GEOGRAPHY
Vietnam is located in the center of the Southeast Asia, and is shaped like the letter "S". The country lies in the eastern part of the Indochina peninsula, bordered by China to the north, Laos and Cambodia to the west, and the East Sea and Pacific Ocean to the southeast. Vietnam's coast line is 3,260 km long and its inland border measures 3,730 km.
The country's total length, from the northernmost point to the southernmost point, is 1,650 km.
Its width, stretching from east to west, is 600 km at the widest point in the north, 400 km in the south, and 50 km at the narrowest part in the Quang Binh province on the central coast. Vietnam is also a transport junction from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
CLIMATE
Vietnam is located in both a tropical and a temperate zone. It is characterized by strong monsoon influences, but has a considerable amount of sun, a high rate of rainfall, and high humidity. Regions located near the tropics and in the mountainous regions are endowed with a temperate climate.
The annual average temperature ranges from 22 C to 27 C. In Hanoi, the average temperature is 23 C, in Ho Chi Minh City it is 26 C, and in Hue it is 25 C. There are two distinguishable seasons. The cold season occurs from November to April and the hot season from May to October. The difference in temperature between the two seasons in southern Vietnam is almost unnoticeable, averaging 3 C. The most noticeable variations are found in the northern provinces where differences of 12 C have been observed. There are essentially four distinct seasons, which are most evident in the northern provinces.
COSTUMES
Traditional costumes of the Vietnamese people tend to be very simple and modest. Men wear brown shirts and white trousers. Their headgear is simply a piece of cloth wrapped around the head and their footwear consists of a pair of plain sandals. For formal ceremonies men would have two additional items, a long gown with slits on either side, and a turban, usually in black or brown made of cotton or silk. In feudal times, there were strict dress codes. Ordinary people were not allowed to wear clothes with dyes other than black, brown or white. Costumes in yellow were reserved for the King. Those in purple and red were reserved for high ranking court officials, while dresses in blue were exclusively worn by petty court officials. Men's dress has gradually changed along with social development.
The traditional set of a long gown and turban gave way to more modern looking suits, while business shirts and trousers have replaced traditional long sleeved shirts and wide trousers. Traditional costumes still exist and efforts are increasingly being made to restore traditional festivals and entertainment which incorporate traditional costumes.
Young women wear light brown-colored short shirts with long black skirts. Their headgear consists of a black turban with a peak at the front. To make their waist look smaller, they tightly fasten a long piece of pink or violet cloth.On formal occasions, they wear a special three layered dress called an "ao dai", a long gown with slits on either side.
The outer garment is a special silk gown called an "ao tu than" which is brown or light brown in colour with four slits divided equally on its lower section. The second layer is a gown in a light yellow colour and the third layer is a pink gown. When a woman wears her three gowns, she fastens the buttons on the side, and leave those on the chest unfastened so that it forms a shaped collar. This allows her to show the different colors on the upper part of the three gowns. Beneath the three gowns is a bright red brassiere which is left exposed to cover the woman's neck. Over time, the traditional "ao dai" has gone through certain changes. Long gowns are now carefully tailored to fit the body of a Vietnamese woman. The two long slits along the side allow the gown to have two free floating panels in the front and at the back of the dress. Thefloating panels expose a long pair of white silk trousers.
An elegant looking conical palm hat, which is traditionally known as a "non bai tho" (a hat with poetry written on it), is worn as part of a woman's formal dress. This traditional conical hat is particularly suitable for a tropical country such as Vietnam, where fierce sunshine and hard rain are commonplace. To make a conical hat, a hat maker chooses young palm leaves that have been been dried under continued sunshine. Attached beneath the almost transparent layers of dried palm leaves is a drawing of a small river wharf. Below thedrawing, there is a piece of poetry to be recited by thehat wearer.
In recent years someforeign fashions have beenintroduced to Vietnam; however, the traditional "ao dai" remains preferable to women in both urbanand rural settings.
In general, Vietnamese clothing is very diverse. Every ethnic group in Vietnam has its own style of clothing. Festivals are the occasion for all to wear their favorite clothes. Over thousands of years, the traditional clothing of all ethnic groups in Vietnam has changed, but each ethnic group has separately maintained their own characteristics.
In the mountain areas, people live in houses built on stilts, wear trousers or skirts and indigo vests with design motifs imitating wild flowers and beasts. In the northern uplands and the Central Highlands, the young women have made skirts and vests with beautiful and coulourful decoration in a style convenient for farm work in terraced fields and to travel on hilly slopes and mountain gorges.
