Vietnamese Americans ( vi, Người Mỹ gốc Việt, lit=Viet-origin American people) are
Americans
Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents could also legally claim Ame ...
of
Vietnamese
Vietnamese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia
** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam.
* Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam
** Overse ...
ancestry. They make up about half of all
overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest
Asian American ethnic group after
Chinese Americans,
Filipino Americans
Filipino Americans ( fil, Mga Pilipinong Amerikano) are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos and other Asian ethnicities in North America were first documented in the 16th century as slaves and prisoners on ships sailing to and from New ...
, and
Indian Americans
Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...
. There are about 2.2 million people of Vietnamese descent residing in the U.S.
The Vietnamese community in the United States was minimal until the
South Vietnamese
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
immigration to the country following the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
, which ended in 1975. Early immigrants were refugee
boat people
Vietnamese boat people ( vi, Thuyền nhân Việt Nam), also known simply as boat people, refers to the refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its h ...
who were loyal to the now defunct
South Vietnam in the Vietnam War conflict, who fled due to fear of
political persecution
Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereby ...
. More than half of Vietnamese Americans reside in the two most populous states of
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
and
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, primarily their large urban areas.
Coming from different waves of immigration, Vietnamese Americans have a lower educational attainment than overall total Asian American population but it is still higher than other Southeast Asian groups and is also trending upward. Vietnamese American anticommunist activism takes root from the long tradition of Vietnamese
anticommunism
Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...
, originated from the
colonial period, the end and aftermath of the
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, intensified during the
Indochina Wars
The Indochina Wars ( vi, Chiến tranh Đông Dương) was a series of wars which were waged in Southeast Asia from 1946 to 1991, by communist Indochinese forces (mainly the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) against anti-communist forces (mainly Fr ...
, and deepened from the
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese or Liberation of the South by the Vietnamese government, and known as Black April by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese was the capture of Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon, t ...
, injustice in
reeducation camps as well as other oppressions by the communist regime.
Demographics
Income
In 2019, the median household income for U.S.-born Vietnamese Americans was $82,400
As a relatively-recent immigrant group, most Vietnamese Americans are either
first
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
or second generation Americans. As many as one million people five years of age and older speak
Vietnamese
Vietnamese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia
** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam.
* Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam
** Overse ...
at home, making it the fifth-most-spoken
language in the U.S. In the 2012
American Community Survey (ACS), 76 percent of foreign-born Vietnamese are naturalized U.S. citizens (compared to 67 percent of people from
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...
and 46 percent of the total U.S. foreign-born population). Of those born outside the United States, 73.1 percent entered before 2000, 21.2 percent from 2000 and 2009 and 5.7 percent after 2010.
In 2018, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the total population of Vietnamese Americans was 2,162,610 (92.1% reporting one race, 7.2% reporting two races, 0.7% reporting three races, and 0.1% reporting four or more races).
California and Texas had the highest concentrations of Vietnamese Americans: 40 and 12 percent of Vietnamese immigrants, respectively. Other states with concentrations of Vietnamese Americans were
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, Florida (four percent each) and Virginia (three percent).
The largest number of Vietnamese outside Vietnam is in
Orange County, California
Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...
(184,153, or 6.1 percent of the county's population), followed by
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
and
Santa Clara counties; the three counties accounted for 26 percent of the Vietnamese immigrant population in the United States.
Many Vietnamese American businesses exist in the
Little Saigon
Little Saigon ( vi, Sài Gòn nhỏ or Tiểu Sài Gòn) is a name given to ethnic enclaves of expatriate Vietnamese mainly in English-speaking countries. Alternate names include Little Vietnam and Little Hanoi (mainly in historically communist ...
of
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...
and
Garden Grove, where Vietnamese Americans make up 40.2 and 27.7 percent of the population respectively. About 41 percent of the Vietnamese immigrant population lives in five major metropolitan areas: in descending order,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
,
San Jose,
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
,
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
and
Dallas-Fort Worth.
The Vietnamese immigration pattern has shifted to other cities, including
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Oklahoma (
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
and
Tulsa
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
in particular) and
Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
(
Portland in particular).
Vietnamese Americans are more likely to be
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...
than the Vietnamese in Vietnam. Christians (mainly
Roman Catholics) make up about six percent of Vietnam's population and about 23 percent of the Vietnamese American population. Due to hostility between Communists and Catholics in Vietnam, many Catholics fled the country after the Communist takeover, and many Catholic Churches had sponsored them to America.
Economics
In 2019, the median household income for all Vietnamese Americans was $69,800. Broken down by birth, the income was $82,400 for U.S.-born and $66,000 for foreign-born Vietnamese-Americans.
In 2019, Pew Research Center published a study stating that 12% of Vietnamese Americans lived under the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...
, which was higher than the average for all Asian Americans.
Employment
The U.S. Census Bureau reports in 2016 among working Vietnamese Americans (civilian employed population 16 years and over): 32.9% had management, business, science, and arts occupations; 30.9% had service occupations; 17.0% had sales and office occupations, 4.3% had reported natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations; and 15% had natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations.
