Vietnamese

Studies
Vietnamese Studies

57th year ISSN 1859-0985 No3-2021 (221)

Lô Lô People in Bảo Lạc District,

Cao Bằng Province
Hoàng Thị Lê Thảo
The Utilization of Quan Họ
in the Contemporary Society
Chu Lâm Anh
Cultural Exchange and Assimilation through
the Worship of Thiên Hậu in Southwest Vietnam
Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ
Marriage of the Stieng People in Lộc An Commune,
Bình Phước Province: Tradition and Change
Nguyễn Thị Thanh Vân and Nguyễn Thị Loan
57 th year N o3-2021 (221)

File on Vietnam
Digital Religion: Concept, Theoretical Perspective
and Practice in Vietnam
Case Study of Tịnh Thất Quan Âm Pagoda
Đặng Hoài Giang

VS
VS PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH AND FRENCH
 Cultural Exchange and
Assimilation through the
Worship of Thiên Hậu in
Southwest Vietnam
Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ, PhD* 1

More than 30 years after the implementation of the 1986

Vietnamese economic renewal and integration policy known
as Đổi Mới, the Hoa community has been undergoing a
strong ideological and cultural change. The Hoa community is
comprised of Vietnamese people of full or partial Chinese origin
living in general in the south of Vietnam, and in particular in
the southwest region. Accordingly, the axiom “Where one was
born is one’s homeland” has become a motto among its many
generations. This conviction serves as motivation for the Hoa
community to adapt itself and use its folkloric capital as a means
of ethnic exchange and acculturation. The worship of Thiên Hậu
is a prime example.
The paper explores the ethnic cultural exchange through myriad
facets of faith, ritual, and festival. In addition it explores the

* Associate Professor, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National

University, Hồ Chí Minh City. The paper is a part of the research project bearing the
code B2019-18b-01, sponsored by VNUHCM.

55
VIETNAMESE STUDIES

design and decorative art of temples dedicated to Thiên Hậu.

Research by American psychologist John Berry identifies these
focal points describing these communal behaviors as “strategies
for community psychology and mechanism of religious
practices” throughout the process of cultural assimilation.1 This
author agrees, asserting that the Hoa in the southwest region
have adopted the strategy of “internal solidarity, and flexible
external relations.” The Hoa community has strengthened
their ethnic solidarity through a number of specific ceremonial
activities while developing more general popular religious
activities to promote the multi-ethnic, cultural exchange. To
date, these strategies have worked well, helping the Hoa to form
a structural paradigm that is at once both unique but integrated
in the local cultural picture.

Introduction

The sect built around Thiên Hậu took shape in the late
10th Century in Fujian, China. It took the form of adoration
of a popular goddess of the sea. After many occasions
of “superscription,” a term coined by Duara, (1988) and
“standardization” vis a vis James Watson (1985) and again
Duara (1988), it has become a symbol of orthodox ideological-
cultural discourse which contain Confucian values typical of
the Ming and Qing dynasties. This also suited the folk and
ideological-cultural discourse, conveying people’s simple
aspirations to live in peace, to be protected, and to be blessed.
Following the Chinese migrants to Vietnam, the sect of Thiên
Hậu spread to the southwest or Mekong Delta and southeast
regions in the late 17th Century. The records of Chinese

1. Berry, J.W. (2003). “Conceptual Approaches to Acculturation,” in K.M. Chun, P. Balls

Organista and G. Marin (Eds.). Acculturation: Advances in Theory, Measurement, and
Applied Research (pp. 17–37). American Psychological Association.

56
 CULTURAL EXCHANGE AND ASSIMILATION THROUGH THE WORSHIP...

cultural and religious institutions brought by Mò Jiǔ to Hà

Tiên, located in present-day Kiên Giang Province are unclear.
But the truth is that Quan Đế or “Guandi” and Thiên Hậu or
“Tianhou” were the Chinese migrants’ most important gods.
For the migrants arriving by sea, Thiên Hậu, descendant as a
sea-goddess, played a dominant role. According to Chinese
characters engraved on a lacquer board hung in the main hall
of Phước Minh Cung Pagoda in Trà Vinh City this temple dates
back to 1556. Here Quan Đế and Thiên Hậu are still worshiped.
Though this date needs to be verified, it is recognized that
the sect of Thiên Hậu was present from the arrival of the Hoa
in the southwest region. After several hundred years this
sect has become one of the important channels of cultural
exchange in the region. It has been preserved to the present by
the Hoa and Việt communities as well as many segments of the
Khmer community.

