Objective and Authentic, Reportage That Uncovers the Truth

The hard life, hardship and deadlock, in the “dead end”… the talented reportage writers Vu Trong Phung, Ngo Tat To, Tam Lang warned of a terrible reality of society and indirectly showed the need to change the living environment, creating a more “humane situation” for people. That is the realistic value, the profound humanistic value embedded in the reportage heritage of the three writers, three “excellently realistic” writers.

In that “dog-eat-dog” and “oh a bong pheng” society, not only the poor are impoverished and degraded, but the class considered “upper class” – the bosses – are even more degraded and hooliganized. In the eyes of the “teachers’ rice” and “teachers’ rice”, the bosses are really ordinary and dirty. To them, only money and money are above all, all relationships, even blood relationships, are also governed by money and meaningless. They are willing to trample on all human dignity, feelings, and morality for money. Just because he “mistakenly ate” a piece of his son’s “rươi” cake, Mr. Phan ( Teacher’s rice ) was scolded and insulted by his son, calling his father this guy and that guy “One hired the guard inside, one hired the guard outside, but the other’s wife left the other person’s portion of food, and made a mistake! It’s strange to make a mistake” [28; 736]. A boss raised a kind dog, the dog ate meat and soup, but let his father wear a brown shirt and patched pants, work hard all day and was ready to curse "damn dad" when the father beat his dog. The relationship in the boss's family had reached a terrible level. In many families, both husband and wife had affairs and treated each other rudely. There were bosses who slept with their servants; there were bosses who had an affair with their young sons. The moral and personality degradation of the bosses with power and money had reached a terrifying level, just as the servants commented, "The richer they are, the more stingy and mean they are, they are not human" [28; 745].

There are so many paths leading to degeneration and it can be said that degeneration has become a contagious disease that spreads to all subjects and classes in contemporary society. Through a series of sharp reports, Vu Trong Phung, Tam Lang, Ngo Tat To

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warned about the serious degeneration and degradation of human dignity, morality and culture. That is both the inevitable result of a society full of injustice, traps and filth, and the cause of the social situation: "officials are corrupt, women are depraved, men are promiscuous, a group of writers are speculative and cunning".

* The decline of culture and customs

Along with poverty as a chronic disease, “inherited” from generation to generation, the villagers are also miserable because of the bondage of many heavy, absurd customs. With the special reportage “ Village Affairs ” , Ngo Tat To recreated the heartbreaking stories about the fate of farmers who were tormented and miserable all their lives by the burden of customs and village rules - terrible disasters for them. The old man Thuong Lao Viet spent his whole life “working hard, being frugal and laborious”, but because of “the strange, barbaric customs… freely piling up on his shoulders”, he “could not raise his head”, even when he was dying, “the burden of those evil customs still pressed down”. To arrange a funeral for his 3-month-old grandchild, so that he could grow up and escape the humiliating fate of the immigrants, Uncle Mao’s family had to sell one hectare of rice fields that the whole family had saved up to buy. So, in exchange for the "household seat" of the 3-month-old grandchild, "to eat a piece of village meat", to be able to contribute equally to village customs... an entire family fell into a state of poverty and poverty. Most of the story of Village Affairs focuses on exposing the evil tricks of the powerful landlords in the countryside. They masterminded and maintained bad customs as a means to bully, oppress, and exploit the villagers to the end. In need of money to spend recklessly, to drink, they set up the trick of forcing them to "sell feasts" and "sell positions". In order to have money to buy the position of "former village chief" forced by the village chief, Mr. Luy's family ( Goc chieu gioi dinh ) had to sell nearly a hectare of rice field and half a buffalo - assets that he and his wife had to save and save up for their whole lives.

to get by. In addition, he had to borrow more than seventy dong. Having bought the position, there was still the custom of celebrating the position. And, after that (forced to be grand) ceremony, Mrs. Cuu sadly took her hat and went to Hanoi to work as a nanny and Mr. Cuu returned to his life as a hired farmer. Mr. Linh Phuc ( Cố oản tuần sóc ) fell into an even more miserable situation. His wife died, and he worked hard all year round to earn just enough corn and sweet potatoes to feed his three children. But unfortunately, Mr. Phuc was promoted to the position of “boss” and therefore, every year he had to prepare two more Sóc vong oản dishes. There was no money in the house, in the middle of the rain and wind, he had to take down the roof of the house he was staying in and sell it to get money to fix the Sóc vong oản dishes. The miserable rickshaw driver ( The debt of a lifetime ) had a wife who died from postpartum depression. To prepare for his wife’s funeral according to the “village custom”, he had to borrow more than thirty dong at interest, his monthly rickshaw-pulling wages were just enough to pay the interest. And so, just one day, the village rickshaw driver had to pay a debt of interest for life. There are many more heartbreaking stories from the sophisticated tricks of the mandarins who took advantage of the traditional psychology of the villagers, creating complicated and troublesome customs to torment them. In order to have a stick of incense from the village to offer to the widowed, childless Tu Ty after her death ( A stick of incense after death) , she had to worry about "setting up a place", paying her fields and money to the village, and also had to endure countless pressures from the Ly lords. Because of worrying about fixing the complicated and expensive "new sticky rice" ceremony, poor Mr. Le ( New sticky rice seed ) not only had no rice left but also had to sell an entire jar. And there were many more torments and hardships: Worrying about the chicken to worship for the ceremony to become a village elder at the age of fifty ( The Worshiping Chicken ); worrying about the procedures for the position of "drum headmaster" in the "row of cha" ( The Misbehaving Shoes ); worried about making amends with the village so as not to fall into the situation of “when alive, no one sits with you, when dead, the village does not care for you”. In the end, because he could not take care of himself, he had to hang himself ( A party of extortion )… It can be said that hundreds of bad customs, hundreds of worries surrounded the poor fate of the villagers. “Sticky rice and meat” has become

