VietNamNet Bridge - Thanh Giong (Saint Giong), a well-known Vietnamese mythical folk hero, has become the subject of debate among parents and educators.

 

 

The paragraph was an excerpt from a book of Nguyen Dinh Thi, a famous Vietnamese writer, who wrote about Saint Giong after reading the folk tale.

The parents believe that the textbook compilers distorted the history and image of Saint Giong, who is a hero in Vietnamese thoughts. 

They fear that the false information in the textbook will spoil the image of the national hero and lead to students’ misunderstanding about the nation’s struggle against invaders.

Under traditional school of thought, Giong is a giant hero, who rides on an iron horse leading Van Lang (the old name of Vietnam) to victory against invaders.

In the folk tale, Giong and his iron horse ascend to Heaven after defeating the An tribe, and he becomes one of The Four Immortals. 

The Saint Giong Festival has been held since the defeat against the An, and it officially became a national holiday in the 11th century during the dynasty of King of Ly Thai To, the founder of the Ly Dynasty.

The folk hero is a popular subject for nationalist poet and writers.

In Thi’s work, Giong is not an immortal hero, but lived in the human world, and as a human, he was injured and then died. 

Ta Thi Anh, headmaster at the Quang Loc Primary School, said she was surprised to see the paragraph found in the textbook, compiled under the new international model of learning, known as VNEN.

VNEN has been used in a pilot program at 2,000 primary schools in 63 provinces and cities for the last three years.

Professor Ha Minh Duc, a renowned literary critic, explained that the paragraph simply showed Thi’s “literary feelings” about the Saint Giong Folk tale. In this case, Thi did not try to relate the content of the Saint Giong Folk tale.

A parent, in his email to VietNamNet, wrote that he believes the story was a good idea to introduce Thi’s work to students.

“This may prompt students to think beyond the folk tale that they heard in childhood, which would help stimulate their imagination and creativity, one of the most important goals for Vietnam’s education,” he wrote.

Van Chung