Even now, general research on the sect of Thiên Hậu in

Vietnam has flourished widely, with such academic works as
Tín ngưỡng dân gian ở Cà Mau (Folk Beliefs in Cà Mau, by Phạm
Văn Tú, 2011), Tín ngưỡng Thiên Hậu vùng tây Nam bộ (The
Sect of Thiên Hậu in Southwest Vietnam, by Nguyễn Ngọc
Thơ, 2017), and Tín ngưỡng Thiên Hậu ở Việt Nam (The Sect of
Thiên Hậu in Vietnam, by Phan Thị Hoa Lý, 2014). A number
of articles about the worship of Thiên Hậu in South Vietnam
were recently published, including “The Traditional Worship
and Festival of Thiên Hậu in Vietnam” (Trần Hồng Liên, 2007),
“Holy Mother Thiên Hậu – the Goddess of the Sea, and the
Penetration of Her Sect into the Southern Coast” (Phạm Văn
Tú, 2008), “Holy Mother Thiên Hậu in the Beliefs of the Hoa in
Hội An” (Võ Văn Hoàng, 2008), “The Worship of Thiên Hậu at
Temples Retained by the Việt People in Hồ Chí Minh City – a
Multicultural Fusion” (Phan Thị Hoa Lý, 2018), and “The Sect
of Thiên Hậu among the Hoa People in Bạc Liêu” (Trương Anh
57
VIETNAMESE STUDIES

Tiến, 2018). Each of these articles deals with different aspects

of the sect of Thiên Hậu in different places, providing a lot of
important field data for systematic research at the regional and
national level.

In this article, this author mainly employs a field research

method to analyze, compare and generalize the subject,
through a survey of all 75 Thiên Hậu temples retained by the
Hoa and the Việt in the southwest region. This survey includes
interviews with 32 Hoa people (aged 35 to 65; male: 55%;
female: 45%) carried out between 2015 and 2017. Some data
related to the sect of Thiên Hậu in Hồ Chí Minh City and the
southeast region are used selectively to compare or supplement
the arguments in this paper.

This author focuses on contemporary bilateral expressions of

the cultural exchange between the Hoa and the Việt, including the
Khmer through the sect of Thiên Hậu and its religious activities
in the southwest region. In this way, the history of miscegenation
among ethnic communities in the region will be revealed. The
following points are investigated in this paper.

1) The Hoa in the southwest region consider the worship of

Thiên Hậu and its associated cultural activities to be a means of
strengthening ethnic relations and identity. However, with their
flexible and loosely-structured religious and cultural traditions,
they have adopted a number of Vietnamese and Khmer cultural
elements to augment their sect. And in return, they purposefully
arranged some aspects of rituals, ceremonies and post-
ceremonial activities to attract the attention and participation
of local communities of the Việt and the Hoa. Thus, cultural
exchanges continue to be promoted through the Hoa version of
Thiên Hậu.
58
 CULTURAL EXCHANGE AND ASSIMILATION THROUGH THE WORSHIP...

2) The Việt accept the sect of Thiên Hậu through their respect
for Buddhism and the deity, Avalokiteśvara as well as the worship
of the mother goddesses, Holy Mother Chúa Xứ. In general they
enthusiastically participate in religious activities associated with
her divinity.

3) Among the Chinese dialect communities in the southwest

region, the Chaozhou Chinese community has the largest
population with the most prominent and diverse cultural
tradition. Due to their proximity to the Việt and the Khmer as well
as their traditional cultural nature, they use community religious
activities as a special channel of cultural exchange.

In order to implement these ideas, we look to John W. Berry’s

concept of multi-channel communication in acculturation.
Likewise we include Seligman and Weller’s viewpoint that
multiple community groups share their experiences and sacred
perception through the experience and acceptance of the
symbolism found in ritual.1 The British anthropologists consider
acculturation as “the processes of change in artifacts, customs,
and beliefs that result from the contact of societies with different
cultural traditions.”2 Cultural exchange and acculturation “always
lead each ethnic group to deal with the dialectical relationship
between endogenous and exogenous factors” (Trần Quốc Vượng,
2009). Through cultural exchange, community groups “come
closer together… due to long-term coexistence in the same
territory, in the same geographical and ecological environment,
and in the same historical and cultural area.”3

1. Seligman, B. Adam & Weller, P. Robert (2012). Rethinking Pluralism: Ritual, Experience,
and Ambiguity, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 1768/1985, p. 57.
3. Phan Hữu Dật. Một số vấn đề dân tộc học Việt Nam. (Some Ethnographic Issues in
Vietnam), Đại học Quốc gia (National University) Press, Hanoi, 1998, p. 458.

59
VIETNAMESE STUDIES

When it comes to acculturation, we focus on the relationship

between the dominant group, the Vietnamese and the smaller
group, the Hoa. Specifically, we emphasize the interaction between
two trends: (1) maintaining and preserving cultural identities; (2)
seeking and receiving cultural exchange and strengthening inter-
group and ethnic relationships.

According to John W. Berry, from the ethnic and cultural

perspectives, the different strategies for community psychology
and religious practices will lead to different developments
– on the one hand, integration and assimilation, and on the
other separation and marginalization. From the sociological
perspective, the corresponding results will be multiculturalism
and pluralism, and alternatively segregation and exclusion. The
field data supporting the conclusions in this paper are based on
these two opposing perspectives.