HANDICRAFT
Vietnam is a country rich in handicraft products, thanks to the hardworking, dexterous, and creative qualities of the Vietnamese people.
For a very long time, handicraft products have been a source of cultural pride and a source of income for the people. As the varieties of handicraft products are too numerous to be fully introduced, only a few typical items and their sources are mentioned here.Woven tapestries and tho cam handbags are unique works from the skilled hands of the ethnic women living in the Northwest regions, such as Cao Bang.Embroidered articles and silk products are famous from the regions of Ha Dong, Nam Ha, Thai Binh and Hue.
Wool tapestries from Hanoi and Haiphong, and jute tapestries from Hung Yen, Haiphong, Hanoi and Thai Binh, are much sought after.
Ceramic and porcelain items have been produced in Vietnam for a long time. Ceramic and porcelain products glazed by traditional methods into beautiful art are well known in Bat Trang ( Hanoi), Quang Ninh, and Haiphong. Copperware is fabricated by the skillful hands of coppersmiths in Nam Ha, Ngu Xa ( Hanoi), Dong Son(Thanh Hoa), and Long Tho.
Jewelry products and metalwork are concentrated in Hanoi, Thai Binh and Hai Hung, while stonework are mainly produced in Danang (Five Element Mountain Region).
Wood products and wood carvings can usually be found in Phu Xuyen (Ha Tay), Haiphong, and Hue.There are thousands of types of handicraft products. Some of these handicrafts have been internationally recognized and popularized, such as lacquerware. While lacquer artists produce a limited number of paintings and sculptures, lacquer crafts have been part of Vietnamese life in many forms: vases, boxes, interior decorating items, jewelry, and office products. With about 2,000 years of history, Vietnamese lacquerware and other products made by a community of handicraft a
RELIGIONS
Buddhism
Buddhism was first introduced to Vietnam in the 4th century B.C., and reached its peak in the Ly dynasty (11th century). It was then regarded as the official religion dominating court affairs. Buddhism was preached broadly among the population and it enjoyed a profound influence on people's daily life. Its influence also left marks in various areas of traditional literature and architecture. As such, many pagodas and temples were built during this time.
At the end of the 14th century, Buddhism began to show signs of decline. The ideological influence of Buddhism, however, remained very strong in social and cultural life. Presenty, over 70 percent of the population of Vietnam are either Buddhist or strongly influenced by Buddhist practices.
Catholicism
Catholicism was introduced to Vietnam in the 17th century. At present the most densely-populated Catholic areas are Bui Chu-Phat Diem in the northern province of Ninh Binh and Ho Nai-Bien Hoa in Dong Nai province to the South. About 10 percent of the population are considered Catholic.
Protestantism
Protestantism was introduced to Vietnam at about the same time as Catholicism. Protestantism, however, remains an obscure religion. At present most Protestants live in the Central Highlands. There still remains a Protestant church on Hang Da Street in Hanoi. The number of Protestants living in Vietnam is estimated at 400,000.
Islamic
Islamic followers in Vietnam are primarily from the Cham ethnic minority group living in the central part of the central coast. The number of Islamic followers in Vietnam totals about 50,000.
Caodaisim
Caodaism was first introduced to the country in 1926. Settlements of the Cao Dai followers in South Vietnam are located near the the Church in Tay Ninh. The number of followers of this sect is estimated at 2 million.
Hoahaoism
Hoahaoism was first introduced to Vietnam in 1939. More than 1 million Vietnamese are followers of this sect. Most of them live in the western part of South Vietnam.
The legend
The mythical fire-breathing dragon, one of the 4 holy animals in the Vietnamese folklores and legends, has a very significant place in the country’s culture. Appearing on almost all monuments in Vietnam - palaces, pagodas, temples, tombs and houses - the image of the dragon is deeply ingrained in the national tradition.
According to legend, the Vietnamese are descendants of the dragon, and when the monarchy was established, it became the symbol of the king.
Legend has it that the dragon Lord Lac Long Quan married fairy Au Co, and their union gave birth to 100 children and the Kingdom of Bach Viet. One day Quan said to his wife : "I’m a dragon and you’re a fairy. We can’t remain together."
Quan took 50 of his sons with him to the plains and coastal regions, while the others followed their mother to the mountains. The eldest son was crowned King of Lac Viet and named himself King Hung Vuong and Lac Viet was renamed Van Lang - an ancient name for Vietnam which was formed 4,000 years ago.
