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I would like to share the stories of a Chinese family over 4 generations:above: taken in 1984.These were My dad’s parents, his grandmother , his EIGHT siblings and their spouses and kids. I was the baby being held on the very right. Woman holding me is my mother.1. My grandparents‘ generation - before PRCMy Nainai (the mother of my father) was born in the 1920s. She was born into a wealthy family. Her family owned almost all the land in the village. She knew simple maths and how to write and read, and she knew how to use an Abacus - she was an educated Chinese woman, and it was a big deal at the time, it’s the ultimate sign of being someone from a privileged family (at least in this part of China). She had 11 siblings, all shared the same father but different mothers, which was totally legal and socially acceptable at the time. Life was great for her until 1949 - The communist party confiscated everything her family owned then divided their family properties equally among the villagers. My grandma also received her fair share of land like everyone else, but this time , she had to grow plants on it herself instead of having other people do it for her.In order to receive more “quotas”(the bigger one’s family was , the bigger the land one could get from the Party) and creat more man power to work on farming， she gave birth to 11 children over the course of 15 years. 2 of them died shortly after birth. The remaining 9 children are still alive and well as of today.My Popo ( my mother‘s mother) was also born into a wealthy Chinese family, but unlike my Nainai, her childhood and youth was far from being privileged. My Popo‘s mother ( my mum’s grandma) was sold by her parents into that wealthy family as a child bride at the age of 11. her family was poor and had too many children so her parents decided to only keep the boys and the oldest daughter ( because the oldest daughter could manage the household and do chores) and sell “the rest”. Being someone from the bottom class, my Popo’s mother was never treated any better than a “servant girl” . The only difference between her and other servants was that she had to take care of the young son of that wealthy family, sexually. That rich young boy became my Popo’s biological father .My Popo’s mother’s life would have improved a lot had she given birth to a boy. But She never did. Instead , she gave birth to four girls. So, like her mother, my Popo was never treated any better than a servant girl. Her biological father got married to another woman from a “good” family later on，and my Popo served her half sister as a lady‘s maid.My Popo remained a servant until 1949, and then she was released as a “free woman” by the CCP. Like my Nainai, she also received land from the government. Her mother had passed away already by then. She decided to leave her land and biological father and half siblings behind and move to another city - Foshan. There, she met a boy, they had 5 children together. One died, 4 lived. Life was never easy for her, but she did smile, and laugh, and live life.Above: my Popo and me. 1986.2. My parents’s generation - the beginning of PRCIf I am to retell the childhood stories my father and mother shared with me over the years ,it would make this an even longer answer, so I’m gonna skip it. I will however , sum it up with 3 words - it was difficult.My dad has 8 siblings and my mum has 3, China was in ruins back then. Think of Syria, think of Iraq, think of Iran now, then imagine it being even worse (if it’s possible) then you can see what China was like back then……Not only all my parents and their siblings grew up “fine”, they also all had been to school. They all know how to read, write , and count. Even the girls. Even though they weren’t privileged in any shape or form.According to our local culture, a Chinese woman cannot leave the family she was born into until she gets married. And when she gets married, she goes from one home straight into another - the husband’s home. All my father’s sisters got married young ( 18–22), my Nainai told them it’s time for them to find their own men to look after them. None of my aunties have been to high school, they all had to cut their education short in order to support their brothers to seek further education. As my grandma puts it “Boys are more important”. - since they couldn’t afford to send all the kids to high school , they picked the ones that “mattered”...Above: my Nainai and two of her daughters.Two of my aunties resented my Nainai for years. They wanted to learn more , they wanted to see more, they wanted to live more. But instead, they were pulled out of school just because they were girls. They were told that marrying a nice husband was more important/ “better” than finding a job. They felt unjust. But eventually they both forgave my Nainai - because after they became mothers, they too, had to make similar decisions as their mother. ( my untie on the left has 3 kids, the one on the right has 5)My mother on the other hand, had received way more education than other girls from her generation. The boys in her family quit school and started working early to put her through high school ( tuition was free , but someone had to work to feed her and the rest of the family) then Teachers’ College. She was one of the first generation of qualified teachers in PRC China. She can even speak English.My Popo told her: education is your only way out.so there she was, holding hard onto her only way out. Even through the infamous Cultural Revolution….My dad was a “Red Guard” during the Revolution. In order to get a train ticket to go from Guangzhou to Beijing to see Chairman Mao, he sold his English Teacher out. He ratted her out, told the authority that she was reading an English book. He led a Red Guard Team into her dorm , turned it upside down, found the book, burned it, and threw her in a dirty pigsty. They shaved half of her hair off, threw eggs at her, called her a “capitalist” and a “traitor”. Then he got “the ticket”. He went to Beijing. He heard a speech made by his hero, Chairman Mao. He felt proud.My mother was 16 when the revolution started. she loves foreign literatures, Charles Dickens, The Bronte sisters , Jane Austen, the father and son Dumas…she told me she used to sell her own lunch at school to buy books. She‘s a romantic really, she used to fantasize about the Lords and Ladies in the books, their castles, their nice clothes, their silk gloves, their butter and cheese , their blue eyes and blonde hair, their sweet words, their elegance, their passion for love … A world filled with abundance, she wanted to see it one day. Until then , she would just lose herself in the world of “ western books that promote feudalism, capitalism and hierarchy”.When the Red Guard turned up at her home asking her to handover the books, she said she was a true communist and she had burned all the “evil books”. She lied. She had buried the books somewhere deep in the ground. The Red Guards didn’t believe her and turned her home upside down. They couldn’t find anything but still, she was asked to leave her post as a high school teacher and joined a re-education camp in the countryside. They called her a “traitor”.Fast forward to the 1980s, my mum met my dad. They fell in love. Then they had me.Above: “The Red Guard” , “ The Traitor” and me3. My generation - the growth of CCPThe year was 1989. We were living in a city called Foshan. Foshan is very close to Hong Kong, and we used to watch a lot of Hong Kong channels (our TV could catch the HK TV signals). I remember during the Tiananmen Square Movement, at 18:00 everyday, when the TVB news (the most popular HK news program in the 80s and 90s) came on, my mum and dad would drop everything they were doing, closed the door, drew the curtains, turned down the volume of the TV and watched the news without saying a word. When they finished watching it, they would open the curtain and door then go back to whatever they were doing before. I was 5 years old then and didn’t think much of it. Until one day….As a young child without too many toys with play with, I liked to draw, I didn’t have any drawing books