Though Vietnamese immigration has continued at a fairly steady pace since the 1980s, the pathway to immigration for Vietnamese today has shifted entirely. As opposed to the earlier history of Vietnamese migration that stemmed predominantly from refugees, an overwhelming majority of Vietnamese are now granted LPR on the basis of family sponsored preferences or by way of immediate relatives to U.S. citizens, at 53% and 44% respectively. This marks a complete about face, as in 1982, 99% of Vietnamese who received green cards obtained them on humanitarian grounds, while in 2019 only 1% of Vietnamese who received LPR status did so through this channel.
Education
In 2019, 55% of U.S.-born Vietnamese Americans had attained a bachelor's degree or higher.
English proficiency
In 2019, 90% of U.S.-born Vietnamese Americans but only 35% of foreign-born Vietnamese were English proficient.
View of education
Vietnam's traditional
Confucianist
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...
society values education and learning, and many Vietnamese Americans have worked their way up from menial labor to have their second-generation children attend college and become successful.
History
The history of Vietnamese Americans is fairly recent. Before 1975, most Vietnamese residing in the U.S. were the wives and children of American servicemen or academics. Records indicate that a few Vietnamese (including
Ho Chi Minh
(: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as (' Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as P ...
) arrived and performed menial work during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. According to the
Immigration and Naturalization Service, 650 Vietnamese arrived as immigrants between 1950 and 1974, but the figure excludes students, diplomats, and military trainees. The April 30, 1975,
fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese or Liberation of the South by the Vietnamese government, and known as Black April by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese was the capture of Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon, t ...
, which ended the Vietnam War, prompted the first large-scale wave of immigration; many with close ties to America or the
South Vietnam government feared communist reprisals. Most of the first-wave immigrants were well-educated, financially comfortable, and proficient in English.
[Wieder, Rosalie. "Vietnamese American". In ''Reference Library of Asian America'', vol I, edited by Susan Gall and Irene Natividad, 165-173. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1996] According to 1975
U.S. State Department data, more than 30 percent of the heads of first-wave households were
medical professional
A health professional, healthcare professional, or healthcare worker (sometimes abbreviated HCW) is a provider of health care treatment and advice based on formal training and experience. The field includes those who work as a nurse, physician (suc ...
s or technical managers, 16.9 percent worked in transportation, and 11.7 percent had clerical or sales jobs in Vietnam. Less than 5 percent were fishermen or farmers.
[Bankston, Carl L. "Vietnamese American." In Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America vol 2, edited by Judy Galens, Anna Sheets, and Robyn V. Young, 1393-1407. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1995]
![Chantroimoi01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Chantroimoi01.jpg)
The evacuation of the immigrants was organized in three major ways. The week before Saigon fell, 15,000 people left on scheduled flights followed by an additional 80,000 also evacuated by air. The last group was carried on U.S. Navy ships.
[Nguyen-Hong-Nhiem, Lucy and Joel M.Halpen. "Vietnamese". In ''American Immigrant Cultures'', vol 2, edited by David Levinson and Melvin Ember, pp. 923-930. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1998] During the spring of 1975 125,000 people left South Vietnam, followed by more than 5,000 in 1976–1977.
They arrived at reception camps in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
and
Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
before being transferred to temporary housing at U.S. military bases, including
Camp Pendleton
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. It is on the Southern California coast in San Diego County and is bordered by O ...
(California),
Fort Chaffee
Fort Chaffee Joint Maneuver Training Center is an Army National Guard installation in western Arkansas, adjacent to the city of Fort Smith. Established as Camp Chaffee in 1941, renamed to Fort Chaffee in 1956, Fort Chaffee has served as a United ...
(Arkansas),
Eglin Air Force Base (Florida) and
Fort Indiantown Gap (Pennsylvania). After preparations for resettlement, they were assigned to one of nine voluntary agencies (
VOLAG
VOLAG, sometimes spelled Volag or VolAg, is an abbreviation for "Voluntary Agency". This term refers to any of the nine U.S. private agencies and one state agency that have cooperative agreements with the State Department to provide reception and p ...
s) to help them find financial and personal support from sponsors in the U.S.
South Vietnamese refugees were initially resented by Americans, since the memory of defeat was fresh; according to a 1975 poll, only 36 percent of Americans favored Vietnamese immigration. However, the U.S. government informed public opinion as it felt that it had a moral obligation to the refugees, and President
Gerald Ford and Congress both agreed to pass the
Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act in 1975, which allowed Vietnamese refugees to enter the United States under a special status and allocated $405 million in resettlement aid. To prevent the refugees from forming
ethnic enclave
In sociology, an ethnic enclave is a geographic area with high ethnic concentration, characteristic cultural identity, and economic activity. The term is usually used to refer to either a residential area or a workspace with a high concentration ...
s and minimize their impact on local communities, they were distributed throughout the country,
but within a few years, many resettled in
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
and
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
.
A second wave of Vietnamese refugees arrived from 1978 to the mid-1980s. Political and economic instability under the new communist government led to a migration unprecedented in Vietnam. South Vietnamese, particularly former military officers and government employees, were sent to "
re-education camps," which were really
concentration camps
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
, for intensive political indoctrination. Famine was widespread, and businesses were seized and nationalized. Chinese-Vietnamese relations soured when China became Vietnam's adversary in the brief
Sino-Vietnamese War
The Sino-Vietnamese War (also known by other names) was a border war fought between China and Vietnam in early 1979. China launched an offensive in response to Vietnam's actions against the Khmer Rouge in 1978, which ended the rule of the C ...
.