The dragon has been sleeping for too long, and is only recently emerging from many decades of conflict and returning to economic growth. It is now awake and ready to soar to greater new heights.
Political History
Taro Warriors The characteristic feature of Vietnam’s history is the country’s struggle against foreign occupation and intervention, for a good part of the last 2,000 years.
The invaders were mostly but not exclusively the Han Chinese, who ruled Vietnam over 1,000 years from 111 BC to 938 AD. In mid 19th century, the French began intervening in the country’s affairs on a large scale, and they seized Saigon in early 1859. By 1886, France had conquered the whole country which they governed as a colony and incorporated into French Indochina despite resistance from the Vietnamese
Communist guerrillas under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh resisted French domination. Ho Chi Minh’s declaration of Vietnamese independence after WWII sparked violent confrontations with the French, culminating in the French military defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.
The Geneva Accords of 1954 temporarily divided Vietnam into 2 zones (the Communist north and the anti-Communist, US-supported south). Political and ideological opposition quickly turned to armed struggle, prompting the USA and other countries to commit combat troops in 1965. The Paris Peace Agreements, signed in 1973, provided an immediate cease-fire and signalled the withdrawal of US troops. Saigon eventually capitulated to the Communist forces on 30 April 1975. In July 1976, the nation was reunited, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was established.
..since then
Important events since the reunification of the country include a border war with China in 1979 and Vietnam’s invasion of Cambodia the year before. Vietnam finally withdrew its troops from Cambodia in 1989. The key feature of these events was that the country’s economy deteriorated and by the mid 1980’s had reached a dire position. The breakthrough came at the end of 1986 with the introduction of the doi moi or renovation policy.
Broadly, the aim was to move from a centrally-planned to a market economy whilst still retaining the socialist political structure. The introduction of the new foreign investment law in December 1987, allowing and encouraging foreign investment, was a major step from which all the current excitement in the international business community has stemmed. Parallels have inevitably been drawn with the developments in China during the 1980’s, and certainly Vietnam has drawn on China’s experience. Such has been the rapidity and strength of the progress that the near total withdrawal of Soviet aid (1991) and the collapse of the COMECON trading bloc, had remarkably little effect on Vietnam’s trade.
There is now far greater openness towards foreign countries in general, and improved relations with other South-east Asian and Western nations. Vietnam became a full member of the Association of South-east Asian Nations ( ASEAN ) at the meeting in Brunei on 28 July 1995, and full diplomatic relations with the United States were re-established on 11 July 1995, some 20 years after the fall of Saigon.
Cultural Perspective
King Afloat
Over the centuries, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism have melded with popular Chinese beliefs and ancient Vietnamese animism to shape the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people, known as the Triple Religion.
The Vietnamese language kinh is a hybrid of Mon-Khmer, Thai and Chinese elements with most of its basic words deriving from the monotonic Mon-Khmer languages.
Popular artistic froms include traditional paintings on frames and mounted silk, puppetry theatre, music and cultural dance, and religious sculpture.
Geography and Climate
Vietnam is the largest and most populous of the 3 Indochinese countries and is located along the East Coast of Indochina and borders on Cambodia and Laos in the west and the People’s Republic of China in the north. It stretches over 1,600 km along the eastern cost of the Indochinese Peninsula.
Vietnam is the 2nd largest country in South East Asia after Indonesia. It is divided into 3 regions :-
northern Vietnam consisting of provinces bording China and those that lie in the Red River Delta;
central Vietnam with provinces lying between the central coast and the 1,600 km-long Truong Son mountain range; and
southern Vietnam which includes Ho Chi Minh City, the few provinces east of the city, and the rice-rich provinces of the Mekong River Delta.
The south of Vietnam mainly consists of plains. 2 major rivers, the Mekong River in the south and the Red River (Hong) in the north each form deltas of considerable size before entering the South China Sea. The Red River also runs through Hanoi, the capital city.
Although the country is located in the tropics, the climate is tropical only in central and southern Vietnam, with warm and humid weather all year round (22-35oC). In the north, there is a distinct winter season due to cold inland winds. Usually, the winter is also the dry season for the entire country, but the rains are highly unpredictable owing to the influence of several monsoons.
Political, Administrative and Legal Structure
We the People Despite its rapid move towards a free-market economy, Vietnam remains a socialist country with a single political party, the Communist Party. Approximately 90% of the National Assembly’s members, represents the Communist Party and the rest are being encouraged to join.
