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In the past two decades, Vietnamese culture and society have undergone major changes. Among these changes, some are positive and some are negative. Through those changes, Vietnam has been gradually searching for its own way of development. It is the way toward a prosperous people; a strong country; and an equitable, democratic, civilized society.
It should be acknowledged that until the mid-1970s Vietnam had to face foreign aggressive forces-there being nothing more precious than independence and freedom-this aspiration of all Vietnamese generations had become a goal for rallying national strength. This goal also represents the quintessence and traditional values of the nation. During that time, the Vietnamese nation could still build a healthy and civilized culture and society. In the fierce war against foreign aggressors, the relationships in the society were fervid. Not only local writers and journalists but also international writers and journalists who visited Vietnam then witnessed this reality. Among the international visitors was Susan Sontag, a U.S. writer and journalist who visited Hanoi and some northern provinces in 1972, when the war was at its fiercest period. After the visit, she went back to the United States and wrote a book called The Trip to Hanoi, in which she concludes, "Back from Hanoi, I feel more peaceful and pure. Vietnam has become a key for me to criticize the United States."
After 1975, Vietnamese history turned to a new page: the period of national construction and development in peace. Numerous new issues were raised and needed solving when the state of peace replaced that of war. A number of legitimate material and spiritual needs, which were temporally ignored or shelved in the state of war, now had to be addressed with adequate attention and solutions. To meet those needs, economic development was a necessity. The subsidy economy, once appropriate and necessary in wartime, was now obsolete and hindered socioeconomic development, producing stagnancy and backwardness in all aspects of social life. Thus the Sixth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam in 1986 decided to abandon the subsidy economy for a market economy. This represented a major shift in the economic thinking of the Party and society.
Since the Sixth Party Congress, the Vietnamese economy has developed rapidly in many fields, such...