a social evil in the countryside. Around food are many tragic and heartbreaking stories. Many stories in Village Affairs have focused on those heartbreaking aspects around food. With a deep understanding of people and rural life, with a sincere sympathy for the suffering of the villagers who are tormented and oppressed under the burden of heavy bad customs, Ngo Tat To has skillfully created a special collection of caricatures about the "weird, barbaric" bad customs in the Vietnamese countryside before the August Revolution. That is one of the reasons leading to the tragic poverty and hunger of the villagers.

Along with the Village Affairs , with ten outstanding reports in the Temple Case , Ngo Tat To “put together the dens of barbarian corruption to form an investigation”, reflecting all aspects of bad customs in the communal house. Those were the complicated, corrupt rituals that the village elders tried to maintain to consolidate the power of the rulers, to “lure” the greed for fame, wealth, and status of the wealthy, especially to bring disaster to the innocent people. In that chaotic time, the communal house was no longer a sacred place. There were many ridiculous stories. The absurd, “tragic” miracles surrounding the communal houses and the village’s tutelary gods. “Those who robbed and stole were brazenly made the highest-ranking gods…” even the “four-legged” man was made the tutelary god. The tutelary gods “had no form, no shadow” but were “sacred beings” who always resided at the head, on the shoulders and could “show their power and do good”, making the people bow in fear and worship them; There were many corrupt "tricks" and ridiculous and expensive rituals to "drive away the evil spirits" ( Once a year, the Thanh Hoang was chased away ) or to "relieve" the commemoration of the Thanh Hoang's career of theft ( That Thanh Hoang was dismissed )... Humorous and sharp, Ngo Tat To recreated the tragicomic scenes caused by these corrupt customs. The fake sacrificial customs

( A happy funeral ), where the “filial” mourners prepare a lavish and expensive feast, but the celebrant both performs the ritual and sleeps, snoring loudly right in front of the altar. Most of the reports reflect the bad customs of meat in the communal house. The pig-killing contests to worship the gods are complicated and expensive, “each feast costs hundreds of silver coins”, but everyone “must try”, because “if it is slow, the feast is small, it will be a bad reputation in the village”; the competitions for “big brother’s pig, little brother’s pig” between the two sides of the East and West, in which disaster falls on everyone’s head “cannot be denied, cannot be abandoned”, if abandoned, they will have to suffer the humiliation of “lack of payment, lack of contribution”, living in the village is like dying. Those are the great feasts of “144 bowls and plates arranged on a mat tray” of the elders who specialize in collecting pig taxes, causing “many brothel owners to be in trouble, many pigs to die with that feast. Many businessmen, from young to old, save up to only hold one meal and it’s gone”. Those were the feasts for the “Mr. Funeral”, where the whole village “ate like silkworms”, forcing the owner to “sell his house and land to pay for the money for the pigs and rice that the host had eaten”. Those were the feasts for the village, “the porridge for the deceased” where ninety-nine percent consisted of alcohol and meat, “to prepare for one such feast, the rich would have to spend hundreds of silver, the poor would have to spend a few dozen silvers…”. In essence, these were barbaric customs that the feudal colonial regime deliberately maintained in the countryside. Each custom was a cruel rope, tying the poor villagers in a cycle of poverty, darkness, and misery, with no way out.

2.3. Objective and truthful, reporting to the bottom of the truth

2.3.1. Objective and truthful

Not looking through the subjective lens or the outer shell of life, Tam Lang, Vu Trong Phung, Ngo Tat To approach reality, live with reality, discover and exploit information, objective truth. Some Western journalists consider reportage as a systematic search to answer 6 questions, 5 w, 1 h: Who, What, Where, When

(when), Why (why), How (how), the main thing is still to determine the objectivity and authenticity of the events: Who happened to whom (subject). What happened (event). Where did it happen (location). When did it happen (time). How did it happen (process). Why did it happen (cause). Here, attention has not been paid to the nature of the event, the importance and impact of the event on people and society. It is said to be objective and authentic, but the reportage always shows an ideological tendency, approval or opposition, affirmation or negation, praise or criticism... to create public opinion and therefore has a certain social significance.