so I liked to draw on pictures on the newspaper. One day, I was drawing something funny on a picture of a man printed on the newspaper, a ridiculous moustache, bright red lips that kind of thing. My mum saw it and her face went white. She grabbed the newspapers, torn it into million pieces, she closed the door and drew the curtains, started a fire in the middle of the living room. Then she burned the newspaper. She did all that in silence. Then she said to me: that was Deng Xiaoping you were drawing on. You are not allowed to draw on him ever again. A few seconds later, she said , you are not allowed to draw on any men on the newspaper ever again.That was the first time I felt scared of the government.But it was also the only time.I didn’t have any history class until I was in Junior High. At the age of 12, I attended my first ever history class and for the first time in my life, I watched a war documentary that haunted me for life. I refuse to get into the details of what I saw, but anyone who was in a Chinese Junior high in the mid 90s will know what I saw. The lesson of my first ever history class was this: the life we have now did not come easy.The message of that history class was not about how we should hate wars, or how we should hate our enemies, or how brave and great the Chinese Communist Party was. It was all about the sacrifice our parents, grandparents and great grandparents made. It was all about us staying united and treasuring what we have. At the end of that class , our history teacher said: the only way to prevent history repeating itself , is for us to stay strong. And the only way we can stay strong as a nation, is through education and hard-work.I would say my childhood was great. I mean I didn’t have many commercial toys but my mother made me plenty of others - paper planes, handmade kites, handmade board games, bamboo shooting guns, mini sand bags to learn how to count and do maths, flash cards to learn Chinese characters.I could read books already when I was 6. I had read the “The Arabian Nights “, “Grimm‘s fairy tales“, “Andersen’s fairy tales” before I started school at 7. I read all these foreign books openly. My mother even taught me some basic English and we used to have simple conversation in English in public.Oh, and I have a younger brother.He was born in the late 80s , the hype of the One-Child Policy. Once my mum’s tummy started to show, we started to get “visitors”, constantly. They were all local government officials from different levels. They were all trying to convince my mum to get an abortion. “You will lose you job”, “ one child is enough”, “we can’t let you be the special case”, “how can we implement the national policy if everyone acts like you”, “you are being selfish, you are putting yourself before the greater good of the country”. My mother didn’t give in, and she went into hiding for the remaining of her pregnancy.My brother was born in a hospital in a much smaller city nearby. He was well taken care of by the nurse, he was healthy. But both my mum and dad lost their jobs , and they had to pay a hefty fine - 3300RMB. To put what 3300RMB meant at the time in prospectives, a 170-square-meter piece of land costed 2000 RMB, My mother’s salary was 150RMB/month, my dad’s was 350RMB/month. They expected this, they had been told that this would be the punishment, but they had my brother anyway because they really wanted a son. Not just a second child,A son.Above: me and my broEverything happens for a reason I suppose. After losing his job, my dad started a business. Then we got rich( by a developing country’s standard). By early 2000s , we were living in a 760 square meter villa , front and back gardens, a swimming pool and a fish pond.Above: my nephews playing ball in front of our homeAbove: family dinner gatheringAbove: my dad chilling out by the fish pond after dinnerAbove: my dad cooking up a storm for the pool partyAbove: My bro and my hubby having a cuppa.Above: “The Red Guard”, “The Traitor” and their two grown kids. A.k.a the “selfish family that broke the One-Child Policy”My parents sent me to New Zealand to study when I was 17. They knew nothing about NZ, and all I knew about the country was that people speak English there and they have more sheep than men.They met with great disapproval from the rest of the family when they announced their plan to send me off. A little background, my parents started their business with borrowed money, every single one of their siblings chipped in for them to get their business started, in return, my parents give part of their profit to their siblings every year. They disapproved this plan because:I’m a girlinstead of paying for my expensive school, they should use the money to make more moneyThey still have a son, they should save the money for the son, not me. It is the son who will remain by their side till “the end” , not me.My dad had second thoughts after family discussions. It was my mother who insisted that I should go. She said, either both of her children get the best education they can afford , or neither of them should get it.So I went.Above: Christchurch , New Zealand, 2001.Above: Clock Tower, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. 2002.In 2003, my brother joined me in New Zealand.It took both of us just a little more than 3 months to get a passport and the visa to go to NZ.I learned a lot about China when I was in NZ , not that the Kiwis like to talk or write about it, in fact , during the 10 years I was in NZ , nobody talked about Chinese politics with me , not even once. All they ever asked me was : aye? You have a bro ? (Lol…) I have never heard anything condescending from the people of this beautiful country. I learned a lot more about China through getting up close and personal to this civilized, developed , open-minded, kind western society. I learned about the pros and cons of democracy and what it was built on. I saw my 18 year old uni classmate go and vote for a politician he knew nothing about just so he wouldn’t get a fine for not enrolling to vote. I had also seen my working colleagues debate about which candidate’s policy would bring a better life for the people and a brighter future for the country. The good things is, for a country like NZ, more people are voting with the understanding and knowledge of their own country, a lot less people are voting just to avoid a “fine”. China on the other hand…I had a part time job with minimum wage, the girl I work with told me one day, that she was going to quit, she said she would receive more money making babies than working at a shitty job. A society like NZ can afford this, China on the other hand…I was also exposed to a lot of interesting people with amazing world views and concepts. The longer I stayed there, the more I understood the things I learned in my Political class back in China.“Group before individuals” (集体利益高于个人利益),is the key principle of the Chinese politics ( in my opinion). I used to hate studying for politics in China, because it was sooooooooo boring and there’s so much we had to memorize for exams. Memorizing , not understanding. It was impossible for a 12-year-old me to understand the CCP politics.It was much later on in life, after living on a several different continents, after meeting people from all walks of life , after learning more about the history of other countries, after knowing the social and political problems these countries have, I started to have a bit more understanding of the Party‘s controversial policies - they were necessary and the most effective policies for a country like China at the time - A country filled with hungry, uneducated, short- sighted, individuals.Everybody has heard about “The Belt &Road Initiative” now. You know when the first time was I heard about it ? 