Research on the Phenomenon of Dương Văn Mình

Abstract

Since entering the period of Đổi Mới (1986), along
with the changes in social life, the religious life has also
changed dramatically, especially in ethnic minority areas of
the northern mountainous provinces and the Central
Highlands. The most prominent was the “conversion”
movement of a part of the Hmong people who have renounced
the traditional belief to join other religions such as
Catholicism and Protestantism. In that trend, a part of the
Hmong did not convert to Protestantism or Catholicism, they
chose “the third way”, they followed Christianity but they
retained their spiritual values of the traditional religion.
Dương Văn Mình was a phenomenon. Based on the viewpoint
of religious study, this paper presents the process of
formation, development and basic characteristics of Dương
Văn Mình phenomenon as a “new way of worship”, “the
third way” of a part of the Hmong people in Vietnam today