Vietnam : History of Philanthropy

Source: Asian Philanthropy

Most people in Vietnam admire and follow Buddhist and Confucian traditions both of which encourage spending money, material, and time for others cause. In addition, the nature dependent agricultural activities (still the main source of income of most people in Vietnam), and the endless wars over the years have inculcated community feelings and the sense of mutual support among the people. These traditions are promoted and highlighted in folk literature, and reflected in many ancient proverbs, such as 'Red crepe cloth covers the glass', 'People in the same country should have pity on each other' or 'The healthy leaf covers the torn' (Vu Ngoc Phan, 1992).

Over centuries, Vietnamese people have survived wars and hungers through the tradition of united efforts and mutual support. These individual and community efforts were transformed in formal non-state and philanthropic organisations in the form of phuong- informal organisations of village people involved in the same handicraft or small manufacturing. Members of the phuongs committed to help each other in the production of goods, for example to provide technical assistance or to give loan to each other. They were also committed to protect the trade's secret, to keep common price of the products, etc.

Besides the phuongs, in traditional Vietnamese society there were hoi- associations of people with the same hobby, the same interest or the same age or strata. People grouped in hoi used to support each other beyond the specific purpose of the groups existence- in social supports in times of needs.

There were also several forms of mutual financial supporting organisations called ho. People in one ho used to contribute money or rice and receive, in their turn, the total amount contributed by all members of the ho. The primary purpose of a ho was to help its members accumulate a large quantity of rice or sum of money for special family events, for example, house building or repairing, children's wedding, birthday celebration of old parents or parents' death anniversary, etc. The members of a ho used to support each other in the utilisation of the specific fund received from the group fund. Thus one person's house building or repairing activity, or social events used to be supported by volunteer labours of the others in the ho and outside the hos.

Over the years, the kings and rulers of the area undertook measures to encourage philanthropy among Vietnamese people. It is widely believed that the King Le Thanh Tong (1460-1497) reduced the paddy tax on well-to-do families who contributed to the local fund. The taxpayers thus, being supported by the government, created compassion funds in the 15th century. During the Nguyen dynasty (from 17th to 20th centuries), compassion funds became an important tool for tackling crop failure and consequent famine (Thanh and Hoa, 1999). These compassion funds were preserved after the August 1945 Revolution.

During the colonial period (from 1858 to 1945), many anti-feudal-colonialist government associations were formed. Most members of the Reform Association were intellectuals or social activists and mainly from urban areas. The financial resources of the Association came mainly from member’s contributions and from wealthy families who disliked and did not want to accept colonial government.

After the August 1945 Revolution, these mass organisations continued to function and be supported by the organisers and sympathisers. The 1957 Association Law and the Decree 258/TTg regulated the formation and functioning of the third sector organisations in Vietnam, but people continued their giving and volunteering traditions in informal groups and community organisations any way.

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References:

Nguyen Van Thanh, Dinh Duy Hoa. 1999. ‘Vietnam’ in Thomas Silk (ed.) Philanthropy and Law in Asia- A Comparative Study of the Nonprofit Legal System in Ten Asia Pacific Societies. Jossey-Bass Publisher: San Francisco.

Thanh N V and D D Hoa. 1999. ‘Vietnam’. In Thomas Silk (ed.) Philanthropy and Law in Asia- A Comparative Study of the Nonprofit Legal System in Ten Asia Pacific Societies. Jossey-Bass Publisher: San Francisco.

Tran Ngoc Them.1997. Basis of Vietnamese Culture. Education Publishing House.