Vietnam, officially known as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Cộng hòa Xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam), if you want to get formal. No, not the war, but the S-shaped Southeast Asian country that hugs the east coast of Indochina. South of China, east of Laos and Cambodia. Historically part of East Asia as a province of China (although it was Southeast Asian before Chinese influence), it is now starting to resemble its Southeast Asian neighbors again in terms of economy and culture.

Some notable cities and towns include:

• Hanoi (Hà Nội) - the capital and second largest city of around 6 million heads, with quite a few lakes and an atmospheric old quarter as its primary trademarks. Hanoi celebrated its 1000th anniversary in 2010. Often represented by the One Pillar Pagoda and sometimes referred to as Thăng Long ("Ascending Dragon"), the most iconic among its older names.
• Ho Chi Minh City (Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh) - the number one economic hub and the largest city, and perhaps still better known by its former name, Saigon. Founded as Gia Định in 1690, it is rather young by Vietnamese standards. Its actual population, immigrants included, is somewhere near 10 million. Downtown clearly shows French urban planning with wide boulevards flanked by imposing colonial buildings. Ben Thanh Market can be used as a shorthand for Saigon, and the city has acquired a new phallic symbol◊ of late: Bitexco Financial Tower - the first true and completed skyscraper of Vietnam, designed by an American studio in New York. Bitexco itself has since been superseded by Landmark 81, built by the largest real estate developer in the country, and is the 17th tallest building in the world.
• Hue (Huế) - once seat of Vietnam's last royal dynasty. It has a small Forbidden City modeled faithfully after the one in Beijing. Has a reputation for courtliness and old-fashioned classical elegance.
• Da Nang (Đà Nẵng) - a deep-water port in Central Vietnam that for the past several years has gained the fame of a fast-developing city with free public wi-fi and a fire-breathing Dragon Bridge.
• Nha Trang - a coastal resort town popular with local Vietnamese, returning overseas Vietnamese and non-Viet foreigners alike. Home to beautiful beaches that now seem being ruined by spurious, uncontrolled development.

Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang are three among the five municipal cities, and currently they are joined by Hai Phong (quite close to the famed Ha Long Bay), and Can Tho (de-facto capital of the Mekong Delta). There are also 58 other provinces.

The government is a unitary Marxist-Leninist one-party socialist republic with four heads: the Party General Secretary^note head of the Party, the Prime Minister^note head of the government, the President^note head of state, considered largely ceremonious and Chair of National Assembly^note first among equals of the NA, which is the most democratic part of the system. Key positions are decided by the Party in the National Assembly typically held once every five years just before the National Assembly Election.

History

Early history

Vietnamese people have a creation myth involving Lạc Long Quân, the Dragon Lord of Lac Viet. Having battled monsters here and there, he settled down with Âu Cơ, the fairy princess of Âu Việt. She gave birth to a sac with 100 eggs inside, which hatched into 100 children. Because of the couple's insurmountable differences, their marriage didn't work out and they had to split the family. Half the kids would follow their father to the sea where he ought to live, the rest stayed with Âu Cơ in the dry, hilly land and founded a kingdom. And thus resulted the Bách Việt people, Văn Lang the first Viet nation and the first known divorce in Vietnamese history. Modern Vietnamese still call themselves "con rồng cháu tiên", or "children of the dragon, grandchildren of fairies''. Pretty convenient if you want to forge a common identity for a genetic goulash.

Myths aside, Vietnam identifies itself with an Bronze Age culture called Đông Sơn, which is best known for its intricate decor motifs on bronze drums. Archaeogenetics indicate that early Bronze Age Vietnamese people like those of the Phùng Nguyên culture were very genetically similar to other Austroasiatic people in Southeast Asia, such as Cambodians, but they began to mix with Tai peoples during the last Vietnamese Bronze Age of the Đông Sơn. It was from the Đông Sơn culture that the state of Văn Lang allegedly arose, and if there's any truth in the creation myth, the dragon-fairy marriage can be interpreted as an alliance of highland and lowland tribes or as the mixing of the Austroasiatic Vietic people with the Kra-Dai Taic people, the seed for what would eventually become Vietnam. Văn Lang was succeeded by Âu Lạc, which in turn was conquered by the Western Han Dynasty of China in 111 BC. The following millennium saw Chinese domination over Vietnam, interspersed by rebellions. (Some of them were led by women, as expected from a matrilineal culture). But also thanks to the Han, it's from this point onward that the history of Vietnam was at least recorded.

Rise of the Vietnamese dynasties

In 938 AD, a Vietnamese lord named Ngô Quyền finally defeated the Chinese, and reclaimed independence. ^note It definitely helped that China herself was engulfed in the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms era. The following centuries saw a golden age for the nation, with culture flourishing under the rule of the Lý and Trần dynasties. The change in the family in rule was often because the descendants of the family became gradually worse in both morals and control of the country. Nevertheless, Vietnam still grew quite a bit. Buddhism took over Confucianism as the state religion. Vietnam also was able to repel three Mongol invasions around the 13th century (pretty good, eh?).

Vietnam's independence was interrupted for a short period of 20 years in the early 15th century, but was restored by Lê Lợi, who would go down Vietnamese history to become one of its greatest national heroes, with legends and myths surrounding his battles and rule over Vietnam. It was during this period that Vietnam reached its zenith, with firm establishment of the law and government, and was a crucial period in its expansion towards the south, which was controlled by the Khmer Empire and is now South Vietnam of today.