In southwest Vietnam, the worship of Thiên Hậu has become

a symbol of cultural exchange between the Hoa, Việt, and Khmer
communities, reflecting the ethnic and cultural fusion in the
south. This exchange reveals the absorption of Vietnamese and
Khmer culture. The Việt and Khmer show their sincere respect for
Thiên Hậu.

Localization: the worship of Thiên Hậu and its

integration into Vietnamese and Khmer cultures

Through research we discover the phenomenon of

Vietnamization of the sect of Thiên Hậu in many localities.
This phenomenon is shown in the concerned society’s rituals,
architecture, and the decorative arts as well as cultural activities
associated with Thiên Hậu.
60
 CULTURAL EXCHANGE AND ASSIMILATION THROUGH THE WORSHIP...

Today the content and form of Thiên Hậu worship as

practiced by the Hoa bears the imprint of Vietnamese culture.
This can be seen for instance at Thiên Hậu’s birthday celebration
at Minh Hương Pagoda in Vĩnh Long City, Thiên Hậu Temple in
Vĩnh Mỹ Ward, Châu Đốc City, and Thiên Hậu Temple and at
An Hiệp Commune, Châu Thành District, Sóc Trăng Province. In
many places of Thiên Hậu worship, praying for peace has many
elements influenced by the Vietnamese style of worship. During
festivals, the Việt always beat the drum three times according to
the Chinese convention. At Thiên Hậu temples the Hoa people
also sound three drum rolls, the third one intended for “giving
thanks to Vietnam and its people who helped them in their
need” (Trần Hồng Liên, 2007).

At Minh Hương Pagoda, and other Thiên Hậu temples

in Kiên Giang Province, such as one on Tắc Cậu Island, Châu
Thành District, and another in Gò Quao District, all participants
in ceremonies wear the traditional Vietnamese costume. In
particular the celebrant wears a Vietnamese-style blue robe.
Furthermore, ceremonial oration is read in both Chinese
and Vietnamese. After the sacrifices there are often “tuồng”
performances. The tuồng plays are staged in the Vietnamese style
and language, although their content is of Chinese origin. [A
performance of Chaozhou Chinese opera and Vietnamese tuồng
is given at Thiên Hậu temple in Vĩnh Châu town (Sóc Trăng
province); a performance of Khmer dù kê at Thiên Hậu temple
in Châu Thành district (Sóc Trăng province), etc.] In Hà Tiên, on
the days of Thiên Hậu worship there is a Vietnamese rendition
of Chaozhou and Cantonese operas (Trần Hồng Liên, 2007). At
Thiên Hậu Pagoda in Cà Mau City, worship days or Lunar New
Year celebrations bring the Đồng Tâm musical group of the Hoa
to perform tuồng plays, Huguang opera and I Ching opera, as
well as music of Vietnam. This attracts large numbers of Hoa,
Việt and Khmer people according to the field data collected in
61
VIETNAMESE STUDIES

2015. The seal-opening ceremonies at Thiên Hậu temples in the

southwest region are usually held before Tết, the Vietnamese
Lunar New Year, in which people ask favor of the sea-goddess
for prosperity and a life of peace in the coming year (Trần Hồng
Liên, 2005).

The Chinese-Vietnamese combination can also be found

in the “thỉnh an” (enquiring about divinities’ health) ritual
which is performed today as it was by Thiên Hậu according to
Vietnamese custom. In the celebration of her birthday at Thiên
Hậu Temple in Núi Sập town in Thoại Sơn District, An Giang
Province, her palanquin is carried from Núi Sập to the temple.
On its way the procession stops at Thoại Ngọc Hầu Temple, to
make an offering to the historical military administrator of the
Nguyễn Dynasty for whom it is named. The Hoa of Chaozhou
origin in Núi Sập explain that Thoại Ngọc Hậu is younger than
Thiên Hậu but he was a senior mandarin who had rendered
service to the Thoại Sơn people, and so he is ranked among the
supreme spirits “thượng đẳng thần.” Therefore, Thiên Hậu must
come to inquire about his health before returning to her temple,
as revealed in the field data collected in 2013.

Worship of Thiên Hậu in the southwest region has seen

integration from the Hokkien Chinese and Chaozhou Chinese
communities into the Vietnamese community. For instance, Minh
Hương Pagoda in Vĩnh Long City and some of the Thiên Hậu
temples in the provinces of Tiền Giang, Vĩnh Long, Bến Tre, Sóc
Trăng, Bạc Liêu, and Kiên Giang were built by the Hoa. There are
currently signs of change in the religious community from use of
the Chaozhou Chinese customs to the Chinese-Vietnamese. Thiên
Hậu Temple in Cái Răng District is an ancient structure typical of
the Chinese culture in Cần Thơ, but it is the religious place of both
Vietnamese and Chinese people.
62
 CULTURAL EXCHANGE AND ASSIMILATION THROUGH THE WORSHIP...

Similarly, when Thiên Hậu Temple in Cái Bè town in Tiền

Giang Province was restored in 1995, the local people presented
a lacquered board engraved with Chinese characters saying
“Cái Bè thị Việt Hoa hợp gia kính phụng” which translates into
English as “the Việt and the Hoa in Cái Bè come together to
worship.”

