Transformation of Kinship Relations in Social Life

There are only a few households in the village that sell small amounts of essential goods at the markets. At first, trading faced many difficulties in terms of capital, means of transportation, and lack of experience... To overcome the initial obstacles, they had to seek help from relatives, not only with capital, but also with words of encouragement. At the same time, many people with trading experience returned to "pull" their relatives to join them. "Initially, after the reform and opening up, there were only a few households in the village that sold small amounts at the markets. Later, relatives and sisters invited each other to go together" (Mrs. Vi Thi H, 79 years old).

Since the Hanoi - Lang Son highway ran through Quang Lang commune in 2000, the life of the Tay people here has changed significantly. They quickly entered the process of economic diversification. Many households have started to compete to build houses on the road, open services and trade. The households building houses on the road are mainly those whose land was compensated after the national highway ran through. But the compensation money is only enough to build houses, the rest is to be able to live, they have to open more services and trade. Their initial capital is based on the families in the clan. Among the Tay people, borrowing does not require interest and when the borrower has money, he will pay it back or when the lending family needs it, the borrower will arrange to pay it back, so there are few conflicts between them about borrowing.

Up to now, many households without land on the street participate in running the market, doing side jobs such as motorbike taxi drivers, working as porters, construction workers, workers... They often have groups participating, but mainly they are brothers in the same family. Typically, currently Khun Phang village has 5 people working as motorbike taxi drivers, of which 4 are Lo brothers, the remaining 1 is Kinh. Or Lang Dang village has a branch of Vi brothers who specialize in running the market selling yeast leaves to make wine. The Tay people share that whenever someone in the family goes out to work for hire, if the job is good and favorable, they will come back and invite others to go with them. Therefore, in the community, there are many groups of people with blood brothers working as construction workers, many families go to the market together. "When going out to work for hire, they often receive

"Whenever there is a good job, we often invite our relatives to go with us, both to create jobs for each other and to protect each other" (Mr. Vi Van D, 34 years old).

In particular, the young generation who grew up and went to work as factory workers in the South, Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Thai Nguyen, etc. often returned to "bring" their brothers and sisters in their clan along. Up to now, there are quite a few young people in the village who work as factory workers in the same industrial park and live together. There are many cases where brothers and sisters in the clan work as factory workers in the industrial park of Bac Ninh. After some factory departments moved to Thai Nguyen to operate, many had to move their work location from Bac Ninh to Thai Nguyen, but they still chose to stay with their sisters in the old lodging place, taking the company bus to work from Bac Ninh to Thai Nguyen every day. They shared that living with their "family" is more comfortable, they do not have to get used to the lifestyle of new people or when they encounter difficulties, illness, they have sisters to take care of each other. As for many migrants from other places, clan relations play a role as a source of capital and social network for the Tay people in Quang Lang when they go to work far away.

4.2 Changes in kinship relations in social life

4.2.1 Changes in family relationships and educational promotion activities

After Doi Moi (1986), along with the process of economic integration and development, the issue of education has also begun to be of interest and attention to the Tay people. Escaping agriculture and having a stable job in the state sector is the desire of many Tay people in Quang Lang today. In recent years, people have invested a lot in education. The results of the questionnaire survey show that 31% of family members have a junior high school degree, 30% have a high school degree and 12% have a college or university degree.

“Currently, children’s education is always focused on by parents and families, creating the best possible conditions. If children are successful, not only parents but also the whole family will be proud. Therefore, everyone wants their children to be successful in their studies. (Mr. Lo Van Th, 35 years old). Especially, well-off families,

Families with members working as civil servants always invest in their children's education, with the hope that the younger generation will inherit the family's tradition of studiousness, taking education as the foundation for their own and their family's development and bringing glory to the family. However, the scholarship fund has only stopped at contributions, encouragement and rewards within the paternal family, without the participation of the maternal family and in-laws.

