CULTURE-VIETNAM: Foreign Comics Rule

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Tran Dinh Thanh Lam

HO CHI MINH CITY, Mar 5 2002 (IPS) - Vietnamese children are reading more books than before, but parents and educators alike are not exactly ecstatic. That is because the books youngsters across the country are reading are not only comics, but foreign ones at that.

Publishing industry insiders say that the trend began in 1993, when the Japanese ‘Doraemon’ comic book series, starring a pudgy blue and white cat, was first released in this country.

Vietnam was soon swept with Doraemon fever and local publisher Kim Dong has since been kept busy churning out volumes of the series in hundreds of thousands of copies.

Refusing to be left behind, other major publishing houses such as Dong Nai and Tre have introduced other comic book series – mostly from Japan, China and some Western countries – to vie for the children’s attention, as well as their pocket change.

Recently, even the adventures of boy wizard Harry Potter, by British writer J K Rowling, originally in book form, has been turned into comic books that have been snapped up by eager Vietnamese children.

With 30 million young people in the country, the potential for Vietnamese comics is huge, says Nguyen Thang Vu, director of Kim Dong Publishing, Vietnam’s biggest children’s book publisher.

Or as a U. S. national now working in a local publishing house puts it, “It’s like selling potato chips for 60 cents a bag — you can make millions.”

Some industry observers even estimate that the weekly sales of comics in Vietnam reach 600,000 copies.

But not too many are happy that 95 percent of the total number of comic books sold in this country are actually foreign series, which Vietnamese publishers legally translate and edit to suit the Vietnamese audience.

Many parents and educators say the local publishing industry should promote Vietnamese children’s stories so that the country’s young could learn about their own culture and history.

Nguyen Nhat Anh, who has written many children’s books, himself says, “Books help build the character of children. I hope local publishing houses and authors will find a way to get more Vietnamese titles on the shelves in bookshops.”

Publishing house bosses say they want the same thing, most say that they also have to take care of their bottom line.

One publishing executive notes, “We’re business people, so we only publish books that are going to be big sellers. Our surveys have shown that 70 percent of children prefer foreign stories to domestic books, and they genuinely enjoy them.”

Some parents have tried to take comfort in the fact that their children seem to be currently more engrossed with reading foreign tales, albeit in comic book form, rather than fiddling with video games.

But there are those who say that like many video games, most of the foreign comic series released in Vietnam are quite violent and bloody.

Thu Hien, a mother browsing in a bookstore here says, “I always choose comics for my kids. I don’t think all foreign comics are good. Some Japanese ones like ‘Seven Dragon Pearls’, ‘Teppi’, and ‘Sailor on the Moon’ are too violent, not suitable for children.”

“Harry Potter” meanwhile has brought fresh worries to parents and educators who are now wailing over the “promotion of superstition”. They also insist that anything for children should first and foremost be “educational”.

A few publishing houses have heeded the call of parents and educators and suspended printing of some foreign series that have been singled out for supposedly promoting brutality. Some have also made it a point to introduce foreign series that are well-known for their high “educational value”.

Tre Publishing House, for instance, has released a translation of ‘The Monsters’ by English writer Tony Grath, after the series have found much acclaim in 32 countries including the United Kingdom, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Spain, China, Korea, Norway, Sweden.

Writer Nguyen Ngoc, however, says that the ‘Harry Potter’ series and other foreign stories that have attracted the attention of Vietnamese children succeeded precisely because of the “authors’ comprehension of children’s psychology”.

Renowned children’s book writer Do Trung Lai also says such stories do well among local children because, unlike Vietnamese children’s books, these show children acting in very “un-childlike ways”.

In addition, he says, these comic books express a desire for democracy, which again is very distinct from local stories. Lai also points out, “Above all, the books are rich of humanity and sense of humour that attract not only children but adults alike.”

Lai thinks that instead of trying to find fault with the foreign stories, perhaps local writers should study why these books are hits with Vietnamese children. He observes, “Like Doraemon, Harry Potter is not perfect. But it is valuable like a bomb to get us to renovate our writing for children.”

The good news is that despite the profits they earn from the foreign series, some Vietnamese publishers are now trying to help push local talents. Says Bich Lien, an editor at Kim Dong: “We think it is about time for Vietnamese writers to do what foreign comic-book artists do.”

Kim Dong and other local publishers think that there is a formula that can be followed to replicate the success of the foreign comics series: lively pictures, interesting storylines and cheap prices (3,000 dong per copy, or 27 U.S. cents).

But Kim Dong’s Vu confesses, “The most difficult part so far is finding the right Vietnamese artists. There are a very small number of artists who are interested in doing a comic-book series like Harry Potter because they were not taught such comics in university.”

“The problem is being more worse by the fact than Vietnamese authors aren’t interested in writing books for children,” he also says. “They want to create literary works for adults.”

To encourage Vietnamese authors to produce children’s books with attractive pictures and entertaining language, Kim Dong has raised standard fees for children’s books from two million dong (133 dollars) to five million dong (333 dollars) per title.

The authors will also receive royalties from now on from their book sales.

Under these new terms, Kim Dong has already churned out nearly 200 titles, with print runs of between 2,000 and 5,000 copies each.

The publishing house has even turned its eyes towards the international market, and has brought its Vietnamese children books at international book fairs. To date, Kim Dong has published some Vietnamese books in English, French, Japanese and Thai.

“After the 1999 Book Festival in Bangkok , French-based Fraternite Europe-Asien helped us translate ‘Tim Me (Searching for Mother)’, ‘Su Tich Cay Neu (Legend of the Lunar New Year Pole)’ and ‘Tam and Cam’ in Thai,” recalls Vu.

Nguyen Dinh Thi of FEA confirms this, and adds, “Since then, we have issued many Vietnamese legends in English, French and Thai. French children enjoy reading Vietnamese legends, which is a real surprise. ”