Vietnamese Family Day 2023: The joy of reunion of a family of a peacekeeper who just completes his missions in South Sudan. Photo: VNA

The family, a unique social institution, has a significant role as the core of a nation. Through many historical periods, the Vietnamese culture has built a sustainable and standardised family value system.

Families participating in the MB Ageas Life Happy Ekiden 2023 (left) and Vietnam Trail Marathon 2023. Photo: VNA

In Vietnam’s modern history, through many Party Congresses, the issue of building a family value system has been present in the congresses’ resolutions, demonstrating the Party and State’s special attention to the basic nucleus of the country.

The Party and State have issued many important documents regarding family-related issues, including Directive No. 49-CT/TW of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat on building families in the period of national industrialisation and modernisation, and the strategy for Vietnamese family development until 2020 with a vision to 2030, which was approved by the Prime Minister in 2012.

Reunion Spring. Source: Vietnam National Authority of Tourism

Most recently, the Resolution of the 13th Party Congress highlighted the orientation of “building prosperous, progressive, happy and civilised Vietnamese families; building a national value system, cultural value system and human standards associated with preserving and developing the Vietnamese family value system in the new period”.

As part of efforts to specify this orientation, the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat issued Directive No. 06-CT/TW on strengthening the Party leadership over the development of families in the new situation. The document defined that:

“The family is the cell of society, the source for lineage maintaining, the environment to keep, educate, and transmit national cultural values to family members. Building a happy family is creating the foundation for building a happy society, which is a very important issue for the nation. Family building is both a goal and a driving force for sustainable development of the country”.

Today, there are numerous challenges and difficulties in building a strong nation with equal, democratic and civilised society and happy and prosperous people on the basis of the firm family institution.

The reality showed that currently, many Vietnamese families are facing many problems from economic difficulties to issues related to education, psychology, emotions, moral concepts, and reproduction.

On October 20, 2023, Ho Chi Minh City holds a mass wedding for 82 couples from disadvantaged backgrounds. Photo: VNA

In his speech at the National Cultural Conference in 2021, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong highlighted that:

“Developing the Vietnamese people in the course of Doi Moi (renewal), development and integration should be grounded in suitable norms, in connection with preserving and upholding the values of the Vietnamese family, and those of the culture and nation. It should also harmoniously combine traditional values with the values of the times, namely patriotism, solidarity, resilience, faithfulness, honesty, responsibility, discipline, and innovation.”

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong

“Such values, with affluence, happiness, progress, and civilization at the core, have long been cultivated by Vietnamese families, and bolstered by the progressive Vietnamese culture enriched with the national characteristics of nationhood, democracy, humanity, and science. They were also built upon on the foundation of national values – the highest goal of our people: Peace, unity, independence, prosperous people, strong nation, democracy, fairness civilization, and happiness,” Party General Secretary Trong stated.

It can be seen that the Vietnamese family value system in the new era has been clarified. The question for each Vietnamese person is what to do to build, preserve and promote that value system.

An artisan from the Tay ethnic minority group teaches “then” singing” to her granddaughters. Photo: VNA

The Vietnamese family value system preserves the nation’s precious cultural traditions from generation to generation through specific activities such as maintaining the mother tongue, traditional cuisine, costumes, and practices in weddings, funerals, and ancestors worshiping.

Families competing in a Chung cake making contest in Phu Tho province on the occasion of the Hung Kings Commemoration Day. Photo: VNA

In order to effectively build and develop the family value system and ensure that all families are wealthy, happy, progressive and civilised according to the 13th National Party Congress’ Resolution and Directive 06-CT/TW, family experts gave some recommendations.

Firstly, it is necessary to enhance public awareness of the significance of the family value system in the new period through the popularisation of the Party, State and Government’s policies and laws regarding family development.

Families joining the Happy Family Building Programme held on September 15, 2023 in Kien Giang province. Photo: VNA

Secondly, they advised the country to continue to build and perfect policies and laws on families with specific targets and measures to build wealthy, happy, progressive and civilised families, in which all members receiving due attention. These policies must demonstrate equality, fairness, convenience, and provide essential social services for families.

At the same time, family policies must be associated with major policies of the country such as the programme to boost socio-economic development in ethnic minority-inhabited and mountainous areas, the national target programme for sustainable poverty reduction, and the national target programme for new-style rural area building.

Water splashing festival of the Lao people was held in Tam Duong district of Lai Chau province on March 22, 2024. Photo: VNA

Thirdly, the country should enhance the State management over family development, while speeding up the building of a strategy for Vietnamese family development in the 2021-2030 period with a vision to 2045, along with a national family education, and promoting the implementation of moral and family lifestyle education programmes, and programmes and projects to support building happy families.

The “Happy children” festival held in Hanoi on October 31, 2022. Photo: VNA

Experts also pointed to the need to continue to develop a national database on families to facilitate management, organising competitions to encourage the creation of literary and artistic works on the theme of family, calling for cooperation, support, and sponsorship from foreign organisations, agencies, and the United Nations in family work, and focusing on developing organisations and unions related to families and increasing gender and family majors in universities.

Fourthly, Vietnam should strengthen the popularisation of policies and laws on marriage and family, as well as cultural, moral and lifestyle standards in the family, along with promoting the role of family, community and society in building the cultural environment and people of Vietnam, the expert recommended, adding that it is necessary to design measures to prevent and combat social evils, domestic violence, and eliminate outdated concepts of marriage and family./.