Europeanization process in Hanoi in the early 20th Century – Viewed from changing social position of women

Abstract

The late nineteenth and early twentieth century was a period that Western culture had a strong influence on East Asia countries. The need for finding new markets and expanding colonies of Western countries made most countries of East Asia were at risk of becoming Western colonies. This historical situation forced East Asia countries - whether they like it or not - to "Europeanize" and to absorb Western civilization achievements to survive. However, whether the impacts of Europeanization on values of culture were positive or negative, the Europeanization was strongly depended on the cultural characteristics and processes in each country. In the early twentieth century, under the impact of the process of Europeanization, large cities in Vietnam - especially Hanoi - greatly transformed the appearance and functions from medieval to early modern cities. Through research on the changing social position of Hanoi women in the process of Europeanization in the early 20th century on four dimensions: Time, space, human, and methods, the paper indicated the reasons, characteristics, rules, trends of the fluctuation of cultural values ​​in Hanoi in the early 20th century under the impact of the Europeanization process.