20 years ago in my political class. They called this policy “西部大开发“(The development of the western region in China). I thought at the time, yeah right, giving out all the high hopes again. And now , I say to myself, no kidding, they are really doing it.4. My daughters generation - established PRC.My husband is Austrian. I was 33 when our daughter was born.Shehaseverything.She was born in the most expensive private hospital in HK.She had everything a new born needs and doesn’t need, before she was even born. She had gifts sent to her from friends and family all over the world. She had her own little fancy baby bed, organic baby clothes, BPA free plastic drinking bottles, fancy shampoo and shower gel for babies only, a shock-resistance baby stroller,she has an Austrian passportand a Chinese (HK) passport.she has everything I didn’t have when I was a child.I had everything my parents didn’t have when they were children.when she’s asked “where are you from”, she will answer “I’m Chinese and Austrian” not “I’m half Chinese and half Austrian”I told her she doesn’t have to be “either” “or”, and she isn’t “half “ of anything.And her name is Anna Chen-RainerAbove: that’s her, holding a picture of me.We are currently living in Austria and we go back to China twice a year. Anna loves going to China. My parents spoil her rotten, and she loves the attentions she gets from the locals , they call her “洋娃娃”- a baby doll. Near our neighbourhood in China, we have a massive park with beautiful landscapes and playgrounds, an indoor swimming pool, an outdoor swimming pool with a manmade beach (yeah I know … ), iMax cinemas , gyms, tennis courts , basketball courts, library, museum …. - all within 10 mins of driving. Compared to our nice quiet life in Austria, Anna loves the “exciting” Chinese vocation equally muchMy dad told me he regretted deeply of what he did to his English teacher, he thought he was doing the right thing, he was told that he was doing the right thing. He has been trying to make up for what he did all these years, he would send gifts and money to his teacher on every traditional Chinese holiday, he would visit her and talk to her regularly, he would drive her to the hospital if her kids are tied up with work…My mother said she forgave the Red Guards like my dad. She said they were just “misguided youths”My Nainai, the once landlord’s daughter, the daughter of the most hated family by the CCP, was a well respected person in the village. She used to write and read letters for other villagers ( she was one of the very few people who could read or write in the village). When she passed away, the entire village came out and walked alongside her for her last journey on planet earth. She used to tell me how grand her life was before the CCP took everything.My Popo worshiped the CCP and told me they saved her and changed her life.The village looks like this nowAbove 3 photos: Village dinner. 3 times a years every year, the village will host public gatherings on certain traditional Chinese holidays. Any villager above the age of 60 can just come and eat for free. And it’s 50 RMB for everyone else. Many “former villagers” ( like my dad) will make donations during these kind of events, and all the money goes to maintaining our ancestral temple . The Chen’s ancestral temple. My family temple.I even got married in our Ancestral Temple.The truth is , Chinese people have a love hate relationship with their government. I can not speak on behalf of all the Chinese, there are 1.4 billion of them after all. I can’t even speak on behalf of anyone who isn’t my immediate family. Over the four generations of my family , we have all been hurt by our government, on different levels, at different times. There were times when we had been very unhappy.We didn’t forget , we just forgave. My family don’t blame the ill fortune brought upon us on the CCP. We blame it on the individuals that were leading the CCP.My mum and dad are retired now. My mum goes to the local “College for Senior Citizens ” 3 times a week , she’s taking singing class, cooking class, dancing class and English class. All with a very small fee. My dad on the other hand , he just plays Mahjong everyday with his friends. They both enjoy free health care, they stopped driving around 6 years ago - they were given “Senior Bus Cards”, and they can ride around Foshan City for free. For the last 5 years, they have been going on overseas holiday once a year.We are very happy.and grateful for the life we have.I have been called a Wumao before, as much as they can’t prove that I am, I can’t prove that I am not. But I will say this: I am real.I’m a blogger with 144k followers, on my blog, I write about my life as a woman who gave up a career to be a full time mother , I write about life as a Chinese living in foreign countries. And of course I write about the usual subjects like fashion items and such.I am writing this answer in the honor of those who sacrificed their own individual benefits for the greater good of China, for I am sure a beneficiary of their sacrifice.

Question: Why is Vietnam so irreligious?Answer: No, Vietnam is not irreligious and most of the people follow at least some kinds of the traditional beliefs or folk religious(Sapa Pagoda in Vietnam)The Religions in Vietnam(Picture from the Hai Nguyen’s answer)In this answer, we should help you understand more about the Folk religions[1] in Vietnam.A World of Gods and Spirits relating to the Folk religions.One must begin with a sense of the richness and variety of traditional Vietnamese religion. Time was when the Vietnamese believed they inhabited a world alive with gods and spirits. Little distinction was made between the worlds of the living and the dead, between the human, the vegetable, the animal, and the mineral realms. If fate smiled upon one, nature, too, would be kind; but if one was cursed by fate, then even the elements would be hostile. The stones, the mountains, the trees, the streams, and the rivers, and even the very air were full of these deities, ghosts, and spirits. Some were benevolent, some were malicious; all had to be conciliated through ritual offerings and appropriate behavior.So life was regulated by a vast array of beliefs and practices, taboos and injunctions, all designed to leash in these powers that held sway over human life. How much and in what way religion guided one's daily conduct depended on one's background. Confucian scholars, who prided themselves on their rationality, often scoffed at what they considered the superstitious nature of peasant religion. But they, too, were ruled by religious ideas. Different occupational groups had their own beliefs and practices. Fishermen, who pursued a much more hazardous livelihood than the peasants, were notorious for the variety and richness of their taboos. Some beliefs were shared by all Vietnamese. Others were adhered to only in one region or a small locality. Some were so deeply embedded in the culture as to be considered a part of tradition, holding sway over believers and non-believers alike.If almost everything and everyone possessed a degree of power, so did the words employed to represent them. To a Vietnamese, saying a word out loud was to conjure up the object represented by that word, so that its presence and power became almost tangible. The more awe and fear a certain object inspired, the less often it was talked about, lest its power be called up. Elephants, tigers, crocodiles, and all the animals that threatened the lives of Vietnamese peasants were referred to in whispers, and respectfully called "lords." The personal names of emperors were avoided by all. The incidence of homonyms is quite high in the Vietnamese language, as it is monosyllabic. So in order to avoid using the imperial names to talk about the ordinary things of life, the names of the latter were often slightly distorted. For example, since the 17th century, when the country was divided into the northern territory under the Trinh lords, and the southern territory under the Nguyen lords, Southerners have used the word Huynh for "yellow," or "royal," in deference to Nguyen Hoang, the first of the Nguyen lords. For their part, northerners altered the pronunciation of tung into tong for "to submit" or "pine," to avoid pronouncing the name of their own ruler, Trinh Tung.Ordinary Vietnamese went to great lengths to avoid naming their children after their relatives, dead or alive, for when a name was said out loud, all the people by that name were called up as well. It really would not do when scolding one's child, to be scolding Grandfather