FREE ESSAY ON VIETNAM

VIETNAM

INTRODUCTION
The war-torn country of Vietnam is once again in the midst of a revolution. Only this
war
is not being fought with soldiers and tanks; rather, it is being fought and won with
businessmen and free-trade. This new on-slot of foreign business in the formerly closed
country have completely rejuvenated the Vietnamese economy. For the first time since the
re-unification of Vietnam in 1976, the doors of the market place are opened to the
outside world and Vietnam is aggressively taking a stance for further economic
development. 
Before any International firm attempts to conduct business with, or in Vietnam, it is
extremely important to not only know your potential consumer, but to understand him as
well. Vietnam has a unique and rich cultural history that separates it from its
neighboring Asian nations. Therefore, even the most successful marketing plans for other
Asian countries probably will not work in Vietnam. It is a country with an identity of
its own.
This report was compiled in an attempt to educate businesses and their employees of what
makes Vietnam the welcoming, yet challenging nation it has become in the global
marketplace. By first understanding the country and the people, it is then possible to
formulate the most successful plan for a business venture. By gaining a foot-hold in the
emerging market now, companies will benefit from continuous economic growth from the next
potential 
"Asian Tiger"--VIETNAM. 
ABSTRACT
This is a glance into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, describing and analyzing its
political, economic, social, and national security systems and institutions, and
examining the interrelationships of those systems and the ways they are shaped by
cultural factors. This in an attempt to provide a basic understanding of the observed
society, striving for a dynamic rather than a static portrayal. Particular attention is
devoted to the people who make up the society, their origins, dominant beliefs and
values, their common interests and the issues on which they are divided, the nature and
extent of their involvement with national institutions, and their attitudes toward each
other and toward their social system and political order.
GENERAL INFORMATION 1 
Official Name: Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Capital: Hanoi
Location: A republic of Southeast Asia, bordered by China on the north, the South China
Sea on the east and south, and Cambodia and Laos on the west (see Appendix A).
Land Area: Its area is 329,707 sq km (127,301 sq mi); larger than Virginia, North
Carolina, and South Carolina combined.
Terrain: Varies from mountainous to costal delta.
Climate: Tropical monsoon.
GOVERNMENT 2
A constitution enacted in 1992 assigned to the Communist party a leading role in
Vietnamese government and society, but curbed some of its administrative functions. The
constitution also increased the powers of the National Assembly. The Communist party acts
through the Vietnam Fatherland Front, which includes representatives of the nation's
political parties, trade unions, and social organizations.
Executive
Under the 1992 constitution, the head of state is a president, elected by the legislature
from among its members; as commander of the armed forces, the president chairs the
Council on National Defense and Security. The president appoints, with legislative
approval, the prime minister, who heads the government. The prime minister appoints a
cabinet, also subject to legislative approval.
Legislative 
The unicameral National Assembly, composed of a maximum of 400 members, is the highest
legislative body in Vietnam. The legislature is elected to a five-year term by universal
adult suffrage.
Judiciary
Judges of the people's courts are elected to their offices. Organs of Control, which act
as watchdogs for the state as well as monitoring government agencies, can initiate
lawsuits against governmental bodies or individuals deemed to be violating the law. The
highest court in Vietnam is the Supreme People's Court.
Local Government 
A system of people's councils, each representing a local jurisdiction, administers local
government in Vietnam. Each council elects a committee to serve as an executive. The
country is divided into 53 provinces and three municipalities: Hanoi, Haiphong, and Ho
Chi Minh City.
HISTORY 3
Over thousands of years the Vietnamese have passed down the legend of their origin as
being descendants of the Dragon and the Fairy. An extremely strong son of a dragon, Lac
Long Quan, having killed a sea monster, settled in what is now Vietnam, and married a
fairy, Au Co. Together, they gave birth to a membrane with a hundred eggs which later
became a hundred children. Fifty of the children followed the father to the sea, and
fifty stayed with their mother in the mountainous area. The eldest son was proclaimed
King Hung Vuong, and the country Van Lang, which today is Vietnam.
From the 1st to the 6th centuries, the south of what is now Vietnam was part of the
Indianised kingdom of Funan. The Hindu kingdom of Champa appeared around present-day
Danang in the late 2nd century and had spread south to what is now Nha Trang by the 8th
century. The Chinese conquered the Red River Delta in the 2nd century and their 1000-year
rule, marked by tenacious Vietnamese resistance and repeated rebellions, ended in 938 AD
when Ngo Quyen vanquished the Chinese armies at the Bach Dang River. 
During the next few centuries, Vietnam repulsed repeated invasions by China, and expanded
its borders southwards from the Red River Delta, populating much of the Mekong Delta. In
1858, French and Spanish-led forces stormed Danang after several missionaries had been
killed. A year later, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) was seized. By 1867, France had
conquered all of southern Vietnam, which became the French colony of Cochin-China.
Communist guerillas under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh resisted French domination. Ho
Chi Minh's declaration of Vietnamese independence after WW II 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 two 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 signaled the withdrawal of US troops. Saigon eventually capitulated to the
Communist forces on 30 April 1975.
The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR in 1991 caused Vietnam and 
Western nations to seek rapprochement. In July 1995 even intransigent America
re-established diplomatic relations with Hanoi (see Appendix B for a time line of
historic events).
