Rising Asia Journal
Rising Asia Foundation
ISSN 2583-1038
PEER REVIEWED | MULTI-DISCIPLINARY | EASTERN FOCUS

VOLUME 5, ISSUE 2
(SUMMER) MAY TO AUGUST 2025

 CONTENTS

SPECIAL ISSUE
THE CREATORS OF SOUTH VIETNAM: AT HOME AND ABROAD
NGÔ THẾ VINH, Author / ERIC HENRY, Guest Editor & Translator

ERIC HENRY
INTRODUCTION
THE LITERATURE, ART, SCIENCE, AND MUSIC OF SOUTH VIETNAM
Banned, Scattered, and Revived

ALL ARTICLES BY
NGÔ THẾ VINH, Author / ERIC HENRY, Translator

JOURNEY TO FREEDOM
The Writer and Boat-person Mai Thảo

REMEMBERING A DEAR FRIEND, NGHIÊU ĐỀ (1939–1998)
Bird-tracks Left in the Sand

NHẬT TIẾN AND THE ABANDONED PORCH
Still a Swift-Swallow Rover Scout on the Path of Life

MY GUN BROKE IN MARCH
Cao Xuân Huy Duels with the God of Death

THE MEMORY OF THE SCENT OF BLOOD
Poet and Journalist Trần Mộng Tú in a “Decrepit Old War”

FORTY YEARS OF THE WRITER/WAR CORRESPONDENT
DƯƠNG NGHIỄM MẬU
And the “Autobiography of Nguyễn Du”

FEELING FOR THE HOMELAND IN THE DEATHLESS MUSIC OF PHẠM DUY
And his Various Portraits

VÕ PHIẾN, A WRITER IN EXILE FOR FORTY YEARS
And Author of The History of Literature in South Vietnam

ENTERING (AND DEPARTING) THE REALM OF CREATED IMAGES
Đinh Cường, the Awakened

THIRD MONTH: THE SNOWBIRD THANH TÂM TUYỀN
No Choice but to Cast Away the Withered Memories

THE YEARS OF DREAMING IN VAIN
Professor Phạm Hoàng Hộ and the Flora of Vietnam

ERIC HENRY
EPILOGUE
THE CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE VIETNAMESE
The Vicissitudes of an Intensely Artistic People

RESEARCH ARTICLES

RIMMO LOYI (LUKE MÌNGKÉNG) LEGO, Stevens Institute of Technology
ALESSANDRO DAVID, University of Florida
MADHURJYA BURAGOHAIN, The English and Foreign Languages University
DHRUBA (TAKAR) MILI, Dibrugarh University
HARIPRASAD DOLEY, Jawaharlal Nehru University
THE YOUTH KEY TO UNLOCKING A TONGUE
Imperatives of Language Conservation and Tribal Unity Among Tani Youth
in Northeastern-India

AMAN TRIPATHI AND AREEZA SAIFI, Jawaharlal Nehru University
“DIRT SPOON,” “GOLD SPOON,” OR ‘HELL JOSEON’
IN SOUTH KOREAN SOCIETY
Class Inequality in Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite 

THE RISING ASIA REVIEW OF BOOKS

REVIEW BY SALIKYU SANGTAM, Tetso College
Toh Han Shih, Is China a Menacing Empire? (Singapore: World Scientific, 2025),
476 pages, US$38.
EXPLAINING CHINA’S ACTIONS ABROAD
An Erudite Defense of Beijing’s Policies and Perceptions

REVIEW BY FARHEEN YOUSUF and PRIYANKA GARODIA,
Advanced Study Institute of Asia
Yasheng Huang, The Rise and Fall of the EAST: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to Its Decline.
New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2023.
HOW CHINA USES SOCIAL HOMOGENEITY TO BUILD AUTOCRACY
And Why it May Lead to the Decline of the State

RISING ASIA-BCC&I SUMMIT

PROCEEDINGS OF THE RISING ASIA-BENGAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY SUMMIT: THE RISE OF THE EAST.
Held on December 20, 2024 at the BCC&I historic premises in Calcutta.

Front Cover Photo Credits:

  • All the photos published on the front cover are taken from articles inside this special issue, and all the photographers/photo owners have been duly credited on the inside pages, where these photos appear. The Rising Asia Journal thanks them all for their kind cooperation.