In the two research sites, the Vi family in Khun Phang village has established a scholarship fund for more than 4 years, with an amount of over 10 million VND. To maintain the fund, each household contributes 200,000 VND annually, and families with better conditions can contribute more. The fund was established to promote the family's tradition of studiousness; to encourage and motivate children to strive and make efforts in their studies. In addition, a part of the fund is used to buy books and support tuition for children of the Vi family who are in difficult economic circumstances.

The Vi family scholarship fund was established with specific regulations and standards. The family meeting day is the day to honor the achievements of the children after a year of hard work. The criteria for rewarding are students who have achieved excellent grades or higher, won competitions at all levels, passed university entrance exams, etc. The form is to honor the whole family, give books, and a small amount of money to encourage the children.

Recently, a small branch of the Vi family in Lang Dang village has also established its own scholarship fund with an amount of more than 5 million VND. The fund also aims to encourage the spirit of learning for children and grandchildren. The fund was established by a member who went out to work and returned to his hometown to mobilize and donate a small amount of money, hoping that his children and grandchildren would study successfully, helping the family to develop further.

Although the financial contribution of the Tay family to help their children study is not much, it has encouraged their spirit. As a result, since the establishment of the scholarship fund, the children have known how to compete with each other in studying.

practice, many children achieved high results. This further encouraged the family to build the fund to grow more and more.

4.2.2 Changes in kinship and child care.

In recent years, thanks to the country's innovation, the material and spiritual life of the Tay Quang Lang people has increasingly improved and had many positive changes such as: the poverty rate has decreased, life has improved so children enjoy many benefits and have a more fulfilling life. However, economic development and the expansion of the labor market have brought with them many negative aspects. These are a series of changes in ideology with a pragmatic lifestyle, absorbed in work, chasing after money, or gambling and drinking. All of these things have gradually crept into the lives of many families. Some families do not spend time caring for their children. Although this phenomenon has not been widespread in the area, it has somewhat affected the development and the right to love and care of children. To help children have a loving home, relatives are always the first to stand up to raise, protect and shelter them.

Table 4.1: List of statistics of families with children being raised and cared for by relatives

Khun Village Bang	Village Post
In case of divorce, children are foster relatives	1	0
In case of working far away from children, please ask grandparents, relatives care	2	1
In case of working by day, thanks to the family to take care of the children	8	12

Maybe you are interested!

(Source: Field documents of students September 2016)

Through the table above, we see that in reality, in the two research sites, there were cases of divorced couples, the father was addicted to alcohol and gambling, and the mother was homeless.

The children were unable to raise their children, so they returned to live with their paternal uncle. “After their parents divorced and were unable to raise their children, I, as the older brother, took care of all three of them until now they have all grown up, have families, and have full-time jobs” (Mr. Lo Quoc Kh, 57 years old). Receiving love and care like their own children, those children have all grown up, matured, and have their own jobs. At the same time, they also consider it as their family, their uncle as a second father, so no matter where they go, they always remember and return to the place where they were raised to become adults.

Nowadays, the labor market is expanding, in order to earn more money, the young generation of the Tay Quang Lang people all choose to go out to work. Because of the burden of "food, clothing, rice, money", they can leave their children with their grandparents and relatives. This is an increasingly common phenomenon. Children who are only a few years old have to live far away from their parents, staying with relatives when their parents go to work far away. Families who work in companies near their homes, leave early in the morning and come back late at night, so they do not have time to take care of their children. Therefore, feeding and educating their children is taken care of and taken care of by relatives. " Nowadays, the young generation in the village often go out to work, leaving their children with their grandparents and relatives to take care of. Like us, the elderly only stay at home to farm and take care of their children. Every day, my family has a few children coming home from school to eat, and then staying here until their parents come home in the evening to pick them up" (Mr. Vi Van Th, 54 years old). The problem is that if relatives do not open their arms of love, many children will lack care and go on the path of playing around and dropping out of school. But the love of blood ties them together, loving, helping and sharing with each other when needed. Therefore, many Tay children always receive love from relatives. Many families of the younger generation can rest assured to send their children to their relatives to go out to work. Blood ties are always a support and are always highly valued and respected by the Tay Quang Lang people.