However, as the Lê dynasty weakened, civil strife became frequent in Vietnam, resulted in civil war and multiple changes of dynasties. A stability sort of was reestablished when Quang Trung defeated the two warring dynasties of that time, repelled the Siamese and Chinese invaders, and founded the Tây Sơn Dynasty. However, with his mysterious death, it fell, and the Nguyễn Dynasty rose in its place. Although many consider the fall of Tây Sơn a premature end of something that could have been glorious, peace still stood. For a while.

The French, the commies and the fight for independence

In the mid-nineteenth century, the French invaded. The Nguyễn's control was gradually eroded eventually until after a series of fighting, France took control of Vietnam and surrounding countries to establish French Indochina. It began to westernize the country, establishing French as the official language in education and government, and gradually replacing the old Chinese-like Nôm writing system with the alphabet as seen today. It established a plantation economy that would exist until today, with focus on rubber, tobacco, tea, coffee... Waves of nationalist movements emerged, with leaders usually who studied in foreign countries and came back to push for political freedom. However, resistances were quickly broken, and the French maintained control over Vietnam...

...until World War II. A few months after France was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan took over Indochina. Vietnam's resources were exploited to fight the war on the Pacific, eventually led to the death of 2 million (about 10% total population) during the Famine of 1945. 1941 was also the year where the ''Việt Minh'' was established, which was a communist and nationalist liberation movement led by Ho Chi Minh. Following the defeat of Japan in WWII, Viet Minh quickly took over Hanoi and proclaimed a provisional government, and which started playing the French and Japanese off against each other before trying to defeat them both. Eventually, the Japanese won out, overthrew the current government, and retained an iron hold over Indochina in the face of Communist, Chinese, and Western Allied attempts to liberate the region... until the Japanese surrendered.

Yet, unluckily for Vietnam, it didn't get any chance to enjoy its hard-earned peace, because this is where things got complicated. The Western Allies and Chinese moved into Indochina to round up the remaining Japanese, and with the former came the French. Originally created to fight the Japanese forces and restore its rule over Indochina, the French Far East Expedition Corps landed and proclaimed the restoration of French control just as the Viet Minh started coming out of the woodwork, with Ho Chi Minh declaring independence on the 2nd of September, 1945.

In spite of attempts to defuse the situation, war started between the two sides on November 1946. The Viet Minh were backed up by China and Soviet Russia abroad and a wide coalition of lesser nationalist and left-wing Indochinese rebel groups who banded together to fight the French, while the French Union were supported by the US, UK, and the Netherlands as well as Indochinese loyalists. Both sides fought extensively and greatly, with the Viet Minh suffering greater losses but with greater manpower. The Siege of Điện Biên Phủ in March-May 1954 became a historic battle, caused by a blunder by the French, who didn't expect the Vietnamese to have heavy artillery and to be able to move those weapons in difficult terrain. The French lost around 23,000 of its personnel (captured or killed), which was a third of its total strength. A ceasefire was negotiated and the Geneva Accords were agreed to, which dissolved French administration over Vietnam and withdrew French personnel. However, it also split the country into two parts, North and South Vietnam, with North Vietnam under Communist rule of Ho Chi Minh, and South Vietnam under the rule of Bảo Đại, the current descendant of the Nguyễn Dynasty (they're still existing? Yeah). And thus, the background for The Vietnam War was set up. Please go to the page for further explanation of the period.

Anyway, after the War, Vietnam was still screwed. Massive economic problems followed the collectivization of farms and factories (the communist state took over private ownership of them and declared they belonged to the State, without appropriate repayment). Of course, the rationing of food and goods were followed, since people got the same amount of stuff however hard they worked, they couldn't be bothered to work anymore. Those who remained working produced useless goods that people never wanted to pay for, and inflation followed like a tornado into the TRIPLE-DIGIT. There was also humanitarian problems, with the communists trying to prosecute those who supported the previous government. Massive numbers of people fled the country in crudely built boats, becoming the Vietnamese Boat People that are distributed around Australia, United States and other countries today.

To make matters worse, there were even more wars to be fought. The Khmer Rouge massacred quite a lot of Vietnamese and razed the villages bordering them. In 1978, it removed the Khmer Rouge from power and ruled over Cambodia until 1989. China wasn't pleased, so the following year (1979), it launched a brief invasion into North Vietnam (the Sino-Vietnamese War). After the war with China, the northern border became a site of constant artillery duels and cross-border skirmishes until the end of the Cold War.

Post-war and Vietnam today

In 1986, when destitute Vietnam was near the verge of collapse, a progressive faction in the Communist Party rose to power and implemented a course of economic reform called Renovation, similar to what Deng Xiaoping did to China eight years earlier. Vietnam thus ceased to be a Commie Land in the strict sense of the term, and nowadays it's a young market economy with rather shaky macroeconomic conditions, dictated by a one-party regime which is, de facto, an oligarchy. Their relatives (or even themselves) are heads of the very keystone corporations in Vietnam, while the people working for the government for paycheck are unabashedly obstructive bureaucrats. Corruption in the police force is fairly common, with the police often being accused (not without reason) of being useless to anyone without money.

Government propaganda still centers on Marxism-Leninism, but of course, In Name Only. As in the case of China, most people can be described as "apolitical" - if you're not a supporter of the regime, that's the only safe way to go about it. And those who do support the regime are less communists and more nationalists in their beliefs and rhetoric.

