Overseas Vietnamese ( vi, người Việt hải ngoại, or ) refers to
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people ( vi, người Việt, lit=Viet people) or Kinh people ( vi, người Kinh) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day Northern Vietnam and Dongxing, Guangxi, Southern China (Jing Islands, Dongxing, Guangxi ...
who live outside
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. There are approximately 5 million overseas Vietnamese, the largest community of whom live 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 territorie ...
. The oldest wave of overseas Vietnamese left Vietnam as economic and political
refugees
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution. after the 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 Saigon, the capital of ...
and the
North Vietnam
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
ese
annexation
Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...
of
South Vietnam
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 ...
.
Overseas Vietnamese make up the fifth largest Asian diaspora, after the
Indian diaspora
Overseas Indians (IAST: ), officially Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) are Indians who live outside of the Republic of India. According to the Government of India, ''Non-Resident Indians'' are citizens of Indi ...
,
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese.
Terminology
() or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, refe ...
,
Overseas Filipinos
An overseas Filipino ( fil, Pilipino sa ibayong-dagat) is a person of full or partial Filipino origin—i.e., people who trace back their ancestry to the Philippines but living or residing outside the country. This term generally applies to b ...
and the
Lebanese diaspora
Lebanese diaspora refers to Lebanese migrants and their descendants who emigrated from Lebanon and now reside in other countries. There are more Lebanese living outside Lebanon (over 4 million), than within the country (4 million citizens). T ...
.
The term ''Việt Kiều'' ''越僑'' ("Vietnamese sojourner") is used by people in Vietnam to refer to Vietnamese living outside the country and is not a term of self-identification. However, many overseas Vietnamese prefer the terms ("Overseas Vietnamese") or ("free Vietnamese").
History
Overseas Vietnamese can be divided into distinct categories:
*People who left Vietnam before 1975. This population usually resides in neighboring countries, such as
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
,
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
,
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 bo ...
and
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, as well as those who settled in
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
before French colonization. During the
French colonial era, many Vietnamese also migrated to France as students or workers. These people are not often considered Việt Kiều by people residing in Vietnam.
*People who fled Vietnam in the immediate aftermath of the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, 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 Vie ...
, many of them via
Operation New Life
Operation New Life (23 April – 1 November 1975) was the care and processing on Guam of Vietnamese refugees evacuated before and after the Fall of Saigon, the closing day of the Vietnam War. More than 111,000 of the evacuated 130,000 Vietna ...
and
Operation Babylift
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...
, and their descendants. This is the largest Vietnamese diaspora group, found mainly in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
,
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
,
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 Delt ...
, and
Australasia
Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...
.
*People who migrated legitimately from Vietnam to other parts of the
Soviet bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
during the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
era and chose to remain outside Vietnam after the
Soviet collapse
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
, and their descendants. This is the second-largest Vietnamese diaspora group, found mainly in the former
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
and the ex-
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...
countries of
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
.
*Economic migrants who work in other Asian countries such
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
. This includes Vietnamese women who married men from these countries through
illegal marriage agencies. These agencies are the source of social tension, controversy, and have been criticized for resembling human trafficking. Many women in this category suffer violence by their foreign husbands.
*Vietnamese living in the
Middle East and North Africa
MENA, an acronym in the English language, refers to a grouping of countries situated in and around the Middle East and North Africa. It is also known as WANA, SWANA, or NAWA, which alternatively refers to the Middle East as Western Asia (or a ...
, in particular the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
,
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
,
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
and
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
. Many members of this population studied overseas and sought work in other countries.
According to a 2014 report by the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
, "women make up at least two-thirds of workers who leave the country", and sometimes leave fathers behind to care for children. The report also said that "the total amount of remittances sent back from all Vietnamese workers overseas now exceeds $2 billion a year."
In addition, as of 2020, 190,000 Vietnamese were
studying abroad. Most were studying in Australia (30,000), the United States (29,000), Canada (21,000), the UK (12,000) and Asian countries (70,000); as well as an unknown number of illegal Vietnamese immigrants, as unveiled by the
Essex lorry deaths
On 23 October 2019, the bodies of 39 Vietnamese people — 31 men and 8 women — were found in the trailer of an articulated refrigerator lorry in Grays, Essex, United Kingdom. The trailer had been shipped from the port of Zeebrugge, Belgiu ...
throughout massive networks of illegal human trades spanned from Asia to Europe.
Around the World
United States
Vietnamese immigrants in the United States are one of the largest immigrant communities in the world. The community grew from 231,000 in 1980 to perhaps as many as 1.3 million in 2012.
