TTLA: Comparing the motif of miraculous birth in Chinese and Vietnamese folk tales

Author name: Wang DalianSex: Female

Date of birth: 22/06/1987                           Place of birth:Yunnan, China

Decision on recognition of PhD student number: 3126 / QD - XHNV - SDH, December 26, 2014

Changes in training:

- Add supervisor and change the name of the PhD thesis (according to Decision No. 742/QD-SDH of the President of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, dated October 28, 2015)

- Adjust the title of the PhD thesis (according to Decision No. 1802/QD-SDH of the President of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, dated June 29, 2018)

- Decision on study extension: from January 1, 2018 to November 30, 2018.

Thesis title:Comparison of the miraculous birth motif in Chinese and Vietnamese folk tales

Specialized:FolkloreCode: 60220125

Scientific guides:Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Le Bao, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Bich Ha

New results of the thesis

- The thesis presents the broad concept of miraculous birth as referring to all types of unusual births, in the narrow sense it refers to women giving birth to people in an unusual way. The thesis divides the motif of miraculous birth according to two criteria: the method of induction and the object of induction. According to the method of induction, the thesis divides the motif of miraculous birth into 6 types: eating or drinking foreign objects, contacting foreign objects, sensing unusual celestial phenomena, sensing dragons, dreams and mixed sensing. According to the object of induction, the thesis classifies the motif of miraculous birth into sensing animals, sensing plants, sensing natural objects, sensing objects in life and sensing gods.

- The thesis statistically and gives specific numbers about the methods of induction. In addition, the thesis also statistically shows the frequency of appearance of specific objects in the motif of miraculous birth in China and Vietnam in detail and gives general comments on the survey results, so that readers have an overall view of the motif of miraculous birth in Chinese and Vietnamese folk tales.

- The thesis points out the similar elements of the miraculous birth motif in Chinese and Vietnamese folk tales such as the dream method is the most common; the most frequently appearing animal is the dragon; gods and eggs appear many times; the gestation period is longer than normal... The different elements in the miraculous birth motif of China and Vietnam are: "qi" appears many times in the Chinese miraculous birth motif, a sac giving birth to many children appears many times in the Vietnamese miraculous birth motif...

- The thesis finds folk beliefs expressed in the miraculous birth motif of China and Vietnam: belief in animism, fertility belief, worship of the sun, moon, stars and celestial phenomena, totem worship, culminating in dragon worship, ancestor worship, ancestor worship and hero worship.

- The thesis points out the differences in ideology, concept, and cultural history expressed in the miraculous birth motif of China and Vietnam. The concept of "yin and yang", "the five elements of mutual generation and mutual inhibition" is expressed in the miraculous birth motif of China, the concept of "good deeds will be rewarded", "going to the temple to pray for children" is expressed in the miraculous birth motif of Vietnam. Imperial culture, patriarchal culture is expressed in the miraculous birth motif of China, the mark of village culture is expressed in the miraculous birth motif of Vietnam.

- In addition to the above academic contributions, the thesis also has significant contributions in terms of materials. The thesis has systematized 120 stories with the motif of miraculous birth in China and 143 stories with the motif of miraculous birth in Vietnam, compiled into an appendix and translated the Chinese part into Vietnamese to provide a source of documents for those who do comparative research on Chinese and Vietnamese culture and literature in general and research on the folklore of the two countries in particular.

Further research directions:

-Compare and contrast the broad meaning of the miraculous birth motif such as heaven giving birth to man, earth giving birth to man, animals giving birth to man, plants giving birth to man... of China and Vietnam.

- Study and decode specific objects that appear in the miraculous birth motif in Chinese and Vietnamese folk tales.

Published works related to the thesis:

1. Vuong Dai Lien (2018), “The miraculous birth motif in the myths of human origin of some ethnic minorities in Vietnam”, Journal of Art Education (24), pp. 74-77.

2. 王代莲（2018), 越南感生神话初探, 世界家苑（WORLA GARDEN）（下）（4），P 448-449.

Vuong Dalian (2018), “Initial study of the miraculous birth motif of Vietnam”, WORLA GARDEN Magazine (4), pp. 448-449.

3. Wang Dalian (2018), “Some features of the flood story genre in modern Chinese literature”, Journal of Chinese Studies (10), pp. 53-58.

4. Vuong Dai Lien (2019), "Some folk beliefs expressed in the miraculous birth motif of China and Vietnam", Journal of Literary Research (9), pp. 70-80.

5. Vuong Dai Lien (2019), "The miraculous birth motif from the perspective of historicizing myths and historical mythologizing of China and Vietnam", Journal of Vietnamese Cultural Studies (5), pp. 32-38.

6. Vuong Dai Lien (2019), "The motif of miraculous birth in folk tales - the difference in cultural history between China and Vietnam", Journal of Cultural Studies (5), pp. 45-55.

