• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.147-173
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• 2024

Nguyễn Huy Thiệp is a pillar in Vietnamese cultural life after the Second Indochina War, and the fates of men and women at the beginning of Đổi mới (Renovation) is one of the prominent themes in his short stories. To show off sexual power, seek glory, and maintain his dominant position, Thiệp's heroes engage in a game of oppressing the weak, hunting animals, and harassing women. However, due to the complex changes in social life, moral values, and gender inequality, men in the postwar period quickly experienced the feeling of humiliation, impotence, and failure. In turn, the sophisticated aspects of masculinity demonstrate the cultural and ethical concerns of contemporary Vietnamese society. By exploring the multidimensional nature of masculinity expressed in Thiệp's stories, this study aims to resolve misconceptions about gender and the relationship between men and women in his work.

• Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.123-139
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• 2023

Quân sư phụ (君師父) is a concept of respectfulness derived from the Chinese Confucian concepts of sān gāng wǔ cháng (三綱五常, the Three Principles and Five Constant Virtues) and sān cóng sì dé (三從四德, the Four Virtues Applied to the Three Male Figures) that is applied to Vietnamese Confucianism in regards to not only kings but also Chinese Emperors, as well as Chinese culture generally. In his famous literary work Vàng lửa (Golden Fire), Nguyễn Huy Thiệp revealed the Vietnamese attitude to Chinese civilization: "Our country could be characterized as nhược tiểu (弱小, small and weak). Vietnam was like a maiden forcibly deflowered by Chinese civilization. 'She' enjoyed it, but also came to hate it and feel disgraced by it" (Nguyễn 1988). This is a special sentiment or psychological complex of the Vietnamese in relation to Chinese civilization. The research findings are that the Nguyễn Huy Thiệp complex is the rationale behind which the symbol of the ancestral King Lạc Long Quân (貉龍君) was altered via SinoVietnamese motifs in order to develop Vietnamese Confucian thought.