Most immigrants fled to the United States as refugees in the wake of the Vietnam War, arriving in three distinct waves from the 1960s to the 1990s. The first wave consisted mainly of South Vietnamese military personnel and citizens targeted by communist forces because of their associations with both the South Vietnamese government and the United States.
The second wave, which occurred in the 1970s, brought rural Vietnamese to the United States in what became known as the "
boat people crisis". This wave was characterized by people who lacked the education or wealth of the first wave, as well as a large number of ethnic Chinese who were fleeing persecution by the Vietnamese government.
The final wave took place in the 1980s into the 1990s. A majority of these immigrants were the children of Vietnamese mothers and American soldiers, and they greatly increased the population of Vietnamese in America. By 2012, this population constituted 31% of the 4 million foreign-born population from South East Asia, 11% of the 11.9 million foreign-born from Asia, and 3% of the 40.8 million overall foreign-born population.
Mass migration from Vietnam began in response to the Vietnamese government in the 1970s. During the North Vietnamese military offensive of mid-March 1975, many South Vietnamese citizens were pushed farther and farther south into Saigon. On April 30, the final U.S. troops and diplomats left Saigon and the country came under the control of the Provisional Revolutionary Government. As a result, the
North Vietnamese Army
The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; vi, Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), also recognized as the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) or the Vietnamese Army (), is the military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the armed win ...
(NVA) took control of the country and many Vietnamese became refugees and immigrated to the United States.
[Do, Hien Duc. "The New Migrants from Asia: Vietnamese in the United States." ''OAH Magazine of History'' 10, no. 4 (1996): 61-66. Accessed November 11, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25163102.]
By 1979, the United Nations recognized that the Vietnamese refugee crisis was a "world problem", which led to the First Geneva Conference on Indochinese Refugees in July, 1979. The United States, United Kingdom, Australia, France, and Canada each agreed to accept refugees for resettlement, and Vietnamese refugee entries to the U.S. to peaked from 1979 to 1982. That year,
President Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 19 ...
doubled the number of Southeast Asian refugees accepted into the United States, from 7,000 to 14,000. However, 62% of Americans said they disapproved of the measure.
The South Vietnamese coming to the U.S. in the second wave did not come willingly. They were forced out of their homes by the N.V.A. and sought refuge in the United States. Many of these people felt betrayed by the U.S.'s handling of the situation in Vietnam and felt conflicted about making the journey there. Nearly all the Vietnamese migrants to the United States during this time were listed as refugees, not as immigrants, because of the forced manner in which they had been exiled to the United States; 99% of Vietnamese newcomers to the United States who received a
Green Card
A green card, known officially as a permanent resident card, is an identity document which shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. ("The term 'lawfully admitted for permanent residence' means the status of having been ...
in 1982 fell into this category.
In 2016 the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the Vietnamese American population to be 2,067,527. The majority live in metropolitan areas in the western half of the country, especially in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. There are particularly large communities 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 ...
,
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 popul ...
,
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 in ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
and
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
,
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 on ...
. Those who fled to escape the North Vietnamese takeover are generally antagonistic toward the communist government of Vietnam.
In the United States, Vietnamese immigrants have achieved high levels of education. In 2015, 30% of Vietnamese Americans had attained a bachelor's degree or higher (compared to 19% for the general population). Specifically, 21% of Vietnamese Americans had attained a bachelor's degree (37% for U.S. born Vietnamese and 18% for foreign-born Vietnamese), and 8.9% had attained a postgraduate degree (14% for U.S. born Vietnamese and 7% for foreign-born Vietnamese), compared to 11% postgraduate degree attainment among the general American population.
Cambodia
Vietnamese constitute about 5% of the population of
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
,
making them the largest ethnic minority. Vietnamese people began migrating to Cambodia as early as the 17th century. In 1863, when Cambodia became a French colony, many Vietnamese were brought to Cambodia by the French to work on plantations and occupy civil servant positions. During the Lon Nol regime (1970–1975) and Pol Pot regime (1975–1979), many Vietnamese living in Cambodia were killed. Others were either repatriated or escaped to Vietnam or Thailand. During the ten-year Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia from 1979 to 1989 many Vietnamese who had previously lived in Cambodia returned and along with them came friends and relatives. Many former South Vietnamese soldiers also came to Cambodia, fleeing persecution from the communist government.
