Doing it for Him: Religion and Tourism on Long Sơn Island, Bà Rịa Vũng Tàu province, Vietnam Hang Thi Thu Truong A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2011 Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Anthropology University of Washington Graduate School This is to certify that I have examined this copy of a doctoral dissertation by Hang Thi Thu Truong and have found that it is complete and satisfactory in all respects, and that any and all revisions required by the final examining committee have been made Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Miriam Kahn Reading Committee: Miriam Kahn Charles F Keyes ~-& Stevan Harrell Date: t-_ ~~ L_~- -,- - _20 _ l_' _ In presenting this dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the doctoral degree at the University of Washington, I agree that the Library shall make its copies freely available for inspection I further agree that extensive copying of the dissertation is allowable only for scholarly purposes, consistent with “fair use” as prescribed in the U.S Copyright Law Requests for copying or reproduction of this dissertation may be referred to ProQuest Information and Learning, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346, 1-800-521-0600, to whom the author has granted “the right to reproduce and sell (a) copies of the manuscript in microform and/or (b) printed copies of the manuscript made from microform.” Signature: _ Date: _ University of Washington Abstract Doing it for Him: Religion and Tourism on Long Sơn Island, Bà Rịa Vũng Tàu province, Vietnam Hang Thi Thu Truong Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Miriam Kahn Department of Anthropology It was over a hundred and ten years when Lê Văn Mưu (known as Ông Nhà Lớn – He who founded the Big House) led his clan to Long Sơn Island, Bà Rịa Vũng Tàu province, Vietnam to establish a new community wherein to spread his Đạo, the Way This new religion is known by his followers as Đạo Ông Nhà Lớn, 'the Way of Mr Big House', referring to the building he built and which remains the center of the religion Ông Nhà Lớn Dao-ism, as I term this religion in English, combines elements of Confucianism, Buddhism, ancestor worship and Vietnamese folk religion, but is distinctive because of the centrality of Ông Nhà Lớn’s teachings These have been transmitted not through written texts, but through oral remembrance and emulation of the practices He instituted In recent years the practices of the followers of Đao Ông Nhả Lơn have attracted the interest of tourists and the provincial authorities have promoted the 'Big House' and especially the practices of some senior male followers who write parallel sentences in SinoVietnamese (Hản-Nôm) The dissertation demonstrates that touristic interest far from leading followers to embrace the economic benefits they might derive from tourism has reinforced their religious identity Offering hospitality to guests is a fundamental act of "doing it for Him" that is, assistance for others results, as Ông taught, in the gaining of religious merit i Table of Contents Page List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………… iii List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………… vi Acknowledgement ……………………………………………………………………… vii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………… ix Introduction……………………………………………………………………………… Anthropological study of the relationship between tourism and host communities Doing fieldwork on Long Sơn Island………………………………………… Tourist activities at the Big House…………………………………………… 20 Outline of the dissertation………………………………………………………… 23 Chapter 1: Vietnamese religion(s) and ‘new religions’………………………………… 28 On identifying Vietnamese religion(s)…………………………………………… 28 On Vietnamese ‘New religions’………………………………………………… 35 Chapter 2: Đạo Ông Nhà Lớn (Ông Nhà Lớn Dao-ism) as a ‘new religion’ in Vietnam… 41 Southern Vietnam in the Late 19th and Early Twentieth Century…………… 41 Hagiography of the founder of Ông Nhà Lớn Dao-ism in Vietnam……………… 45 The System of Doctrine………………………………………………………… 72 Rituals…………………………………………………………………………… 80 Religious Structure……………………………………………………………… 87 Chapter 3: Provincial Government Agendas for the Tourist Promotion of the Big House and Local Responses to the Process of Image Making…………………………………… 95 Provincial Governmental Agendas of Tourism Development at the Big House on Long Sơn Island………………………………………………………………………… Local Perceptions of the ‘ơng Đồ’……………………………………………… 96 112 ‘Ơng đồ:’ Objects of the Tourist Gaze, Subjects of Professional Photographers and Devotional Practitioners of Ông Nhà Lớn Dao-ism………………………………… 118 Chapter 4: Local Hosts’ Gaining vs Giving-Away in Tourism………………………… 131 Visitors of the House……………………………………………………………… 132 Treating Visitors as Bá Tánh Của Ông – ‘His People’…………………………… Local Tourist Involvement and the Notion of Giving-Away as Practicing of 136 ii Being Humans…………………………………………………………………………… 161 Chapter 5: Disputes at the House and the Struggle Between Conventional and Modern Conceptions of Ông Nhà Lớn Dao-ist Practice…………………………………………… 175 Ông’s Genealogy and the Contemporary Split among Lê Clan………………… 177 Cô Tám Đ – the “Reformer” and Her Master Plan……………………………… 