as well! The same awe of the power of names made parents call their children, not by their given name but by the order of their birth. But this was done differently in the north and the south.Northerners were happy to have their first-borns be so known. But Southerners were more fearful of the devil, who coveted the children who were most cherished by their parents. It was thought that this would apply mostly to first-borns, and especially boys. So they pretended that their first-born was only their second child, and the ranking of children began with number two. Even in the 1960s, it was still possible to see small boys dressed as girls, nails painted and ears pierced, in order to fool the devil. This disguise would last until puberty, when parents would feel more confident that their beloved child would survive into adulthood, and when, presumably, it would no longer be possible to mislead the devil. The same reasoning made parents give their newborn babies truly hideous names, for the devil would not be jealous of such obviously unloved children. Then when adolescence was reached, a new and beautiful name would be chosen, to be recorded in the village rolls. Imagine the distress caused by the Western habit of entering permanent names at birth in birth certificates.Religion governed life before birth, and well beyond the grave. Pregnant women were hemmed in by all sorts of taboos designed to protect them and their unborn child and to shield others from the power unleashed by this burgeoning life. Expectant mothers were told to eat certain kinds of food and to avoid others, to refrain from doing various things at night, or going to certain places. If, when pregnant, the mother ate crab meat, it was believed that the fetus would lie crosswise in her womb at the time of delivery. Eating oysters or snails would cause her child to drool. If she took part in a wedding or had herself photographed, her child would be charmless. Neither she nor her husband were to drive nails into their houses, or the birth of their child would be delayed indefinitely. Pregnant women were told to think happy thoughts, and, if possible, gaze at pictures of particularly good-looking children, so that their own child would be beautiful. On no account were they to give birth in someone else's home lest they pollute it beyond repair. They were not to cross fishermen's nets while these were being dyed, or they would bring them bad luck. The only way fishermen could counteract the curse put upon them by pregnant women would be to utter prayers that would cause the women to abort as soon as they reached home.This is one of the very few instances of ill-wishing towards children. In general, the arrival of a child was cause for great rejoicing. When an infant reached its first full month of life, a great feast was held to give thanks. Another feast was held when the child was one year old. On that occasion, its parents would try to guess its future. Would the child, if a boy, grow to be a scholar, an artisan, a peasant, or a tradesman? That depended on which of the objects representing these four traditional occupations the child picked up when they were set before him. Then life was set, and no more birthdays would be held after that, until one had reached the ripe old age of 60, another time for rejoicing.In death, one did not pass away. Instead, one passed on to another world, very close still to the land of the living. If one had led a good life, one could pass the merit one had thus accumulated on to one's descendants. Conversely, the progeny of a wicked person would suffer misfortune until all the evil had been expiated. The spirits of the dead could be called back by spirit-mediums, trance-masters, and other religious specialists to give advice to the living. If properly buried and worshipped, the dead would be happy to remain in their realm and act as benevolent spirits for their progeny. But those who died alone and neglected, and to whom no worship was given, disturbed the dead and preyed on the living. In order to appease these restless wandering souls, a grand feast was held on the full moon of the seventh month of the lunar year, the Feast of the Wandering Souls.For one's ancestor to be particularly beneficial, he (for this applied mostly to male ancestors) must be buried in the correct spot. This necessitated the expertise of a geomancer. He would look at the lay of the land, the relationship between hills, and hollows and streams, and decide which would be the most propitious site. South Vietnam's most famous modern geomancer was known to carry out his field survey from the height of a helicopter, an example of how science and technology do not cause religious beliefs to dwindle away, but on the contrary, can serve to strengthen them.Between birth and death, daily life was regulated by the determination of auspicious dates. Some inherently inauspicious ones were noted on the regular calendar and applied to all. For example, no one would dream of doing anything of importance on the 5th, the 14th, or the 23rd of the lunar month. If one did think of embarking on a new venture, be it building a house, embarking on a journey, or starting a new business, then it would not be enough to avoid these unlucky dates; a truly auspicious one must be sought. This would require a fortuneteller, who could be an astrologer, a horoscope caster, an I-ching diviner, a palm-reader, or some other expert in the art of reading the future and divining the wishes of the gods. There was a general in the South Vietnamese army who was notorious for refusing to venture out of his headquarters without first consulting his soothsayer, no matter the orders from above or the strategic needs of the moment.The above sketches of the day-to-day manifestations of traditional religious beliefs only hint at the richness and variety of Vietnamese religion. But these images help serve as a backdrop to the larger question of the role of religion in Vietnamese society and politics. My underlying theme is that both religion and politics are about power, conceived differently to be sure. This shared concern for power has been both a bond and an enduring source of tension between the two throughout Vietnamese history.The Gods of the Early VietnameseVietnamese religion was a syncretic amalgamation of the three great religions of East Asia—Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism—onto which had been added a rich variety of preexisting animist beliefs. All Vietnamese believed in this single religious conflation in one form or another, but these forms varied greatly. Scholar-officials gave more weight to Confucian teachings; common people put more emphasis on Buddhism and on Taoism in its popular religious form.In all probability, the religion of the early Vietnamese before the Chinese conquest was totemic. Birds feature heavily in the decoration of the famous Dong Son bronze drums fabricated between the third and the first century B.C. This has led historians to assume that birds were important objects of worship. The early Vietnamese believed that they were descended from a dragon-king who had mated with an immortal from the mountains to produce 100 children. Hence, the recurring dragon motif in Vietnamese decorative art. They also believed that as a people, they enjoyed the protection of the turtle god who appeared at times of national crisis to give the leader of the day the weapons with which to fight off his enemies. The last appearance of this turtle god was in the 15th century when Le Loi, the leader of a guerrilla movement of resistance against Chinese occupation, lost his sword in a Hanoi lake. The turtle god dived into the lake and retrieved the magic sword, thus giving Le Loi the power to throw off Chinese colonial rule and to regain independence for his country. Since then, the lake has been known as the Lake of the Returned Sword.