Many living in Cambodia usually speak Vietnamese as their first language and have introduced the Cao Dai religion, with 2 temples built in Cambodia. Many Cambodians learned Vietnamese as a result. They are concentrated in the Kratie and Takeo provinces of Cambodia, where villages predominately consist of ethnic Vietnamese.
Vietnamese people are also the top tourist group in Cambodia, with 130,831, up 19% as of 2011.
France
The number of ethnic Vietnamese living in France is estimated to be about 350,000 as of 2014. France was the first Western country where Vietnamese migrants settled due to the
colonization of Vietnam by France that began in the late 1850s. The colonial period saw a significant representation of Vietnamese students in France, as well as professional and blue-collar workers, with many settling permanently.
[La Diaspora Vietnamienne en France un cas particulier](_blank)
(in French) The country would continue to be home to by far the largest overseas Vietnamese population outside Asia until the 1980s, when a higher number of Vietnam War refugees resettled in the United States.
A number of Vietnamese loyal to the colonial government and Vietnamese married to French colonists emigrated to France following Vietnam's independence through the
Geneva Accords in 1954. During the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, 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 Vie ...
, a significant number of students and those involved in commerce from
South Vietnam
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 ...
continued to arrive in France. The largest influx of Vietnamese people, however, arrived in France as
refugee
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution. s after 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 Saigon, the capital of ...
and end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Vietnamese refugees who settled in France usually had higher levels of education and affluence than Vietnamese refugees who settled in North America, Australia, and the rest of Europe, likely due to cultural familiarity with French culture and that many affluent Vietnamese families had already settled in France.
Most Vietnamese in France live in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and the surrounding
Île-de-France
, timezone1 = CET
, utc_offset1 = +01:00
, timezone1_DST = CEST
, utc_offset1_DST = +02:00
, blank_name_sec1 = Gross regional product
, blank_info_sec1 = Ranked 1st
, bla ...
area, but a significant number also reside in major urban centers in the south-east of the country, primarily
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
,
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
, and
Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...
. Earlier Vietnamese migrants also settled in the cities of
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...
and
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
.
In contrast to their counterparts in the English-speaking world, the Vietnamese in France have a higher degree of assimilation, due to cultural, historical, and linguistic knowledge of the host country.
The community is still strongly attached to its homeland while being well integrated in French society. The generation of Vietnamese refugees continues to hold on to traditional values. The later generations of French-born Vietnamese strongly identify with French culture rather than Vietnamese, as most were raised and brought up in the French system rather than the Vietnamese one. French media and politicians generally view the Vietnamese community as a "
model minority
A model minority is a minority demographic (whether based on ethnicity, race or religion) whose members are perceived as achieving a higher degree of socioeconomic success than the population average, thus serving as a reference group to outgroup ...
", in part because they are represented as having a high degree of integration within the French society as well as having high economic and academic success. Furthermore, Vietnamese in France on average have a high level of educational attainment and success, a legacy dating back to the colonial era when affluent families and those with connections to the French colonial government sent their children to France to study.
[La diaspora vietnamienne](_blank)
(in French)
The Vietnamese community in France is divided between those who oppose the communist Hanoi government and those who are supportive of it.
The Christian Science Monitor, 1980 The pro-communist camp is the more established of the two and was the larger group until the 1970s, consisting mainly of students, workers, and long-established immigrants who arrived before 1975 and their descendants. Meanwhile, the anti-communist camp consists of students, refugees and middle-class immigrants, who began to arrive after
1954
Events
January
* January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany.
* January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting.
* January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...
, but most of whom fled Vietnam from the
South Vietnam
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 ...
after 1975.
This division in the community has been present since the 1950s when some Vietnamese students and workers in France supported and praised the communist
Viet Minh
The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...
's policies back home, while Vietnamese loyal to the colonial or non-communist governments and immigrated to France were largely anti-communist.
This political rift remained minor until the Fall of Saigon in 1975 when staunchly anti-communist refugees from South Vietnam arrived and established community networks and institutions. The two camps have contradictory political goals and ideologies, and members of one group rarely interact with those of the other group. Such political divisions have prevented the Vietnamese in France from forming a strong, unified community in their host nation, as their counterparts have in North America and Australia (1980).
Australia
Vietnamese people in Australia constitute one of the largest ethnic groups in Australia, with 294,798 people claiming Vietnamese ancestry at the 2016 census. First generation Vietnamese Australians who came as refugees varied widely in income and social class. Of those from the Vietnam War era, many Vietnamese Australians are white collar professionals, while others work primarily in blue-collar jobs. Australian-born Vietnamese tend to earn high levels of educational attainment and success. In 2001, the labour participation rate for Vietnamese refugees was 61%, about the same as that of Australian born residents (63%). Around three quarters of ethnic Vietnamese live in
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
(40.7%) and
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
(36.8%).