The high growth rate of the economy, among the highest on Earth, is accompanied by fairly rampant inflation.

Foreign relations

Vietnam has a love-hate relationship with its big northern neighbor slash traditional enemy: China. Thousands of years under Chinese influence surely left heavy impact on Vietnamese culture, to the point that the Nguyen Dynasty considered themselves, rather than the Qing, to be the true successors of the Han civilization. Many Vietnamese people today continue to have a fascination with Chinese culture, both ancient and modern. Chinese films, music, celebrities, and even obscure content creators are all topics Vietnamese people discuss. On the other hand, every dynasty but the last one picked up a fight against contemporary China at least once, with varying results better remembered by the Vietnamese than by their neighbors. As a result, a continual struggle for independence forms the core of national spirit, and mistaking a Vietnamese for a Chinese will likely trigger a Berserk Button. Nowadays, the Communist regime looks up to the PRC as the last remaining ideological reassurance but relations between the two has never been truly friendly. The Sino-Vietnamese war of 1979 is still remembered, and sorest points of contention nowadays include possession of the Spratly and Paracel Islands and China's taking over bauxite mining activities in Vietnam, not to mention long-standing border disputes. All seems to fuel the fear that China is about to take over the world, or at least Asia, and she would start with Vietnam. This animosity had surprisingly served the country extremely well during the COVID-19 Pandemic, with the country having no problem cutting off economics and diplomatic ties to China during the early days of the Pandemic, something which other countries struggled or outright refused to.

Relations with the US are likewise uneasy but have been normalized at a surprising rate since 1986, and now ended up even more cordial than with China, in spite of Washington's constant criticism on the state of human rights in Vietnam. Whether Vietnam will open its military port at Cam Ranh to American port calls is a matter of debate, but it's obvious that Vietnam is looking for a counterweight to the growing China threat. With The New Russia swept aside, who could be better suited for the job than that superpower that messed up this land just 35 years ago? Nice tightrope Vietnam's walking there, but then, realist foreign policy makes for strange bedfellows, and—and you might think this odd—Vietnam is, on a people-to-people level, one of the most pro-American countries in Asia (approval ratings for the United States in polls of ordinary Vietnamese people have hovered around 70% since 2012). Maybe defeat really does mean friendship after all?!

To further the point above, Sino-Vietnamese tensions have reached extremely high levels as of mid-2014, thanks to a provocative move by China to place an oil rig within waters that Vietnam claims as its own as well as construction of military airfields on artificial islands in the South China Sea. As a result, Vietnam is now approaching the United States for weapons and a strengthening of foreign relations. Apparently, grudges over the Vietnam War on either side are rapidly fading, if they haven't already.

Demography and religion

From a combined population of around 50 million in 1975, Vietnam now has almost 96 million people, as of 2023. To counter the high growth rate somewhat, there's a two-child-limit imposed on your family if you work for the government; exceed that and be fired.

There are officially 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam, but over 80% of Vietnam's population is made up of lowland Viets, or Kinh people, so if you ever meet a Vietnamese, chances are you're meeting a Kinh.

Unlike most other ethnic groups in Mainland Southeast Asia, Buddhism has never been Vietnam's national religion. Officially, Vietnam is an atheist country, and three-quarters of the population do not follow organized religion. However, like the Chinese and Japanese, this does not mean that the Vietnamese do not have a religion. Instead, most Vietnamese believe in folk religions (đạo lương) that revolve around ancestor veneration. While actual Buddhists are considered a minority (albeit the largest minority), their faith has greatly influenced đạo lương, much as Buddhism has influenced Shinto and the Chinese folk religion.

Christianity entered Vietnam alongside the Europeans in the 16th century and today is the country's second-largest organized religion. As the French were the country's former masters, Christianity Is Catholic in Vietnam; one of country's most famous landmarks is the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon, built in the 19th century. During the early years of the Vietnam War, Catholicism was the state religion of South Vietnam, owing to the religious inclination of Ngo Dinh Diem, who, like the rest of his family, was a militant Catholic (he even dedicated Vietnam to the Virgin Mary in 1959). During his rule, the Buddhist population in South Vietnam suffered greatly, causing the so-called 1963 Buddhist crisis that eventually made the United States decide that he was a lost cause, leading them to sponsor his assassination.

One of the most influential ethnic groups in Vietnam is the Hoa, or Chinese Vietnamese. Like Chinese Malaysians and Chinese folks elsewhere in Southeast Asia, most of them are descended from people in Southern China who emigrated two or three centuries ago. Close to half of the Hoa fled Vietnam during the flare-up between Vietnam and China in 1979 to escape the violent hatred towards ethnic Chinese, but many still remain till this day. For this reason, they're much better presented in overseas communities than in Vietnam itself. In Southern parts of the country they are known colloquially as "Tàu" people, short for "Ba Tàu", meaning "three-shippers" — as the tale goes, they first came here on three big ships which formed distinctive silhouettes against the horizon. Quite a lot of Hoas take offence to this word, unless you're a Hoa yourself.