To escape, many South Vietnamese fled on small, unsafe, crowded fishing boats. Over 70 percent of the first immigrants were from urban areas, but the "
boat people
Vietnamese boat people ( vi, Thuyền nhân Việt Nam), also known simply as boat people, refers to the refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its h ...
" were generally lower socioeconomically, as most were peasant farmers or fishermen, small-town merchants or former military officials. Survivors were picked up by foreign ships and brought to asylum camps in
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
, and the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
from which they entered countries that agreed to accept them.
The plight of the boat people compelled the U.S. to act, and the
Refugee Act of 1980
The United States Refugee Act of 1980 (Public Law 96-212) is an amendment to the earlier Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 and the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962, and was created to provide a permanent and systematic procedu ...
eased restrictions on the entry of Vietnamese refugees. From 1978 to 1982, 280,500 Vietnamese refugees were admitted
In 1979, the
Orderly Departure Program The Orderly Departure Program (ODP) was a program to permit immigration of Vietnamese to the United States and to other countries. It was created in 1979 under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The objective ...
(ODP) was established under the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...
(UNHCR) to allow emigration from Vietnam to the U.S. and other countries. Additional legislation permitted
Amerasian children and former political prisoners and their families to enter the United States. Vietnamese immigration peaked in 1992, when many re-education-camp inmates were released and sponsored by their families in the U.S. Between 1981 and 2000, the country accepted 531,310 Vietnamese political refugees and asylum-seekers.
![Congregation Of The Mother Coredemtrix](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Congregation_Of_The_Mother_Coredemtrix.jpg)
By the early 1980s, a secondary resettlement was underway. Vietnamese refugees were initially scattered throughout the country in wherever they could find sponsorship. The majority (27,199) settled in California, followed by 9,130 in Texas and 3,500 to 7,000 each in Pennsylvania, Florida, Washington, Illinois, New York, and Louisiana. Economic and social factors, many then moved to warmer states, such as California and Texas, with larger Vietnamese communities, better jobs, and
social safety net
The social safety net (SSN) consists of non-contributory assistance existing to improve lives of vulnerable families and individuals experiencing poverty and destitution. Examples of SSNs are previously-contributory social pensions, in-kind and fo ...
s.
Though Vietnamese immigration has continued at a fairly steady pace since the 1980s, the pathway to immigration for Vietnamese today has shifted entirely. As opposed to the earlier history of Vietnamese migration that stemmed predominantly from refugees, an overwhelming majority of Vietnamese are now granted lawful permanent residence (LPR) on the basis of family sponsored preferences or by way of immediate relatives to U.S. citizens, at 53% and 44% respectively. This marks a complete about face, in 1982, 99% of Vietnamese that were granted LPR were refugees, while today that group is a mere 1% of the Vietnamese population.
Vietnamese Fishermen's Association Antitrust Suit
Vietnamese refugees in the
Gulf Coast
The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coast, coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The list of U.S. states and territories by coastline, coastal states that have a shor ...
faced discrimination as they arrived throughout the 1970s and 1980s. White fishermen complained about unfair competition from their Vietnamese-American counterparts. "Non-Vietnamese docks refused to allow Vietnamese American boats to dock,
ndwholesalers refused to buy shrimp from Vietnamese Americans." The
Ku Klux Klan attempted to intimidate Vietnamese-American shrimp fishermen, at one time having plans to burn Vietnamese shrimp boats. The Vietnamese Fishermen's Association, with the aid of the
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white s ...
, won a 1981 antitrust suit against the Klan, disbanding the "private army of white supremacists."
Community issues
Language barrier
Language was the first barrier Vietnamese refugees with limited English proficiency had to overcome. English uses tonal inflection sparingly (primarily for questions); Vietnamese, a tonal language, uses variations in tone to differentiate between meanings of a sound. can have one of seven meanings, depending on tone: "mother", "ghost", "but", "code", "rice plant", "cheek" or "tomb".
Another difference between Vietnamese and English is the former's widespread use of status-related pronouns.
You
In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers.
History
''You'' comes from the Proto- ...
is the widely used second-person singular pronoun in American English, but the Vietnamese second-person singular pronoun varies by gender ( or ), social status ( or ) and relationship (, or ).
Employment
Vietnamese Americans' income and social classes are diverse. In contrast to Vietnamese refugees who
settled in France or
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, and similar to their counterparts who arrived in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, The
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
, The
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
and
Australia, refugees arriving in the United States often had a lower socioeconomic standing in their home country and more difficulty integrating due to greater linguistic and cultural barriers.
Vietnamese Americans have arrived in the U.S. primarily as refugees, with little or no money. While not as academically or financially accomplished collectively as their
East Asian counterparts, census data indicates that Vietnamese Americans are an upwardly-mobile group; their economic status improved substantially between 1989 and 1999.
Most first-wave Vietnamese immigrants initially worked at low-paying jobs in small services or industries. Finding work was more difficult for second-wave and subsequent immigrants, due to their limited educational background and job skills. They were employed in blue-collar jobs, such as electrical engineering and machine assembling.
In
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
, the economic difference can be seen in the Vietnamese-American neighborhoods of
Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring San Benito County together f ...
. In
downtown San Jose
Downtown San Jose is the central business district of San Jose, California. Downtown is one of the largest tech clusters in Silicon Valley, as well as the cultural and political center of San Jose.
History
The town was first settled in 1777. T ...
