Thời buổi này bà chị cứ bầy vế làm gì cho tốn kém... (Nowadays Sister Why Do You Keep Showing of at Great Expense) - Song Hỷ (1957)

-- Thời buổi này bà chị cứ bầy vẽ làm gì cho tốn kém...
-- Vâng, bà chị cũng thông cảm cho, đây là em "khai thác vốn cũ" đấy chứ!

-- Nowadays sister why do you keep showing of at great expense...

-- Sure, please understand, sister, I'm here "making use of old capital!"

nguồn: Thời mới 10 tháng 11 1957.

"Khai thác vốn cũ" is a formula used in Vietnamese communist writing. It means utilizing the best aspects of traditional folk culture. Looked at today, almost 70 years after this cartoon was published, that's exactly what we're seeing. At the government's instigation "hát chầu văn" (a sung form of mediumship illustrated above) has been designated an "intangible cultural heritage."

In 1957 the government viewed this ritual practice as a wasteful, backward superstition. This was at a time when they were trying to focus the nation's resources on their mission of "building socialism." When money was scarce, this was considered to be a wasteful extravagance. Barley Norton in Songs for the Spirits: Music and Mediums in Modern Vietnam has written about how this practice was suppressed.