(Hung Vuong - Father of the first Vietnamese ancient state)The mountains and rivers of Vietnam were also endowed with magical properties. The mountain spirit, residing on Mount Tan, near Hanoi, won a contest against the water spirit for the hand of the beautiful princess whom both wanted to marry. Disgruntled, the water spirit attacked Mount Tan by causing the waters to rise, but Mount Tan in return rose ever higher. Folklorists like to point out that this is a mythic reenactment of the monsoon cycle. To the Vietnamese, the legend symbolizes their endurance in the face of harsh elements, and, by extension, their endurance as a people and a nation. The-spirit of Mount Tan keeps a watchful eye over Hanoi where, since the beginning of history, the Vietnamese capital has been located (except under the Nguyen dynasty in the 19th century when it was moved to Hue).In the wake of the Chinese occupation of Vietnam (111 B.C. to 939 A.D.) came Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. By that time, Taoism had lost its original identity as the philosophy of Lao Tzu and his disciples and had come to refer to magic practices, animist beliefs, and popular religion in general. Geomancers, horoscope-casters, I-ching diviners, fortune-tellers, spirit-mediums, faith-healers, and all sorts of wonder-workers (even those who practiced magic known to be of alien origin), were labeled as Taoist priests. In many cases, these so-called Taoist priests had a scant understanding of the teachings of Lao Tzu. Unlike Chinese Taoist priests, they were not organized into a religious organization. Hostile as the Confucian scholars might be to these people they called practitioners of superstition and deluders of innocent people, it was impossible to eradicate them. In a world full of gods and spirits, it was impossible to do without Taoist priests, for through their own efforts at self-cultivation, they held power over these gods and spirits. This power was in their magic, their incantations, their charms, and their potions. It was to them that common people turned, for performing the requisite ceremonies at various stages of life, for calling up the dead and healing the living.As all three religions were introduced into Vietnam at about the same time, Buddhism escaped being singled out and stigmatized as foreign, as was the case in China where Taoism and Confucianism were native religions. Instead, it was Confucianism which for a time suffered from being considered as the ideology of the occupying forces and of the educated but Chinese-influenced local elite. The kings who ruled Vietnam after independence (939 A.D.) came from a background entirely different from that of the Confucianized elite who had collaborated with the Chinese occupiers. They rose to power on the strength of their armies and of their personal wealth. Issued from landed families, with no pretension to knowledge, they admired force and despised scholarly softness. In the aftermath of independence, their hold over the country was tenuous, often challenged by other landed clans with large armies. Thus, their control did not extend greatly beyond the capital and the surrounding countryside, but where it was exercised, it was absolute, untempered by laws and regulations. One early king had a huge cauldron of boiling oil and a cage full of hungry tigers set in the middle of his palace courtyard to frighten his courtiers into abject subservience and to instill prudence into would-be challengers to his rule. Despite such precautions, however, he and his heir were assassinated by a man who had dreamed he was destined to be king and proceeded to act upon that prophetic dream. Except that the dream did not come true, for he, in turn, was killed by a supporter of the dead king.Dreams, omens, prophecies shaped the behavior of the early Vietnamese, for rulers and subjects alike were always anxious to placate the gods and spirits who held sway over human life. Early Vietnamese religion thus was essentially propitiatory and lacked an ethical, moral dimension.Buddhism: Compassion and Salvation(Tam Chuc Pagoda)What helped soften the arbitrary and sometimes brutal character of this early despotic rule was the influence of Buddhism.Already in the second century, Hanoi was known as a center of Buddhism. Vietnamese Buddhism emphasized mental and physical self-discipline and proper conduct, instead of the painstaking acquisition of doctrinal knowledge. Sudden, rather than gradual, enlightenment was the ultimate goal. This orientation left Vietnamese Buddhism open to the influence of religious Taoism and of magic. The Vietnamese of the 10th century could be devout Buddhists without relinquishing any of their animist beliefs.Still, as a Buddhist monk, one had to have a modicum of learning in order, to read the Buddhist scriptures. Aside from the Confucian scholars, temporarily out of favor because their loyalties were suspect, the Buddhist priesthood was the only other source of literate people. They could thus be called upon to assist the powerful but uneducated ruler and his equally uneducated courtiers. To the early kings, always fearful of being deposed by rival clans, the fact that monks severed all family ties as a prerequisite for entering the religious life could only come as a relief. Monks were educated, they did not covet the throne, and gave advice when wanted. No wonder the Vietnamese kings turned to them.As the kings consolidated their hold over the country, they used Buddhism as a symbolic representation both of the royal presence and of national integration. In the 11th century, a king ordered that temples be built in every village. Close to 1,000 were thus erected. When another king gave two of his daughters away in marriage to chiefs of highlands tribes, he also decreed that temples be built so that he could be accommodated there when visiting his daughters. These temples were to be more than hostels; they were to serve as reminders of the reach of the king and as means of extending court culture into the highlands. In one famous case a royal concubine, who had disposed of the rightful queen and all her 70 ladies-in-waiting by entombing them alive, was seized by remorse later on in life and built 100 temples throughout the land to expiate her sins. Like the medieval European nobility, Vietnamese aristocrats tried to gain absolution for their misdeeds by becoming patrons of religion -- sponsoring monks, building temples, and endowing them with lands and lavish gifts.With the consolidation of royal power, the disadvantages of relying on Buddhism for political purposes became more apparent. The most obvious shortcoming of Buddhism was its essentially other-worldly orientation. Buddhism was fundamentally uninterested in the here and now, which is the chief concern of politics. How then, could monks play an active role in politics? Their role was made possible through an ingenious interpretation of the Buddhist notion of salvation.In the countries of Southeast Asia where Theravada Buddhism is practiced, salvation is the non-transferable reward of an individual's efforts to achieve Buddhahood. But Vietnamese Buddhism, as in East Asia, belonged to the Mahayana stream which allowed for collective as opposed to purely individual salvation. In Mahayana Buddhism is the notion of bodhisattvas, beings who have already achieved salvation. But just as they are about to enter nirvana, they look back upon the world and are moved by compassion for the sufferings of mankind so that, instead of entering nirvana, they descend again into the world to work for the salvation of mankind. One Buddhist text states that it is the duty of bodhisattvas to assist the ruler of a country by becoming his advisors. When taking an active interest in political matters, Vietnamese monks could draw inspiration from this Buddhist scripture. Under the influence of monks, rulers tempered harshness with compassion, issuing amnesties to criminals on royal occasions and at Buddhist festivals. But some monks became involved in military affairs as well, and for that, there was no scriptural justification.But valued though the monks were as advisors, they still could not compensate for the inherent deficiencies of Buddhism as a state religion. For although the salvation doctrine of the Vietnamese Buddhists rationalized social commitment and political activism, it provided no real guidance for the exercise of power, nor for its delegation. And despite its apolitical