In some places, people worship Thiên Hậu together

with Vietnamese gods. At Thiên Hậu Temple maintained by
the Chaozhou Chinese community at Vĩnh Trạch Commune
in Bạc Liêu City, Thiên Hậu and Cửu Thiên Thánh Mẫu are
worshipped, along with Bà Chúa Xứ (Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ, 2017).
Cô Năm Châu Đốc is also worshipped at Thiên Hậu Temple in
Bình Ninh Commune, Tam Bình District, Vĩnh Long Province.
Similarly, Cô Ba and Bà Ngũ Hành are worshiped at Thiên
Hậu Temple in Trà Vinh Province. The Vietnamese goddesses
of earth and wealth are worshipped at Thiên Hậu Temple in
Sóc Trăng Province. Many Hoa people in the southwest region
think that Chúa Xứ herself worshipped at a temple at the foot
of Mountain Sam.

Holy Mothers Chúa Xứ, Thiên Hậu and Cửu Thiên are worshipped
at Thiên Hậu Temple at Vĩnh Trạch Commune, Bạc Liêu City.
Photo: Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ (2016)

63
VIETNAMESE STUDIES

Cô Năm Châu Đốc is worshipped at Thiên The God of Earth is worshipped at

Hậu Temple in Bình Ninh Commune, Thiên Hậu Temple in Rạch Giá City.
Vĩnh Long Province. Photo: Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ (2015)
Photo: Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ (2015)

One of the social activities of the Thiên Hậu religious

community is to bestow rice and other food to the poor on the
fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month. A number of large Thiên
Hậu temples contribute as much as several tons of rice every year
according to the field data collected in 2014–2015. Moreover, many
transportation projects have been constructed using the money
contributed by those who visit Thiên Hậu temples.

Architectural forms and construction materials also bear the

imprint of local styles. The original decorative patterns are usually
classical and cover a broad array of Chinese designs. These
include groups of eight fairies, eight weapons, “long-ma” which
is a fabled winged horse with dragon scales, “hà-đồ” which is
two dragons fighting over a flaming pearl, two dragons flanking a
moon, large wooden bowls, flower vases, peaches, pomegranates,
Buddha’s hand fruit, chrysanthemums, peonies, a dragon and
phoenix together, ducks among lotus, and the unicorn teaching
his son.
64
 CULTURAL EXCHANGE AND ASSIMILATION THROUGH THE WORSHIP...

Literary references include Chinese fairy tales such as

“Fengsheng” and “Three Kingdoms.” They have been gradually
added with new motifs relating to the nature, people, animals,
and plants of the rich southern land. A list of these would include
crabs, fish, birds, apples, coconut palm trees, a combination of
squirrels and wild grapes or “trái giác,” bamboo thickets, a clump
of ivory bamboo, a bamboo bridge, a sampan, fields, a lotus pond,
and a flock of mallards. For instance, there are many bas-reliefs
decorating the boundary wall of Rạch Sỏi Temple in Kiên Giang
Province, including one showing a pair of chickens playing by
roadside bamboo. One of the decorative designs of Thiên Hậu
Temple in the town of Vĩnh Châu, Sóc Trăng Province, is a pair of
mallards by a lotus pond. At Thiên Hậu temple in Sông Đốc, Cà
Mau Province, there is a painting that portrays boats moving in
and out of the mouth of the Ông Đốc River.

The mural “Hạ Long Bay” at Phước Minh Cung in Trà Vinh Province.
Photo: Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ (2013)

The localization trend is also seen in decorative sculptures.

On the roof of Thiên Hậu Temple in Cai Lậy, Tiền Giang Province,
there is a display including typically southern fruits resulting
in a tableau of papaya, grapefruit, mandarin oranges, and of
course, the Buddha’s hand fruit. In addition motifs such as two
65
VIETNAMESE STUDIES

dragons flanking the moon, deer, and lions suggest a peaceful and
bounteous land.

Fruit and flower motifs on the roof of Thiên Hậu Temple in Cai Lậy.
Photo: Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ (2014)

The dragon symbol used as a decorative design of Thiên

Hậu temples throughout the Mekong Delta also points to the
shift toward the harmonization of Chinese, Vietnamese and
Khmer cultures. Many Thiên Hậu temples were initially built and
decorated with materials brought from China. However, when
they were restored, local materials and design motifs replaced the
Chinese ones. With the Chinese-style motif of two dragons fighting
over a flaming pearl, the dragon figures are quite different from
the style of Vietnamese dragons and a flaming pearl. In the case of
the Chinese style, the sun is positioned higher than the dragons’
heads. An example would be the frieze at Thiên Hậu Temple in
District 5, Hồ Chí Minh City. In the Vietnamese version, the pearl
and the dragon head are placed at the same level as seen at Thiên
Hậu Temple in Vĩnh Châu, Sóc Trăng Province. In other instances,
such as at Thiên Hậu Temple in Cai Lậy, the two dragons are
replaced with two carp or a unicorn with a flaming pearl on its
back. The latter can be seen at Thiên Hậu Temple in Trà Vinh.

