Witches, Sorcery, and Incantations
From: Roy Hornsby
Date: Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 11:15 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Hi all
Yesterday the công an phuong paid a visit to our house for some routine paperwork. While he was here we got onto the subject of local crime, as we have recently been the victim of an older lady who walked into our house asking for water and stole an iPod while I was standing directly in front of her without me even noticing. He was aware of her and warned us also about 2 young ladies who were approaching people at their front door and talking them into giving over money and/or possessions.
After he left I commented to my wife that I would be safe from the words of these young ladies because my Vietnamese is not good enough for them to talk me into giving them anything. However, my wife disagrees and she says that these ladies use "búa chú" or incantations and further that, even if I understand nothing of what they say I only need to breathe in the búa chú to fall under their spell, as it were. I expressed my incredulity at this idea however, it just so happens that on Thursday mornings I help 5 university students with their conversational English. When they arrived at our house and my wife told them what the công an had said, one of the students asked if we had some garlic she could keep close to her. My incredulity deepened when I finally understood that she wanted the garlic to ward off any incantations and in fact she sat with the garlic in hand for the entire lesson and left with several cloves in her pocket. This naturally led to an in depth conversation on vampires and the merits of garlic on keeping them at bay which I hope improved their conversational skills.
Finally, my wife tells me she is sure that these búa chú, or perhaps the persons who use them originated in Cambodia.
I wonder if any VSGers have heard of these búa chú and/or the persons using them as it seems it's an accepted fact, in this neighbourhood at least, (D3, Sai Gon), that these incantations are powerful and these women are not to be taken lightly.
Meantime, my western upbringing tells me this is nothing but an old wives tale, however I've taken to carrying a garlic clove or 2 on my person just in case
cheers
Roy Hornsby
independent researcher
hcmc
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From: Christina Firpo
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 2:48 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Hi Roy,
This is a very interesting story.
While we're on the topic of scary/sneeky old ladies who cast spells and/or steal things, what do you all know about the m? mìn and the bà m?? (In the 1920s and 1930s, bà m? referred not only to midwives, but it could be used pejoratively to refer to suspicious old women who lurked around neighborhoods searching for girls). I am working on some cases of kidnappings by the m? mìn (and some bà m?) in the first half of the 20th century. My sources say that the m? mìn would lure (d?) young girls and put them under her spell just by taking to/hypnotizing them or by giving them drugged food. She never used force when she kidnapped her victims. None of the documents that I've read refer to garlic as protection.
I'm at the AAS and I'd love to grab coffee with anyone who has more information about scary old women. My paper, which is partially on the m? mìn, will be on Sunday.
I'm very interested in what others have to say about modern or historical spells and old ladies.
Best,
Christina
--
Christina Firpo, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Southeast Asian History
CalPoly University
San Luis Obispo, California
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From: <jmcdan@sas.upenn.edu>
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 5:26 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear Roy,
If I may, this is a very common story in Thailand as well. There are even a couple of films recently which depict it. I have written about this recently in a book called the Lovelorn Ghost. There is much more to say on this topic comparatively though and I would enjoy hearing more from Vietnamese examples.
On the subject of garlic, this may be a new phenomena coming with the rise in popularity of Western vampire films. A group of my friends in Thailand actually had a very good laugh at my expense one time because my country's vetala (vampires) were so weak that they could be stopped by garlic and wooden stakes. It takes a lot more expert skill, Pali and sometimes Sanskrit and vernacular incantations, yantra drawings, and a good amulet to take down a Thai vampire, ghost, or witch. They aren't so bothered by bad breath.
Best regards,
justin
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From: Tai, Hue-Tam
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 5:38 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear Roy:
Bua chu are a certain kind of magic. I think they refer to incantations or amulets and talismans as opposed to bua ngai which can be different things (potions, in particular) and are usually connected with seduction (in French, it would be called envoutement). Pierre Cadiere, who did his fieldwork in central Vietnam where affinities with Thai culture seem strongest, wrote about bua ngai in his Croyances et pratiques religieuses des vietnamiens.
I agree with Justin McDaniel that the use of garlic to ward off evil spirits is a new phenomenon, showing the influence of Western superstition. Vietnamese consume enough garlic as it is!
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Kenneth T. Young Professor
of Sino-Vietnamese History
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From: Nguyet Nguyen
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 8:14 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
I grew up in the North near China, and am not sure I would agree that
the use of garlic was influenced by Western movies since my
grandmother, who would have never had a chance to see a vampire movie
in her life, and the her rural neighbors did believe in and use garlic
to ward off bad spirits and/or forces whatever forms these may take.
Regards,
Nguyet
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From: Tai, Hue-Tam
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 8:22 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Christina:
Was the term ba mu or mu ba? The first, I always thought meant midwife; the second, as used in Truyen Kieu (or rather mu Tu Ba), meant "procuress."
me min meant the same. I do not think that they needed to hypnotize or otherwise put young girls under their spell to earn that label. It could mean that their victims, tried to explain why they had been lured into prostitution, pleading sorcery and witchcraft instead of stupidity and ignorance.
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Kenneth T. Young Professor
of Sino-Vietnamese History
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From: Christina Firpo
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 1:20 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear Hue-Tam,
Thank you for your response.
Yes, it was bà m? and sometimes just m?. When I first came across the term bà m?, I, too, thought it was midwife, but the articles that I'm reading are referring to a scary old lady who lurks around neighborhoods looking for kids. They don't discuss childbirth. Judging by the context, I think there may have been a double meaning or slang meaning for bà m?. I wonder if it has anything to do with the concurrent French medicalization of childbirth (although the French seemed to favor midwives) or if it was some sort of a cultural current that associated women who help deliver babies with those who snatch children, similar to the way the Asuang of the lowland areas of the Philippines became associated with miscarriages and infanticide as her supposed counterpart, the baylan, had been a midwife (Hermina Menez writes about this).
As for the m? mìn, from the sources that I found, she (and, in one instance of a b? mìn or b? mìn-- I don't have the source in front of me) takes children or young women. Luring, hypnotizing, or drugging victims was not a necessary precondition to be called a m? mìn, but, in all the cases I read, the m? mìn did hypnotize or drug the victims. In these articles from the 1920-1945, "m? mìn" isn't exactly a procuress. She takes children and young women, but they could be sold or traded for a number of reasons, including slavery, prostitution, marriage, or (in the case of boys) to become an heir. There are even some references to her drugging men and selling them to the French plantations. In the cases that I read, the m? mìn did sell her victims but I didn't read about any instances where she, herself, was directly involved in pimping out her victims. Again, that's only from the cases that I read about in the 1920s-1940s.
Are any anthropologists looking at the m? mìn?
Best,
Christina
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From: Tai, Hue-Tam
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 1:35 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Christina
Thanks for this very interesting clarification. You might consider the Ph.D.dissertation of Johanna Ransmeier (Yale 2008) who works on China, not Vietnam. There was a continuum from labor recruitment, indentured labor, arranged marriages (with bride prices paid to the bride's family) kidnapping of women, sex trafficking.
Thimking about it, you are right that midwives were highly ambiguous figures. But that's not just in Vietnam or SEA. The idea of "switched at birth" in Europe involved midwives, too.
Fascinating stuff!
Hue Tam
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From: Ngô Thanh Nhàn
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 1:45 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
I remember the Vietnamese use ngãi but never garlic.
Another phrase of bùa chú is bùa ngãi.
-- Nhàn
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From: Dien Nguyen
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 3:28 PM
To: nhan@temple.edu, Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Hello anh Nhàn,
It is NG?I with d?u h?i, not ngãi .
E Gouin's Dictionnaire Vietnamien-Chinois-Francais defines NG?I as "
tubercule dont on se sert pour ensorceler, et, par extension, charme,
philtre, sortile`ge.
Ði?n
--
Nguy?n Ði?n
Independent Researcher
Canberra
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From: Tai, Hue-Tam
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 3:34 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
This definition of ngai is why I think of it as a potion ( made of "tubercule" and thus a" philtre") as opposed to bua chu (incantation, charm, amulet, talisman).
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Kenneth T. Young Professor
of Sino-Vietnamese History
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From: Patrick McAllister
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 3:40 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Garlic is commonly found on the altar for Ong Dia nd Ong Than Tai in Saigon homes, along with the fruit, flowers, etc., with the same purpose of warding of evil.
Patrick
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From: Ngô Thanh Nhàn
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 5:12 PM
To: Dien Nguyen <nguyendien519@gmail.com>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Thanks, anh Ði?n.
You're right. It should be ng?i.
-- Nhàn
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From: Carina Hoang
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 5:47 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear All,
I was born and grew up in the Saigon, I used to live with two Grandmothers, one from Ha noi and one from Hue, I got to hear quite a bit of tales from both of them. My Grandmothers often used the terms ‘m? mìn’ and ‘bà m?’. They warned us about m? mìn who uses food, toys and sweet talks to get close to children, and then kidnap them. They then take the children far away from their home town, and sell them to people who don’t have children or turn them into beggars.
When my Grandmothers spoke about bà m?, there was a sense of respect in their tone, and often they pray to bà m? when the children sneeze or hiccup. Sometimes, when my baby sister or brother smiles while they were sleeping, my Grandmothers would say that bà m? was teaching the baby how to smile.
As for ng?i, I often hear people say that ‘ng?i k? t?i’ and ‘r?n k? x?’ meaning: ‘ng?i fear garlic’ and ‘snakes fear lemongrass’.
Carina Hoang
Murdoch University
Western Australia
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From: Christina Firpo
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 6:54 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
I just met her today at AAS. Her work is *fantastic*!
Thanks for the tip!
c
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From: Nicolas Lainez
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 11:16 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Hello,
Following the discussion about magic beliefs, kidnappings and sex work, I have come across interesting practices in my fieldwork about sex work and sex migration. One of the ways that Vietnamese sex workers deal with uncertainty (hen xui, “good and bad luck”) when they travel to Singapore is by visiting pagodas and making offerings to the Buddha and to house gods (Ông Ð?a and Ông Th?n Tài), and by resorting to magic.
Some sex workers bring objects like powders, fragrances and lipsticks to mediums and fortune-tellers to “sên bùa”. These masters (th?y) transform these objects into magic bùa by anointing them with incense, by casting spells or by spraying wine on them (the magic is conferred by the divinity invoked by the master). The sex workers believe that the men who breathe in their magic powders and perfumes will become strongly attracted to them. These bùa also helps the women to deceive their clients about their age, in other words it makes the clients believe that the women are younger than they seem. They also believe that the magic of the lipstick is physically dispersed when they speak. This helps in the following ways:
1) it ensures that the woman wearing the lipstick gains the exclusive attention of the client,
2) it enhances their skills of flirting and seduction,
3) it ensures that the woman gets the price she asks for,
4) it convinces Singaporean men to marry them so that they can stay in Singapore (they say b?t ch?ng or “catch the husband”).
There are many other techniques to deal with hen xui. I heard (but never saw) that women wrap 9 strands of pubic hair, burn it and jump over it 9 times. Good luck charms are also used either in the form of coins (lì xì tièn) or amulets with money attached to them. Enclosed is one of these good luck charms with a S$10 note that was offered to Bà Ch?a X? in Châu Ð?c. The sex worker carried it with her to be “lucky” (may m?n) and to avoid getting arrested by the police (di làm không g?p công an, her words).
I agree that this is a fascinating research topic!
Best regards,
Nicolas Lainez
PhD Candidate, anthropology
EHESS/NUS
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From: Lan PHAMNGOC
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 11:40 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Hi Christina,
When I was a kid, I heard regularly, from my mother and grand mother (born 1921 and 1895), but also from other people of their generations, talks about these two entities "m? mìn" and "bà m?".
M? mìn is used in the exactly same meaning than you defined in your email dialogue.
But "bà m?", beside the primary meaning "midwife", has a second meaning, different from what you read : this is a good spirit (une espèce de bonne fée) who teaches babies good things in their early months of life. When a baby smiles while at sleep, one says "m? d?y cu?i dó !", (m? is teaching how to smile).
I am surprised to know that "Bà m?" is used in pejorative way. Very surprised indeed! But what I know is in northern culture, maybe in other parts of the country, there are different ways of using these entities.
Best regards,
Ph?m Ng?c Lân
Toulouse, France
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From: Christina Firpo
Date: Sat, Mar 17, 2012 at 1:16 AM
To: Lan PHAMNGOC <lan_phamngoc@yahoo.com>, Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Hi Lân,
I'll try to dig up some direct quotes when I get back to California (I'm in Toronoto now).
I'm interested to hear more about what your mother and grandmother said about the m? mìn.
Nicolas: is that a picture that you included in your email? My server read it as a series of garbled letters. If it was a photo, would you try to send it again?
Best,
c
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From: Gremont Johann
Date: Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 3:38 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Christina,
In French colonial sources, especially newspapers, this role is oftenly played by old Chinese women. When it's played by Vietnamese women, m? mìn are younger.
I've found a case where a trafficker is under arrest. According to her evidence, she was sold in China when she was a child, and after ten years came back in Viet Nam where she became an unwilling m? mìn because her will was under control (someone casted a spell on her). Do you know when this m? mìn figure is born?
Regards
Johann
Paris VII university
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From: Christina Firpo
Date: Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 3:52 PM
To: Gremont Johann <johann.gremont@yahoo.fr>, Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Thank you Johann.
Are the French sources using the term "m? mìn"? I actually hadn't seen reference to her in the French sources that I looked at (1920s-1940s).
For this woman who was an unwilling m? mìn, did that mean that she was working for someone else? What year was her case?
On a side note to the original posting that starting this conversation: I have a source from 1936 that refers to a sort-of-spell that a m? mìn cast on a child, so he was "b? b? bùa mê" (I don't have hte original in front of me so I can't double check to see if bùa was a typo and should be búa as per Roy's email--sorry!).
This is a great thread! Micheline Lessard also presented on kidnappings at a morning session today.
Best,
Christina
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From: Tai, Hue-Tam
Date: Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 4:49 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Christina:
b? b? bùa mê"
this is the correct spelling, with a huyen accent. It could mean "was given a sleeping potion" or more plausibly, something that, when ingested, would put the person under a spell (envoute).
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Kenneth T. Young Professor
of Sino-Vietnamese History
----------
From: Carina Hoang
Date: Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 5:29 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear All,
I was born and grew up in the Saigon, I used to live with two Grandmothers, one from Ha noi and one from Hue, I got to hear quite a bit of tales from both of them. My Grandmothers often used the terms ‘m? mìn’ and ‘bà m?’. They warned us about m? mìn who uses food, toys and sweet talks to get close to children, and then kidnap them. They then take the children far away from their home town, and sell them to people who don’t have children or turn them into beggars.
When my Grandmothers spoke about bà m?, there was a sense of respect in their tone, and often they pray to bà m? when the children sneeze or hiccup. Sometimes, when my baby sister or brother smiles while they were sleeping, my Grandmothers would say that bà m? was teaching the baby how to smile.
As for ng?i, I often hear people say that ‘ng?i k? t?i’ and ‘r?n k? x?’ meaning: ‘ng?i fear garlic’ and ‘snakes fear lemongrass’.
Carina Hoang
Murdoch University
Western Australia
----------
From: Roy Hornsby
Date: Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 7:30 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
My humble apologies, the correct spelling is "bùa chú" and not "búa chú" as I originally posted.
There is another thread in VSG begun by Carl Robinson on Oct 28, 2011 entitled "Vietnamese Sorcery" that provides great information.
Because of this list, I'm now well informed historically on this phenomenon but I find myself intrigued that, in this day and age, there are evidentially people "plying the trade", for want of a better expression, in my neighbourhood. I will follow up with the công an phuong when I get a chance and see if there is any other news on this pair.
Roy Hornsby
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From: Tai, Hue-Tam
Date: Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 7:47 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Roy:
Why should it be surprising, given the high incidence of human trafficking?
What I personally find surprising is the number of highly educated people who believe in "ma." Several of my twenty-something, city-bred relatives refused to sleep by themselves in rooms of their own because of that.
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Kenneth T. Young Professor
of Sino-Vietnamese History
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From: Roy Hornsby
Date: Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 8:38 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear Professor
my original post on this issue did not relate to human trafficking, rather the công an phuong warned us that these ladies are inducing people to hand over money and possessions, so just plain daylight robbery. the human trafficking aspect was subsequently introduced into the thread.
My surprise is similar to yours in that "in this day and age" such phenomena could still be in use and believed by so many to be true.
Incidentally, for several years I was part of a program designed for police from the Asia/pacific region who specialise in human trafficking. Subsequently I was able to interview many repatriated trafficking victims. Not once did any of these women mention being the victim of a spell. By far the most frequent story I heard was they were tricked by offers of work or sold by a family friend. I take into consideration though that perhaps I was being told either what they thought I wanted to hear, and/or a practised account.
cheers - roy hornsby
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From: Tai, Hue-Tam
Date: Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 8:53 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Thanks Roy.
I've ben told similar things about human traffickers, that they trick young women whom they know.
Still, me min has the connotation of being a professional trickster kidnapper of people rather than robber.
Hue Tam Ho Tai
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From: Lan PHAMNGOC
Date: Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 11:29 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Hi Christina,
My mother and grand-mother used "m? mìn" to warn me, not to go play in the street. They only talk of m? mìn when we lived in Hanoi, from 1948 until 1951. When we moved to he South, Saigon then Dalat, I never heard them mentioning m? mìn again in these 2 cities. I was 7 when we moved, and remembered that they were really scared when talking of m? mìn in Hanoi, not just for scaring me and prevent me play in the street !
Best regards,
Ph?m Ng?c Lân
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From: Melanie Beresford
Date: Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 3:02 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>, Kristy Kelly <kk2772@columbia.edu>
All this talk of me min reminds me of the 'bogey man' of my youth. This bogey was a man who tried to entice children away for the purpose of sexual abuse. In reality the bogey man was less real (or at least far more rare) than the family friend or even relatives who were the usual source of child abuse, rape etc.
Roy's comment here about his policing experience is interesting because it suggests that, like the bogey, the me min is/was a figure on to which people deflected guilt for crimes that were actually committed far closer to home. Perhaps a way for the community (or even the family) to deny its own problems and to focus anxiety on external sources?
Not to deny the strength of belief, but I'm often intrigued on these pages by apparent parallels/common structures between Vietnamese and other cultures.
cheers,
Melanie
--
Melanie Beresford
Associate Professor in Economics
Faculty of Business & Economics
Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia
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From: Gremont Johann
Date: Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 3:42 AM
To: Christina Firpo <christina.firpo@gmail.com>, Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
French sources that I have analyzed are not using Vietnamese terms (except in one case, not m? mìn but bà già, in other cases they are just human traffickers or "hunters").
Concerning Nguyen Thi Nhon, who lives in Ha Noi, according to her, she works indeed for a human trafficking network led by a Chinese woman living in a junk in Port Wallut in 1936. But I think that this kind of evidence reported by French sources has to be analyzed carefulness.
In the case of human trafficking in China for example, according to Christian Henriot (Les belles de Shanghai), there are a lot of agents not led by one leader at the head of a well-organized criminal association. I do not know if this situation could be the same in Viet Nam, and maybe this Chinese woman is just the main agent because she carries children on her junk in China.
Regards
Johann
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From: Christina Firpo
Date: Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 3:54 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
This is a great threat. Thank you for everyone!
I wonder if the m? mìn (plural) actually were real and weren't just a figure onto which they deflected guilt. In the colonial period, there are reports of some who were caught (I have the vn newspaper reports, not the French police reports). I'm even willing to believe that they could have hypnotized people and that was read as putting them under a spell.
Having said that, I'm fascinated by the gendered way that journalists write about her, and I also wonder, if the m? mìn are real, why older, unmarried women get involved in kidnapping.
Thanks again for a great discussion!
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From: Ngô Thanh Nhàn
Date: Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 4:11 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear Melanie,
Your 'bogey man' sounds like 'ông ba b?' in the south of Vietnam when I grew up.
There's a drawing of a bearded man with three 'gi?' in his back with three children.
-- Nhàn
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From: Ngô Thanh Nhàn
Date: Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 4:28 AM
To: Gremont Johann <johann.gremont@yahoo.fr>, Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear Johann,
I remember m? mìn in Sàigòn when I grew up. When I worked on a story
by CBS a few years back, the 14-year-old Vietnamese girl in Phnom Penh
said 'dì' instead, 'dì r? di bán cà phê' and she thought she was going to
sell coffee.
Cheers,
Nhàn
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From: Tai, Hue-Tam
Date: Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 6:15 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
A fascinating aspect of this discussion is gender. The me min, ba mu, "di", "ba gia" are all female. Bogeymen are by definition male. The individuals who got arrested in Beijing in the Republican era, as per Ransmeier, were mostly male, though there were some female as well (this could be due to police bias or scope of activities).
I have my own ideas about this gendered dimension in Vietnam, especially in light of Dao Mau, but am curious as to what others make of it.
Hue Tam Ho Tai
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From: Ngo, T.
Date: Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 7:19 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear all,
Until today in Laocai, where I was born and my family still live, the phrase ‘Ba bi 9 quai, 12 con mat, hay bat tre con’ is said to children to scared them off from wandering out on the street. I do not recall how scared I really was, but like my little nephew now, I did sing this phrase myself without knowing (until today still) why ong Ba Bi is called like that, and why he has 9 quai (whiskers) and 12 eyes.
Human trafficking is a big thing at Laocai/Hekou border and at the same time there a huge brothel filled with Vietnamese prostitutes in China side just across the Red River. Although the people who run this brothel, I was told, are men (some of whom are ethnic Chinese in Vietnam and were forced back to China in 1978), the prostitutes rhetorically used the words má mì to hint at the force that brought them to this profession and prevented them from leaving it to go back to Vietnam. In Chinese soap, the female managers of brothel are usually called Mami (I could not insert the character in here).
Last, but not least, the phenomenon of people being hypnotized then being robbed is also increasingly common in Laocai or at least more people claimed to be the victims of such acts nowadays. I myself always feel highly skeptical of such claims, because it sounds more like an excuse for the so-called victims’ carelessness and sometimes greed and stupidity. For example, a neighbor of my mum was robbed off nearly 2 million dongs by a 30 something- year old woman who stopped her on the street, told her that her skin got too many dark spots which can easily be erased by a cream that this woman happened to have, but not with her right then. So out of her mind, this neighbor of my mum went home, got the money and follow that woman to a neighborhood where usually many Laocai people would not even want to go to, so there she was robbed… The culprits in those ‘hypnotized’ episodes in Laocai are often young people, not old grannies.
Best,
Tam Ngo
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Ethnic and Religious Diversity
Gottingen, Germany