In April 1992, an almost entirely re-written constitution was adopted. The preamble still speaks of the Communist Party’s leadership, but the overall intention seems to be to provide a greater separation of party and State institutions and give more power to the latter.
Economy & Economic Structure
Like China, Vietnam has made a rapid transition from a command economy to one that is heading for open-market free trading. But it still has a very long way to go to get there. In spite of this, there are a vast number of foreign companies that can see the enormous market potential for business investments in Vietnam.
In spite of considerable efforts to industrialise the country especially in the north, Vietnam’s economy is still dominated by agricultural production. This is also the sector where economic reforms have so far had most success. Vietnam recently turned from being a rice-importing nation into the world’s third largest rice-exporter.
Economic liberalisation started in 1987. Since then a number of measures have been taken to gradually turn the country’s centrally-planned economy into a market economy.
Most importantly, foreign investment is now encouraged and the new constitution guarantees that enterprise with foreign invested capital will not be nationalised. A number of laws have been passed to create the legal framework for foreign investment. Bilateral investment protection treaties and double taxation treaties have also been signed with a number of countries.
While the country’s long-term growth prospects remains good, short-term problems such as the lack of adequate infrastructure, especially in the transport network and communications system as well as in the financial sector, and governmental bureaucracy remain handicaps. The World Bank has suggested that Vietnam will have to allocate at least US$7 billion to US$10 billion for infrastructure development by the year 2000.
Despite the Doi Moi policy, Vietnam had continued to maintain stringent controls over flows of money & currency to its economy. It has also yet to launch its stock market. These two factors actually turned out to be blessing for Vietnam. The currency speculators and hedge funds who wrecked havoc in several Asian countries, left Vietnam unscratched. However, Vietnam already had its share of problems loans in its banking sector as early as 1995/96. This lead to a severe credit and liquidity crunch, followed by bankruptcies and a serious slowdown of investment built-up. The lustre of Vietnam, as an emerging tiger economy, has faded a lot. The Government will need to continue to prime the confidence pump, and bring back the enthusiam into the economy.
Investment Rating
After years as a closed economy, Vietnam opened up to foreign investment in 1987 with the promulgation of the foreign investment law, considered one of the most liberal in the Asia-Pacific region. The opportunities the country has to offer have been greeted enthusiastically by foreign investors, and since 1988 investment pledges have reached over 1,200 foreign investment projects having an aggregate investment capital of over US$16 billion. Foreign trade has also mushroomed. Over 700 foreign companies from over 40 countries are now investing in Vietnam.
Not surprisingly, Vietnam is often referred to as Asia’s next tiger, and there is no doubt that its emerging economy offers foreign businesses a range of exciting trade and investment opportunities. However, to succeed in Vietnam, the foreign businessman must have patience as well as be willing to make long-term commitments. The foreign investor needs to be aware of the possible problems and pitfalls which may be encountered, just as they may be encountered in the early stages of any rapidly developing economy.
Vietnam can offer the following attractions and advantages:-
Abundant mineral and natural resources;
Active government encouragement of foreign investment;
Cheap labour and a literate workforce;
Potential for tourism;
A potentially important consumer market with a population of nearly 75 million;
A central location in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region;
A comparatively liberal foreign investment law which continues to be refined;
Attractive tax incentives for foreign investors;
The Government’s success in bringing a previously weak local currency and high inflation under control. Both have been remarkably stable since 1992;
Once an adequate legal and infrastructural framework has been created, Vietnam may well have similar or greater growth rates than that enjoyed by, inter alia, Thailand and China over the recent years.
The foreign investor needs to be aware of the following difficulties:-
Poor infrastructure. There are severe problems with roads and the railway system, port facilities, bridges, water and electricity supply, sewage and drainage. Official statistics are not always consistent. Communications and the banking system also need further development;
Bureaucracy and corruption;
A lack of experience in business, accounting and taxation concepts. Contracts are not always treated with respect and are difficult to enforce;
Legal uncertainties due to the lack of a system to resolve civil and contractual disputes and the authorities’ occasional unfamiliarity with laws resulting in regulations that are constantly changing or that contain internal contradictions;
A shortage of hard currency;
Difficulty in obtaining third-party finance for projects. The prime reason for this is the difficulty in getting security for loans in the absence of a land title system;
Language barriers and cultural differences;
All foreign investments have to be licensed and the application process can be long and arduous due to frequent conflicts between the central and local governments with their own agendas.
However, it is important to point out that although Vietnam is a challenging place for the foreign investor, progress is being made in nearly all of the above areas and the pace of change over the last few years has been remarkable.