The imprint of localization in the plastic arts can also be found

in Thiên Hậu as well as Chinese temples in Hồ Chí Minh City. At
Thiên Hậu Temple in District 5 of Hồ Chí Minh City, the title of the

66
 CULTURAL EXCHANGE AND ASSIMILATION THROUGH THE WORSHIP...

classic Buddhist folktale, “Hổ khê tam tiếu đồ” has been inscribed
in Vietnamese style. In a rendition derived from the original
Chinese story, a monk builds a temple on a river island at Mount
Hồ and vows not to leave for the mainland. A Taoist hermit and a
Confucian scholar come to the island to enjoy the spring. Here, the
monk, the hermit and the scholar have a conversation so exciting
that they row to the shore without realizing it. Discovering that
the monk breaks his oath, they burst into laughter.

In addition to integrating Vietnamese culture, the sect of

Thiên Hậu has also absorbed Khmer culture. At Thiên Hậu
Temple in Cầu Kè District in Trà Vinh, Thiên Hậu is worshiped
together with Naek Ta and Mister Tiêu. At the Chaozhou Chinese
Thiên Hậu temple in Mỹ Xuyên District, Sóc Trăng Province, the
Earth God is worshipped with a stone slab covered by a red cloth
on which there are Chinese characters 石神宫, “shíshén gong”
meaning “Earth and Stone God Shrine.” It is also the sect of Naek
Ta of the Khmer people (Trần Hồng Liên, 2007). In the front of
the main hall of Thiên Hậu Temple in An Hiệp Commune, Châu
Thành District, Sóc Trăng Province, there is a shrine where Naek
Ta is worshiped in the form of a Chinese God called Lục Tà Công.
At this temple, on the 23rd day of the third lunar month, a Khmer
“dù kê” performance is held because the number of Khmer
followers is very large, as verified by field data collected in 2014.

Many southern people believe that goddesses of the northern

people as well as their more familiar Thiên Y A Na of the Chăm
and Thiên Hậu of the Hoa are Holy Mother Goddesses who bless
the people. Therefore, both Thiên Y A Na and Thiên Hậu can be
seen in the prosperity goddess Bà Chúa Xứ. Moreover, “bóng rỗi,”
a form of Chăm folk dance art, has appeared on the days of Thiên
Hậu worship in some areas of the Mekong Delta, especially in An
Giang (Phú Văn Hẳn, 2011).

67
VIETNAMESE STUDIES

Statue of Neak Ta or Lục Tà Công. Statue of Neak Ta at Tam Vị Shrine.

The reception of the worship of Thiên Hậu by the

Vietnamese and Khmer people

As a result of the process of

cross-cultural communication
and coexistence, a segment
of the Việt and the Khmer
people in the southwest region
perform rituals worshiping
Thiên Hậu just as the Hoa
people do. Statistical analysis
shows that 18 out of 75 places
of Thiên Hậu worship were
built by the Việt or transferred The wall-painting “Avalokiteśvara
from the Hoa to the Việt. Bodhisattva” in the mixed style of
Chinese-Vietnamese-Khmer at the
Chaozhou Chinese Thiên Hậu Temple
At the Vietnamese Thiên at Vĩnh Hải Commune in Vĩnh Châu,
Hậu temples the rituals are Sóc Trăng Province.
performed in the Vietnamese- Photo: Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ (2014)

68
 CULTURAL EXCHANGE AND ASSIMILATION THROUGH THE WORSHIP...

Chinese integrated style. For example, at Thiên Hậu Temple in

Ba Tri, Bến Tre Province, on the evening of the 22nd day of the
third lunar month in 2013, people held a bóng rỗi performance in
the Vietnamese style, as verified by field data (Dương Hoàng Lộc,
2013). In Vĩnh Mỹ Ward of Châu Đốc City, An Giang Province,
there is a Thiên Hậu temple built by Vietnamese people in the
style of “đình,” the Vietnamese communal house. The “Xây
chầu đại bội” ritual and tuồng performance is held early in the
morning of the 23rd day of the third lunar month. In some local
Vietnamese Buddhist pagodas, people also place an idol of
Thiên Hậu, for example at Vĩnh Phước An Pagoda in Sóc Trăng
Province, Tân Long, and two Chơn Minh pagodas in Thanh Sơn
and Đôn Xuân Communes located in the Trà Cú District of Trà
Vinh Province.