Central and Southern Vietnam was once the host to the Champa, the only Austronesian (specifically, Malayo-Polynesian) civilization in Indochina. The Chams, together with the Mons and Khmers, are one of Indochina's oldest ethnic groups, and Champa's existence had been recorded since as early as the 2nd century CE, making them the oldest Southeast Asian people with a state. The Cham language has also been attested since the 4th century, making it the oldest-attested language in the whole Austronesian language family. The Cham language is part of the Malayo-Polynesian's Chamic language subgroup, which also includes languages spoken by the Degar (Montagnard), an umbrella term for people who inhabit the mountains throughout Central Vietnam. Originally Hindus, the Chams were proselytized to Islam in the 11th century, and the faith is nowadays strongly associated with them; even officially non-Muslim Chams in Central Vietnam follow "Bani Islam", a syncretic Cham-Hindu-Shia Islam belief system. Champa started declining in the 15th century, when the Vietnamese slowly expanded to the south and eventually destroyed the kingdom in the 19th century. Most Chams were culturally, linguistically, and religiously assimilated to the ethnic Vietnamese, and today there is only a very small population remaining in Vietnam who identify as Chams, namely less than 200,000 (in a population of over 90 million). Many Chams who emigrated to escape the continuous conflicts with the Vietnamese found refuge in Sumatra, where there had long been a Chamic-speaking people, and the intermixing of these two people would produce the modern Acehnese people (prior to their arrival, the prestige language of Aceh was Malay, the language of the Sultanate of Samudra Pasai). Owing to historical and cultural ties, Cambodia hosts a Cham minority, which actually number more (to the tune of 600,000) than in their traditional homeland in Vietnam. The Chams greatly suffered during the Khmer Rouge era, as they became one of the targets of Pol Pot's genocide. Today, they mostly coexist with the Khmers peacefully.

In addition, ethnic Khmers can also be found in Southern Vietnam. Called Khmer Krom ("Lower Khmer"), they are the remnant of the Khmer Empire's once-domination over Southern Vietnam. During the Khmer Rouge era, Cambodia terrorized Southern Vietnam, claiming supremacy over the Khmer Krom to justify their act. This was regarded as the last straw to their former ally, the Vietnamese government, who invaded and eventually brought down the Khmer Rouge.

Approximately 3 million Vietnamese live spread out over the world. The term for them is người Việt hải ngoại (literally "Overseas Vietnamese") or Việt kiều (literally "Vietnamese Sojourner"), the latter term is usually how they self-identify and the former is the official term used by the Vietnamese government. The vast majority of them are (or are descendants of) refugees from South Vietnam from the end of the Vietnamese War. The Vietnamese refugees fleeing the war are generally referred to as Vietnamese boat people, no matter how it is they fled.

Approximately half of the Overseas Vietnamese live in the United States. In fiction (and in real life) they are associated with working in nail salons. Fascinatingly, this stems from actress Tippi Hedren, who took it upon herself to help refugees from the Vietnam War by having them taught a trade and sending them to beauty school. Unsurprisingly, most Vietnamese in the United States have issues with the current Vietnamese government and are more likely to fly the Southern Vietnamese flag. That said, the majority of them still have family in Vietnam and a great sense of national pride and identity.

Given the nature of French colonialism in Vietnam, it's natural that they have the second largest population of Overseas Vietnamese. Approximately 350,000 Vietnamese live in France, primarily in Paris. Unlike the United States or Australia, they are less likely to live in Vietnamese enclaves and are more disbursed through the population, likely owing to the fact that they have been in France for a longer time due to their much longer shared history.

More surprisingly, Germany has a significant and growing population of Overseas Vietnamese—about 200,000. While the largest group is in Berlin, it’s less centralized, though the former East Germany has more Vietnamese than the West. The reason here is that the East German government developed a strategic partnership with Communist Vietnam in the late 1970s and early 1980s to address two serious economic issues: (1) A need for labor at East German factories and (2) Germans Must Have Caffeine. (2) might not sound serious, but East Germany had a hard time acquiring coffee amidst the shocks to the global coffee market in the 1970s, and the various efforts to get East Germans to drink coffee substitutes were a source of major public disgruntlement. So they approached Vietnam—which had a small but significant coffee industry under French rule but lost it during the wars—with an offer: We will stand up a coffee industry for you from scratch. Just give us your whole crop for the first few years of production. Oh, and send us workers for our factories and when they come back they can help develop your industrial base. Vietnam took the GDR up on that offer and several thousand Vietnamese ended up in Germany, and never left; as a result, Berlin is probably either the best or second-best place in Europe to get Vietnamese food (after/ahead of Paris, depending on how much you like pho and other North Vietnamese dishes). (Meanwhile, East Germany collapsed right before the first proper Vietnamese coffee harvest in 1990, so Vietnam got to sell that on the open market.)

Language

Vietnamese uses the Latin alphabet rather than scripts like Chinese or Japanese, though it used to use written classical Chinese until the 13th century when a different system, but still quite similar to the Chinese writing system, called chữ Nôm was invented. Chữ Nôm developed until it was used extensively in 17th - 19th century. Although Vietnamese was the native language, education and government used Chinese as the official language. Around 17th century, an alphabet system was developed in order to facilitate trade from Western countries, by a French priest called Alexander de Rhodes. As the French invaded Vietnam in the late 19th century, French gradually replaced Chinese as the official language in education and government. This alphabet system pervaded the country, and Chinese scripts were gradually abolished. After gaining independence from France, Vietnam officially decided to use the alphabet as its writing system.

