Roots of Displacement
After reading chapter 1, I realized how little I knew about Vietnamese culture and history. Chapter 1 introduces 2 theories as to why many Vietnamese people immigrated to other countries. One reason was because of the Cold War, and another was because Vietnam may be a second or even a third-world country. Before the chapter got into detail about the reasons of immigration, there was a brief historical summary that set the stage and explained a little about why Vietnam became involved in the Cold War In the beginning of the Vietnamese civilization, there was heavy influence from China, mainly as a result of china's invasion over the country. First, there was a Legendary period (2879-258) from which a number of kings ruled the dynasty. Then, it had been invaded by China at around 111BC with a reign that lasted for over a thousand years. Vietnam had finally regained full National Independence for about 999 years, from 939-1883 AD.
Rizières inondées à la frontière entre le Viet...
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Hanoi, Vietnam
By ferry across Saigon RiverVietnam had been suffering from internal conflicts regarding Chinese Confucianism, and was very weak and open to invasion. The French had conquered Vietnam in 1884. A few years before WWII had ended, the Japanese had overthrown the French colonial regime and conquered Vietnam. However, the Asian imperialists had surrendered to the Allied Forces and Ho Chi Minh took control of the country thereafter. The French again tried to reestablish their colonies in the French-Vietnam war. The Vietnamese had developed a strong sense of nationalism and anti-colonialism, which in turn gave rise to communism. Though Ho Chi Minh was an anti-colonialist, he was also believed in Marxist and Leninist theories of communism as well. As the Soviet Union and the United States were battling for power of influence, Vietnam had gotten trapped in the middle. The United States was...