Bóng rỗi dance at Thiên Hậu Temple, The offering ritual at Thiên Hậu
Ba Tri District, Bến Tre Province. Temple – Minh hương hội quán in
Photo: Dương Hoàng Lộc (2013) Vĩnh Long City.
Photo: Management Board (2014)

And so, as demonstrated, Thiên Hậu, a goddess from

China, has become a cult of worship by the Việt and ethnic
groups in the south, along with Chúa Xứ, the Goddess of the
Realm; the Đen Goddess or Black Goddess; and Chúa Ngọc,
the Jade Goddess. “The Việt have absorbed the cultural capital

69
VIETNAMESE STUDIES

of other ethnic groups to create their own belief.”1 Thiên

Hậu is invoked to bless women and children with a healthy
and peaceful life. She is considered a good spirit bestowing
prosperity and happiness. In the context of Chinese-Vietnamese
cultural exchange in the southwest, Quan Công, known in
Chinese as Guan Yu; Thần Tài or the Chinese Caishen; Quan
Âm, or Guanyin and Thiên Hậu called Tianhou in Chinese, are
the most popular gods. Quan Công is considered a guardian or
wizard god for the male.

Thiên Hậu has been worshiped in southern Vietnam for

more than three centuries, but only since the last two decades
of the 20th Century and the early years of the 21st Century
has the Vietnamese-Chinese cultural exchange flourished
thanks to this. During the Nguyễn Dynasty, the period of
French colonialization, and the Vietnam War, the worship of
Thiên Hậu existed silently in the Hoa community. It is since
the liberal integration policy was adopted that the Vietnamese
have been more deeply involved in Thiên Hậu religious
activities. On occasions such as the Tết holiday, the fifteenth
day of the first lunar month, and Thiên Hậu worship day on the
23rd day of the third and the 15th day of the seventh and tenth
lunar months, a large of number of Vietnamese go to a Thiên
Hậu temple.

In general, worship of Thiên Hậu has become a popular

sect of Mother Goddess in the south. This sect, together with
its artistic and commercial activities has become a channel for
preserving the traditional culture of the Hoa for posterity. In the
intersection of Vietnamese with Khmer culture, it has made an
important contribution to creating the contemporary cultural

1. Nguyễn Chí Bền. “Thờ Mẫu của người Việt ở Nam bộ: hành trình và nghi lễ”
(“Worship of Mother Goddesses by the Vietnamese People in the South: Journeys
and Rituals.”), Journal of Culture and Resources, 2014, 2: 45-59.

70
 CULTURAL EXCHANGE AND ASSIMILATION THROUGH THE WORSHIP...

characteristics permeating the Hoa, a member of Vietnam’s

great family of ethnic groups.

According to the analysis of scholars including Cao Tự

Thanh,1 Trần Quốc Vượng,2 Trần Ngọc Thêm3 and Nguyễn Văn
Trung,4 Vietnamese people in the southwest region are receptive
to new ideas and ready to restructure their spiritual life, creating
a foundation for the cultural exchange between ethnic groups
in the region. The Vietnamese-Chinese cultural exchange is
strong because these two peoples share many similarities in their
ideology and cultural life.

Acculturation between Vietnamese and Chinese people

through the worship of Thiên Hậu in the southwest region
continues to take place in the areas where the Việt, Hoa and
Khmer communities live together. Two of these areas are firstly,
along the East Sea, from Bến Tre through Trà Vinh to Sóc Trăng,
and secondly along the trade route connecting Hồ Chí Minh
City with the southwest region, a route which includes National
Highway 1A and the Măng Thít River, the system of Tiền and Hậu
rivers. In Trà Vinh and Sóc Trăng Provinces, worship of Thiên
Hậu is practiced by the Việt in a most public way. An aphorism
used worldwide, “a rising tide lifts all boats” is à propos here.
The existence and development of Khmer culture in these two
localities, revolving around the axis of Theravada Buddhism, has

1. Cao Tự Thanh. Nho giáo ở Gia Định (Confucianism in Gia Định), Hồ Chí Minh City
Publishing House, 1996.
2. Trần Quốc Vượng. Tìm hiểu bản sắc văn hóa dân gian Nam Bộ (Learning about the
Folklore of the South), Hanoi, 2004.
3. Trần Ngọc Thêm. Văn hóa người Việt vùng Tây Nam Bộ (Việt Culture in Southwest
Vietnam), Văn hóa - Văn nghệ Publishing House, Hồ Chí Minh City, 2013.
4. Nguyễn Văn Trung. Hồ sơ về lục châu học: tìm hiểu con người ở vùng đất mới dựa vào
tài liệu văn, sử bằng quốc ngữ ở miền Nam từ 1865–1930 (A Record of Studies of Six
Provinces of Southern Vietnam: learning about people in the new land, based on
literary and historical documents written in the national language in the South from
1865 to 1930), Trẻ Publishing House, 2015.

71
VIETNAMESE STUDIES

contributed to laying the foundation for the diversity of ethnic

culture. Thus the habits, customs, and beliefs of the Hoa have
developed toward diversification.

In terms of cultural exchange and acculturation, worship

of Thiên Hậu by the Vietnamese people is not associated with
governmental institutions and is not advocated for by outside
entities. Most Thiên Hậu temples built by the Vietnamese in the
southwest region are small-scale religious establishments of a
communal and spiritual nature. Some of the temples have many
similarities with village communal houses or “đình.” Moreover, as
one among many sects dedicated to a Mother Goddess, the sect of
Thiên Hậu has been strongly localized through the Vietnamese style
of the flexible architecture and decorative art of Thiên Hậu temples.