, many Vietnamese work as restaurant cooks, repairmen and movers. The
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...
and
Berryessa sections of the city are middle- to upper-middle-class neighborhoods with large Vietnamese-American populations, many of whom work in
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...
's computer, networking and aerospace industries.
Many Vietnamese Americans have established businesses in Little Saigons and
Chinatowns
A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austr ...
throughout
North America, and have initiated the development and revitalization of older Chinatowns. Many Vietnamese Americans are
small business owners. According to a 2002 Census Bureau survey of Vietnamese-owned firms, more than 50 percent of the businesses are personal services or repair and maintenance. The period from 1997 to 2002 saw substantial growth in the number of Vietnamese-owned business.
[ ] Throughout the country, many Vietnamese (especially first or second-generation immigrants) have opened supermarkets, restaurants, ''
bánh mì
In Vietnamese cuisine, or banh mi (, ; , "bread") is a short baguette with thin, crisp crust and soft, airy texture. It is often split lengthwise and filled with savory ingredients like a submarine sandwich and served as a meal, called ''bá ...
'' bakeries,
beauty salons, barber shops and auto-repair businesses. Restaurants owned by Vietnamese Americans tend to serve
Vietnamese cuisine
Vietnamese cuisine encompasses the foods and beverages of Vietnam. Meals feature a combination of five fundamental tastes ( vi, ngũ vị, links=no, label=none): sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and spicy. The distinctive nature of each dish refle ...
, Vietnamized
Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine encompasses the numerous cuisines originating from China, as well as overseas cuisines created by the Chinese diaspora. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has influenced many o ...
or both, and have popularized
phở
Phở or pho (, , ; ) is a Vietnamese soup dish consisting of broth, rice noodles (), herbs, and meat (usually beef (), sometimes chicken ()). Phở is a popular food in Vietnam where it is served in households, street stalls and restaurants ...
and
chả giò
Chả giò (), or nem rán (see also egg rolls), also known as fried spring roll, is a popular dish in Vietnamese cuisine and usually served as an appetizer in Europe and North America, where there are large Vietnamese diaspora. It is ground mea ...
in the U.S. In 2002 34.2 percent of Vietnamese-owned businesses were in California, followed by Texas with 16.5 percent.
![Phuoc Loc Tho](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Phuoc_Loc_Tho.jpg)
Young Vietnamese Americans adults are well educated, and often provide professional services. Since older Vietnamese Americans have difficulty interacting with the non-Vietnamese professional class, many Vietnamese Americans provide specialized professional services to fellow immigrants. Of these, a small number are owned by Vietnamese Americans of
Hoa ethnicity. In the
Gulf Coast
The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coast, coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The list of U.S. states and territories by coastline, coastal states that have a shor ...
region (
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, Texas,
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
and
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County
, LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham
, area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
), Vietnamese Americans are involved with the
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...
ing industry and account for 45 to 85 percent of the region's
shrimp business. However, the
dumping of imported shrimp from Vietnam has impacted their livelihood. Many remain employed in Silicon Valley's computer and networking industry, despite layoffs following the closure of various high-tech companies. Recent immigrants not yet proficient in English work in assembly, restaurants, shops and
nail
Nail or Nails may refer to:
In biology
* Nail (anatomy), toughened protective protein-keratin (known as alpha-keratin, also found in hair) at the end of an animal digit, such as fingernail
* Nail (beak), a plate of hard horny tissue at the tip ...
and
hair salon
A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment dealing with cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, and medical spas.
Beauty treatments
Massage for the body is a ...
s. Eighty percent of California's
nail technician
A manicurist or nail technician is a person whose occupation is to style and shape a person's nails. This is achieved using a combination of decorating nails with coloured varnish, transfers, gems or glitter.
Basic treatments include manicures a ...
s and 43 percent nationwide are Vietnamese Americans. Nail-salon work is skilled manual labor which requires limited English-speaking ability. Some Vietnamese Americans see the work as a way to accumulate wealth quickly, and many send
remittances to family members in Vietnam. Vietnamese entrepreneurs in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
have adopted the U.S. model and opened nail salons in their country of residence, where few nail salons previously existed.
Gangs and incarceration
In California, Vietnamese-Americans account for the highest percentage of inmates among Asian-Americans at 22%. In Richmond, Virginia, Vietnamese-Americans had the second-highest arrest rates, among all demographics, following African-Americans.
In 2001, Rob Krott published an article in the journal ''Law and Order'' stating that the crime rate of Vietnamese-Americans was "out of proportion to their size
f population"
Krott reported that Vietnamese gangs in Southern California are a societal problem, and that their most perpetrated crime is home invasion.
Political leanings
![South Vietnamese flag parade](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/South_Vietnamese_flag_parade.jpg)
According to a 2008
Manhattan Institute
The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (renamed in 1981 from the International Center for Economic Policy Studies) is a conservative American think tank focused on domestic policy and urban affairs, established in Manhattan in 1978 by Anto ...
study, Vietnamese Americans are among the most-assimilated immigrant groups in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
Although their rates of cultural and economic assimilation were comparable to other groups (perhaps due to language differences between English and Vietnamese), their rates of civic assimilation were the highest of the large immigrant groups.
