Brett Davis - AsiaLIFE Magazine

Young people are UNCERTAIN
of what the future could bring in terms of
entertainment. They are more reliant
on BEING INTRODUCED to new things
rather than seeking them.
The family unit in Vietnam is central
to DAILY LIFE and the core from which
a broader sense of COMMUNITY
responsibility is derived.
In the summer of 2002, a prominent multinational
company commissioned AsiaLIFE’s
parent company, 365 Days Creative Studio,
to produce a documentary called “Youth.”
The goal of the project was to determine
what made young Vietnamese people tick,
to gain an insight into their ambitions and
aspirations. In essence, to find out what they
wanted.
The agency’s creative director took to
the streets of HCM City to find answers. He
didn’t get many. As it turned out, the majority
of young people he approached didn’t want
much. They cited financial security and employment
as priorities but were at a loss when
asked what else they desired. The Survey
Assessment of Vietnamese Youth conducted
by the Government Statistics Office in 2003
backs up his findings. Then, 49.6 percent
Even after MOVING
out, children still
expect to play a role in
SUPPORTING their
parents and broader
family.
of respondents listed employment as their
first aspiration and 23.6 percent hoped for
economic and financial security. The creative
director attributed the results to the fact that
these kids didn’t know exactly what was
available to them prior to the world wide web
taking hold. Without a steady income, they
couldn’t afford to indulge in expensive leisure
activities and travel anyhow.
The proliferation of Internet access
throughout Vietnam and increased exposure
to foreign content has surely dared young
people to think beyond a stable income and
a nine-to-five job. What’s more, Vietnam’s
movement towards middle income status
means Vietnamese youth should have
more access to money and therefore more
choices.
AsiaLIFE teamed with TNS Market Research
to do a re-evaluation, to gauge the
perspective of Vietnamese youth today and
to determine if any of these assertions stuck.
To do this, two focus groups were organized:
one in HCM City and the other in Hanoi, each
comprising six teenagers aged between 15
and 19.
The participants in both groups were
diverse. They ranged from Class A economic
backgrounds—that is their families earn 13.5
million to 20 million VND per month—to Class
B, whose parents bring in an average 6.5
to 13.5 million VND, and the decidedly less
wealthy Class C, whose households make do
with 4.5 to 6.5 million VND. Most came from
traditional nuclear families, but one girl from
HCM City was an oddity—her parents were
divorced.
On the whole, the Saigonese and Hanoians
shared similar viewpoints. However,
the southerners were considerably more
open about some topics—namely sex and
relationships—than their conservative northern
peers. Regardless, each member brought
interesting and relevant ideas to the table.
And, with a population that reached 85.8
million last year, of which the United Nations
estimates more than half are under the age
of 25, understanding Vietnamese youth has
never been more important.
FAMILY
Familial ties run deep in Vietnam and the
results from both focus groups reflected this.
Without exception, each of the participants
feels obligated to “repay” their parents—for
housing, educating and feeding them—by
supporting them financially later in life. Many
of the respondents, especially the girls, even
felt the need to acquire a part-time job in
addition to their studies to ease financial
pressure on their parents.
While the sense of familial responsibility is
overwhelmingly apparent, the boys especially
also yearn for independence and wish to live
outside the family home as adults. Dung, an
18-year-old boy from HCM City talked about
his home where he lives with his extended
family. He mentioned that living in such
close quarters led to frequent and heated
arguments between family members, adding
that privacy was difficult to come by. He said
that if he came home late he ran the risk of
disrupting his family and getting in trouble.
Moving out, he said, would give him more
freedom.
The girls were far more dependent on their
parents, but most said they would probably
move in with their husbands’ family after marriage.
Loc, a 16-year-old high school student,
cited her fear of ghosts as her primary reason
for staying at home until then. “If I move out I
fancy I can die,” she said.
There’s a real tug-of-war taking place.
Young Vietnamese are split between traditional
family loyalty and a desire for independence
and freedom. Many spoke about moving
into their own home after marriage and
raising their own families, rather than living
in a multi-generational household. Still, they
appreciate the advantages of living at home,
too, where responsibilities like household
chores are limited and they can focus on their
studies without worrying about money.
LEISURE
An average Vietnamese teenager’s idea of
fun may seem boring to a Western audience.
Think: lounging in cafes with friends, watching
TV, riding motorbikes through the city and
predominantly, surfing the Internet and playing
online games. A couple of the boys play
football, but primarily the recreational pursuits
the participants in both the HCM City and
Hanoi focus groups take part in are passive.
Income (or lack thereof) largely dictates what
Vietnamese teenagers do in their free time,
explaining the simplicity (and affordability) of
their chosen leisure activities.
Travel is on the agenda for most of the
Hanoians, while the HCM City residents are
fairly content where they are. Two girls from
the Saigon group expressed interest in travel
(one to Thailand, whose “beautiful” beaches
she has seen on TV, and the other to Singapore
where her grandma has encouraged her
to attend university once she’s completed
high school). The rest though seemed fairly
uninterested. The Hanoians all want to travel,
some to outbound destinations like England
(to watch football), South Korea and America.
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