orientation, which so attracted the rulers, it could unwittingly undermine the authority of the throne. When monks distributed grain to needy peasants, they competed with the state and its representatives for legitimacy in their eyes. The very notion of compassion in politics came under attack. Confucian scholars argued that amnesties made nonsense of the law, for they introduced into its application an element of arbitrariness. And in pardoning an enemy of the state and letting him go free not just once, but several times, a Buddhist king of the 11th century had subordinated the interests of the state to the dictates of religion, an unforgivable breach of his duty.The size and power of the clergy became a source of concern. The sheer number of monks made the priesthood a cohesive force, capable of influencing the course of events. For example, Ly Cong Uan, the founder of the Ly dynasty (1010-1225) came to the throne with the support of the Buddhist clergy. As he had been raised in a monastery, the monks reasoned that he would pursue much more sympathetic policies towards them than the king whom he replaced. Indeed, the Ly dynasty was an era of unmatched prosperity for Vietnamese Buddhism.When entering a monastery, monks and nuns disavowed society's claims on them, including the claims of blood ties. The common expression for the act of joining a monastery was "to leave the world." Monks and nuns thus proclaimed themselves to be outside the realm of the king's subjects, outside the reach of his laws, and to be ruled by a power higher than the king. The only laws they would live by were the laws of the monkhood or Vinaya. In China, these claims had attracted the censoriousness of rulers and Confucian scholars, and criticism turned into persecution. In the early days of independence, no Vietnamese scholar felt strong enough yet to attack Buddhism head-on, and the rulers were both too devout and too dependent on the monks to resent their claims. But by the end of the 12th century, efforts to curb both the size and the power of the clergy were underway.The example of Ly Cong Uan reveals that for poor Vietnamese, one path to mobility ran through monasteries, where some education could be gained. Not all who joined monasteries, however, did so in order to receive an education, or out of religious commitment to seeking salvation in the afterlife. Economic considerations played an enormous role. For in renouncing the claims of society, monks also rejected the financial burdens of being a common subject of the king. Indeed, one Confucian scholar thundered in 1198 that there were as many tax-exempt monks as there were ordinary taxpayers. Monks avoided corvee labor and military service as well. So did the slaves, serfs, and tenant families employed on the estates belonging to Buddhist temples. The origins of the temple slaves lie in Indian Buddhism, which forbade monks to engage in manual labor in order to use all their available time in purely religious activities. Thanks to constant donations from devout kings, nobles, and commoners, the temples were lavishly decorated with gold, precious stones, and metals, which, Confucian scholars of the day pointed out, could have been better used to fabricate agricultural implements and weapons, or simply used as currency. Furthermore, neither the very extensive lands attached to the temples nor their products could be taxed.According to these scholars, one proof that people did not enter monasteries out of sincere religious commitment was how ignorant of the Buddhist scriptures the average monks were. In response, Vietnamese kings instituted regular exams. Those who failed were defrocked and returned to the ranks of tax-paying commoners. That scholars could attack Buddhism with such vigor was a sign that Confucianism was in the ascendancy. Buddhism remained an important influence both among common people and among members of the court, but never again after the 13th century would it play an important political role.Confucianism: Heaven, Emperor, and ManAcross the Perfume River from the imperial palace that the Nguyen kings built-in Hue, stands the seven-story pagoda of the Heavenly Mother. Built-in 1601, it is the last large-scale monument dedicated to Buddhism. Despite the fact that it was the ancestors of the Nguyen dynastic founder who ordered its construction, it was this dynasty that saw the triumph of Confucian orthodoxy.It is easy to contrast the here-and-now orientation of Confucianism with the other-worldliness of Buddhism. Confucianism is often thought of merely as a code of ethics and as a philosophy of government based on merit, which made possible the rise of bureaucratic rule in the countries of East Asia, curbing both the power of the ruler and of the aristocratic clans. Education, rather than brute force, became the path to power. Merit, that is to say, suitability for governmental service, was determined through a system of civil service examinations testing a candidate's knowledge of a body of canonical texts -- the Four Classics and the Five Books. Suitability for office was determined by one's ability to write essays on literary themes, historical topics, and current events according to rigid rules (for instance the rules governing avoidance of imperial names). A superior man was a man with a broad education, not an expert in a specific field. Furthermore, a stringent code of ethics guided the behavior of all from king to commoner, providing clear rules for their daily relationships and the ordering of society.What needs to be underlined is the religious dimension of Confucianism. Confucian scholars, and many Western observers after them, may have emphasized the rationalist, humanist, and rather prosaic dimensions of Confucianism. But it was founded on a base of religious assumptions, no less strong for being unstated. Since the 11th century, the emperor had assumed the role of First Plowman. He launched the agricultural year by plowing the first furrow, a ceremony that was maintained in Vietnam until 1942, three years before imperial rule came to an end in revolution. This was one of many such religious duties to be performed only by the emperor.Ancestor worship and filial piety were the cardinal virtues that governed the lives of all. When still only a pretender to the throne, the eventual founder of the Nguyen dynasty, Gia Long, allowed his hair to be converted to Catholicism as a means of gaining support from Christian missionaries. The young prince was so thoroughly converted to Catholicism that he refused to perform the all-important rites of worship to his ancestors. Gia Long complained that not only his heir but also a great many of his courtiers refused to perform the rites that were a necessary part of court life. How would the court function if no one was left to carry out these ceremonies? Fortunately, the young Christian prince died before his father, allowing the succession to go to a half-brother who had been brought up in the strictest Confucian tradition. The calamity of having on the throne an emperor who would not perform the religious duties that went with his imperial functions was thus averted. Had the Catholic prince inherited the throne, not only would court life have been brought to a halt, but the well-being of the whole nation would have been jeopardized as well, for the emperor was the Son of Heaven. To him, and him only devolved the duty to mediate between Heaven and man, and to ensure the welfare of his people by acting according to Heaven's will in all things, political as well as personal. If he sinned in any way, Heaven might choose to punish him by visiting disaster upon his people. Thus, any calamity, any instance of misfortune was interpreted as a sign of Heaven's displeasure with the emperor.Gia Long's great-grandson, Tu Duc, ascended the throne by edging out his two older brothers. Not unnaturally, both were incensed and rebelled. For reasons of state, Tu Duc was forced to put them to death. But to kill one's brothers, especially one's older brothers, was to go against the most basic Confucian ethics. No wonder that Tu Duc, faced with the threat of colonial conquest, blamed himself for visiting