As political refugees, Vietnamese Americans viewed their stay in the United States as permanent and became involved in the political process at a higher rate than other groups. Vietnamese Americans have the highest rate of naturalization among all immigrant groups: in 2015, 86% of Vietnamese immigrants in the United States who were eligible for citizenship already became citizens.
"Socialization processes due to unique experiences during a critical imprinting experience among Vietnamese immigrants form an explanation that relies on duration of time spent in the United States. Immigrant cohorts, as instantiated in waves of immigration, are of course related to years spent in the destination country ..."
[Le, L. K., & Su, P. H. (2016). Vietnamese Americans and Electoral Participation. In K. L. Kreider & T. J. Baldino (Eds.), Minority Voting in the United States, (pp. 363, 365, 349-368), Santa Barbara: Praeger Press.] However, there are "substantive within-group differences among Vietnamese Americans and that the classical linear assimilation hypothesis does not adequately explain political incorporation. Although naturalization does appear to increase steadily over time, with earlier waves more likely to have acquired citizenship, the same pattern of associations does not appear for our analysis of registration and voting. Notably, it was the third wave of Vietnamese immigrants who were most likely to cast ballots in the last presidential election".
The relationship between Vietnam and the United States has been the most important issue for most Vietnamese Americans.
As refugees from a communist country, many are strongly opposed to communism. In a 2000 ''
Orange County Register'' poll, 71 percent of respondents ranked fighting communism as a "top priority" or "very important".
Vietnamese Americans stage protests against the Vietnamese government,
its human rights policy and those whom they perceive to be sympathetic to it.
In 1999, opposition to a video-store owner in
Westminster, California
Westminster is a city in northern Orange County, California, known for its many Vietnamese refugees who immigrated to the city during the 1980s. They settled largely in Little Saigon, and the city is known as the "capital" of overseas Vietnam ...
who displayed the
flag of Vietnam
The flag of Vietnam, officially the National Flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (), or (), also (), was designed in 1940 and used during an uprising against the French in southern Vietnam that year. The red background symbolizes revolut ...
and a photo of Ho Chi Minh peaked when 15,000 people held a nighttime vigil in front of the store; this raised
free speech
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...
issues. Although few Vietnamese Americans enrolled in the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
because it was seen as more sympathetic to communism than the
Republican Party, Republican support has eroded in the second generation and among newer, poorer refugees. However, the Republican Party still has strong support; in 2007, in Orange County, Vietnamese Americans registered as Republicans outnumber registered Democrats (55 and 22 percent, respectively). According to the 2008
National Asian American Survey, 22 percent identified with the Democratic Party and 29 percent with the Republican Party.
Exit polls during the
2004 presidential election indicated that 72 percent of Vietnamese American voters in eight eastern states polled voted for Republican incumbent
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
, compared to the 28 percent voting for Democratic challenger
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...
. In a poll conducted before the
2008 presidential election, two-thirds of Vietnamese Americans who had decided said that they would vote for Republican candidate
John McCain.
The party's vocal
anti-communism
Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...
is attractive to older and first-generation Vietnamese Americans who arrived during the
Reagan administration
Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over ...
. Although most Vietnamese overall are registered Republicans, most young Vietnamese lean toward the Democratic Party because some Vietnamese are members of labor unions. An
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) is a New York-based national organization founded in 1974 that seeks to protect and promote the civil rights of Asian Americans. By combining litigation, advocacy, education, and organiz ...
(AALDEF) poll found that Vietnamese Americans aged 18–29 favored Democrat
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
by 60 percentage points during the 2008 presidential election. According to a 2012
Pew Research Center survey, 47% of registered Vietnamese-American voters leaned Republican and 32% Democratic; among Vietnamese Americans overall (including non-registered voters), 36% leaned Democratic and 35% Republican.
Vietnamese Americans have exercised political power in
Orange County
Orange County most commonly refers to:
*Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Orange County may also refer to:
U.S. counties
*Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando
*Orange County, Indiana
*Orange County, New ...
,
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...
, and other areas, and have attained public office at the local and statewide levels in
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
and
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
.
Janet Nguyen
Janet Q. Nguyen (born May 1, 1976) is an American politician who serves in the California State Assembly. A Republican, she represents the 72nd district, encompassing parts of northern coastal Orange County which includes the cities of Huntin ...
is a member of the
California State Assembly;
Andrew Do is part of the five-member
Orange County Board of Supervisors
The Orange County Board of Supervisors is the five-member governing body of Orange County, California along with being the executive of the county.
Membership
The Board consists of five Supervisors elected by districts to four-year terms by the ...
; Bao Nguyen was mayor of Garden Grove, California, and Vietnamese Americans have also been the mayors of
Rosemead and Westminster, California. Several serve (or have served) on the city councils of Westminster, Garden Grove and San Jose, California, and
Hubert Vo
Hubert Vo (, born 30 May 1956) is a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives for House District 149. He is the first and only Vietnamese American to be elected to the Texas legislature.
Personal life
Vo was born in South Vietna ...
is a member of the Texas state legislature.
In 2008, Westminster became the first city with a majority Vietnamese-American city council. In 2004,
Van Tran was elected to the California state legislature.
Viet Dinh
Viet D. Dinh ( vi, Đinh Đồng Phụng Việt; born February 22, 1968) is a lawyer and a legal scholar who is Chief Legal and Policy Officer of Fox Corporation and who served as an United States Assistant Attorney General, Assistant Attorney Ge ...
was the
Assistant Attorney General of the United States
Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an assistant attorney general.