ECONOMY 4
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam has undergone several extreme changes since it's
reunification in 1976 following the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The face of the economic
system was completely altered from a capitalist system in the South to the centrally
controlled communist system in the North. In the years that followed, emphasis was placed
on heavy industry at the expense of other economic sectors. Close central control and
poor management of the economy led to a decline in industrial and agricultural
production. Faced with stagnant growth, a severe shortage of food, deficit budgets,
soaring inflation and chronic trade imbalances, the Sixth National Congress of Vietnam's
Communist Party, held in December 1986, initiated an overall economic renovation policy.
Popularly known as "Doi Moi," the policy aimed at making the country self-sufficient in
food production and improving the standard of living of the people. The core of "Doi Moi"
was to reduce the state intervention in business and to open the country to foreign
investment.
A key element in Vietnam's continuing process of economic renovation has been the
country's adoption of policies to encourage private investment. In an effort to attract
more foreign investment and to boost the domestic private sector, Vietnam amended its
foreign investment code to offer more tax incentives, set up export processing and
industrial zones, and allowed foreign banks and financial institutions to operate in
Vietnam. The country also began to create the legal framework necessary for a
multi-sectoral market economy. Since 1990, Vietnam has enacted a number of significant
civil laws including a company law, a law on private business, a bankruptcy law, and a
law encouraging domestic investment. The state has also approved the privatization of
state-owned companies and enterprises. 
Radical economic policies have vaulted the economy into a period of unsurpassed growth,
with no end currently in sight. Vietnam has the potential to become the next great "Asian
Tiger." The leading economic indicators for Vietnam, overwhelming proof of it's presence
as one of the new and emerging markets, are found in the charts below.
POPULATION 5
The estimated population of Vietnam is 74 million people with an average population
density of 224 persons per square kilometer. Population density varies widely, however,
and is generally lower in the southern provinces than in the northern ones; in both North
and South it is also lower in the highlands and mountainous regions than in the lowlands.
The most densely settled region is the Red River Delta, accounting for roughly 75 percent
of the population of the North. Also heavily settled is the Mekong River Delta, with
nearly half of the southern population. 
The People 6
Vietnamese
The origins of the Vietnamese are generally traced to the inhabitants of the Red River
Delta between 500 and 200 B.C., people who were a mixture of Australoid, Austronesian,
and Mongoloid stock. Like their contemporary descendants, they were largely villagers,
skilled in rice cultivation and fishing. 
Contemporary ethnic Vietnamese live in urban as well as rural areas, are engaged in a
variety of occupations, and are represented at all levels on the socioeconomic scale. The
power elite (senior officials in the party, government, and military establishments), in
particular, is dominated by ethnic Vietnamese. Although predominantly Buddhist, the
Vietnamese people's religious beliefs and practices nevertheless include remnants of an
earlier animistic faith. A sizable minority is Roman Catholic. Despite some regional and
local differences in customs and speech, the people retain a strong sense of ethnic
identity that rests on a common language and a shared cultural heritage. 
Vietnamese, the official language, is the mother tongue of the vast majority of the
people and is understood by many national minority members. According to a widely
accepted theory, Vietnamese is believed to be related to the Austroasiatic family of
languages, which includes various languages, dialects, and sub-dialects spoken in
mainland Southeast Asia from Burma to Vietnam.
Actually, the Vietnamese language was influenced more by classical Chinese than by any
other language. During more than 1,000 years of Chinese rule and for centuries
afterwards, Chinese was the language of officialdom, scholarship, and literature. The
Chinese language had special status because of its identification with the ruling class
of scholar-officials. Nevertheless, Vietnamese continued to be the popular language, even
though knowledge of Chinese was a prerequisite to government employment and social
advancement. 
Minorities
Living somewhat separately from the dominant ethnic Vietnamese are the numerous
minorities which account only for 12 percent of the national population. This figure
included the Hoa (Han Chinese), the single largest bloc--representing approximately 1.5
percent of the total population--in the lowland urban centers of both the North and the
South. Of the other minority groups, thirty, comprising 68 percent of the minority
population, resided in the North, while the remaining twenty-two groups, comprising 32
percent of the minority population lived in the South. The size of each community ranged
from fewer than 1,000 to as many as 0.9 million persons, and 10 major groups comprised
about 85 percent of the minority population. 
Minorities that live in the mountainous regions are known by their generic name,
Montagnards. The Vietnamese also disparagingly call them moi, meaning savage. The
government attributes the backwardness of the Montagnards to the overwhelming influence
of their history as exploited and oppressed peoples. They are darker skinned than their
lowland neighbors. 
The non-Chinese minority peoples, however, are for the most part highlanders who live in
relative independence and follow their own traditional customs and culture. They are
classified as either sedentary or nomadic. The sedentary groups, the more numerous of the
two kinds, are engaged mainly in the cultivation of wet rice and industrial crops; the
nomadic groups, in slashand -burn farming where forested land is cleared for a brief
period of cultivation and then abandoned. Both groups inhabit the same four major areas:
the northern Chinese border region and the uplands adjacent to the Red River Delta, the
northwestern border region adjoining Laos and China, the Central Highlands and the area
along the Giai Truong Son, and parts of the Mekong River Delta and the central coastal
strip. These groups are notable for their diverse cultural characteristics. They are
distinguished from one another not only by language but also by such other cultural
features as architectural styles, colors and shapes of dress and personal ornaments,
shapes of agricultural implements, religious practices, and systems of social
organization. 
