Humans are associated with the land where they are born and humans should live in harmony with nature like the myriad of flowers rising from the earth, humans being the most beautiful of all flowers. History researchers are split by two arguments that seem opposing but in fact are complementary: humans made history and history made humans.

These arguments can help us learn about contemporary Vietnamese people, who were formed, developed and changed in a very special history process, both in the past and at the present.

Perhaps, that special thing is most conspicuous in the following processes: a history of thousands of years of steadfast struggles to build and defend the country and expand the frontier; the silent and resilient struggles against cultural assimilation efforts to safeguard the national identity; and a history that took place for thousands of years under the feudal rule until the late 19th century.

The beautiful and sustainable values need to be protected and promoted, but they are facing many challenges. In order to gain values that can create endogenous strength and inner strength of Vietnamese people in the integration period, core traditional values such as patriotism, unity, self-reliance, compassion and love must be protected not only as a legacy of the past to be admired but also as a vitality, strength and a lasting quality in the Vietnamese personality no matter the negative impacts they suffer. It is impossible to allow a break, even "lost root" between contemporary and traditional people.

There can be no attraction, even if "rooted" between contemporary man and the media system.

Therefore, most of the Party's documents and resolutions emphasise that "all Vietnamese have a deep understanding, pride, and honour of the nation's history and culture" (Document of the 12th National Party Congress). It is a great task that the country has been implementing over the years, but there are still many limitations and a low level of efficiency.

Is it possible that the solution to this "historical" problem is still ahead, while the value of Vietnamese people in the new integration period can only form and develop firmly when there is a “smooth combination between traditional and contemporary values” as mentioned by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (Nhan Dan Daily, November 25, 2021, page 3).

In the first half of the 20th century, along with the Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc movement and the need to renovate and expand the people's knowledge, there appeared a tendency to point out and analyse the bad habits and vices of the Vietnamese people to repair, overcome their own backwardness and rise up. A number of articles by famous and reputable patriotic intellectuals had positive effects in this particular historical period, awakening, enlightening and encouraging the Vietnamese people to rise to self-liberation.

After that, for quite a long time, we only emphasised the good sides of the Vietnamese people and sometimes absolutised or avoided pointing out the historical limitations, bad habits, and vices of the Vietnamese people. Since the renewal process, the above one-way view has gradually changed, pointing out both the good side to promote and the negative side to overcome.

That is a very necessary, sober and scientific direction for the Vietnamese in overcoming themselves and seeing themselves more clearly in the new historical period, from an agricultural, small-scale and backward society into an industrial and modern society with international integration.

Is self-recognising, self-overcoming, and resolutely getting rid of the bad and the anti-values and persistently nurturing new values a harsh and unavoidable requirement of the new era, now and in the years to come?

In his recent article entitled “Some theoretical and practical issues on socialism and path towards socialism in Vietnam”, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong repeatedly emphasised the “transition period towards socialism” and argued that "it is necessary to go through that transition period, a long-term, extremely arduous and complicated process, because it must create a qualitatively profound transformation in all spheres of social life”. 

 

In the past time, we might have not well implemented theoretical, ideological, educational, propaganda activities, and we were not deeply aware of this point of view, thus two trends have appeared: one stating that socialism has become a reality in our country while the other claiming that socialism is just an aspiration, even an illusion.

The Party chief said that the transition period has witnessed “the struggle between the old and the new” during which “socialist factors have been established and developed together while competing with non-socialist factors”. This feature can be seen in the process of building Vietnamese human values today.

A constant struggle, sometimes fierce and sometimes silent between the good and the bad in every person, whoever it is, and in the whole society. More than 50 years ago, President Ho Chi Minh pointed out in his Testament that it is a “giant battle” to “fight what is outdated and damaged, to create new, good and fresh things”.

New and good values will be born and develop in that struggle if we, with all our enthusiasm, bravery, consistency, creation, intellect and talent, persevere with this struggle.

And when the results of the transitional period “create profound qualitative changes in all areas of social life”, the Vietnamese value system will take shape in a smooth combination of good values of tradition while overcoming historical limitations through new values of the period of industrialisation, modernisation and integration.

I think of such a value system with core values such as patriotism, solidarity, self-reliance, compassion, civic consciousness, democracy, responsibility, creativity, initiative and aspiration to rise.

In the study of values and value systems, scientists have presented several value systems that are related to each other on a value scale. Thus, the positioning of the System of Vietnamese Human Norms cannot be separated from the value system according to a value scale including:

- The System of National Values.

- The System of Vietnamese Human Norms

- The System of Family Values

- Cultural standards are the concretisation of Vietnamese human values in general for different subjects (gender, age, occupation, region, ethnicity).

Because of the above relationship, in the process of determining the System of Vietnamese Human Norms, it is necessary to simultaneously study different value systems to form a coherent, harmonious system; a value scale affecting life, creating a large voluntary movement of the masses. Accordingly, the Document requires the implementation of all three stages:

Focusing on research + identification + development and implementation, to realise these research results in practice.

It is an urgent requirement of life.