The president of the United States appoints individuals to the position of assistant attorney general with the advice and ...
from 2001 to 2003 and the chief architect of the
Patriot Act
The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appro ...
. In 2006, 15 Vietnamese Americans were running for elective office in California. In August 2014, Fort Hood Col. Viet Xuan Luong became the first Vietnamese-American general in U.S. history. Four Vietnamese Americans have run for a seat in the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
as their party's endorsed candidate.
Some Vietnamese Americans have lobbied city and state governments to make the
flag of South Vietnam
The flag of South Vietnam was first introduced by the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam, later served as the national flag of the State of Vietnam (known as "South Vietnam" after 1954), and its successor, the Republic of Vietnam (South Vi ...
(rather than the flag of Vietnam) the symbol of the Vietnamese in the United States, and objections were raised by the Vietnamese government. The California and Ohio state governments enacted laws adopting the South Vietnamese flag in August 2006. Since June 2002, 13 states, seven counties and 85 cities had adopted resolutions recognizing the South Vietnamese flag as the Vietnamese Heritage and Freedom Flag.
During the months following
Hurricane Katrina, the Vietnamese-American community in
(among the first to return to the city) rallied against a landfill used to dump debris near their community. After months of legal wrangling, the landfill was closed.
In 2008, Katrina activist
Anh "Joseph" Cao won
Louisiana's 2nd congressional district
Louisiana's 2nd congressional district contains nearly all of the city of New Orleans and stretches west and north to Baton Rouge. The district is currently represented by Democrat Troy Carter. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of D+25, ...
seat in the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
; Cao was the first Vietnamese American elected to
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
.
Since the onset of
Hong Kong protests in June 2019, Vietnamese Americans have been the most active
Asian Americans rallying in favor of the
pro-democracy
Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a full ...
(pro-Labor Union)
Hongkongers, organizing vocal marches in
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, where their largest community exists. They clashed with
pro-communist Mainland Chinese
Mainland Chinese or Mainlanders are Chinese people who live in or have recently emigrated from mainland China, defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) except for Hong Kong ( SAR of the PRC), Macau (SAR of the PRC), ...
immigrants.
Trúc Hồ, a famed Vietnamese American singer, wrote a song in
July 2019 to praise the Hong Kong protesters. The song went viral among Vietnamese and Hong Kong citizens.
Among Asian Americans, Vietnamese Americans have been the most supportive of
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
since his
2016 presidential election
This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*7 January: Kiri ...
. According to a AAPI.org survey, 46% of Vietnamese Americans supported Trump in the
2020 presidential election, compared to 36% for
Joe Biden. The reasons credited for the strong support of Trump by Vietnamese Americans is his strong stance against
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...
and for capitalism and his
dislike for mainland China's trade policies and alleged
currency manipulation
Currency intervention, also known as foreign exchange market intervention or currency manipulation, is a monetary policy operation. It occurs when a government or central bank buys or sells foreign currency in exchange for its own domestic curr ...
. Many
pro-Trump rallies were organized by
Andy Ngo
Andy Cuong Ngo ( ; born ) is an American conservative journalist, author, and right-wing social media influencer known for covering and video-recording demonstrators. He is the editor-at-large of '' The Post Millennial'', a Canadian conserva ...
to support his re-election during the
2020 campaign throughout the country. Many Vietnamese Americans gained headlines for participating in the
January 6 United States Capitol attack
On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of then- U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The mob was seeking to keep Trump in p ...
by waving the South Vietnamese flags and marching alongside neo-Nazi and white nationalist supporters.
Some Vietnamese Americans, especially younger ones have expressed that they feel "disappointed" about the display of the flag at the Capitol riot, mainly "to see it be associated with hate, with racism, with supremacy"; that "The ideas of authoritarianism, of overturning the people's will, are not the principles that this flag stands for", and that the incident made them "look like clowns". It was reported that due to the incident, "many younger people started questioning their elders' unyielding loyalty to and interpretation of the banner's
outh Vietnam Flagvalues".
Student associations
A number of colleges have a Vietnamese Student Association, and an annual conference is hosted by the
Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations The Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations (UNAVSA) ( vi, Liên Hội Sinh Viên Việt Nam Bắc Mỹ Châu) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, community-based organization founded in 2004 as a means for Vietnamese people, Vietnamese organ ...
for current or future members.
Culture
![Tet Festival Little Saigon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Tet_Festival_Little_Saigon.jpg)
While adapting to a new country, Vietnamese Americans have tried to preserve their traditional culture by teaching their children the
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese ( vi, tiếng Việt, links=no) is an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic language originating from Vietnam where it is the national language, national and official language. Vietnamese is spoken natively by over 70 million people, ...
, wearing traditional dress (') for special occasions and showcasing their cuisine in restaurants throughout the country. Family loyalty is the most important Vietnamese cultural characteristic, and more than two generations traditionally lived under one roof. The Vietnamese view a family as including maternal and paternal grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. In adapting to American culture, most Vietnamese American families have adopted the
nuclear pattern while trying to maintain close ties with their extended families.
Vietnamese family culture is reflected in
veneration of the dead
The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of t ...
. On the
anniversary of an ancestor's death ('), relatives gather for a festive meal and to share stories about the person's children, works or community.