Hoa
The Hoa, or ethnic Chinese, are predominantly urban dwellers. A few Hoa live in small
settlements in the northern highlands near the Chinese frontier, where they are also
known as ngai. Traditionally, as elsewhere in Southeast Asia, the Chinese have retained a
distinctive cultural identity, but in 1955 North Vietnam and China agreed that the Hoa
should be integrated gradually into Vietnamese society and should have Vietnamese
citizenship conferred on them. 
Before 1975 the northern Hoa were mainly rice farmers, fishermen, and coal miners, except
for those residing in cities and provincial towns. In the South they were dominant in
commerce and manufacturing. According to an official source, at the end of 1974 the Hoa
controlled more than 80 percent of the food, textile, chemical, metallurgy, engineering,
and electrical industries, 100 percent of wholesale trade, more than 50 percent of retail
trade, and 90 percent of export-import trade. Dominance over the economy enabled the Hoa
to manipulate prices of rice and other scarce goods.
THE SOCIAL SYSTEM 7
Traditional Patterns
For centuries Vietnamese society was knit together by Confucian norms based on five
relationships: the subordination of subject to ruler, son to father, wife to husband, and
younger brother to elder brother, and the mutual respect between friends. These norms
influenced the evolution of Vietnam as a hierarchic, authoritarian society in which
Confucian scholarship, monarchical absolutism, filial piety, the subordinate role of
women, and the family system were regarded as integral to the natural order of the
universe. 
The traditional society was stratified on the basis of education and occupation into four
groups: scholar-officials or mandarins, farmers, artisans, and merchants. At the pinnacle
was the emperor, who ruled with the mandate of heaven. Next were the scholar-officials,
recruited through rigorous civil service examinations in Chinese classical literature and
philosophy. Once a person passed the triennial examinations he became an accredited
scholar or degree holder and was eligible for appointment to the imperial civil service,
the most prestigious route to power, status, and wealth. Together, the emperor, his
family, and the scholar-officials constituted the ruling class. 
In theory, the mandarinate was not a closed social group. Commoners were permitted to
apply for the examinations, and the status of scholar-official could not be inherited. In
practice, however, these officials became a self-perpetuating class of
generalist-administrators, partly because their sons could afford years of academic
preparation for the examinations whereas most commoners could not. Education, the key to
upward mobility, was neither free nor compulsory and tended to be the preserve of the
mandarins. 
Society in the 1954-75 Period 
North Vietnam
At the time of the 1954 partition, Vietnam was overwhelmingly a rural society; peasants
accounted for nearly 90 percent of the total population. During the ensuing 20 years of
political separation, however, the North and the South developed into two very different
societies. In the North the communists had embarked on a program intended to
revolutionize the socioeconomic structure. The focus of change was ostensibly economic,
but its underlying motivation was both political and social as well. Based on the Marxist
principle of class struggle, it involved no less than the creation of a totally new
social structure. Propertied classes were eliminated, and a proletarian dictatorship was
established in which workers and peasants emerged as the nominal new masters of a
socialist and ultimately classless state. 
South Vietnam
South of the demarcation line after partition in 1954, the social system remained
unchanged except that power reverted to a Vietnamese elite. The South's urban-rural
network of roles, heavily dependent on the peasant economy, remained intact despite the
influx of nearly a million refugees from the North. In contrast to the North, there was
no doctrinaire, organized attempt to reorganize the society fundamentally or to implant
new cultural values and social sanctions.
At the bottom of village life were owners of small farming plots and tenant farmers.
Forced to spend nearly all of their time eking out a living, they could not afford to
engage in village affairs. Because they could not cultivate enough land to support their
families, most of them worked also as part-time laborers, and their wives and children
assisted with the field work. Their children frequently went to school only long enough
to learn the rudiments of reading and writing. This group also included workers in a wide
range of other service occupations, such as artisans, practitioners of oriental medicine,
and small tradespeople.
THE FAMILY 8
Using the patriarchal family as the basic social institution, the Confucianists framed
their societal norm in terms of the duties and obligations of a family to a father, a
child to a parent, a wife to a husband, and a younger brother to an older brother; they
held that the welfare and continuity of the family group were more important than the
interests of any individual member. Indeed, the individual was less an independent being
than a member of a family group that included not only living members but also a long
line of ancestors and of those yet to be born. A family member's life was caught up in
the activities of a multitude of relatives. Members of the same household lived together,
worked together, and gathered together for marriages, funerals, Tet (lunar New Year)
celebrations, and rituals marking the anniversary of an ancestor's death.
Family members looked first to other family members for help and counsel in times of
personal crisis and guarded the interests of the family in making personal or household
decisions. Special reverence was accorded a family's ancestors. This practice, known as
the family cult or cult of the ancestors, derived from the belief that after death the
spirits of the departed continued to influence the world of the living. The soul was
believed to become restless and likely to exert an unfavorable influence on the living,
unless it was venerated in the expected manner. 
Veneration of ancestors was also regarded as a means through which an individual could
assure his or her own immortality. Children were valued because they could provide for
the spirits of their parents after death. Family members who remained together and
venerated their forebears with strict adherence to prescribed ritual found comfort in the
belief that the souls of their ancestors were receiving proper spiritual nourishment and
that they were insuring their own soul's nourishment after death. 