Vietnamese, like many other Asian languages, features tones in its phonology. There are only six tones, level, hanging, sharp, asking, tumbling and heavy. The good thing about Vietnamese phonology is that there is nothing such as exceptions. The rules are rigid. Consonant, vowel, diphthong or triphthong sound the same in every word, hence it is only the matter of recognizing them. If you can recognize and remember all of the possible consonants and vowels (and diphthongs and triphthongs), which aren't that many, then reading a word out loud is just a matter of combining them together. Grade One in Vietnam is spent learning all those possible consonants, vowels, diphthong and triphthong. On the other hand, the tones might pose difficulties for foreign speakers - they almost can never get them right ^note  In 2017, a proposal to reform the Vietnamese writing system to make it more consistent and easier for foreigners to learn was ultimately regarded as an Xtreme Kool Letterz meme . Since reading a word out loud is quite easy, so is spelling - though some diphthongs/triphthongs might sound the same like ân and âng in the South. In the North, the distinction is pretty obvious to familiar ears.

There is a bit of differences in Vietnamese spoken by Northern Vietnamese (around Hanoi), North-Central Vietnamese (between Hue and Hanoi), Central Vietnamese (around Hue) and Southern Vietnamese (around Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon), not only in the accents (which are quite distinct and readily recognizable by foreigners) but also in vocabulary and grammar, to the point where they might be considered as separate dialects. To talk in details will be too much for TV Tropes, but generally, Southern Vietnamese will be sloppier in pronunciation and grammar than Northern Vietnamese (like comparing American English with British English for example). The North-Central and Central Vietnamese, well, good luck with that. The basic vocabulary and the accent are so distinct that even native speakers from the North and the South will have considerable difficulty in understanding them, or might not understand them at all if they speak rapidly (which leads to many, many jokes involving Central Vietnamese speakers by the way, to the point that the accent is considered inherently funny). The distinct difference in Central Vietnamese might be explained by the fact that the region was settled much earlier comparing to the South and able to developed a distinct dialect. The region is also much more conservative, and emigration and immigration are rare which prevents the dialect to be influenced or influence the Northern and Southern counterparts. Northern Vietnamese is considered as the official form, and is presented in textbooks, political propagandas, literature and music, however, outside of Vietnam, Southern variation will often be heard instead (because most refugees from Vietnam came from the South, and overseas students are often from the South because it is richer than the other two regions). Within regions, especially in rural areas where cultural stigma discourages people from migration, there are also further variations.

Cuisine

Vietnamese cuisine is perhaps most distinct from other countries in that they use a lot of fresh, green vegetables and herbs. Almost every single meal will include some form of fresh vegetables or herbs, either as clear soup, or stir-fried, or uncooked. A typical Vietnamese meal will include rice, a fish/meat/seafood dish, soup, fish sauce or soy sauce, vegetables (often uncooked) and often some kind of relishes, such as pickled white cabbage, pickled garlic..., which tend to differ between regions. All dishes apart from a bowl of rice are communal and to be shared, like a Japanese or Chinese meal.

Fish is often the cheapest and eaten the most, then 'river' food (as opposed to seafood) and then pork. Chicken is more expensive, and often eaten on special occasions. Beef is the most expensive, and more often than not only eaten in restaurants rather than at home. There is also a wide range of vegetarian foods based on tofu, with many types of tofu, allowing for very creative vegetarian meals that can replace normal meals permanently if a person so wishes.

Vietnamese — notably Hanoian — cuisine is also known for its desserts and treats, such as multiple types of chè (congee), cốm (young rice, a Hanoi specialty in the fall, wrapped in lotus leaves thus giving it an unique flavor) and more rice-based sweet/savory treats than you can imagine. Heck, Hanoians have officially elevated snacking (ăn quà) into an art! (But then again, native Vietnamese do joke that they've elevated swearing and insulting to an art, too...)

There are regional variations in Vietnamese cuisine. Northern Vietnamese are often not bold with flavor, orienting towards a light and balanced flavors for most of its meal, consequently, these meals are often considered as bland by the Southern and Central people. Northern Vietnamese produce many signature dishes of Vietnam, such as phở. Central Vietnamese food is often readily recognized by its spiciness and very elaborate meals, representing its royal past. Southern Vietnamese food are often vibrant with flavor and tend to be sweet. There is also a widespread use of coconut milk, and sauces like fish sauces or soy sauces. Phở regional variations often represented general regional variations. Northern phở flavor is quite mild, and Northern Vietnamese do not put in much additions like vegetables or sauces, Central phở is often quite spicy whereas Southern phở will opt for a sweet taste, with a lot of vegetables and sauces additions. Phở outside of Vietnam often is the Southern variation.

Popular culture

Popular culture in Vietnam is very fascinating. Vietnam belongs to the Sinosphere, and as a result East Asian media are super popular there. K-Dramas and Chinese TV series are a staple of entertainment, with many TV channels — including state-owned ones — airing the bests of the bests. Some of the most well-known series include: the 2009 South Korean live-action adaptation of Boys Over Flowers, Descendants of the Sun, Unstoppable High Kick, two live-action adaptations of Journey to the West (1986 and 2011). Honorary mention goes to 1986 Journey to the West — whose portrayal of the characters have become the definitive version and has left a great impact in Vietnamese subculture.