In a typical Vietnamese family, parents see themselves with a vital role in their children's lives; according to a survey, 71 percent of Vietnamese-American parents said that being a good parent is one of the most important things in their lives.
Generations of Vietnamese were taught to help their families without question, and many Vietnamese Americans send American goods and money and sponsor relatives' trips or immigration to the U.S. In 2013, remittances sent to Vietnam via formal channels totaled $11 billion, a tenfold increase from the late 1990s.
![Vietcommunity rose festival 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Vietcommunity_rose_festival_02.jpg)
Vietnamese Americans observe holidays based on their
lunisolar calendar
A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures, combining lunar calendars and solar calendars. The date of Lunisolar calendars therefore indicates both the Moon phase and the time of the solar year, that is the position of the Sun in the ...
, with (commonly known as ) the most important. Falling in late January or early February, marks the lunar new year. Although the full holiday lasts for seven days, the first three days are celebrated with visits to relatives, teachers and friends. For , the Vietnamese commemorate their ancestors with memorial feasts (including traditional foods such as square and round sticky-rice cakes: ' and ') and visits to their ancestors' graves.
For Vietnamese Americans, the celebration of is simpler. In California, Texas and other states with substantial Vietnamese communities, Vietnamese Americans celebrate by visiting their relatives and friends, watching community-sponsored dragon dances and visiting temples or churches.
(Wandering Souls' Day, on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month) and (Children's Day or the Mid-Autumn Festival, on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month) are also celebrated by many Vietnamese Americans. For , food, money and clothes made of special paper are prepared to worship the wandering souls of ancestors. Along with , is a favorite children's holiday; children holding colorful lanterns form a procession and follow a parade of lion dances and drums.
Religion
Forty-three percent of Vietnamese Americans are Buddhists.
Many practice
Mahayana Buddhism,
Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...
,
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or a ...
and
animist practices (including
ancestor veneration) influenced by
Chinese folk religion
Chinese folk religion, also known as Chinese popular religion comprehends a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. Vivienne Wee described it as "an empty bowl, which can variously be filled ...
.
Twenty-nine to thirty percent of Vietnamese Americans are Catholic, and a smaller number are
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
.
Vietnamese are a major ethnic group notable among Asian
American Catholics
With 23 percent of the United States' population , the Catholic Church is the country's second largest religious grouping, after Protestantism, and the country's largest single church or Christian denomination where Protestantism is divided in ...
.
Hòa Hảo
Hòa Hảo is a religious movement described either as a syncretistic folk religion or as a sect of Buddhism. It was founded in 1939 by Huỳnh Phú Sổ (1920–1947), who is regarded as a saint by its devotees. It is one of the major religio ...
and
Caodaism
Caodaism ( vi, Đạo Cao Đài, Chữ Hán: ) is a monotheistic syncretic new religious movement officially established in the city of Tây Ninh in southern Vietnam in 1926. The full name of the religion is (The Great Faith or theThird Uni ...
are two of the other religions of Vietnamese Americans.
There are 150 to 165 Vietnamese Buddhist temples in the United States, with most observing a mixture of
Pure Land (Tịnh Độ Tông) and
Zen
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
(Thiền) doctrines and practices.
Most temples are small, consisting of a converted house with one or two resident monks or nuns.
Two of the most prominent figures in Vietnamese-American Buddhism are
Thich Thien-An and
Thich Nhat Hanh Thích is a name that Vietnamese monks and nuns take as their Buddhist surname to show affinity with the Buddha.
Notable Vietnamese monks with the name include:
* Thích Huyền Quang (1919–2008), dissident and activist
* Thích Quảng Độ ( ...
.
There are also Theravada-based Vietnamese temples like
Chua Buu Mon
Chua Buu Mon is a Buddhist Temple located on Proctor Street in Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur, Texas.
Quick Stats
Leader/Title: Most Venerable Huyen Viet
Ethnic Composition: Mostly Vietnamese, with a growing non-Vietnamese population.
Resident ...
in Port Arthur, Texas.
Ethnic subgroups
Although census data counts those who identify as
ethnically Vietnamese, how Vietnamese ethnic groups view themselves may affect that reporting.
Hoa
The
Hoa people
The Hoa people ( Vietnamese: ''Người Hoa'', or ) are citizens of Vietnam of full or partial Chinese origin. Chinese migration into Vietnam dates back millennia but most Hoa today derive their recent ancestral Chinese heritage from the 18t ...
are
ethnic Chinese
The Chinese people or simply Chinese, are people or ethnic groups identified with China, usually through ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, or other affiliation.
Chinese people are known as Zhongguoren () or as Huaren () by speakers of s ...
who migrated to Vietnam. In 2013, they made up 11.5 percent of the Vietnamese-American population, and in majority, identified itself as Vietnamese. Some Hoa Vietnamese Americans also speak a dialect of
Yue Chinese
Yue () is a group of similar Sinitic languages spoken in Southern China, particularly in Liangguang (the Guangdong and Guangxi provinces).
The name Cantonese is often used for the whole group, but linguists prefer to reserve that name for ...
, generally
code-switching
In linguistics, code-switching or language alternation occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation or situation. Code-switching is different from plurilingualis ...
between Cantonese and Vietnamese to speak to both Hoa immigrants from Vietnam and
ethnic Vietnamese.