On the anniversary of an ancestor's death, rites were performed before the family altar
to the god of the house, and sacrificial offerings were made to both the god and the
ancestor. The lavishness of the offering depended on the income of the family and on the
rank of the deceased within the family. A representative of each family in the lineage
was expected to be present, even if this meant traveling great distances. Whenever there
was an occasion of family joy or sorrow, such as a wedding, an anniversary, success in an
examination, a promotion, or a funeral, the ancestors were informed through sacrificial
offerings. 
In the traditional kinship system, the paternal line of descent was emphasized.
Individuals were identified primarily by their connections through the father's male
bloodline, and kin groups larger than the family--clans and lineages--were formed by
kinspeople who traced their relationship to each other in this manner. It was through
these patrilineal descent groups that both men and women inherited property and that men
assumed their primary obligation for maintaining the ancestor observances. 
The patrilineal group maintained an extremely strong kin relationship. Members' ties to
one another were reinforced by their shared heritage, derived from residence in the same
village over many generations. Family land and tombs, located in or near the village,
acted as a focus for feelings of kin loyalty, solidarity, and continuity. 
The extended family rather than the nuclear one was the dominant family structure, often
including three or even four generations, and typically consisting of grandparents,
father and mother, children, and grandchildren, all living under the same roof. Sometimes
parents had more than one married son living with them, but this often led to such
tension that it was generally held preferable for a second son to live separately. All
members of the household lived under the authority of the oldest male, and all
contributed to the income of the family. 
Despite the cultural emphasis on obedience in women, women were not regarded as the
weaker sex but as resilient and strong-willed . In the village, women assumed a great
deal of responsibility for cultivation of paddy fields, often working harder than men,
and sometimes engaged in retail trade of all kinds. A few women owned agricultural
estates, factories, and other businesses, and both urban and rural women typically
managed the family income. A woman's influence in family affairs could be increased by
giving birth to a first male child. In general, though, a woman was expected to be
dutiful and respectful toward her husband and his parents, to care for him and his
children, and to perform household duties. There were no women in public life. 
Besides the so-called wife of the first rank, a household sometimes included a second and
third wife and their children. The consent of the first wife was required before this
arrangement could be made, but, more often than not, additional wives either were
established by the husband in separate households or were permitted to continue living as
they had before marriage, in their own homes or with parents. Polygyny was widespread in
both northern and central Vietnam, as was the taking of concubines. 
Marriage was regarded primarily as a social contract and was arranged by the parents
through intermediaries. The parents' choice was influenced more by considerations
affecting the welfare of the lineage than by the preferences of the participants.
Interest in having children was strongly reinforced by Confucian culture, which made it
imperative to produce a male heir to continue the family line. A couple with numerous
offspring was envied. If there were sons, it was assured that the lineage would be
perpetuated and the cult of the ancestors maintained; if there was no male heir, a couple
was regarded as unfortunate, and a barren wife could be divorced or supplanted by another
wife. 
Fostering filial piety was of overriding importance in child rearing . Children were
expected to be polite to their parents and older persons, to be solicitous of their
welfare, to show them respect through proper manner and forms of address, and to carry
out prescribed tradition with respect to funeral practices and the observance of
mourning. After the deaths of their parents, it was incumbent upon surviving children
(and their children in turn), to honor their parents' memory through maintenance of the
ancestors' cult. 
RELIGION 9
The Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, adopted in 1980, proclaims that
citizens enjoy freedom of worship, and may practice or not practice a religion but that
no one may misuse religions to violate state laws or policies. Despite the Constitution's
ostensible protection of the practice of the religion, the status of such was precarious
in Vietnam in late 1987.
Buddhism
Historically, most Vietnamese have identified themselves with Buddhism. According to
Buddhist thought, human salvation lies in discovering the four noble truths--that man is
born to suffer in successive lives, that the cause of this suffering is man's craving for
earthly pleasures and possessions, that the suffering ceases upon his deliverance from
this craving, and that he achieves this deliverance by following the noble eightfold
path. The foundation of the Buddhist concept of morality and right behavior, the
eightfold path, consists of right views, or sincerity in leading a religious life; right
intention, or honesty in judgment; right speech, or sincerity in speech; right conduct,
or sincerity in work; right livelihood, or sincerity in making a living; right effort, or
sincerity in aspiration; right mindfulness, or sincerity in memory; and right
concentration, or sincerity in meditation. 
Before the country was unified under communism, Buddhism enjoyed an autonomy from the
state that was increasingly threatened once the communists gained power. For pragmatic
reasons, however, the regime initially avoided overt hostility toward Buddhism or any
other organized religion. Instead, it sought to separate real and potential collaborators
from opponents by co-optation and control.
The communist government's attitude toward Buddhism and other faiths being practiced
remained one of tolerance as long as the clergy and faithful adhered strictly to official
guidelines. These guidelines inhibited the growth of religious institutions, however, by
restricting the number of institutions approved to train clergy and by preempting the
time of potential candidates among the youth whose daily routine might require study,
work, and participation in the activities of communist youth organizations. In an
apparent effort to train a new generation of monks and nuns, the Vietnam Buddhist Church
reportedly set up one Buddhist academy in Hanoi in November 1981 and another in Ho Chi
Minh City in December 1984 . These academies, however, served as an arm of the state.
Catholicism
Despite the Roman Catholic Church's rejection of ancestor worship, a cornerstone of the
Confucian cultural tradition, Roman Catholicism established a solid position in
Vietnamese society under French rule. The French encouraged its propagation to balance
Buddhism and to serve as a vehicle for the further dissemination of Western culture.
