Vietnam, officially the
Socialist Republic of Viet Nam (
SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of
mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about 331,000 square kilometres (128,000 sq mi) and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's
fifteenth-most populous country. Vietnam shares land borders with
China to the north, and
Laos and
Cambodia to the west. It shares
maritime borders with
Thailand through the
Gulf of Thailand, and the
Philippines,
Indonesia, and
Malaysia through the
South China Sea. Its capital is
Hanoi and its largest city is
Ho Chi Minh City (commonly referred to by its former name, Saigon).
Vietnam was inhabited by the Paleolithic age, with states established in the first millennium BC on the Red River Delta in modern-day northern Vietnam. The Han dynasty annexed Northern and Central Vietnam under Chinese rule from 111 BC, until the first dynasty emerged in 939. Successive monarchical dynasties absorbed Chinese influences through Confucianism and Buddhism, and expanded southward to the Mekong Delta, conquering Champa. During most of the 17th and 18th centuries, Vietnam was effectively divided into two domains of Đàng Trong and Đàng Ngoài. The Nguyễn—the last imperial dynasty—surrendered to France in 1883. In 1887, its territory was integrated into French Indochina as three separate regions. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the nationalist coalition Viet Minh, led by the communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh, launched the August Revolution and declared Vietnam's independence in 1945.
Vietnam went through prolonged warfare in the 20th century. After World War II, France returned to reclaim colonial power in the First Indochina War, from which Vietnam emerged victorious in 1954. As a result of the treaties signed between the Viet Minh and France, Vietnam was also separated into two parts. The Vietnam War began shortly after, between the communist North Vietnam, supported by the Soviet Union and China, and the anti-communist South Vietnam, supported by the United States. Upon the North Vietnamese victory in 1975, Vietnam reunified as a unitary socialist state under the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in 1976. An ineffective planned economy, a trade embargo by the West, and wars with Cambodia and China crippled the country further. In 1986, the CPV initiated economic and political reforms similar to the Chinese economic reform, transforming the country to a socialist-oriented market economy. The reforms facilitated Vietnamese reintegration into the global economy and politics.
Vietnam is a developing country with a lower-middle-income economy. It has high levels of corruption, censorship, environmental issues and a poor human rights record; the country ranks among the lowest in international measurements of civil liberties, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion and ethnic minorities. It is part of international and intergovernmental institutions including the ASEAN, the APEC, the CPTPP, the Non-Aligned Movement, the OIF, and the WTO. It has assumed a seat on the United Nations Security Council twice. (Full article...)
Vietnam Airlines (Vietnamese: Hãng hàng không Quốc gia Việt Nam, lit. 'Vietnam National Airlines') is the flag carrier of Vietnam. The airline was founded in 1956 and later established as a state-owned enterprise in April 1989. Vietnam Airlines is headquartered in Long Biên district, Hanoi, with hubs at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi and Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City. The airline flies 117 routes across 19 countries, excluding codeshared services.
From its inception until the early 1990s, Vietnam Airlines was a minor carrier within the aviation industry as it was hampered by a variety of factors including the socio-economic and political situation of the country. With the government's normalization of
relations with the United States, the airline was able to expand, improve its products and services, and modernize its ageing fleet. In 1996, the Vietnamese government brought together 20 service companies to form Vietnam Airlines Corporation, with the airline itself as the centrepiece. In 2010, the corporation was restructured into a
limited liability company and renamed Vietnam Airlines Company Limited. A seven-seat management board, members of which are appointed by the
Vietnamese Prime Minister, oversees the company. (
Full article...)
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Image 1Wooden doors in the Imperial palace in
Huế, Vietnam
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Image 2Dong Ho painting is a line of Vietnamese folk painting originating in Đông Hồ village (Song Hồ commune,
Thuận Thành District, Bắc Ninh Province.
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Image 3Water puppetry, lit. "Making
puppets dance on water") is a tradition that dates back as far as the 11th century when it originated in the villages of the
Red River Delta area of northern
Vietnam.
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Image 4Hanging fishing nets in the
Cu Đê River, just before it merges with Da Nang Bay
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Image 5The sunset over
Hanoi, after a rain
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Image 6The painting depicts the retired emperor
Trần Nhân Tông who has now become a monk and returned to Hanoi from his hermitage in Vũ Lâm.
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Image 7Making salt by evaporation of sea water near
Ninh Hòa town,
Khánh Hòa Province Vietnam
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Image 8Thích Quảng Đức's self-immolation during the
Buddhist crisis in Vietnam.
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Image 9A view of
Mường Thanh Valley from
Dien Bien Phu city, Vietnam
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Image 10The gate to Linh Ung Pagoda at
Sơn Trà District,
Da Nang, Vietnam
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Image 11The train station at
Da Lat
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Image 12Imperial City of Huế, recognized as a UNESCO Heritage site in 1993, was the former capital of Vietnam under the
Nguyễn dynasty.
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Image 13Hồ Chí Minh attended French Communist Congress in Marseilles in 1921 under the name Nguyễn Ái Quốc.
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Image 14View of
Ho Chi Minh City from
Bitexco Financial Tower, Vietnam