Chapter 4 Summary

Clan relations always play an important role in supporting the economic life of the Tay people in Quang Lang. The tradition of support is first shown in agricultural production. Agricultural land is an extremely important and valuable means of production for the Tay people and is also the property that their ancestors left for their descendants. Therefore, when wanting to transfer, the Tay people always give priority to transferring to their relatives. However, due to economic interests, land conflicts among the Tay people still occur, especially after the dissolution of agricultural cooperatives, which significantly affects the relationship between relatives in some cases.

With the conditions of the valley, combined with the hills, it has created diversity in the agricultural production of the Tay people. At the same time, for them, "fertilizer, labor, and seeds" are always important factors in agricultural production. Since ancient times, the Tay people have known how to "exchange labor, help each other" and support each other with fertilizers and seedlings in production. This support not only helps production go smoothly and on time, but also connects the feelings of families in the clan together. Compared to before Doi Moi, the form of assistance in agricultural production among the Tay people has changed, but the relationship between brothers and sisters in the clan still plays a certain role in supporting production when necessary.

After Doi Moi (1986), the Tay people quickly diversified their business activities, trade and non-agricultural jobs. At this time, the clan played a role in supporting and guiding each other to participate in new industries and fields. The aim was to create jobs for each other and improve their lives.

Nowadays, along with the development of economic life, the relationship between clans in social life is increasingly strengthened. With the desire for children to study successfully and bring glory to the family, in the community there has been a trend of clans establishing scholarship funds to encourage the spirit and encourage competition in studying for their children. This is also a source of motivation for clans.

The Tay people develop and promote more social activities to strengthen and unite the feelings of brothers and relatives.

The care and concern for children among families in the clan when parents divorce and go to work among the Tay people today has contributed to creating love, protection and shelter for children when they lack the love of their parents. That help and support on the one hand creates warmth for children, avoiding social evils, but at the same time is also a condition for the younger generation to feel secure when going out to work and do business. The relationship between clans in economic and social life has helped us see clearly the feelings of attachment, protection and mutual support among relatives. As economic life develops, this relationship is not obscured, but it is also strengthened and consolidated with many activities of great spiritual significance.

CONCLUDE

1. The Tay people play an important role in the formation and development of the Vietnamese people in general and in the Southeast Asian region in particular. For a long time, the Tay people have been of interest to many researchers. In particular, the issue of clan relations is one of the aspects of the Tay culture and plays an important role in traditional and contemporary society.

2. The Tay people believe that a clan is all those who have the same bloodline and are born from one ancestor. Each clan is divided into many branches, each branch is divided into branches. The clan organization is extended to nine generations. With three relationships: father's family, mother's family, and in-laws' family, in which the paternal family has the main position and role, but that does not mean that the maternal family and in-laws lose their position and function. Therefore, in the Tay people, all three kinship relationships are always respected and strengthened.

The common characteristic of the Tay Quang Lang clan is that they live together in a certain area, and clan meetings are held in combination with grave cleaning before the Lunar New Year. Most clans do not have their own worship facilities, but use the head of the clan's "root house" as a place to organize activities and worship ancestors. In the Tay clan, the role of the head of the clan and the person of prestige is always highly valued. Currently, there is a revival of the clan, through activities such as building ancestral tombs, clan temples, restoring genealogy, finding relatives, etc.

3. The relationship between the clan in ancestor worship and the rituals of the human life cycle has an important meaning in the life of the Tay people. The role of the clan in spiritual life is expressed through rituals: tomb sweeping (chap ho), ancestral death anniversaries, traditional holidays, weddings, funerals, births, etc. These beliefs and rituals always contain many unique cultural features of the Tay people. During the period of war and agricultural collectivization, all worship activities and rituals were considered old-fashioned and backward, and needed to be

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