Vietnam has a special place for the Korean Wave. Aside from K-Drama, as mentioned earlier, just about any media made by Koreans is readily eaten up by their fans at a breakneck speed. Saying that K-pop is popular there is an understatement — K-pop is a whole phenomenon. BTS, Red Velvet and BLACKPINK's music are beloved by thousands and often played in schools, parks, toilets, government buildings, etc. One might say Vietnam's love for K-pop is so enormous that their fans would go apeshit. One such example is this◊ T-ara fanboy whose face went from zero to scenery-chewing upon having heard about T-ara's upcoming tour in Vietnam. That guy later became a meme in his homecountry.

Japanese media is another mainstay in Vietnam — with mangas being regularly sold in mom-and-pop bookstores and latest animes made available on local streaming platforms e.g. Vietnam's localised version of Netflix. Much of the West is generally crazy about Dragon Ball, Naruto and Pokémon, but in Vietnam, their influences are pretty much as big as a baby's fist when compared to giants like Doraemon and Case Closed (known as Detective Conan). Doraemon, in particular, is a whole phenomenon. The manga set foot on Vietnamese shores in '92 — about a good 6 years after the country's economic reform — and became hot selling overnight. Its publisher Shogakukan wasn't thrilled by this, but after seeing the enormous sale there, they went "screw it" and gave the local publisher the right to publish Doraemon (and also established a scholarship foundation called "Doraemon Scholarship Fund"), and the rest is history. Doraemon's success in Vietnam is no understatement here — according to a news article, by 2006 over 40 million copies were sold, and there's a vibrant community who create silly and hilarious Remix Comics based on the manga, in which the main cast become either jerks or dumbasses Depending on the Writer.

Vietnamese tastes in foreign media aren't confined to East Asian offerings. Despite Marvel comics being unavailable and only manga being sold, many Vietnamese recall their childhoods filled with Western cartoons and TV series. Until its unfortunate closure in 2021, Disney Channel was a go-to for after-school entertainment, offering classics like Phineas and Ferb, American Dragon: Jake Long, and The Emperor's New School. Viewers also enjoyed live-action hits like The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Wizards of Waverly Place and Hannah Montana. The channel's shared Southeast Asian feed exposed audiences to shows such as BoBoiBoy, Upin & Ipin, and the Malaysian adaptation of As the Bell Rings. Although BoBoiBoy gained a following, the latter two were unpopular in Vietnam, with Upin & Ipin viewed as thinly veiled Islamic propaganda.

Besides Disney Channel, Cartoon Network is another popular home entertainment choice and a strong competitor. It boasts a robust selection of well-known shows, ranging from timeless classics like Courage the Cowardly Dog, Ben 10, The Powerpuff Girls (1998), and Teen Titans to more recent favorites like the nostalgic trio: Adventure Time, The Amazing World of Gumball and Regular Show. Both channels are accessible through cable, requiring a subscription to local cable TV services, but for many Vietnamese, the opportunity to watch these shows makes the cost worthwhile.

The gaming scene in Vietnam, similar to other Southeast Asian nations, is largely dominated by PC and mobile platforms. The history of gaming in the country is not well-documented, but it's believed to have begun with NES bootleg clones. In The '90s, when these clones entered the market, Vietnam's economy had been open for less than five years and was still in poor shape. These bootleg consoles introduced a generation to gaming. However, there was little demand for consoles (except for PlayStation, as Sony had already established a presence in Vietnam with their electronics). Gamers were ready to embrace the next big thing: PCs. PCs were more accessible and offered a wide selection of games, like Road Rash, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Alien Shooter, Chicken Invaders, and the Mega Man X series.

By the early 2000s, the Internet had become Vietnam's "new frontier". Companies started importing online games to take advantage of this new landscape. The South Korean game Gunbound is considered the first online game officially released in Vietnam, gaining a strong following—so much so that the slang term "gà," similar to "noob" in English, originated from Gunbound; particularly its lowest rank, a chick. Other games quickly emerged and dominated their genres, including Crossfire for FPS, Kingsoft's Sword Heroes Fate for MMORPG, and Defense of the Ancients (a Warcraft III mod) for MOBA. Consequently, internet cafés, which were once information hubs, turned into gaming lounges, giving rise to a new market.

Vietnam (and the Vietnamese Diaspora) in Media:

• For works concerning The Vietnam War, please see that page.

Tropes Associated with Vietnam in Media:

• All Asians Wear Conical Straw Hats: Conical hats (or non) are very common in works portraying Vietnam, particularly the countryside.
• Asian Hooker Stereotype: While without the same offensive stereotypes usually associated with other Southeast Asian countries (probably because of the nation's claim to fame is how they repel Western powers and the brutality of the Viet Cong towards captured prisoners), Vietnam in media is often associated with prostitution, likely as a consequence of Vietnam War media frequently utilizing the stereotype.
• Foreign Queasine: Expect exotic foods that are played up for shock value for western audiences. Dogs and/or cats are likely to be included, though the country has shifted away from these animals as sources of meat.
• Genre Savvy: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam is cited as one of the rare success story in containing the Pandemic, with numerous articles citing their past experience dealing with pandemic and their tumultuous relationship with China, thus allowing them to have no problem cutting economic ties with the country as soon as they heard about the virus, as oppose to other China's trading partners.
• Interchangeable Asian Cultures: Writers not bothering to do the research may simply assign supposedly Vietnamese characters and settings more familiar Asian trappings.
• New Year Has Come: Lunar New Year, in particular. Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) is one of the very few Vietnamese celebrations that may pop up in foreign media.
• Unfortunate Names: In foreign works, the fact that the Vietnamese currency sounds like a synonym for male genitalia in English often gets played for laughs, such as in Yakuza 5 when a character cries that he's "been screwed by Vietnamese dong!"

