Vietnamese Culture example essay topic

The country is approximately 331,688 square kilometers. The topography consists of hills and densely forested mountains, with level land covering no more than 20 percent. Mountains account for 40 percent, hills 40 percent, and forests 75 percent. The northern part of the country consists of highlands and the Red River Delta; the south is divided into coastal lowlands, Dai Truong Son (central mountains) with high plateaus, and the Mekong River Delta.

The climate is tropical and monsoonal; humidity averages 84 percent throughout the year. Annual rainfall ranges from 120 to 300 centimeters, and annual temperatures vary between 5^0 C and 37^0 C. Land boundaries: Total: 4,639 km border countries: Cambodia 1,228 km, China 1,281 km, Laos 2,130 km In 1986, the Sixth Party Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam formally abandoned Marxist economic planning and began introducing market elements as part of a broad economic reform package called 'Doi Moi' ('Renovation'). In many ways, this followed the Chinese model and achieved similar results. On the one hand, Vietnam achieved around 8% annual GDP growth from 1990 to 1997 and continued at around 7% from 2000 to 2002, making it the world's second-fastest growing economy. Simultaneously, investment grew three-fold and domestic savings quintupled. On the other hand, urban unemployment has been rising steadily in recent years, and rural unemployment, estimated to be up to 35% during non harvest periods, is already at critical levels.

Layoffs in the state sector and foreign-invested enterprises combined with the lasting effects of an earlier military demobilization further exacerbate the unemployment situation. The country is attempting to become a member organization of the WTO. Vietnam, however, is still a very poor country with GDP of around US$37 billion in 2004. This translates to merely US$450 per capita. The impressive growth is due to its low base and the government cleverly hide the fact that inflation in the country is high, estimated at 14% p. a. in 2004.

This figure has been scaled down by the Government to 9.5% p. a. to avoid the 'double digit' classification. The high inflation rate effectively makes the growth rate negative. However, it is noticed that the spending power of the people has increased. The answer lies in the ridiculous property prices. In Hanoi, the capital, property price can be as high as that in Tokyo and New York.

This has amazed many people because GDP per capita of this city is just around US$1,000 p. a. The booming has helped people with little piece of land or a tiny apartment, by selling them, realise their dream despite their pitiful monthly income. Massive wealth from corruption, bribery and embezzlement committed by virtually all Government officers has pushed the property prices at the rocket high. This is because investment in property is popular money laundering. However, the collapse of the property market will reveal real strength of this economy. [edit] Demographics Street scene inEnlargeStreet scene in Haiphong Main article: Demographics of Vietnam The ethnic Vietnamese are concentrated largely in the alluvial deltas and in the coastal plains, having little in common with the minority peoples of the highlands, whom they historically have regarded as hostile and barbaric.

A homogeneous social group, the Vietnamese exert influence on national life through their control of political and economic affairs and their role as purveyors of the dominant culture. By contrast, the ethnic minorities, except for the Hoa, are found mostly in the highlands that cover two-thirds of the national territory. The Hoa, the largest minority, are mainly lowlanders. Officially, the ethnic minorities are referred to as national minorities.

Vietnam also has small number of Eurasians. Most of them are descendants of Vietnamese people and either early French settlers or American soldiers and personnel (or both), during colonial period and Vietnam War. More than 87% of the population speaks the Vietnamese language, the nation's official language. Various other languages are spoken by the several minority groups in Vietnam. The most common of these are Chinese and Khmer. French is spoken by some, mostly older Vietnamese, as a second-language.

In recent decades, English has become a more popular language to learn and is increasingly used in business, among other things. See also: List of ethnic groups in Vietnam [edit] Culture Main article: Culture of Vietnam In its early history, Vietnamese writing used Chinese characters. In the 16th century, the Vietnamese developed their own set of characters called Ch N^om. The celebrated epic Kim Van Kiev by Nguy n Du is written in Ch N^om. During the French colonial period, Qu c Ng, the romanized Vietnamese alphabet representation of spoken Vietnamese, became popular and brought literacy to the masses. This had a profound effect on the political power in the country.

Due to Vietnam's long association with China, Vietnamese culture remains strongly Confucian with its emphasis on familial duty and harmony. Education is highly prized. Historically, passing the imperial mandarin exams was the only means for ambitious Vietnamese to socially advance themselves. In the modern era, Vietnamese are trying to reconcile traditional culture with Western ideas of individual freedom, distrust of authority, and consumer culture. The majority of Vietnamese are Buddhists, with a strong emphasis on ancestor worship. Some critics say that the Vietnamese's second religion is superstition and fatalism, brought on by the decades of war.

Within a typical Vietnamese Catholic family, one would find: an intense devotion to the Virgin Mary (the Holy Mother outranks the Son in Confucian thinking), pictures of deceased ancestors on the family altar, and belief and practice in Feng Shui (Phong Th y), fortune telling, and communication with spirits and the dead. Vietnam's cuisine and music have three distinct flavors, related to Vietnam's three regions: Bac or North, Hue or Central, and Nam or South. Northern classical music is Vietnam's oldest and is traditionally more formal. Vietnamese classical music can be traced to the Mongol invasions, when the Vietnamese captured a Chinese opera troupe. Central classical music shows the influences of Champa culture with its melancholic melodies.

Southern music exudes a lively laissez faire attitude, probably due to the region's relative prosperity. Vietnamese cuisine is based on rice, soy sauce, and fish sauce. Its characteristic flavor is sweet (sugar), spicy (serrano peppers), and flavored by a variety of mints.