misfortune upon his people. Believing himself solely responsible for this calamity, he dealt with the French threat with a heavy dose of fatalism that perhaps sealed the fate of his nation. French rule over Vietnam lasted for eighty years.Tu Duc's acceptance of responsibility for the national calamity underlined the Confucian idea that only the emperor had religious duties. As his representatives, officials shared in these functions, performing at the local level ceremonies which the emperor performed in his court. It was feared that if common people were to usurp these religious powers, only evil spirits would answer to their call, and disorder would reign throughout the land. All that common people were expected to do was to support the emperor and his representatives by paying taxes and being loyal and obedient subjects.Obviously, it was impossible to enforce such an ideology which deprived common people of any religious role. Confronted with the ineradicable nature of popular religion, the state tried to make use of it for its own ends. One particular area of concern was the role of religion at the village level.God and Caesar in a Vietnamese VillageThere is a Vietnamese saying which likens the village to a smaller version of the imperial court. In thinking about village religion, it is useful to bear this image in mind, for religion functioned within the village in the same way as it did at the imperial court, providing the oil which smoothed its operations.Village affairs were conducted in the communal house, where all official documents pertaining to the village were deposited. These included village census rolls, tax and land records, and the all-important village by-laws. The existence of these bylaws, a mixture of administrative rules, customary laws, and religious guidelines, has led observers to give credence to the saying that the laws of the king must bow before village customs. In reality, these by-laws were always scrutinized by officials to make sure that they did not go against the spirit of imperial laws. Villages were far less autonomous than the popular saying would suggest.As the nation had its patron deities—the dragon-king and the turtle god—so had each village its own deity responsible for the well-being of its inhabitants. Sometimes the village god was its founder, but it could also be a particularly famous former inhabitant or a locally-recognized deity. The state exerted control over village religion by investing in village gods with its stamp of approval. Thus graciously granted recognition, the god was enthroned in the national pantheon of deities to whom it was permitted to give worship. It came as a shock to 19th-century officials that in one village, the inhabitants had chosen a thief as their village god, and in another, a famous rebel. In still another, the village inhabitants had chosen a woman of dubious morals. Religion was too important for peasants to exercise their whimsy. It was the officials' duty to persuade them to choose a more suitable object of veneration. Then there was the vexing question of local cults, in particular fertility rites, which made peasants behave in ways definitely not sanctioned by Confucian ethics. Not to mention the pervasive presence of Buddhist pagodas and Taoist temples, and the possible subversive activities of various practitioners of popular religion. But all this exercised the ire of state officials much more than the peasants. What tore Vietnamese communities apart was Christianity's challenge to village religion.Just as the court could not function without the proper religious ceremonies, no village affairs could be conducted without the proper worship of the village god. There existed a religious council in each village to ensure that ceremonies were carried out properly. What happened then, when some members of the village did not subscribe to the same religion as the majority of their fellow villagers? What happened if some refused to worship the village god? The court had been spared the dilemma when the Catholic crown prince died. But for many villages, there was no avoiding a confrontation. The Catholic religion expressly forbade the worship of false idols. So how could Vietnamese Catholics participate in village life which always began with the requisite rites to the tutelary god? Either they must be barred from doing so, or else village life would have to be restructured in a fundamental way. Another vexing issue was the authority of the parish priest which took precedence, in the eyes of his flock, over the authority of the village council.The easiest way out of this dilemma was for Catholics to secede from their native villages and establish new ones under the leadership of their parish priests. Often, the new villages existed side by side with the original ones. Sometimes, however, the priest led his parishioners into uncultivated areas and founded entirely new communities. In these overwhelmingly Catholic villages, it was possible for the Vietnamese Christians to lead their lives according to the dictates of their faith. However, resettlement did not end friction with non-Catholic communities nor with the state, for not only did Catholics refuse to acknowledge as ultimate authority either the village god or the emperor, but they also did not worship their own ancestors, a sign of moral turpitude. Instead, they worshipped a cross upon which was nailed a half-naked man, and they believed in the most extraordinary nonsense. At least, so it appeared to Emperor Minh Mang (1820-1840) after he conscientiously perused the Bible:This Western book says that in the age of Yao there was a flood. Their country's prince used one great ship and took all the people and birds and animals within the country and fled to occupy the inaccessible top of a high mountain. [The book] also says that at the time of this flood within their country there only existed seven people. Later the people daily increased but all of them stemmed from the ancestry of these seven people. Such a theory is truly unfounded [The book] also says that their country had one prince who led the people of the country to manufacture and erect a heavenly pagoda. Its height was goodness knows how many thousands of Truong and he wanted to climb it and roam the heavenly palace in order to examine conditions in heaven. The emperor of heaven was afraid and immediately ordered heavenly bureaucrats to come down and change their tones [languages], causing them to be unable mutually to work together. Hence they were unable to complete their pagoda. That every place in their country now has different languages and customs is attributed to this. This theory is even more irrational.Throughout much of the 19th century, Catholics were persecuted, for the alien nature of their beliefs, for their insistence on putting God above the emperor, and for their suspected links with the foreigners who threatened Vietnamese independence. Catholics were the victims of the most extreme efforts at suppression, but others also suffered, as the state asserted as never before its claims to ultimate religious and political authority.Conclusion: Vietnam is never an irreligious country as some people imagine.Footnotes[1] Vietnamese folk religion - Wikipedia

