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Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Vietnam








Hi. We are Jason and Jerry.Today, we’d like to introduce the country name Vietnam.

Country: Vietnam

Capital: Hanoi

Currency: Dong

Language: Viet-Muong,English,French,Chinese,Khmer

Population: Over 85 million

Size: About 331,688 km²

Head of State: Nguyễn Minh Triết

Natural Resource: Coal reserve, commercially exploitable metals and minerals, Crude oil, Natural gas

Amazing Facts: Vietnam, a name too long associated with the horrors of war, has finally won its last battle - to capture the imagination of the travelling public. Elegant Hanoi now vies with its dynamic sister Ho Chi Minh City (still fondly called Saigon by the locals) for the attention of visitors drawn by the eclectic mix of old and new.

Elsewhere the scenes are timeless. Early morning in the Mekong Delta brings the daily floating markets where fruit and vegetables are peddled. Everywhere the green patchwork of rice paddies stretches into the distance only broken by the silhouette of water buffalo and conical-hatted peasants bending down to tend the young plants. The soaring mountains in the north of the country tower over tiny villages where life continues much as it has done for centuries, with traditional costumes still proudly worn. Old French hill stations survive throughout the country offering welcome respite from the heat of the plains below. And in the South China Sea, the 3000 chalk islands in Ha Long Bay are not to be missed.


The ancient former imperial capital, Hué, takes you back to a time of concubines and eunuchs. In every town young women wearing the simple but feminine national dress, the Ao Dai, weave their way through the traffic at the controls of a motorbike. Only in Vietnam could the past and the present be encapsulated so perfectly.
The conquest of Vietnam by France began in 1858 and was completed by 1884. It became part of French Indochina in 1887. Independence was declared after World War II, but the French continued to rule until 1954 when they were defeated by Communist forces under Ho Chi MINH, who took control of the North. US economic and military aid to South Vietnam grew through the 1960s in an attempt to bolster the government, but US armed forces were withdrawn following a cease-fire agreement in 1973. Two years later, North Vietnamese forces overran the South. Despite the return of peace, for over two decades the country experienced little economic growth because of conservative leadership policies. Since 2001, Vietnamese authorities have committed to economic liberalization and enacted structural reforms needed to modernize the economy and to produce more competitive, export-driven industries. The country continues to experience protests from the Montagnard ethnic minority population of the Central Highlands over loss of land to Vietnamese settlers and religious persecution.



[3:27 PM]


Posted at 3:27 PM, 1 Comment(s)


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