ABSTRACT
Thinh Liet residents are fond of stating that marriage and weddings are 'a work of the family' (viec gia dinh). However, the Vietnamese state has significantly meddled with and transformed the ‘work’ of the family in marriage and weddings. This chapter examines contemporary controversies regarding marriage and weddings in order to demonstrate the manner in which ideas and practices introduced in the revolutionary reforms have become sources of both change and dispute in Thinh Liet social life. It shows that the results of the reforms have been mixed, and in some respects unexpected, but they have nevertheless been controversial. Much has changed in Thinh Liet marriages and weddings. Arranged marriage has largely disappeared, the range of potential affines has expanded, the meaning of marriage payments has changed, and the network of marriage related exchanges has grown. Polygamy has generally been eliminated, and in those cases when it occurs (almost always without the wife’s knowledge), is usually condemned.