The authenticity and authenticity of the event requires the reporter to truly understand the field he is investigating. The author is also a reliable witness. It can be said that through the reports, we can clearly see the participation of writers Vu Trong Phung, Tam Lang, and Ngo Tat To. Tam Lang wrote Night on the Perfume River so he went to Hue, to see with his own eyes and hear the tricks and "tricks" of the prostitutes. During his days and nights in Hue, he wrote seven reports published in newspapers. The author got to know Le Th., a daughter of a mandarin but due to circumstances had to "go out with guests" since she was 15 years old, or went to a Nem stall in the Imperial City to witness the brazenness and slander of the low-class prostitutes. There are times when the author has to play the role of a detective who takes the trouble to follow and eavesdrop on suspicious conversations between the “seller” and the “buyer”, go to the meeting place, follow the traces to find out the truth to serve his investigation ( Restaurant with customers) . Therefore, the events and details the author presents, impress and gain the trust of the reader. To write I Pull the Cart , Tam Lang played the role of a rickshaw driver, pulling the car for 6 days to understand the hardship and feel the life of a rickshaw driver. Going deep into the life of those “horse people”, he “lived with a professional rickshaw driver, knew the secrets of the profession, recorded and wrote articles in the Ngo Bao newspaper , 20 consecutive issues before publishing.

into a book” [142, 68]. Tam Lang went to the annual meeting of the Northern House of Representatives to write a report, drawing a portrait of Mr. Ba , a taxi driver who threw money to buy a position in the National Assembly, but was only a “Nodding Congressman” [142, 70]. Tam Lang’s reportage was honest, objective, “there was nothing fabricated”. It attracted readers precisely because of the truth. The truth was concrete, present, linked to social life, the present that many people were interested in. Later in his autobiography [142, 64], Tam Lang expressed his thoughts as a journalist writing a reportage: The article “The Lady , a bowl of pho with a dead dog” was published in Ngo Bao “did you and your friends suspect that I…added salt and pepper to the story? A hundred times no! That day, coincidence - the god who supports the journalism profession - led me to be a customer of a pho street stall…letting me witness the event from the first minute to the last minute”. That is the truth. And because the truth “motivates me to find ways to live with the rickshaw drivers, plantation workers, miners, juvenile delinquents, and homeless beggars”, turning what I see and hear into long and short reports that “reveal the true face of society in an absolutely objective manner”. The events Tam Lang presents are all vivid and real. It is the character’s ego - the author demanding more fare that creates this dialogue:

“I stood up and showed the coin the waiter had just handed me:

- I'm so happy, I'm so happy

My guest jumped out angrily:

- Tu veux encore des cadouilles? Vache sale !

As he spoke, his hands untied the leather belt that was fastened around his waist, a copper buckle flashing.

Only then did I realize that my guest was a blue-eyed, curly-haired Cai . After being scolded in the face, I still wanted to get another beating, so I had to put on a stubborn face:

- Seven Angkor, three net

Sure enough, I couldn't block a punch in time and ran away screaming:

- Oh Captain! Oh Captain !

The street was deserted but many people came out to watch. I clearly heard a woman's voice:

- Oh, what else, the coolie asked for money and got beaten up!” [16, 20]

To have objective and authentic reports, Vu Trong Phung went to the field to record and analyze. The author's ego - the witness, always appeared, standing up to explain to the reader: All are real stories, seen and heard, and the writer is the one involved, in " Trap Nguoi" (1933), "The Industry of Marrying Westerners" (1934), "Com Thay Com Co" (1936), "Luc Xi" (1937)... Writing reports requires the writer to participate, witness, and record the right events and people. There are cases where the writer does not directly participate but relies on witnesses to report and describe, but the writer must transform into a witness. And so the reader will be assured that the events and matters that the work presents are objective and authentic. Vu Bang recounted: "Phung has a special talent in that he does not know what gambling is, but in the first report written for Nhat Tan newspaper , he dared to mention the issue of cheating in gambling. In fact, he had never observed a “shore gambling” case before, but he wrote like the most experienced gambler, thanks to a brother, Mr. Truong Tao, also on Hang Bac Street, who talked to him so that he could write” [37, 109]. Hearing the story, but the ego - the character in the reportage is the ego - the author who also participated in the incident, the event. I and Mr. Phan’s son went to pick up the swindler to “eat” the father, then I became “an apprentice in a factory of the gambling industry”. When it comes to the Western-taking industry , the writer is completely a witness, an investigator, asking questions, finding out every nook and cranny of that strange Western-taking profession and was threatened by the legionnaires who suspected him of “stealing love”. “I put a box on my head, held a small briefcase under my arm, and boarded the bus

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