After the mid-1950s, Catholicism declined in the North, where the communists regarded it
as a reactionary force opposed to national liberation and social progress. In the South,
by contrast, Catholicism expanded under the presidency of Ngo Dinh Diem, who promoted it
as an important bulwark against North Vietnam. Under Diem, himself a devout Catholic,
Roman Catholics enjoyed an advantage over non-Catholic in commerce, the professions,
education, and the government. This caused growing Buddhist discontent that contributed
to the eventual collapse of the Diem regime and the ultimate rise to power of the
military. 
The church was allowed to retain its link with the Vatican, although all foreign priests
had either fled south or been expelled, and normal church activities were permitted to
continue, albeit in the shadow of a campaign of harassment. The appearance of normalcy
was misleading, however. The church was stripped of its traditional autonomy in running
schools, hospitals, and orphanages. Its traditional right to own property was abolished,
and priests and nuns were required to devote part of their time to productive labor in
agriculture. Nevertheless, officials claimed that Catholics had complete freedom of
worship as long as they did not question the principle of collective socialism, spurn
manual labor, or jeopardize the internal and external security of the state. 
EDUCATION 10
The Vietnamese inherited a high respect for learning. Under Confucianism, education was
essential for admission to the ruling class of scholar-officials, the mandarinate. Under
French rule, even though Vietnamese were excluded from the colonial power elite,
education was a requisite for employment in the colonial civil service and for other
white-collar, high-status jobs. In divided Vietnam, education continued to be a channel
for social mobility in both the North and the South. 
In the years after 1975, all public and private schools in the South were taken over by
the state as a first step toward integration into a unified socialist school system.
Thousands of teachers were sent from the North to direct and supervise the process of
transition, and former teachers under the Saigon regime were allowed to continue their
work only after they had completed special courses designed to expose the ideological and
cultural poisoning of which they had been victims for twenty years. 
The educational system in 1987 was based on reforms announced in January 1979 that were
designed to make education more relevant to the nation's economic and social needs. These
reforms combined theory with practical application and emphasized the training of skilled
workers, technicians, and managers. The reforms also stressed the need to develop the
country's scientific and technological levels of achievement until they were comparable
to international levels in order to assist Vietnam in expanding its technical cooperation
with foreign countries in general and socialist countries in particular. 
Education continues to be structured in a traditional manner, including preschool,
vocational and professional schools, supplementary courses, and higher education. General
education, however, was extended from ten to twelve years. The first nine years of
general education form the compulsory level, corresponding to primary and junior high
schools; the last three years constitute the secondary level. Graduates of secondary
schools are considered to have completed training in general culture and are ready for
employment requiring skilled labor. They are also eligible to apply to colleges or
advanced vocational and professional schools. The general education category also covers
the schooling of gifted and handicapped children.
Vocational schools at the secondary and college levels serve to train technicians and
skilled workers. Graduates of professional specialized schools at the college level
primarily fill mid-level cadre positions in the technical, economic, educational,
cultural, and medical fields. Senior cadres in these fields as well as members of the
upper bureaucracy usually have graduated from regular universities.
PUBLIC HEALTH 11
In 1945 Vietnam had forty-seven hospitals with a total of 3,000 beds, and it had one
physician for every 180,000 persons. The life expectancy of its citizens averaged
thirty-four years. By 1979 there were 713 hospitals with 205,700 beds, in addition to
more than 10,000 maternity clinics and rural health stations; the ratio of physicians to
potential patients had increased to one per 1,000 persons, and the average life
expectancy was sixty-three years for males and sixty-seven years for females. These
expectancies remain true today. 
Information concerning the health sector, although fragmentary, suggested that the
country's unified health care system has expanded and improved in both preventive and
curative medicine. Medical personnel total about 240,000, including physicians, nurses,
midwives, and other paramedics. The quality of public health care and the level of
medical technology remain inadequate, however, and authorities are increasingly concerned
about such problems as nutritional deficiency, mental health, and old-age illnesses.
Cardiovascular diseases and cancers are reportedly not widespread but had increased in
recent years. Information on AIDS was unavailable. 
LIVING CONDITIONS 12
The improvement of living conditions has consistently been one of Hanoi's most important
but most elusive goals. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, food, housing, medicines, and
consumer goods were chronically scarce as agriculture and industry slowly recovered from
the effects of prolonged wartime disruptions, corrupt and inept management, and the cost
of the military occupation of Cambodia. Consequently, the Hanoi government was under
tremendous pressure to address social problems such as urban unemployment, vocational
training, homelessness, the care of orphans, war veterans, and the disabled, the control
of epidemics, and the rehabilitation of drug addicts and prostitutes. These problems were
complicated by rapid population growth, which tested the limits of the food supply and
increased the need to import grains. In recent years the dependence on foreign grains has
subsided and the overall quality of life has increased; however, Vietnam is still
considered to be one of the poorest Asian nations, with a per capita income of US$200 per
person.
INFRASTRUCTURE 13
Decades of war and under-investment have left much of Vietnam's infrastructure in a
run-down state. The situation is gradually improving as the government encourages foreign
investment in infrastructure projects through special incentive plans and takes advantage
of international aid programs. However, a rising budget deficit and a shortage of hard
currency have kept Vietnam from making some of the desperately needed large-scale
improvements.
Transportation
Vietnam's transportation system consists of about 105,000 km of roads, 2,600 km of
railway, 19,500 km of navigable inland waterways, seven main ports, three international
airports and additional number of smaller domestic airports.