The image shows an old navigational tool.This device gave rise to a nautical jargon(X) that is used even today.ID X.Answer : X = knotsThe owner of this group - X nicknamed Y is a hot topic in world politics.Why?Also ID X and Y.X = Petro Poroshenko(the recently elected Ukranian Pres)Y = Chocolate KingImportance of this letter?Answer : Gandhi's Letter to Hitler.Question : Connect Big Bang Theory and Katrina Kaif.My answer: both are interestingActual The correct connect is Kunal Nayyar aka Raj Koothrappali from Big bang theory and Isabel Kaif(Katrina's sister) doing a movie together - Dr. Cabbie which is co-produced by Salman Khan.ConnectThe answer is Robert Langdon.Connect.This one will tickle your grey cellsanswer is chessClockwise from top left...1.Sicilian Defence(Map of Sicily),2.Indian Defence(s)(A class of defences),3.Four Knights Game,4.English Opening(flag of England),5.French Defence(Flag of France).Simply connect the 4 pictures to a single entity.I am looking for a specific place.After being 'accused' of uploading easy questions, here is a good one.LOCK AND LOAD.Answer is AIIMS(All India Institute of Medical Sciences)Vision/ idea: Rajkumari amrit kaur(top left)AIIMS was built on the grant by New Zealand(the flag) gvt under COLOMBO plan(the map)Queen Elizabeth II inaugrated it(bottmo right).X upon completion will be the tallest structure in its category. X will be about 600 feet high, 100 feet more than the current tallest. This project will cost Rs 2500 crores and it commemorates a national hero who played a great role in India's struggle for freedom.The structure probably gets its name from the fact that'All the iron needed will be collected in the form of donations from farmers all over the country'The construction is supposed to start from the coming Republic Day.What is X?statue of unityIdentify this person who made a short appearance in the movie- GANDHI. However he is creating buzz in social Media for 'other' reasonsAlok nath.Simply Connect the pictures.Connection= Benedict CumberbatchThe first pictue is joseph bell, the "true" sherlock holmes, the inspiration of arthur conan doyle for the character of sherlockHe will play alan turing in "the imitation games", and hence the second picture (clockwise from top left) of the google doodle on turing's 100th birthdaybottom right is stephen hawking, played by him in "Hawking, 2004"bottom left is form the "desolation of smaug" where cumberbatch played the vice of smaug (and necromancer)X is a novelist who is famously known by his pen name. He is marked as one of the most dominant writer of the 20th century. An adjective Y was coined after his pen name describing the situation or idea that X states as negative for a free and open society!Answer what is X, Y and the pen name of the novelist.author-Eric Arthur Blair pen name-George Orwell adjectives classified as "Orwellian"X was supposed to play Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and Edward Cullen in Twilight, but producers thought he was too old for the role.X was supposed to play James Bond but was considered to be too young for the character.X was supposed to play Superman in Superman Returns but was turned down at the last moment.He has often been touted as the Most Unlucky Man in Hollywood.He finally got due credit in 2013.Whom are we talking about?Ans is Henry Cavill now in the role of most powerful superhero MAN OF STEEL.It's an Ad for Whom, By Whom and Why ?Hint : Think Hollywood (Probably this is a giveaway..!).Its an Ad by Spielberg for George Lucas, when Star Wars took over Jaws in terms of BO !When "X" was first introduced in India, "X" was marketed under a name "Y". The term "Y" suggested that "X" would not tarnish, unlike preferred metals or alloys then. The term "Y" is still used in some parts of South India.Whats "X" and "Y" ?correct answer....X=stainless steelY= eversilverX is a piece of clothing, X like any super cool thing was invented during WW II.Credit of discovering X goes to American Navy.X became popular when Marlon Brando wore X in A street Car named Desire.James Dean wore it in A Rebel without a Cause.X became the sign of rebellion.X resembles something that we daily use.......At least I use it a couple 100 times a day(probably much more..!!!).Whats X?Hint : X is not an armour..!!Answer is T-shirt....This person has gone through most number of assassination attempts including the weird one's like a blasting cigar and an infected Swim Suit. Name him.Hint : This person fought Guerrilla war.Answer : Fidel Castro it is !!.....a total of 638 attempts were made to assassinate him...he survived ol ov them..!!!David Byrne & Beck Henson are Alternative Rock artists,Marc Seales- a Blues artist&Beethoven was a composer.Yet there's a connection to all of them.What??Answer: The songs/tracks by these artists appeared as sample music on WINDOWS OS.Simply Connect to a single entityThe first pic is the Nobel Prize.....Alfred Nobel is the inventor of the Dynamite....Nobelium is the element with at. no. 102......named after him.....the concept for "X" was first given by Archimedes though it was not practical for his time. Modern "X" was first introduced in London in 1823. Something important relating to "X" was invented by a person whose first name is Elisha to make the use of "X" safe and this made skyscrapers a practical reality.Whats "X"?Answer : ELEVATOR.....the guy was elisha OTIS...cud not giv the last name for obvious reasons.....!!!----OTIS is the world's largest manufacturer of elevators...elisha otis invented the SAFETY BRAKES...!!!!!"X" was originally a Marathi. "X" worked as a carpenter before "X" joined Public Transport. "X" is India's answer to Chuck Norris. We know "X" very differently. Who is "X"?MIND IT!!! The answer is Shivajirao Gaikwad a.k.a Rajnikanth.This Arabian deep fried sweet is given to poor during Ramazan and is very famous in Indian Subcontinent. In parts of Pakistan it is used as cure for headache. Which sweet?JALEBI is wat i was lukin for as the answer..!!!Connect the following to a single entity.Easy for bird-lovers!!Here is the logic :1. Sarojini Naidu : Nightingale of India2. Koel : Known as Nightingale because of its melodious voice3. Lata Mangeshkar : Again known as Nightingale of India4. Florence Nightingale : Probably the most famous Nightingale. Nurse during the Crimean War..!!!!!This brand originally started as a Sari shop.The founder got the idea after an American acquaintance gifted him a poster and he sold off the poster.Which Indian brand, named after an American comic character are we talking about?Archies it is.Recently Companies like Career Graft, Future Mason, Vedanta Foundation, Frontline and Ikaya Global - interviewed the Candidates. The Candidates were B. Com, MCA, B.Tech etc.Sahil Gulati got a job with Career Crafts as a Marketing Manager and Mohammed Asif and Hemant Kumar were offered Jobs as a Computer - Hardware and Software Operators for the salary of 3.6 LPA.Where were these Candidates From?answer is tihar jail..home to raja and kalmadi !!!!!This Term, used to describe something hugely successful, be it movies or books or albums ... Was initially used in WW-II.There were special kinds of bombs, which Royal air force of England used in their Air raids at Germany ....These bombs were so destructive that they cleared up entire blocks and rows of houses ... Hence these were called X.Today we use it very differently ... What is X?answer is blockbuster....!!There is a Very Specific Connect For The Above Images:Find The Connect.Give the funda too!The Answer is Republic Day Parade-20121. Edward Lutyens who designed the Rashtrapati Bhavan and India Gate from Where parade passes.2. NCC Cadets who are part of The Parade.3. Yingluck Shinawatra who is the Chief Guest this Year.4. 21 Guns Salute - And the Song BY Green day called: 21 Guns.X is one of the busiest performing arts center in the world. X is designed with a series of large shells. Architect who designed X won the Pritzker Prize in 2003. Whats X?The answer is Sydney Opera House..Quiz : A small village in Orissa, known for Applique work, recently has sprung up to fame. A 4-letter word associated with broadcast is linked to it. Which village?Answer : Peepli is the village i was looking for.. and LIVE Broadcast..!!A character was inspired by Dr. Joseph Bell, once killed by Professor Moriatry, but returned on popular demand. He lives on 22, Bakers Street, London. Which character?Answer : sherlock holmesIts main composition is Silver Nitrate, in Suriname it's Orange, rest Violet. In India its made @ Mysore Paints & Varnish ltd. What are we talking about?Answer: Indelible Ink aka Voter's Ink.An American freedom fighter, also invented something important for women. He's also the logo of financial institutions. Whom are we talking about ??answer is benjamin franklin and his invention is the stove..These are the best questions i ever had.In need for more contact me at [email protected] you really like my ans and if u can help me just accepr the invitehttp://icmc.internlelo.com/index.php?invite_id=990444387636440&fb_action_ids=990446100969602&fb_action_types=og.shares#signup