacts on Vietnam's music and painting.Existentialism has been the inspiration source of Zheng Gongshan,a talented musician and Bao zhi,a color master,whose works show a surprising similarity in exposing the absurdity of the real world and questioning human existence.Under the governance of Saigon government supported by USA,there was a trend triggering hippies',feminist and anti-war movements in South Vietnam.Its influence spread into the social life of all lines,particularly of the youth and of the artworld.But the hippies' movement in South Vietnam differs from that in western countries,due to different social surroundings,customs and economic levels.Today,the impact of existentialism on lifestyle of Vietnamese youth has been exerted both positively and negatively.On one hand,it inspires Vietnamese youth to pursue their liberties and creativity;on the other hand,too much attention to individual liberties caused indifference to morals and law.