File:Romantic couple at a Hanoi lake cartoon (1930's).png

English: A Vietnamese cartoon published in the 1930's during the Nguyễn Dynasty period in parts of French Indo-China that depicts two (2) people that are obviously members of the small group of Westernised elite that existed at the time in Nguyễn Dynasty society. The male is dressed in traditional Western clothes (a three piece business suit), and the female is wearing an outfit that appears to be a form-fitting "áo dài", which Professor Liam Kelley referred to as an “invented tradition” of the 1930's, as prior to the 1930's that the “purpose” of traditional Vietnamese women’s clothing was to conceal the feminine form of a woman's body rather than to try to accentuate it (and its curves) as the modern "áo dài" depicted in the cartoon did. Furthermore, the couple are alone together by one of the lakes in the city of Hanoi, Tonkin, a very popular and romantic setting both at the time and still today. The cartoon shows how quickly the culture in the Nguyễn Dynasty has changed in the past few decades since it was made.

One example of a major societal change is the fact that romantic settings were a new concern for the educated youth of what is today called Vietnam as these youths had only recently become exposed to the idea of “free love” – which is the “right” of young people to choose their own marriage partners as opposed to arranged marriages which were common in traditional Vietnamese society. All of these different things expose a very modern Vietnam during the 1930’s, but the conversation held by the couple at the lake also reveals some leftover aspects of older Vietnamese traditions, albeit these traditions were in the process of being changed. This shows a transition of the old Vietnamese culture into modernity.

According to Confucian teachings, a wife should mourn for her husband for a period of three (3) years. However, the widow in Confucian tradition is never supposed to remarry. Hence the humour in this cartoon is based on the woman’s comment, that she has to wait for a period of three (3) years before she would be remarry and find another bloke. According to Lê Minh Khải this very simple and short statement by the female depicted and the image accompanying it both do a wonderful job in capturing a transitional moment when the traditional social practices were changing in Vietnam into the modern society of today.