Teochew, a variety of
Southern Min which had virtually no speakers in the US before the 1980s, is spoken by another group of Hoa immigrants. A small number of Vietnamese Americans may also speak
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
as a third (or fourth) language in business and other interaction.
Eurasians and Amerasians
Some Vietnamese Americans are
Eurasians: people of European and Asian descent. They are descendants of ethnic Vietnamese and
French settlers and soldiers (and sometimes Hoa) during the French colonial period (1883–1945) or the
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...
(1946–1954).
Amerasians are descendants of an ethnic Vietnamese (or Hoa) parent and an American parent, most commonly white or black. The first substantial generation of Amerasian Vietnamese Americans were born to American personnel, primarily military men, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1975. Many Amerasians were ignored by their American parent; in Vietnam, the fatherless children of foreign men were called ''con lai'' ("mixed race") or the pejorative ''bụi đời'' ("dust of life"). Since 1982, Amerasians and their families have come to the United States under the
Orderly Departure Program The Orderly Departure Program (ODP) was a program to permit immigration of Vietnamese to the United States and to other countries. It was created in 1979 under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The objective ...
. Many could not be reunited with their fathers, and commonly arrived with their mothers. In some cases, they were part of false families that were created to escape from Vietnam.
Many of the first-generation Amerasians and their mothers experienced significant social and institutional discrimination in Vietnam, where they were denied the right to education; discrimination worsening after the 1973 American withdrawal, and by the U.S. government, which discouraged American military personnel from marrying Vietnamese nationals and frequently refused claims of U.S. citizenship that were lodged by Amerasians born in Vietnam if their mothers were not married to their American fathers.
Discrimination was even greater for children of black servicemen than for children of white fathers. Subsequent generations of Amerasians (children born in the United States) and Vietnamese-born Amerasians whose American paternity was documented by their parents' marriage or their subsequent legitimization have had an arguably more favorable outlook.
The 1988
American Homecoming Act The American Homecoming Act or Amerasian Homecoming Act, was an Act of Congress giving preferential immigration status to children in Vietnam born of U.S. fathers. The American Homecoming Act was written in 1987, passed in 1988, and implemented in ...
helped over 25,000 Amerasians and their 67,000 relatives in Vietnam, to emigrate to the United States. Although they received permanent-resident status, many have been unable to obtain citizenship and express a lack of belonging or acceptance in the US because of differences in culture, language and citizenship status.
Ethnic Tai-Lao
The
Thái peoples, including the
Laotians
This is a demography of the population of Laos including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Laos' population was estimated at ab ...
,
Nungs and other Tai ethnicities who migrated to the United States were majority from Northern Vietnam. The community, overall, do not develop a separate ethnic identity sentiment due to long friendly relations with the Vietnamese rulers, thus the community don't regard itself
Thai Americans
Thai Americans ( th, ชาวอเมริกันเชื้อสายไทย; formerly referred to as Siamese Americans) are Americans of Thai ancestry.
History in the US
The 1930 Census recorded just 18 ‘Siamese’ Americans. Acc ...
or
Laotian Americans
Laotian Americans ( lo, ຄົນອາເມລິກາລາວ) are Americans who trace their ancestry to Laos. Laotian Americans are included in the larger category of Asian Americans. The major immigrant generation were generally refugees w ...
, and see itself part of Vietnamese American diaspora.
Cham
Cham
Cham or CHAM may refer to:
Ethnicities and languages
*Chams, people in Vietnam and Cambodia
**Cham language, the language of the Cham people
***Cham script
*** Cham (Unicode block), a block of Unicode characters of the Cham script
*Cham Albania ...
are an ethnic minority of Vietnam, and a small number of them came to the United States as refugees. Today, the Chams are polarized between, though few embraced Vietnamese identity but rather still feel loyal to the fallen
Champa, while still working with most Vietnamese American groups.
See also
*
List of Vietnamese Americans
This is a list of notable Vietnamese Americans.
To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Vietnamese American, or must have independent reliable source references showing they are Vietnamese America ...
*
List of Vietnamese American groups
The follow is a list of groups formed by or for the Vietnamese-American community.
Military
* Vietnamese American Armed Forces Association
Academic
* Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations
* Union of Vietnamese Student Associat ...
*
List of U.S. cities with large Vietnamese-American populations
*
Vietnamese language in the United States
References
Further reading
* Chan, Sucheng, ed. (2006). ''The Vietnamese American 1.5 Generation: Stories of War, Revolution, Flight, and New Beginnings'' 323pp
* Tran, Tuyen Ngoc. ''Behind the Smoke and Mirrors: The Vietnamese in California, 1975–1994'' (PhD dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 2007).
*
Min Zhou and
Carl L. Bankston (1998). ''
Growing Up American
{{italic title
''Growing Up American: How Vietnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States'', by Min Zhou and Carl L. Bankston III is one of the most influential books on the Vietnamese American experience. Published in 1998 by the Russell ...
: How Vietnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States''. New York: Russell Sage Foundation
*
External links
Vietnamese American Heritage Project Vietnam Center & Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive,
Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sy ...
.
Viet Stories: Vietnamese American Oral History Projectat
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...
.
Other oral history projects about Vietnamese Americans
Vietnamese in the Diaspora Digital Archive
US–Vietnam Research Centerat
University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
.
{{Authority control
American people of Vietnamese descent
USA
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
Asian-American society
Southeast Asian American
Political refugees in the United States