For the Vietnamese, the place of Thiên Hậu worship is a purely

spiritual institution when compared to the Thiên Hậu temples of
the Hoa. In the case of the Hoa, the temples can be considered a
repository of indigenous architecture, decorative arts, folk painting
and sculpture –a composite artistic work with its ethnic identity on
display. For the Vietnamese the process of miscegenation coincides
with the process of design and creation. Thus the architecture
and sculpture of the Thiên Hậu temples have a tendency toward
creating a unified Vietnamese style and become close to Mahayana,
especially, the Buddhist icon Avalokiteśvara. After a long history of
moving towards cultural integration, the sect of Thiên Hậu shows
signs of separating from the Chinese tradition and integrating into
the mainstream of Vietnamese worship of the Mother Goddess
which is prevalent throughout the region.

Conclusion

With their cultural style brought to southern Vietnam in

general and the southwest region in particular, the immigrant
72
 CULTURAL EXCHANGE AND ASSIMILATION THROUGH THE WORSHIP...

Chinese have cultivated and spread many important folk beliefs.

Quan Đế or Guandi holds the historical, anti-French stance of
other secret societies founded by the Vietnamese and Hoa in the
south as witnessed in the “resisting the French and recovering
the independence of Đại Nam (Vietnam)” movement in the
late 19th and early 20th century. Once established, Thiên Hậu
was polished by the Chinese community to become a symbol
of their ethnic identity. With the development of economic
and cultural integration, Thiên Hậu moved in the direction of
internal solidarity and flexible external relations. This reflects
two trends going abreast yet reliant on each other, resulting in
a growing and strengthening of ethnic identity and coexistence.
The term “melting pot” does not do justice to the ethnic cultural
diversity and fusion in the southwest. Rather, it is establishment
of coexistence between the internal and external forces coming
together under the spiritual mentoring of Thiên Hậu, the Mother
Goddess of southern Vietnam.

References
• Berry, W. John (2003). “Conceptual approaches to acculturation”,
Acculturation: advances in theory, measurement, and applied
research, eds. Kevin M. Chun, Pamela Balls Organista, and Gerado
Marin, Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
• Brown, Melissa (2007). “Ethnic identity, cultural variation, and
processes of change: rethinking the insights of standardization and
orthopraxy”, Modern China 33(1): 91-134.
• Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc ([1768]1985). The New Encyclopædia
Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc, U.S.A.
• Choi Byung Wook (2004). Southern Vietnam under the reign of
Minh Mạng (1820-1841): Central policies and local response, Ithaca,
New York: Southeast Asia Program Publications.
73
VIETNAMESE STUDIES

• Choi Byung Wook (2004). “The Nguyen Dynasty’s Policy toward

Chinese on the Water Frontier in the First Half of the Nineteenth
Century”, in Water Frontier: Commerce and the Chinese in the
Lower, Mekong Region, 1750-1880, eds. Nola Cooke and Li Tana,
Singapore: Rowman & Little Field Publishers, Inc.
• Duara, Prasenjit (1988). “Superscribing symbols: the myth of
Guandi, Chinese god of war”, The Journal of Asian Studies 47(4):
778-795.
• Liu Tiksang (2000). The Cult of Tian Hou in Hong Kong, Joint
Publishing Hong Kong (廖迪生2000:《香港天后崇拜》三聯書店(香
港)有限公司).
• Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ. Tín ngưỡng Thiên Hậu vùng Tây Nam Bộ (The Sect
of Thiên Hậu in Southwest Vietnam), Chính trị quốc gia Publishing
House, 2017.
• Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ, Dương Hoàng Lộc, Wei Jinyuan (2020). “The
Cult of Tianhou of the Fishermen Community in Sông Đốc, Cà Mau,
Vietnam”, Mazu Culture Research 3(15): 6-13.
• Nguyễn Thị Lệ Hằng. “Yếu tố tích hợp trong tín ngưỡng thờ Mẫu
của người Việt tại Miễu Hoả Đức Tinh Quân ở Vĩnh Kim, Châu
Thành, Tiền Giang” (The Integrated Element in the Việt’s worship of
Mother Goddesses at Miễu Hỏa Đức Tinh Quân in Vĩnh Kim, Châu
Thành, Tiền Giang), Tín ngưỡng thờ Mẫu ở Nam Bộ - bản sắc và giá
trị (The Sect of Mother Goddesss in South Vietnam – Identity and
Value), Đại học Quốc gia Publishing House, Hồ Chí Minh City, 2014.
• Phạm Văn Tú. “Thiên Hậu thánh mẫu - vị nữ thần biển khơi và sự
thâm nhập của tín ngưỡng này vào vùng biển phía Nam” (Holy
Mother Thiên Hậu – the Goddess of the Sea, and the Penetration of
Her Sect into the Southern Coast), Văn hóa biển miền Trung và văn hóa
biển Tây Nam Bộ (Central Coastal Culture and Southwestern Coastal
Culture), Từ điển bách khoa Publishing House, Hanoi, 2008.
• Phạm Văn Tú. Tín ngưỡng dân gian Việt Nam Cà Mau (Folk Beliefs in
Cà Mau), Khoa học xã hội Publishing House, 2011.
74
 CULTURAL EXCHANGE AND ASSIMILATION THROUGH THE WORSHIP...