The roads, bridges and railways are in desperate need of investment, while the rail and
road transport fleets are inadequate and mainly use antiquated equipment. The current
system is unable to meet existing needs, let alone keep up with the dramatic rise in
trade volumes, foreign investment and economic growth.
Telecommunications
Vietnam has made great strides in upgrading its telecommunication systems, although much
remains to be done. In recent years, Vietnam has invested US$800 million to increase the
number of available telephones. The country now has one phone per 100 people, almost 10
times as many as in 1993. Direct dialing is now easy, although the costs remain quite
high. A shortage of phone lines has led to a surge in the use of mobile telephones and
pagers in urban areas, such as Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. 
NATIONAL SECURITY 14
Armed Forces
Vietnam's military force is the largest in Southeast Asia and third largest force in
the world after China and Russia. It's total estimated strength is over 5 million
personnel: army, 1.2 million ( with thirty-eight regular infantry divisions); navy,
15,000; air force, 20,000; Regional Force, 500,000; Militia-Self Defense Force, 1.2
million; Armed Youth Assault Force, 1.5 million; and the Tactical Rear Force, 500,000.
This makes Vietnam an adversary not to under-estimate, especially considering the number
of combat seasoned veterans from the Vietnam, Cambodia and China Wars.
The Military's Place in Society
The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) exerts a great deal of complicated direct and
indirect influence both on party and government policy-making and on everyday non-
military life. It is so well integrated into the social system that there is no precise
point at which it can be said that the military ends and the civilian world begins. PAVN
is expected to be all things to the people and special things to the party. It must both
lead the people and serve them. It must be loyal both to the political line and to the
military line, even when these conflict. It must act as the vanguard of the party yet be
scrupulously subservient to it. 
The chief obligation of the average citizen to PAVN is military service, which is
universal and compulsory. This duty long predates the advent of communism to Vietnam.
Conscription in traditional Vietnam was carried out in a manner similar to the
requisitioning of corvee labor. Village councils were required to supply conscripts
according to population ratio. The 1980 Constitution stipulates that citizens are obliged
to do military service and take part in the building of the national defense force. In
December 1981, the National Assembly promulgated a new Military Obligation Law stating
that military obligation is mandated by law and is a glorious task for a citizen. . . .
All male citizens from all rural areas, city districts, organs, state enterprises, and
vocational schools from elementary to college level, regardless of the positions they
hold, if they meet the induction criteria of the annual state draft plan, must serve in
the armed forces for a limited time in accordance with the draft law. Under the law there
are no exemptions to military service, although there can be deferments. This practice
has led to charges that extensive corruption allows the sons of influential party and
state officials one deferment after another. 
The draft is administered by PAVN itself and is conducted chiefly by a corps of retired
officers stationed in district offices throughout the country. The process begins with
registration, which is voluntary for all males at age sixteen and compulsory at
seventeen. A woman may register if she is a member of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth
League. The draft age is from eighteen to twenty-seven. The enlistment period is three
years for ordinary enlistees, four years for technical specialists and navy personnel,
and two years for certain ethnic minorities.
INTERNAL SECURITY 15
Internal security was never much of a problem in North Vietnam; it was probably somewhat
more tenuous in unified Vietnam. Unification, understandably, introduced new internal
threats, which the regime in the 1980s was able to keep in check. The most significant
internal threat was the danger of counterrevolution, a possibility that had both internal
and external implications. Hanoi feared that a resistance effort in Vietnam would mount
an effective guerrilla war aided by outsiders who sought either to roll back communism in
Indochina or to effect change in Hanoi's leadership. These outsiders might include not
only foreign governments but also emigre Vietnamese seeking to destroy the ruling system.

Police, crime-detection, and law-enforcement activities tend to be treated collectively
under the heading of public security. These activities are conducted by overlapping, but
tightly compartmentalized, institutions of control, separated by only hazy lines of
jurisdiction. In particular, there is no sharp division between the internal security
duties of PAVN forces and those of the civilian elements of the Ministry of Interior.
Both party and state have paid enormous attention to the maintenance of public order.
Perhaps it is for this reason that internal security has always been well managed and
security threats have always been contained.
Four clusters of agencies are responsible for crime prevention and the maintenance of
public order and internal security under the 1985 Criminal Code. The enforcement bodies
are the People's Security Force (PSF) or People's Police, operating chiefly in urban
areas; the People's Public Security Force (PPSF), called the People's Security Service or
PSS at the village level; the plain-clothes or secret police; and the People's Armed
Security Force (PASF), a quasi-military organ, including some PAVN personnel, operating
chiefly in the villages and rural areas and concerned both with crime and antistate
activities. 
Law Enforcement
Vietnamese legal thought with regard to the treatment of criminals is the result of three
major influences: classic Confucianism, the Napoleonic Code, and Marxism-Leninism. The
combination of the three legacies has produced in Vietnamese society a legal philosophy
that is inquisitional rather than adversarial, seeking reform rather than punishment. The
system imposes on the individual and the state the responsibility of bringing all members
of society to a condition of self-imposed moral rectitude in which behavior is defined in
terms of collective, rather than individual, good. In contrast to the West, where law is
the guarantee of rights that all may claim, in Vietnam the law concerns duties that all
must fulfill. 