The surname,
Nguyễn
Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese name, Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. wiktionary:nguyên, Nguyên (元)is a different word and surname.
By some estimates 39 perc ...
, is the seventh most common family name in Australia (second to Smith in the
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
phone book).
New Zealand
According to the 2018 census, 10,086 New Zealanders identify themselves with the Vietnamese ethnic group. Many of them came to
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
to escape religious persecution or war.
Canada
According to the 2016 census, Canada has 240,615 people who identify as ethnic Vietnamese.
The majority of Vietnamese people in Canada reside in the provinces of
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
and
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, with some having lived in Quebec before 1975.
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
is also another major destination for newly arrived Vietnamese immigrants since 1980, including Vietnamese of Chinese descent, with the city having a large Chinese population.
Germany
Vietnamese are the largest Asian ethnic group in Germany. As of 2019, there are about 188,000 people of Vietnamese descent in Germany.
In Western Germany, most Vietnamese arrived in the 1970s or 1980s as refugees from the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, 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 Vie ...
. The comparatively larger Vietnamese community in Eastern Germany traces its origins to assistance agreements between the
East German
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
and the North Vietnamese government. Under these agreements, guest workers from Vietnam were brought to East Germany, where they soon made up the largest immigrant group and were provided with technical training. After the fall of the
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
, many stayed in Germany, although they often faced discrimination, especially in the early years after reunification.
As in France, the Vietnamese community is divided between anticommunists in the former West (including the former West Berlin) and pro-communists in the former East, although the difference runs along former borderlines rather than being diffused as in France.
Czech Republic
The number of Vietnamese people in the Czech Republic was estimated at 61,012 at the 2009 census,
although more recent figures have placed the number as high as 80,000.
Most Vietnamese immigrants in 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 ...
reside in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, where there is an enclave called "''
Sapa
The South African Press Association (SAPA) was the national news agency of South Africa until its closure in 2015.
History
The agency was established on 1 July 1938 by major South African newspapers to facilitate the sharing of news. Reuters had ...
''". Unlike Vietnamese immigrants in Western Europe and North America, these immigrants were usually communist cadres studying or working abroad who decided to stay after the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe. The Vietnamese surname
Nguyen
Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元)is a different word and surname.
By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this su ...
is even listed as the most common of foreign surnames in the Czech Republic and is the 9th most common surname in the country overall.
United Kingdom
Vietnamese residing in the United Kingdom number around 55,000 people, in contrast to the trend of the U.K. tending to have the largest
East and South East Asian diasporas in Europe. In the 1980s, Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
agreed to take quotas of refugees and 12,000
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 ...
came to Britain. The most established Vietnamese communities in Britain are in
Hackney and other parts of London. There are also communities in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
and other major U.K. cities. In addition to the official 4.5 million Vietnamese recognized abroad, an underreported number of illegal Vietnamese immigrants abroad reside in the United Kingdom, a part of worldwide criminal activities resembling modern slavery. Many Vietnamese, lacking official papers and denied official assistances, unfortunately, may become involved in criminal activities, such as unknowingly being hired in cannabis factories. The
Essex lorry deaths
On 23 October 2019, the bodies of 39 Vietnamese people — 31 men and 8 women — were found in the trailer of an articulated refrigerator lorry in Grays, Essex, United Kingdom. The trailer had been shipped from the port of Zeebrugge, Belgiu ...
highlighted the issue of illegal Vietnamese immigrants being smuggled from poverty-stricken regions of Vietnam to other parts of the world.
Poland
Around 50,000 Vietnamese live in Poland, mostly in big cities. They publish a number of newspapers, both pro- and anti-Communist. The first immigrants were Vietnamese students at Polish universities in the post-World War II era. These numbers increased slightly during the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, 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 Vie ...
, when agreements between the communist Vietnamese and Polish governments allowed Vietnamese guest workers to obtain industrial training in Poland. A large number of Vietnamese immigrants also arrived after 1989.
Belgium
An estimated 14,000 ethnic Vietnamese reside in Belgium as of 2012. Similar to the Vietnamese community in France, the Vietnamese Belgian community traces its roots to before the end of the Vietnam War. Beginning in the mid-1960s, Belgium became a popular alternative destination to France for South Vietnamese seeking higher education and career opportunities abroad. A much larger influx of Vietnamese arrived as refugees after the Fall of Saigon. After the
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
fell in 1989, a small number of Vietnamese workers in former
Soviet Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
countries who were sponsored by the communist Vietnamese government also sought asylum in Belgium.