                                                         INFORMATION ABOUT THE MASTER THESIS

Author: King of Dai LienSex: Female

Date of birth: 06/22/1987                           Place of birth:Yunnan, China

Admission decision for research student number:3126 / QD - XHNV - SDH, date: 12/26/2014

Changs during the training process:

- Supplementing the instructors and changing the title of the master thesis topic (according to Decision No. 742 / QD-SDH of the Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, dated October 28, 2015)

- Adjusting the title of the master thesis topic (according to Decision No. 1802 / QD-SDH of the Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, dated June 29, 2018)

- The decision on the learning extension: from January 1, 2018, to November 30, 2018.

Thesis title:Comparing the motifs of the miraculous birth in Chinese and Vietnamese folk tales

Major:Folk literatureCode: 60220125

Supervisors:Assoc.Prof.Dr. Tran Le Bao, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Thi Bich Ha

The new results of the thesis

The thesis has provided the broad concept of miraculous births, which refers to all kinds of unusual births and the narrow concept refers to the woman who gives birth in an unusual way. The thesis has divided the motifs of miraculous birth according to two criteria: method of miraculous conception and subject of miraculous conception. Dividing according to the method of miraculous conception, the thesis has divided the motifs of miraculous birth into 6 types including eating, drinking the strange things, contacting the strange things, miraculous conception of anomaly natural phenomena, miraculous conception of dragons, omen seen in a dream and mixed miraculous conception. Classifying according to the subject of the miraculous conception, the thesis has classified the motif of miraculous birth into the miraculous conception of animal, the miraculous conception of plant, the miraculous conception of natural objects, the miraculous conception of life objects and the miraculous conception of god.

- The thesis has made the statistics and given specific figures about the methods of miraculous conception. In addition, the thesis has also made the statistics of the appearance frequency of specific objects which appear in the motif of the miraculous birth of China and Vietnam in detail and given the general comment about the survey results so that readers have an overview of the motif of the miraculous birth in Chinese and Vietnamese folk tales..

- The thesis has pointed out the similarities of the motif of the miraculous birth in Chinese and Vietnamese folk tales like the omen seen in a dream which accounts for the highest percentage; the kind of animal that appears most times is the dragons gods, eggs are appeared many times; the time of pregnancy is longer than usual, etc. The differences in the motif of the miraculous birth in China and Vietnam are: "spirit" appears many times in the motif of the miraculous birth of China, an egg gives birth for many children appears many times in the motif of the miraculous birth of Vietnam,etc

- The thesis has found out the folk beliefs which are shown in the motif of miraculous birth in China and Vietnam: animist beliefs, fertility beliefs, worship the celestial sun and moon and celestial objects, worship totem, especially, worship dragons, worship primitive ancestors, worship ancestors, and worship heroes.

- The thesis has provided the differences in ideology, conception, the cultural history which is shown in the motif of miraculous birth in China and Vietnam. The concepts of "yin-yang", "the five elements" are reflected in motifs of the miraculous birth of China, the concept of "good things happen to good people", “going to the pagoda to pray deity for a male heir” are reflected in motifs of the miraculous birth of Vietnam. Emperor culture and patriarchal culture are reflected in the motif of the miraculous birth of China, the mark of village culture is reflected in the motif of the miraculous birth in Vietnam.

- In addition to the academic contributions mentioned above, the thesis also had significant contributions in terms of the documentation. There are 120 stories with the motif of the miraculous birth of China and 143 stories with the motif of the miraculous birth of Vietnam have been collected by the thesis, making the appendix table and translated Chinese into Vietnamese to provide a source of material for researchers who compare the Chinese and Vietnamese culture and literature in general and folklore studies of the two countries in particular.

Further research directions:

-Comparing and contrasting the broad meaning of the motif of miraculous birth such as the heaven gives birth to humans, the earth gives birth to humans, animals give birth to humans, plants give birth to humans, ect of China and Vietnam.

- Learning and decoding the specific subjects which appear in the motif of the miraculous birth in Chinese and Vietnamese folk tales.

The published works related to the thesis:

1. Vuong Dai Lien (2018), “Motif of “miraculous birth” in the myth of human origins of some ethnic areas in Vietnam”, Journal of Art Education (24), p. 74-77.

2. 王代莲（2018), 越南感生神话初探, 世界家苑（WORLA GARDEN）（下）（4），P 448-449.

Vuong Dai Lien (2018), “The initial step to learn about Vietnam's miraculous motif of birth”, Gia Uyen world magazine (WORLA GARDEN) (4), p. 448-449.

3. Vuong Dai Lien (2018), “About the flood story in modern Chinese literature”, Journal of Chinese Studies (10), p. 53-58.

4. Vuong Dai Lien (2019), "Some folk beliefs shown in the motif of miraculous birth of China and Vietnam", Journal of Literary Review (9), p. 70-80.

5. Vuong Dai Lien (2019), "Miraculous birth motif from the prespective of historicalization of myths and mythologicalization of history in China and Vietnam", Journal of Vietnamese and Cultural studies (5), p. 32-38.

6. Vuong Dai Lien (2019), "Motif of miraculous birth in folk tales - The differences in the cultural history of China and Vietnam", Journal of Culturology (5), p. 45-55.