Notable Vietnamese

• Ho Xuan Huong (Hồ Xuân Hương), dubbed as the "Queen of Nôm poetry", essentially a Vietnamese, more vulgar version of Jane Austen that focus on poetry. A significant poet born at the end of the later Lê dynasty. She is creditted, along with Nguyen Du, with elevating the status of Vietnamese as a literary language. Her poems are notable for not only for writing in Nôm, her intelligence and social commentary but also for her use of sexual humor, Double Entendre and feistiness against the patriarchal and corrupt society she lived in, which made her popular with the masses and modern audience (who essentially made her into a national hero and not only orally preserve a majority of her poems but also her life stories) as oppose to her Confucius-influenced peers (who didn't even bother to write down a majority of her poems or any information about her background), and has been translated into many languages. There was later some discovery that she also wrote in Classical Chinese, but pretty much everyone except for the most pretentious biographer tends to ignore that. In 2021, she was honored by UNESCO as a culturally significant figure, one of the only 2 Vietnamese poet to be honored.
• Nguyen Du (Nguyễn Du), a poet and Mandarin (a type of feudalistic bureaucrat) of the later Lê dynasty, the Vietnamese version of Dante Alighieri for Nôm. Famous for The Tale of Kiều (Truyện Kiều), a remake of what essentially a trashy romance novel Jin Yun Qiao into an epic poem that is widely regarded as the most significant work of Vietnamese literature and has been translated into many languages. He is creditted, along with Ho Xuan Huong, with elevating the status of Vietnamese as a literary language as the Tale of Kieu is written entirely in Nôm.
• Ho Chi Minh (Hồ Chí Minh), a very controversial figure in modern Vietnamese history depending on who you talk to. A Real Life example of a Tragic Hero with a Tragic Dream.^note Although he resorted to communism to fight the French, it was mainly an act of desperation. No one else was willing to help his country aside from the Soviet Union and later Communist China. All he ever wanted was the independence of Vietnam from western imperialists, and it even showed in his ascetic lifestyle (the man lived in a small wood house after becoming the leader of North Vietnam and specifically requested to be cremated so his funeral wouldn't cost his people anything). Sadly, he never lived to see Vietnam reunified; and now, not unlike Lenin, is a mummy used for propaganda. The biggest irony is he that viewed the United States as the nation that all nations should emulate.
  • Ngo Dinh Diem (Ngô Đình Diệm), the US-backed president of South Vietnam and Minh's opposite number, later assassinated by one of his own generals during a coup (caused by Diem's oppressive actions towards non-Christians, he was a devout Roman Catholic) near the end of the Vietnam War.
• Đặng Thùy Trâm, a medic who served during the Vietnam war and died protecting her patient. She attracts national and international attention in 2005 when her diary (that was saved by an American soldier who disobeyed his superior's order) was published under the name Nhật ký Đặng Thùy Trâm (English name: Đặng Thùy Trâm's Diary (Last Night I Dreamed Of Peace)). Her diary instantly became a bestseller and has attracted comparisons to Anne Frank. In 2009 a film based on the diary entitled Đừng Đốt (Do Not Burn It), referring to her manner of death, was released.
• Xuân Diệu, a Vietnamese poet who is famous for his love poems. He was extremely popular for his style of using both of his Western and Vietnamese influence to craft poems. His works regain attention during the 1990s and once again in 2010s when one of his friends Tô Hoài's memoir revealed that Diệu is not only gay, but this is a widely known fact among the army unit he served as well as the artist community, leading to numerous scholar articles reinterpreting his poems through a homosexual lens, as well as giving rise to rumors of pretty much every male Vietnamese wartime poets in vicinity has hooked up with him (something Tô Hoài himself wondered numerous times in said memoir) or becoming his muse. Most notable candidate would be his housemate from 1938 to 1940 Huy Cận (whose own poems in this time period received a reinterpretation through his relationship with Xuân Diệu, especially the poem Ngủ chung (Sleep Together)) and Hoàng Cát (the latter explicitly admitted in 2013 that he is aware of Diệu's romantic feeling but didn't reciprocate it).
• Vo Nguyen Giap (Võ Nguyên Giáp), Ho's most trusted lieutenant and military leader, christened "the red Napoleon" by the Americans, probably one of the great strategists of the 20th Century (he beat the Japanese, the French, and the U.S. militaries.)
• Ngo Bao Chau (Ngô Bảo Châu), a mathematician at the University of Chicago who won the 2010 Fields Medals.
• Elly Tran Ha, an American-born Vietnamese model, made famous by her well-endowed chest. Notable in that she frequently appears on advertisements for porn sites and dating sites, even though she has never even posed nude.
• Duong Nguyet Anh (Dương Nguyệt Ánh), a chemical engineer, Director of Science and Technology of Naval Surface Warfare Center, U.S. Department of Defense, responsible for the creation of Thermobaric Weapon and a National Security Medallist.
• Philipp Rösler, physician, former Federal Minister of Health of Germany (2009-11), Federal Minister of Economics and Technology of Germany (2011-13), Leader of the Free Democratic Party (2011-13) and Vice-Chancellor of Germany (2011-13). He was born in Vietnam and adopted by a German couple when he was still an infant.
