Talk:Vietnam

January 2006

This was placed at the bottom, but it doesn't seem to attempt to be written 'simply' (or npov, for that matter), so it should probably be re-written instead of just appended to the article again:

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Groups of people Vietnam has more than 60 different ethnic groups, however about 85% of the 78million people living in Vietnam are what we call Vietnamese. They live mostly on the lowlands. Around ¾ of Vietnam’s population live in rural villages working in paddy fields on the low lands where the fields are easy to irrigate and the land is fertile. The exact origin of the Viet people is unknown but what we do know is that they came from China into the north of Vietnam and gradually worked south, pushing natives like the Champa up into the mountains as they migrated along the coast.

One of the largest minority groups in Vietnam are the Chinese. They immigrated from China as rice traders and became dependant on the Vietnamese people, however, later on new laws forced these people to abandon this way of life and many of them fled from Vietnam

Two more minorities living in Vietnam are the Cham and Khmer people. The Cham are ancestors of the Champa Kingdom, an ancient group of people that lived along the coast of Vietnam, however there are only around 50 000 of them left. There are more Khmer people than Cham people and they live in the swamps south of Ho Chi Minh City, they are of Cambodian descent.

There are also many people living in the highlands. They are known as the Montagnards and include tribes such as; Tai, Nung, Meo, Yao, Muong, and the Tay they live in the highlands along border of south China. The Tay are by far the most common.

Vietnam is the 13th most populous country in the whole world and has some of the greatest geographical contrast for it’s size. The main language is Vietnamese (surprise, surprise), although in the big cities many people can talk English and some, French.

Art Vietnamese art shows a very high resemblance to Chinese art, but it is a lot more detailed. Many old pictures were printed onto white silk from an intricately carved wooden block.

Music Traditional Vietnamese music is very mesmerizing and is often played to poetry, but European and American rock is popular with teens. Clothing Most people simply wear shorts and a T-shirt with sandals or bare feet, but the traditional clothing for women is a long, brightly coloured dress decorated with pearls and other jewels. People who work out on the farms in the day time wear the traditional conical shaped hats to protect them from the scorching sun or heavy downpours.

Religion Here are the religions in Vietnam; Buddhist 9.3%, Catholic 6.7%, Hoa Hao 1.5%, Cao Dai 1.1%, Protestant 0.5%, Muslim 0.1%, none 80.8%. this information is based on the 1999 census. As you can see around 90% of the country does not belong to any specific religion, however most of these people are very superstitious and believe that their family will have bad luck if they do not do things correctly. The Buddhist religion was brought to Vietnam from India during the Chinese rule. Catholicism is another main religion and was brought with French colonists and has over 4 million followers. However many Catholics were against communism, and fled the country when it was split up in 1954 and when it was reunited in 1975. Christian missionaries have been sent to Vietnam before, but have hardly any impact.

Daily life 80% of Vietnamese people live in scattered villages growing rice, fruits and vegetables, sugarcane, tea, or coffee. Some families raise livestock for extra money. Along the coast there are many fishing communities and in the mountains people are very self-reliant They only buy what they can’t make, grow, trap, or hunt. For extra money, many of them grow certain types of rice, harvest the rubber trees, and work with coffee and tea. However some are also involved in the illegal growing and harvesting of the opium poppy.

Many people that work on the paddy fields live together in their huts with the rest of their family, including grandparents and sometimes aunts and uncles etc.

Life as a farmer is very hard work. People get up and begin work in the fields before the sun has risen, take a break at midday when the sun is hottest and then return to work again.

Each member of the family has a different job to do. Men do heavy labour, like ploughing and digging the fields, while the women take care of the house, help with harvest, weeding and planting. Girls clean, cook and assist in the vegetable garden, while the boys carry water and other things and help the men in the fields. Elderly people do what light labour they can.

The remaining 20% of the population live in the cities. Jobs are the same as anywhere else in the world. Construction workers, office secretaries, merchants, street vendors, teachers, government workers, factory workers are just a few. The Vietnamese cities show western influence more than the rural villages, for example people wear jeans and T-shirts and do same sort of things as westerners. Most families live in small crowded government apartments. The cities are very crowded and the streets are often crammed with bikes, motorbikes and scooters. Very early in the morning there are also a few cars. You can pick up a snack from a street vendor whenever you feel hungry. Unfortunately overcrowding is a problem for Vietnamese cities. The government encourages families to have only two children, despite this many have more, they are also trying to re-locate families into less crowded mountain communities.

City life is also very hard and many people must have two jobs in order to earn enough money to support their families. Men and women both work, men do physical work and hold positions of higher authority. People get up very early and most work starts at around 7:00am, but before that people are up and about exercising in parks, buying the days groceries and other such things. The children go to school for half the day, either in the morning or the afternoon. Women buy food on their way home from work and then the family eats around 6 - 7pm and finally go to bed at 10:00pm or 11:00pm. Homes are normally sparsely furnished and straw mats are used for sitting and sleeping on. Food is often cooked outside. In the city there are lots of homes but most families do not own many electrical appliances.

not in private scholls!!!

well that all depands, not all parts are bad, all countries have ups n downs!!! but vietnamese kitchen is weird~!!!

Moved to discussion:

"Today, Vietnam is an important political and cultural center in Southeast Asia."

Comment: The article has established that Vietnam is a country. Therefore the country is a political force and cultural force. The quote does not give a good description or a good explanation, in my view. Sju hav (talk) 13:14, 28 September 2017 (UTC)

The reactions to Ho Chi Minh's death

Moved to discussion:

"People all across the nation cried for him. Even the Sàigòn newspaper said, "Việt Nam loses a unique politician" since this man had fought for freedom from their Japanese and French rulers."

Comment: The text might belong in the article about the former president. Arguably the text does not belong in the current version of the article about the country. Sju hav (talk) 16:11, 28 September 2017 (UTC)