• Phan An. “Tích hợp và dung hợp trong tín ngưỡng thờ Mẫu của
người Việt Nam Bộ” (Integration and Fusion in the Worship of
Mother Goddesses of the Việt in the South), Tín ngưỡng thờ mẫu ở
Nam Bộ - bản sắc và giá trị (The Sect of Mother Goddesss in South
Vietnam – Identity and Value), Đại học Quốc gia Publishing House,
Hồ Chí Minh City, 2014.
• Phan Thị Hoa Lý (2014), “Thờ Thiên Hậu ở miếu của người Việt tại
Tp. Hồ Chí Minh - sự dung hợp đa văn hóa” (The Worship of Thiên
Hậu at Temples Retained by the Việt People in Hồ Chí Minh City – a
Multicultural Fusion)”, Tín ngưỡng thờ Mẫu ở Nam Bộ - bản sắc và giá trị
(The Sect of Mother Goddesss in South Vietnam – Identity and Value),
Đại học Quốc gia Publishing House, Hồ Chí Minh City: 418-430.
• Phan Thị Hoa Lý. Tín ngưỡng Thiên Hậu ở Việt Nam (The Sect of Thiên
Hậu in Vietnam, Hội Nhà văn Publishing House, 2018.
• Phú Văn Hẳn. “Tín ngưỡng thờ Mẫu ở đồng bằng sông Cửu
Long” (The Sect of Mother Goddesses in the Mekong River
Delta), typed document.
• Thích Đại Sán (1963), Hải Ngoại Kỷ Sự, Viện Đại học Huế ấn hành
• Tô Khánh Hoa, Lưu Sùng Hán (2008), Malaysia: Thiên Hậu cung đại
quan, vol. 2, Selangor, Malaysia: Thiên Hậu cung Hải Nam Selangor
& Trung tâm Nghiên cứu Văn hóa Ma Tổ xuất bản (蘇清華、劉崇漢
2007:《馬來西亞：天后宮大觀》，雷龍海南天后宮與媽祖文化研究
中心出版, Vol 1).
• Trần Hồng Liên. Văn hóa người Hoa ở Nam Bộ (Culture of the Hoa in
South Vietnam), Khoa học xã hội Publishing House, Hanoi, 2005.
• Trần Hồng Liên. “Tục thờ cúng và lễ hội truyền thống của bà Thiên
Hậu ở Việt Nam” (Thiên Hậu Worship and Traditional Festival in
Vietnam), Giá trị và tính đa dạng của văn hóa dân gian châu Á trong
quá trình hội nhập (Value and Diversity of Asian Folklore in the
Integration Process), Thế Giới Publishers, 2007.
• Trương Anh Tiến (2018), “Tín ngưỡng Thiên Hậu của người Hoa
ở Bạc Liêu” (The Worship of Thiên Hậu of the Hoa in Bạc Liêu),
75
VIETNAMESE STUDIES

Nghiên cứu Văn hóa Ma Tổ 1 (“越南薄寮華人的天后信仰”,《媽

祖文化研究》, 01期).
• Tsai Maw Kuey (1968). Les Chinois au Sud-Vietnam (The Hoa in
South Vietnam), Paris: National Library.
• Võ Văn Hoàng. “Thiên Hậu thánh mẫu trong tín ngưỡng của cộng
đồng người Hoa ở Hội An” (Holy Mother Thiên Hậu in the Beliefs of
the Hoa in Hội An), Văn hóa biển miền Trung và văn hóa biển Tây Nam
Bộ (Central Coastal Culture and Southwestern Coastal Culture), Từ
điển bách khoa Publishing House, Hanoi, 2008.
• Võ Văn Hoàng. “Tiếp xúc và giao lưu văn hóa của cộng đồng
người Hoa ở Nam Bộ” (Cultural contact and Exchange of the Hoa
Community in South Vietnam), http://vn.360plus.yahoo.com/
hoangcamchau/article?mid=65&fid=-1
• Watson, L. James (1985). “Standardizing the gods: the promotion
of Tianhou (Empress of Heaven) along the South China Coast,
960–1960”, Popular Culture in Late Imperial China, edited by David
Johnson, Andrew J. Nathan and Everlyn S. Rawski, pp. 292–324,
Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Wheeler, Charles (2015), “Interests, institutions, and identity:
strategic adaptation and the ethno-evolution of Minh Huong
(Central Vietnam), 16th-19th centuries”, Itinerario 39(1): 141–166.
• Seligman, B. Adam & Weller, P. Robert (2012). Rethinking Pluralism:
Ritual, Experience, and Ambiguity, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

76