• Le Duc Tho (Lê Đức Thọ), a Vietnamese diplomat and politician who negotiated the Paris Peace Accord (which ended direct involvement of America in Vietnam War) with Henry Kissinger and won a Nobel Peace Prize along with Kissinger for it. He chose to decline the Prize however, stating that there was still no peace in his country.
• Eugene Huu-Chau Trinh, a biochemist and astronaut, Director of the Physical Sciences Research Division in the Biological and Physical Research Enterprise at NASA.
• Nam Le (Lê Nam), a Vietnamese-born Australian writer, winner of the 2008 Dylan Thomas Prize for his book "The Boat".
• Raymond and David Belle: Father (born from a French father and Vietnamese mother) and son who codified Le Parkour originating from Raymond's experience as an orpan during the First Indochina War.
• Minh Le (Lê Minh), Vietnamese-Canadian, software engineer, co-creator of the Half-life mod Counter-Strike.
• Carol Huynh, Vietnamese-Canadian, 2008 Summer Olympics Gold Medallist for woman wrestling.
• Katsuni, half French, half Vietnamese pornographic actress.
• Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn), a chess player who attained grandmaster rank at the age of 14.
• Thuy Trang, an actress best remembered as the original Yellow Power Ranger.
• Johnny Tri Nguyen, Vietnamese-born American martial arts actor and stuntman who has appeared in movies like The Rebel and Tom-Yum-Goong.
• Anh Do, a Vietnamese-born comedian who has become a successful media personality in Australia.
• Natalie Tran, the Sydney-based Vietnamese-Australian YouTube phenomenon and TV personality behind Community Channel. The Most Viewed YouTuber in Australia.
• Luke Nguyen, a Vietnamese-Australian celebrity chef.
• Michelle Phan, a Vietnamese-American makeup artist/guru YouTuber.
• Nguyen Ha Dong (Nguyễn Hạ Đồng), an indie game developer and maker of Flappy Bird.
• Ali Wong, American-born stand-up comedian and writer for Fresh Off the Boat of Vietnamese and Chinese descent.
• Tila Nguyen, better known as Tila Tequila, a Vietnamese-American musician, model, and reality TV personality.
• Viet Thanh Nguyen (Nguyễn Thành Việt), Vietnamese-born author of 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction The Sympathizer.
• Xanthe Huynh, American-born voice actress. You may recognize her as Haru from Persona 5.
• Todd Haberkorn, American-born voice actor, best known for voicing Natsu from Fairy Tail.
• Nguyen Nhat Anh (Nguyễn Nhật Ánh), a Vietnamese novelist who specializes in writing for teenagers and young adults. He writes very extensively, with his most significant work is a novel from 1985 and still working today. His works have significant critical and commercial success from Vietnamese to internationally and was adapted into many films and a TV show based on his most famous serial work Kính vạn hoa (Kaleidoscope).
• Bui Tuong Phong (Bùi Tường Phong): If you've ever done 3D modelling, his name should sound familiar: he's the guy who made Phong shading.
• Thích Quảng Đức, the legendary monk who immolated himself to protest the anti-Buddhist South Vietnamese government. His heart supposedly remained intact after the body was given a proper cremation, which led to it becoming a holy relic to this day. His action was also widely considered to be the nail in the coffin of the Diem regime, causing the president and his brother to be executed by their own officers not long after.
• Thích Nhất Hạnh, Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist. Has written extensive works on Buddhism, peace, and mindfulness. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1967.
• France Nuyen, mixed-race French/Vietnamese actress.
• Ngô Thanh Vân (Veronica Ngo), Vietnamese actress, singer, and model. Best known overseas as Paige Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and as Hai Phuong in Furie.
  • Kelly Marie Tran (Trần Loan), Vietnamese-American actress, played Rose Tico, Paige's sister.
• Cassey Ho, Chinese-Vietnamese-American fitness guru.
• Bonglord (Real Identity Unknown) (M.I.A) Representing Sydney Youths by doing Legendary Bong Rips and being a mad cunt.
• Van Darkholme: Gay former pornographic actor and popular subject of Japanese Internet memes.
• Lana Condor (born Tran Dong Lan) is ethnically Vietnamese; she was adopted by an American couple from a Vietnamese orphanage when she was several months old.
• Ke Huy Quan, American actor of Hoa (Chinese Vietnamese) descent. He was born in Saigon, but fled three years after its fall to North Vietnam to escape persecution by the Vietnamese Communist government (who was hostile to the Hoa community), becoming one of the boat peoples. First arriving to Hong Kong, then Malaysia, the family eventually ended up in the United States, where they were accepted into the US Refugee Admissions Program.

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The Vietnamese flag

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The Emblem of Vietnam

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The Vietnamese Anthem

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Miscellaneous

• Capital: Hanoi
• Largest city: Ho Chi Minh City
• Population: 96,208,984
• Area: 331,699 sq km (128,070 sq mi) (66th)
• Government: Unitary Marxist-Leninist one-party socialist republic
• Currency: Vietnamese đồng (₫) (VND)
• ISO-3166-1 Code: VN
• Country calling code: 84
• Highest point: Fansipan (3143 m/10,312 ft)
• Lowest points: East Sea^note As the Vietnamese called the sea/South China Sea (5,559 m/8,946 ft) and Gulf of Thailand (85 m/279 ft)

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TV Tropes will give you Vietnam flashbacks

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