Temples and Huiguan: Negotiating chineseness in Ho Chi Minh city

Abstract

After the fall of Saigon in 1975, tensions between Vietnam and China escalated and the Chinese in Vietnam became victims. The Vietnamese government took measures to erase the Chineseness of the Chinese. This did not change until the late 1980s, but the government did not want to see among the Chinese a resurgent allegiance towards China. Thus, a redefinition of Chineseness has become an important issue. Chinese temples and huiguan, which used to be the core of Chinese culture, have become important battlegrounds for this redefinition of Chineseness. This chapter shows how the Vietnamese-Chinese and the Vietnamese government interact and negotiate in subtle ways concerning the functions and roles of Chinese temples and huiguan, as well as how Chineseness is to be framed within Vietnameseness, in line with Vietnam government’s unique ethnic policy of one nation with 54 ethnic groups.