Vietnamese law seeks to give the prisoner the right to reformation. In theory, at least,
there are very few incorrigibles. It also permits a relativist approach in fixing
sentences, much more so than do the precedent-based systems of the West. Mitigating
circumstances, such as whether the accused acted out of passion or premeditation, loom
large as a factor in sentencing. Murder by stabbing is treated more leniently than murder
by poison, for example, because the latter is perceived to require a greater degree of
premeditation than the former. The personal circumstances of the accused are also a
factor in determining punishment. In the administration of criminal justice in Vietnam,
an effort is made to understand the criminal, his crime, and his reasons; and the notion
of permanent or extended incarceration is rejected in favor of an effort to determine
whether or not and, if so, how the criminal can be rehabilitated and restored to society.

Political crimes are treated less liberally, however. In such cases, the administration
of justice can be arbitrary and harsh. Politics clearly plays a role in the arrest,
trial, and sentencing procedures. The rationale for this policy, which is openly
acknowledged, is that the revolution must be protected and that the individual may be
sacrificed, perhaps even unjustly, for the common cause. The courts also take a more
jaundiced view of the rehabilitation of political prisoners than of common criminals. 
The court system was reorganized in 1981 into four basic levels: the Supreme People's
Court; the provincial municipal courts reporting to Hanoi; the local courts, chiefly at
the district precinct levels, reporting respectively to provincial or municipal
governments; and military courts. In addition, a number of specialized courts were
created. In judicial procedure the courts still owed much to the French example,
particularly with respect to the role of the procurator, who had much broader
responsibilities than the prosecutor or district attorney under the Anglo-Saxon system. 
Life in a Vietnamese prison is harsh. There are work details for those in prisons, as
well as in the work-reform camps, that chiefly involve agricultural production for prison
use. Rehabilitation lectures are held daily, and prisoners spend much time describing
past behavior and thoughts in detail in their dossiers. Visitors are permitted only
infrequently in most prisons. Discipline is strict, and prisons in particular are well
guarded; usually there is 1 guard for every 250 prisoners. In general, the use of
torture, corporal punishment, and what might be termed police brutality are no longer
legal but are still condoned by officials and even accepted by the general public.
SUMMARY
This was a brief overview of the Vietnamese culture, in an attempt to establish a better
understanding of the potential Vietnamese consumer. By utilizing the knowledge gained
from this report, and any other possible sources, multi-national corporations may fully
benefit from commerce with this emerging market. By possessing a basic foundation of the
make up and everyday working of the Vietnamese society, international firms will be able
to implement more efficient methods of human resource management, advertising, and
manufacturing to meet the demands of the Vietnamese consumer. 
SELF-EVALUATION 
Through out the completion of this project, whether it be the countless hours of
research
or the actual writing of this report, I have gained a better understanding of Vietnam
that I would have had the opportunity to learn. I don't consider myself an "expert" on
the country, or culture of Vietnam; however, I believe I am more aware of the cultural
aspects of Vietnam and their possible advantages, or disadvantages that they may provide.
Overall, I feel I have done an excellent job on this report and I may eventually have an
opportunity to actually use this information in the international arena.
REFERENCES
1. General Information
"Background Notes: Vietnam."United States Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs.
Aug 1995. Online.
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Nov 1997.
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Information Access. Oct 1997.
"Welcome to Vietnam Embassy." Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Washington
D.C. 2 OCT 97. Online. 
http://www.vietnamembassy-usa.org/index.htm.
2. Government
"Background Notes: Vietnam."United States Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs.
Aug 1995. Online.
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D.C. 2 OCT 97. Online. 
http://www.vietnamembassy-usa.org/index.htm
3. History
Crawford, Ann. Customs and Culture of Vietnam. Pages 23-48. Rutland: Charles E. Tuttle
Co., 1966.
"History." Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Washington D.C. 2 OCT 97.
Online. http://www.vietnamembassy-usa.org/history.htm
4. Economy
"Economies of the Asia/Pacific Area: Vietnam." Trade Information Center's Asia/Pacific
Web Site. Online.
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Nov 1997. 
Knecht, Peter A. Editor. "Background Notes - Vietnam." United States Department of State,
Bureau of Public Affairs. National Trade Data Bank. 6 OCT 95.
"Vietnam - Economic Statistics." United States Department of Commerce, International
Trade Administration Market Research Report. National Trade Data Bank. 19 JUN 96.
"Vietnam - Financial Sector Overview." United States Department of Commerce,
International Trade Administration Market Research Report. National Trade Data Bank. 24
APR 96..
"Vietnam's Economy." Vietnamese Embassy. Washington D.C. 2 OCT 97. Online.
"http://www.vietnamembassy-usa.org/economy.htm".
"Vietnam." Asian Development Bank. Online.
http://ccmail.asiandevbank.org/notes/vie1/2156.htm. 6 Nov 1997.
"VIEFIN." Asian Development Bank. Online.
http://internotes.asiandevbank.org/notes/vie1/VIEFIN.htm. 6 Nov 1997.
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Information Access. Oct 1997.
5. Population
"Background Notes: Vietnam."United States Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs.
Aug 1995. Online.
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Nov 1997.
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Information Access. Oct 1997.
6. The People
Crawford, Ann. Customs and Culture of Vietnam. Pages 49-64. Rutland: Charles E. Tuttle
Co., 1966.
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Information Access. Oct 1997.
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7. The Social System
Kham, Nguyen Khac. An Introduction to Vietnamese Culture. 2nd Edition. Pages 10-15.
Saigon: The Vietnam Council of Foreign Relations, 1970.
