Welcome to the Vietnam portal / Chào mừng bạn đến với Cổng thông tin Việt Nam Dragon of Vietnam

Location of Vietnam in Indochina
Vietnam (Vietnamese: Việt Nam, [vîət nāːm] (listen)), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of 331,212 square kilometres (127,882 sq mi) and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's fifteenth-most populous country. Vietnam shares land borders with China to the north, and Laos and Cambodia to the west. It shares maritime borders with Thailand through the Gulf of Thailand, and the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia through the South China Sea. Its capital is Hanoi and its largest city is Ho Chi Minh City (commonly referred to by its former name, Saigon).

Vietnam was inhabited by the Paleolithic age, with states established in the first millennium BC on the Red River Delta in modern-day northern Vietnam. The Han dynasty annexed Northern and Central Vietnam under Chinese rule from 111 BC, until the first dynasty emerged in 939. Successive monarchical dynasties absorbed Chinese influences through Confucianism and Buddhism, and expanded southward to the Mekong Delta, conquering Champa. During most of the 17th and 18th centuries, Vietnam was effectively divided into two domains of Đàng Trong and Đàng Ngoài. The Nguyễn—the last imperial dynasty—surrendered to France in 1883. In 1887, its territory was integrated into French Indochina as three separate regions. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the nationalist coalition Viet Minh, led by the communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh, launched the August Revolution and declared Vietnam's independence in 1945.

Vietnam went through prolonged warfare in the 20th century. After World War II, France returned to reclaim colonial power in the First Indochina War, from which Vietnam emerged victorious in 1954. As a result of the treaties signed between the Viet Minh and France, Vietnam was also separated into two parts. The Vietnam War began shortly after, between the communist North, supported by the Soviet Union and China, and the anti-communist South, supported by the United States. Upon the North Vietnamese victory in 1975, Vietnam reunified as a unitary socialist state under the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in 1976. An ineffective planned economy, a trade embargo by the West, and wars with Cambodia and China crippled the country further. In 1986, the CPV initiated economic and political reforms similar to the Chinese economic reform, transforming the country to a socialist-oriented market economy. The reforms facilitated Vietnamese reintegration into the global economy and politics.

A developing country with a lower-middle-income economy, Vietnam is nonetheless one of the fastest-growing economies of the 21st century. Vietnam has high levels of corruption, censorship, environmental issues and a poor human rights record; the country ranks among the lowest in international measurements of civil liberties, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion and ethnic minorities. It is part of international and intergovernmental institutions including the ASEAN, the APEC, the CPTPP, the Non-Aligned Movement, the OIF, and the WTO. It has assumed a seat on the United Nations Security Council twice. (Full article...)

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Thích Quảng Đức (Vietnamese: [tʰǐk̟ kʷâːŋ ɗɨ̌k] (listen); Hán tự: , 1897 – 11 June 1963; born Lâm Văn Túc) was a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who died by suicide by self-immolation at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11 June 1963. Quảng Đức was protesting against the persecution of Buddhists by the US-backed South Vietnamese government of Ngô Đình Diệm, a staunch Roman Catholic. Photographs of his self-immolation circulated around the world, drawing attention to the policies of the Diệm government. John F. Kennedy said of one photograph, "No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one." Malcolm Browne won the World Press Photo of the Year for his photograph of the monk's death.

Quảng Đức's act increased international pressure on Diệm and led him to announce reforms with the intention of mollifying the Buddhists. However, the promised reforms were not implemented, leading to a deterioration in the dispute. As protests continued, the ARVN Special Forces loyal to Diệm's brother, Ngô Đình Nhu, launched raids across South Vietnam on Buddhist pagodas, seizing Quảng Đức's heart and causing deaths and widespread damage. Several Buddhist monks followed Quảng Đức's example, also immolating themselves. Eventually, a US-backed coup toppled Diệm, who was assassinated on 2 November 1963. (Full article...)
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  • ... that Charles Larson became one of the first Americans to teach African literature, after working in Nigeria for the Peace Corps to avoid the Vietnam draft?
  • ... that a U.S. soldier who killed a Vietnamese woman after raping her was dubbed a "double veteran"?
  • ... that a historical theory argues that Nixon sought a decent interval between American withdrawal and South Vietnamese collapse to avoid becoming the first president to lose a war?
  • ... that when students spoke Vietnamese in a graduation speech in Louisiana, the school district proposed banning all non-English languages?
  • ... that cartoonist Trung Le Nguyen's graphic novel The Magic Fish is inspired by his experience as a child of Vietnamese immigrants to the United States?
  • ... that a dance move originally performed by Big Bang's G-Dragon became a trend in Vietnam due to efforts by Khá Bảnh?

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Vietnam News

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11 July 2023 – Australia–Vietnam relations
The Vietnamese government releases Australian democracy activist Chau Van Kham from a 12-year prison sentence on terrorism charges following an appeal by Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese. (AP)
3 July 2023 – Censorship in Vietnam
Vietnam announces that it will ban the upcoming American film Barbie over a scene showing a map displaying the nine-dash line in the South China Sea, which Vietnam does not recognize. (Reuters)
11 June 2023 – 2023 Đắk Lắk shooting
Four police officers are killed and two others are injured in shootings at two police stations in Cư Kuin, Đắk Lắk, Vietnam. Sixteen people are arrested. (CNA)
6 May 2023 – 2023 Asia heat wave
Vietnam records its highest ever temperature of 44.2 °C (111.56 °F) in the Tương Dương district, Nghệ An province, while Laos records its highest ever temperature of 43.5 °C (110.3 °F) in Luang Prabang amid a heat wave. (The Guardian)
5 April 2023 –
Five people are killed when a helicopter crashes near Hạ Long Bay, Quảng Ninh province, Vietnam. (Vietnam Plus)
2 March 2023 – 2023 Vietnamese presidential election
The National Assembly of Vietnam elects Võ Văn Thưởng as the country's new president, succeeding Nguyễn Xuân Phúc. (Nikkei Asia)

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