INFORMATION ABOUT THE MASTER'S THESIS

1. Student's full name: Thai Minh2. Gender:Female

3. Date of birth: 20/10/1988                       4. Place of birth:Yunnan, China

5. Decision number for student admission:Decision No. 30/QD-XHNV-SDH dated January 8, 2013, of the Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

6. Thesis title:Comparing traditional family relationships in China and Vietnam based on proverbs, folk songs, and folk poetry from China and Vietnam.

7. MajorAsian Studies8. Code number: 60 31 06 01

9. Scientific supervisorDr. Nghiem Thuy Hang, Deputy Director of the Center for Chinese Studies, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

10. Summary of the thesis results:

10.1. The thesis has closely adhered to the research objectives.including:

-Clarifying the concept of family relationships, proverbs, folk songs, folk poetry, and some related theoretical issues.

Based on proverbs, folk songs, and folk poetry related to family relationships in Chinese and Vietnamese, this thesis compares and analyzes the similarities and differences of traditional family relationships in China and Vietnam across three main categories: husband-wife relationships, sibling relationships, and parent-child relationships. Additionally, the thesis addresses other relationships such as those between in-laws and other family members, and the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren.

Based on the similarities and differences in family relationships between China and Vietnam, this thesis identifies, analyzes, and initially explains the main causes leading to the formation and development of distinct cultural identities in China and Vietnam in the field of traditional family relationships. It contributes to preserving, understanding, and promoting the unique cultural traditions of each nation, and helps to increase awareness, understanding, solidarity, and mutual respect between China and Vietnam.

10.2.New scientific contributions of the thesis:

-The thesis has systematized and applied family sociology theory, a national cultural approach, a comparative linguistic and cultural approach, and built a systematic theoretical premise and its own analytical framework to achieve the research objectives.

- Based on surveys, analyses, and comparative studies of proverbs, folk songs, and folk poetry from China and Vietnam, this thesis for the first time points out the similarities and distinctive features in traditional family relationships in China and Vietnam in terms of thought, emotion, rights, and obligations. It draws many important conclusions that contribute to affirming and initially explaining the national cultural identity of China and Vietnam in the field of traditional family relationships. The research results of this thesis will contribute to building family ethics in modern society and affirming the unique cultural identities of the Chinese and Vietnamese people.

-Based on a statistical survey of tens of thousands of proverbs, folk songs, and folk poetry from China and Vietnam, this thesis has built a database of 626 proverbs and 435 folk songs in Vietnamese, and 366 proverbs and 130 folk songs in Chinese that address traditional family relationships. This will be a valuable reference document for further in-depth comparative research on family institutions, family functions, family ethics, and the cultural and social identity of the two neighboring countries, China and Vietnam.

11.The following published works are relevant to the thesis:

INFORMATION ON MASTER'S THESIS

1. Full nameThai Minh (CAI MINH)2. Sex:Female

3. Date of birth: 20/10/1988                    4. Place of birthYunnan, China

5. Admission decision number:Decision No. 30/QD-XHNV-SDH dated January 8^th, 2013

6. Official thesis title:Comparison of Vietnamese and Chinese traditional family relationship based on the evidence of Vietnamese and Chinese proverbs, folk-songs and folk-poets.

7. Major:Asian Studies8. Code: 60 31 06 01

9. Supervisors:PhD. Nghiem Thuy Hang - Vice-Director of the Center for Chinese Studies, University of social science and humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi

10. Summary of the findings of the thesis:

10.1 The thesis has stuck to the purpose of research, including:

- Has clarified the definition of family, proverb, folk-song, folk-poetry and several related theoretical issues.

- Based on the evidence of proverbs, folk-songs, and folk-poets relating to family relationships in Vietnamese and Chinese languages, the thesis has compared and analyzed the similarities and the sharp distinctions of the Vietnamese and Chinese traditional family relationships, focusing on 3 main relationships: the conjugal relationship, the relationship between siblings, the relationship between parents and children. Besides, the thesis also mentioned the relationship of the in-laws with other family members, the relationship between grand parents and grand children.

- Based on the similarities and differences in Vietnamese and Chinese family relationships, the thesis has identified, analyzed and initially explained the main factors leading to the formation and development of the separate Vietnamese and Chinese cultural identity regarding the traditional family relationship, has helped to understand, preserve and promote distinctive cultural traditions of each people; has contibuted to increase the awareness, the mutual understanding, solidarity and the mutual respect between Vietnam and China.

10.2 New scientific contributions of the thesis

- The thesis has systemised and applied the theory of family sociology, the national culture approach, language comparitive method, cultural comparision method; it has developed a system of theoretical premise and a separate framework of analysis to achieve the research purposes.

- Based on the results of the survey, analysis, comparision of Vietnamese and Chinese proverbs, folk-songs and folk-poets, the thesis is the first one to show the similarities and the sharp distinctions in Vietnamese and Chinese traditional family relationship on the levels of ideas, feelings, rights and obligations; it has drawn some important conclusions to help to reaffirm and to initially explain Vietnamese and Chinese cultural identity in the aspect of traditional family relationships. The results of this thesis will contribute to building family morality in modern society; confirm the specific cultural identity of Vietnamese and Chinese peoples.

- Based on the results of the survey and the statistics of tens of thounsands of proverbs, folk-songs and folk-poets from Vietnam and China, the thesis has built the database of 626 proverbs, 435 folk-songs in Vietnamse and 366 proverbs, 130 folk-songs and folk-poets in Chinese relating to the traditional family relationship. This is a valuable source for reference in order to further research into the comparision of family institution, family function, family moral, cultural identity and society of the two neighboring countries Vietnam and China.

11. Thesis-related publications: