The Russian Journal of Vietnamese Studies

This article analyzes China–Vietnam relations in the field of digitalization through the conceptual lens of asymmetric coopetition. The central research problem lies in identifying the mechanisms through which asymmetries in the digital capacities of the two states, as well as differences in their national digital development strategies, shape a configuration of simultaneous cooperation and competition. Interaction between the People’s Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam unfolds across 4 analytical levels – infrastructural, normative, investment, educational. The analysis demonstrates that the Chinese model, oriented toward technological expansion, normative leadership, and the establishment of de facto standards within the framework of the Digital Silk Road initiative, and the Vietnamese model, based on an innovation-adaptive approach, the development of a startup ecosystem, and a strategy of diversified partnerships, generate a structurally asymmetric competition between models of digital development. This asymmetry manifests itself in the fact that China competes for technological dominance and normative influence across Southeast Asia as a whole, whereas Vietnam competes for investment attractiveness, entrepreneurial talent, and the status of a regional platform for digital innovation. The author concludes that this configuration exerts a long-term influence on the formation of the digital space of Southeast Asia, gradually shifting the regional balance toward Chinese technological standards while preserving Vietnam’s strategic autonomy through regulatory mechanisms of digital governance.

This article presents a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of food security in Vietnam. The author identifies key stages in the transformation of the country's agri-food policy – from overcoming chronic food shortages during the Đổi Mới reforms to the current shift toward sustainable and nutrition-sensitive food system development. Particular attention is paid to the assessment of the four core dimensions of food security – availability, access, utilization, and stability – both in their historical dynamics and in the context of ongoing climatic and economic challenges. While Vietnam has achieved most of its national food security targets, the findings underscore that maintaining this status requires continuous state-level regulation and strategic adaptation. The results offer valuable insights for countries with comparable development trajectories in designing resilient food policies.

In the context of consumerist societies, minimalism has emerged as a contrasting lifestyle or a reaction to consumption-centric lifestyles. To understand the minimalism practice, this article used secondary document analysis to clarify its structure and indicators. This study proposed a structural approach to minimalism practice in terms of material and non-material aspects, rather than over-focusing on material dimensions and considering non-material ones as a consequence, as in previous studies. Using this comprehensive scale, this research conducted a survey via Google Forms with 196 voluntary respondents who are urban youth living in Hanoi and conducted 10 semi-structured interviews to collect information related to their minimalistic practices. As a result, the most common practices of a minimalistic lifestyle were easily integrated into daily activities such as buying essential products, higher-quality products, tidying up belongings, and regularly cleaning living and working spaces, while other practices were performed less frequently. Overall, Vietnamese urban youth in this study practice non-material minimalist behaviors more than material ones, which is a noteworthy finding of this research.

Aware of the great power of the press, Vietnamese communists always paid attention to press publishing in all circumstances, even when imprisoned in French colonial prisons. Publishing revolutionary newspapers in prisons is an extremely special activity because it not only requires courage but also intelligence and knowlodge. The communist presses in French colonial prisons in Vietnam from 1930 to 1935 had their own unique characteristics in terms of form and organization as well as content. They played an important role in propagating the policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam, as a tool to educate Party members and the masses and as a weapon to fight against opposing ideas. Based on a survey of colonial government documents on the prison presses, on the memoirs of those who participated in the writing of newspapers between 1930 and 1935, and a survey of a few newspapers remaining to this day, the article clarifies some content, forms, and authors of newspapers published in colonial prisons, thereby showing a part of the history of the struggle against colonialism and national liberation of the Communist Party of Vietnam in the early days of its establishment.

The Trưng Sisters are iconic historical figures in Vietnamese history whose influence on culture and literature has endured to the present. Across different periods, their image has appeared prominently in a wide range of literary genres. This article examines the reception and representation of the Trưng Sisters in Vietnamese literature from its beginnings to the mid-twentieth century, focusing on the formation and development of two interrelated discourses: national discourse and personal discourse. The study asks how these discourses emerged and evolved across historical periods, and what social, political, and institutional forces shaped their transformation. It argues that national discourse emerged earlier and developed continuously throughout Vietnamese literary history, while personal discourse appeared later but played a crucial role in renewing the image of the Trưng Sisters. From medieval historiography onward, representations of the Trưng Sisters were largely framed within national discourse, portraying them as heroic figures, moral exemplars, and symbols of collective resistance. This discourse originated in Confucian historical writing from the fourteenth century and persisted, with variations, across subsequent centuries. By contrast, personal discourse developed more gradually, with early signs appearing in the sixteenth century and becoming more pronounced in the early twentieth century. Over time, literary portrayals of the Trưng Sisters shifted from sacred figures toward more humanized representations that emphasized emotion, individuality, and feminine experience. This transformation reflects broader changes in Vietnamese literature, as attention moved from communal and national concerns toward personal narratives and inner life. The article thus demonstrates how evolving national and personal discourses shaped the changing literary image of the Trưng Sisters up to 1945.