Mandarin Course

Cambodia: WHY KHMERS LIKE TO CALL YUON INSTEAD OF VIETNAMESE

All Cambodian people always like to use the word “Yuon” instead of Vietnamese. Why? Because it’s their habit in speaking with their tongue. But the word “Yuon” has appeared in the History of Kampuchea since 1618-1628 during the reign of King Chey Chetha II, when Prey Nokor, Baria and Bien Hoa were illegally seized by Yuon land plunderers. Khmer Rouge literature in the 1970s frequently referred to the Vietnamese as Yuon (barbarian), a term dating from the Angkorian period. In the dictionary of Kampuchea of Chuon Nath on Page 985, it clearly describes the word “Yuon”: Noun. The race of Tonkin, Annam, Cochin Chine: Yuon Tonkin, Yuon Annam, Yuon Cochin Chine; common words are used very often to call Yuon Tonkin as Yuon Hanoi, Yuon Annam as Yuon Hue, Yuon Cochin Chines as Yuon Prey Nokor. Like his comrades in China and Vietnam, he (Pol Pot) knew how manipulate the “modern, scientific” theories of Marxist Leninism to give legitimate expression to ancient racist attitude and cultural animosities. “National liberation” wars began against European colonial powers and continued against neighbors who were historic enemies. Vietnamese communists called the Chinese communists, “Han chauvinists,” when began their feud. The Cambodian communists would call the Vietnamese communists “Youn,” which they used to mean savage, when they would both go to war in 1978. So we can see clearly the word “Yuon”, in which doesn’t mean as too far many foreigners who can’t read both Yuon and Khmer …