179 Coup d’état and Reactions from Followers: Dissolving the Ban Điều Hành…… 191 ‘The Historical Meeting’ (cuộc họp lịch sử) and the Defeat of the ‘Reformers’ 196 The ‘Reformer’, the ‘Conservative,’ and Reconfirmation of the Ultimate Authority of Ông’s Teachings…………………………………………………………… 199 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………… 205 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………… 214 Appendix 1: Proposal of Spring Gifts………………………………………………… 225 Appendix 2: Proposed rules at the House………………………………………………… 228 Appendix 3: Leaflet……………………………………………………………………… 231 Vita……………………………………………………………………………………… 234 iii List of figures Page Figure 1.1: Ba Nanh Bridge leading to Long Sơn Island………………………………… Figure 1.2: Green casuarina dragon figures in the middle of the road…………………… Figure 2.1 The House complex viewed from the central mountain on Long Sơn Island… 53 Figure 2.2 The main entrance of the House……………………………………………… 53 Figure 2.3 Side entrance to the House…………………………………………………… 54 Figure 2.4 The guesthouse on the left, Oracle boat in the center, guest-receiving hall far left and the communal cultural center on the right………………………………………… 54 Figure 2.5 Lầu Tiên (Immortal House…………………………………………………… 55 Figure 2.6 Lầu Cấm (Forbidden House) in second floor and Nhà Thánh (The Saint House) on the first floor…………………………………………………………………… 56 Figure 2.7 Ghe Sấm (The Oracle Boat)…………………………………………………… 57 Figure 2.8 Inside The Saint House……………………………………………………… 57 Figure 2.9 The Big House compound…………………………………………………… 58 Figure 2.10 Making offerings at adherent’s house……………………………………… 82 Figure 2.11 Offerings were prepared before being taken to altars……………………… 83 Figure 2.12 Arranging offerings at Nhà Hội, communal house (part of the House) on Tết Tiền Hiền (May 5, lunar calendar), the man second from the left was a hương chức…… 84 Figure 2.13 Male adherents in front of altars of Ông and Confucius on ngày ngọ, two men sitting at the table were hương chức………………………………………………………… 84 Figure 3.1 Certification of Cultural- Historical Heritage Site for the Big House………… 100 Figure 3.2 Taking picture of grandpa teaching Chinese parallel sentences to his ‘niece’ 105 Figure 3.3 Playing ‘ông Đồ’ for professional photography……………………………… 105 Figure 3.4 A Long Sơn man “Writing parallel sentences for Tết.”……………………… 107 Figure 3.5 “A harmonious and warm family.”…………………………………………… 108 Figure 3.6 Picture of men writing parallel sentences at the Big House…………………… 109 Figure 3.7 Calligraphy corner at the Spring Festival 2009 with the Long Sơn ‘ông Đồ’ positioned in the center under a red banner reading “Chúc Mừng Năm Mới” – Happy New Year………………………………………………………………………………… 109 iv Figure 3.8 “Ah, Ông Đồ!” – young festival-goers taking picture with Long Sơn men as background………………………………………………………………………………… 110 Figure 3.9 Bà Rịa Vũng Tàu provincial television channel making a news report about the Festival in front of the ‘stall’ of Long Sơn ‘ông Đồ’………………………………… 110 Figure 3.10 A newspaper about Spring Festival at Bà Rịa Vũng Tàu province in 2009 with a picture illustrating Long Sơn men writing parallel sentences at the festival some days previous……………………………………………………………………………… 111 Figure 3.11 The stall reserved for Long Sơn ‘ông Đồ, with a board reading ‘Nguyễn Huy, Student calligrapher.’ The picture in the background depicts the men writing parallel sentences and scrolls at the House………………………………………………… 121 Figure 3.12 At Tomy’s Coffee shop prior to ‘the show.’ The man in the yellow t-shirt was the driver, the two children are my nephews, and the packs below the table and held by the man contained the men’s long black dresses……………………………………… 122 Figure 3.13 Wearing the long black dress and making preparations to write…………… 124 Figure 4.1 The number of guests visiting the House in January 2009, and their home provinces…………………………………………………………………………………… 135 Figure 4.2 A follower bringing firewood to the House for the Festival………………… 138 Figure 4.3 Tofu was made and cooling down…………………………………………… 142 Figure 4.4 Stuffing for ‘bánh quy’………………………………………………………… 142 Figure 4.5 Fishes were offered to Ông by Chú Bảy C family…………………………… 143 Figure 4.6 Vegetables, sugar and other ingredients were delivered to the House………… 143 Figure 4.7 Retailers building their stalls on the sides of the road to the House………… 144 Figure 4.8 Vegetable processing group…………………………………………………… 146 Figure 4.9 Group shredding banana stalks to make salad………………………………… 146 Figure 4.10 Fish processing group ……………………………………………………… 147 Figure 4.11 Group preparing banana leaves for bánh quy…………………………………… 147 Figure 4.12 Group rolling stuffing for bánh quy……………………………………………… 148 Figure 4.13 The author participating in the group rolling stuffing for bánh quy………… 148 Figure 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Museum of Bà Rịa Vũng Tàu Province (2002) Long Sơn Island Long Sơn Island is located on the western part of Vung Tau City (Bà Rịa Vũng Tàu province, Vietnam), surrounded by muddy beaches and salty... &t=p&z=6&q=vietnam&hl=en&source=maps-top on April 29, 2011; Bà Rịa Vũng Tàu province in red square 11 Map 1.2: Map of Bà Rịa Vũng Tàu Province with Vung Tau city (and Long Sơn Island) in brown,