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8. The Family
Crawford, Ann. Customs and Culture of Vietnam. Pages 49-64, 107-130. Rutland: Charles E.
Tuttle Co., 1966.
9. Religion
Crawford, Ann. Customs and Culture of Vietnam. Pages 65-90. Rutland: Charles E. Tuttle
Co., 1966.
Kham, Nguyen Khac. An Introduction to Vietnamese Culture. 2nd Edition. Pages 15-21.
Saigon: The Vietnam Council of Foreign Relations, 1970.
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Information Access. Oct 1997.
"Culture." Vietnam Online Home Page. Online.
http://www.Vietnamonline.net/menu.nsf/menu/index?opendocument. Nov 1997.
10. Education
Crawford, Ann. Customs and Culture of Vietnam. Pages 91-106. Rutland: Charles E. Tuttle
Co., 1966.
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Information Access. Oct 1997.
11. Public Health
Cima, Ronald J. Editor. VIETNAM: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research
Division of the Library of Congress, 1987. Online.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+vn0000). Oct 1997.
Crawford, Ann. Customs and Culture of Vietnam. Pages 155-166. Rutland: Charles E. Tuttle
Co., 1966.
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D.C. 2 OCT 97. Online. 
http://www.vietnamembassy-usa.org/index.htm
12. Living Conditions
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D.C. 2 OCT 97. Online. 
http://www.vietnamembassy-usa.org/index.htm
13. Infrastructure
Cima, Ronald J. Editor. VIETNAM: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research
Division of the Library of Congress, 1987. Online.
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"Vietnam." Microsoft (R) Encarta (R) 96 Encyclopedia. Microsoft Corporation. CD-ROM.
Information Access. Oct 1997.
14. National Security
Cima, Ronald J. Editor. VIETNAM: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research
Division of the Library of Congress, 1987. Online.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+vn0000). Oct 1997.
"Vietnam." Microsoft (R) Encarta (R) 96 Encyclopedia. Microsoft Corporation. CD-ROM.
Information Access. Oct 1997.
"Welcome to Vietnam Embassy." Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Washington
D.C. 2 OCT 97. Online. 
http://www.vietnamembassy-usa.org/index.htm
15. Internal Security
Cima, Ronald J. Editor. VIETNAM: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research
Division of the Library of Congress, 1987. Online.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+vn0000). Oct 1997.
"Welcome to Vietnam Embassy." Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Washington
D.C. 2 OCT 97. Online. 
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Graphics on Cover and Title Page
"Culture." Vietnam Online Home Page. Online.
http://www.Vietnamonline.net/menu.nsf/menu/index?opendocument. Nov 1997.
Appendix A
"Vietnam." Microsoft (R) Encarta (R) 96 Encyclopedia. Microsoft Corporation. CD-ROM.
Information Access. Oct 1997.
Pictures in Enclosures
The Vietnam Picture Archive. Online.
http://sunsite.unc.edu/vietnam/vnpic.html
APPENDIX A
HISTORICAL TIME LINE
111 BC 
China conquered the northern part of present-day Vietnam, and later changed the name of
the region to Annam.
AD 939
China withdrew from Annam, and the Vietnamese kingdom of Dai Co Viet was established.
Other Vietnamese kingdoms ruled southern areas of present-day Vietnam.
1009-1225
Vietnamese art and culture thrived during the Ly dynasty.
1407-1428
China seized control of Dai Co Viet, but resistance forces led by Le Loi drove the
Chinese from the country and established the kingdom of Dai Viet.
1471
Dai Viet conquered the southern Vietnamese kingdom of Champa, but intermittent fighting
between the north and south continued until 1673.
1770s
The Tay Son began to seize control of much of Dai Viet from the Nguyen dynasty.
1802
Nguyen Anh defeated the Tay Son and united the northern and southern parts of the
country, which he renamed Vietnam.
1861
The French seized control of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and began establishing a
colonial government in Vietnam.
1883
France controlled all of Vietnam as well as Laos and Cambodia.
1940
Japan assumed effective control of French Indochina.
1945
Japan forced Emperor Bao Dai to declare the independence of northern and central Vietnam.
After the war, the emperor stepped down and Communist leader Ho Chi Minh assumed power.
1954
The Communist-led Vietminh defeated the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. Vietnam
was divided into two nations. Ho Chi Minh became president of North Vietnam, and Bao Dai
became the leader of South Vietnam.
1957
Backed by North Vietnam, Communist guerrillas called the Vietcong began to rebel against
the South Vietnamese government.
1965
United States forces landed at Da Nang and began fighting in Vietnam.
1969
Ho Chi Minh died.
1973
The United States ended its military involvement in the Vietnam War.
1975
South Vietnam surrendered to northern forces. Thousands of Vietnamese began fleeing the
country.
1976
North and South Vietnam were unified under a Communist government. Saigon was renamed Ho
Chi Minh City.
1978
Vietnam invaded Cambodia and removed the Khmer Rouge government.
1989
Vietnam claimed to have withdrawn all of its forces from Cambodia.
1990s
Economic reforms encouraging limited private enterprise and foreign investment were
instituted.
1994
The United States ended its long-standing trade embargo with Vietnam. In return, Vietnam
offered increased cooperation in providing information about soldiers killed or missing
in the Vietnam War.
1995
President Clinton announced the normalization of diplomatic relations with Vietnam. This
followed the establishment of Liaison Offices in Hanoi and Washington, DC.