The institutional context influencing rural-urban migration choices and strategies for young married women and men in Vietnam

This report draws together secondary data and informed opinion relating to the wider context in which young married rural-urban migrants must craft strategies for managing their reproductive and family lives. In contrast to long standing patterns of male migration, the increasing numbers of migrants and the emergence of new forms of migration mean that young married women are increasingly moving for work too. The report outlines the wider situation in which these dynamics are occurring: the growing inequalities in the context of doi moi, the declining barrier that household registration poses to mobility, and the changing opportunities for work in the city. It also reviews changing gender relations in Vietnam with particular attention to changes in marriage and marital relations, in sexuality and fertility and in parenting. Finally it explores how changes in social entitlements in Vietnam may affect these migrants with special attention to maternal health, child health and children’s education. The report concludes that migrants with young families and new marriages face a plethora of barriers and opportunities that they must negotiate and that the strategies they formulate are dynamic and involve complex trade-offs

Confucianism and Folklore in Vietnamese Fantasy Short Stories: \u3cem\u3e The Case of Ghost Stories \u3c/em\u3e

Truyền kỳ, which is a genre of fantasy short stories, was formed and developed in the historic period of medieval literature of Vietnam in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Despite being derived from a similar Chinese genre, the truyền kỳ of Vietnam was the work of the endogenous development of the national fantasy short story, which was closely associated with folk literature and historical prose. However, at the time of its inception, as well as at the glorious top of this genre, truyền kỳ had never been accepted as an official genre. It was rather a metaphor for unorthodox discourse in formal Confucian society. The reason is that truyền kỳ founded the first elements of folk narrative genres that were considered inferior and which Confucius advised Confucians to reject. Therefore, truyền kỳ deeply influenced Confucian doctrines, yet in this genre by itself, the deficiencies of Confucian philosophy related to the metaphysical world were exposed in competition with other non Confucian religions that had emerged, such as Buddhism, Taoism, and especially folklore. By analyzing ghost stories that represent the most typical case or expression of the complex relationship between Confucianism and folklore in the Vietnamese truyền kỳ genre, this article concludes that all the ontological crises of Confucianists that manifested in truyền kỳ derived from this tradition of folklore which created a minor discourse of a Confucian literatus who wrote on the periphery of official Confucianism

THE INFLUENCE OF FOOD IMAGE ON TOURIST SATISFACTION AND WORD-OF-MOUTH INTENTION: THE CASE OF DALAT, LAM DONG PROVINCE, VIETNAM

Local food influences destination choice and enhances destination attractiveness. This study explores the links among food image, tourist satisfaction, and word-of-mouth (WOM) intention regarding local food in Dalat, Lam Dong Province, Vietnam. A quantitative method was applied to a sample of 327 domestic tourists chosen by convenience sampling. A model was proposed and then tested using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The results confirm the existence of significant relationships among food image, tourist satisfaction, and WOM intention. Tourist satisfaction is influenced by three significant dimensions of food image: food safety and health, restaurant service, and food taste and popularity. This study explores how restaurant service influences both tourist satisfaction and WOM intention. A negative relationship between food safety and health and WOM intention was found. Moreover, the results demonstrate that tourist satisfaction has a critical effect on WOM intention. The study also suggests some managerial implications for enhancing the use of local food and its image to encourage tourist satisfaction and WOM intention

Family strategies and dilemmas for low-income rural-urban labour migrants

This policy brief summarises the findings of a qualitative study into the family relations of labour migrants across their peak child-bearing years. It evidences how wives/mothers and husbands/fathers manage their relations with spouse and children when they have to ‘go away’ for work. These strategies and dilemmas have implications for the impact of migration on the wellbeing both now and over the longer term for Vietnam

SUMMARIZING STRATEGY: POTENTIAL TOOL TO PROMOTE ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (EFL) STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION AT A VOCATIONAL SCHOOL, VIETNAM

This paper reports a study which examines how students perceived the effects of the implementation of the summarizing strategy on English as a foreign language (EFL) reading comprehension at a Vietnamese university. Using a descriptive design, a survey and interviews were undertaken with students who were learning English at a vocational school of law at a province in the Mekong Delta,Vietnam. The findings indicated how students recognized the role of the summarizing strategy although there were some problems they had to encounter while reading, namely vocabulary and grammar. The findings of this study give rise to pedagogical implications for teachers with regard to designing timely and effective techniques for optimizing students’ text comprehension ability over time.  Article visualizations

On simultaneous diagonalization via congruence of real symmetric matrices

Simultaneous diagonalization via congruence (SDC) for more than two symmetric matrices has been a long standing problem. So far, the best attempt either relies on the existence of a semidefinite matrix pencil or casts on the complex field. The problem now is resolved without any assumption. We first propose necessary and sufficient conditions for SDC in case that at least one of the matrices is nonsingular. Otherwise, we show that the singular matrices can be decomposed into diagonal blocks such that the SDC of given matrices becomes equivalently the SDC of the sub-matrices. Most importantly, the sub-matrices now contain at least one nonsingular matrix. Applications to simplify some difficult optimization problems with the presence of SDC are mentioned

THE ARCHITECTURE OF VIETNAMESE TEMPLES – A STUDY FROM AN ARTISTIC PERSPECTIVE

The pagoda in Vietnam is an architectural work with many artistic values. The pagoda is a sacred space, and it gathers the cultural and artistic values of the Vietnamese people. In addition, it has satisfied the living needs of life, meeting the aesthetic needs of the people. The temple is the most complete collection of visual elements, closely combining and supporting each other in a unified whole. From an artistic perspective, the temple is the most typical architectural art of the Vietnamese people. The beauty of the temple is reflected in its sanctity. The art of architecture and decoration of the temple expresses the thoughts and feelings of the Vietnamese people. Besides, it shows the creativity and aesthetic aptitude of the Vietnamese people. The pagoda is a typical example, a uniqueness that creates the unique beauty of the Vietnamese people.  Article visualizations