The Vietnamese Belgian population largely resides in and around the capital of
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
or in the southern French-speaking
Wallonia
Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...
region, especially around the city of
Liège
Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège.
The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
. As in France, South Vietnamese refugees to Belgium were largely of higher social standing and integrated much easier into their host country's society than their peers who settled in North America, Australia and the rest of Europe due to better linguistic and cultural knowledge. The Vietnamese Belgian community is strongly attached to its counterpart community in France, with both communities largely achieving higher socioeconomic success in their host countries than other overseas Vietnamese populations.
Russia
Vietnamese people in Russia form the 72nd-largest ethnic minority community in Russia according to the
2002 census. The census estimated their population at only 26,205 individuals, making them among the smaller groups of Việt Kiều.
Unofficial estimates, however, put their population as high as 100,000 to 150,000.
Norway
An estimated 21,700 ethnic Vietnamese live in Norway as of 2014, and the country has hosted a Vietnamese community since refugee arrivals after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. The Vietnamese are considered among the best integrated non-Western immigrant groups in Norway, with high rates of Norwegian citizenship among immigrants and success rates in education on par with those of ethnic Norwegians.
Netherlands
About 19,000 ethnic Vietnamese reside in the Netherlands according to a 2010 estimate. The community largely consists of South Vietnamese refugees who first arrived in 1978. A much smaller number of North Vietnamese workers also arrived from eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Bulgaria
An estimated 2,600 ethnic Vietnamese live in
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
according to a 2015 estimate.
Under international agreements in 1980, Bulgaria and other
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...
members accepted Vietnamese
guest workers
Foreign workers or guest workers are people who work in a country other than one of which they are a citizen. Some foreign workers use a guest worker program in a country with more preferred job prospects than in their home country. Guest worker ...
who were sponsored by the communist government into the country as a relatively inexpensive
manual labour
Manual labour (in Commonwealth English, manual labor in American English) or manual work is physical work done by humans, in contrast to labour by machines and working animals. It is most literally work done with the hands (the word ''manual'' ...
workforce
The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the Pooling (resource management), pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single types of companies, company or ...
. At one point, over 35,000 Vietnamese people worked in Bulgaria between 1980 and 1991 and many Vietnamese students completed their higher education at various Bulgarian universities.
South Korea
As of 2011, there were over 110,000 ethnic Vietnamese people in South Korea, making them the second largest minority group in the country. Vietnamese in South Korea consist mainly of
migrant workers
A migrant worker is a person who migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have the intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work.
Migrant workers who work outsi ...
and women introduced to
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
n husbands through
marriage agencies. In the 13th century, several thousand Vietnamese fled to Korea after the overthrow of the Vietnamese
Lý dynasty
The Lý dynasty ( vi, Nhà Lý, , chữ Nôm: 茹李, chữ Hán: 李朝, Hán Việt: ''Lý triều'') was a Vietnamese dynasty that existed from 1009 to 1225. It was established by Lý Công Uẩn when he overthrew the Early Lê dynasty an ...
, where they were received by King
Gojong of Goryeo
Gojong of Goryeo (3 February 1192 – 21 July 1259), sometimes spelled Ko-tjong, was the twenty-third ruler of Goryeo in present-day Korea from 1213–1259. Gojong's reign was marked by prolonged conflict with the Mongol Empire, which sough ...
.
Malaysia
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 Saigon, the capital of ...
in 1975 at the end of the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, 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 Vie ...
saw many Vietnamese refugees escaping by boats to Malaysia. The first refugee boat arrived in Malaysia in May 1975, carrying 47 people.
[Last Vietnamese boat refugee leaves Malaysia](_blank)
30 August 2005, 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 ...
, retrieved 17 September 2013 A refugee camp was established later at
Pulau Bidong
The Bidong Island ( ms, Pulau Bidong, Terengganuan ''Pula Bidong'') is an island in Kuala Nerus District, Terengganu, Malaysia in the South China Sea. Bidong Island is accessible from the coastal town of Merang in Setiu district. From 1978 until ...
in August 1978 with assistance of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
and became a major refugee processing center for Vietnamese seeking residency in other countries. While a very small number of Vietnamese refugees settled in Malaysia, the majority of Vietnamese in Malaysia consist of skilled and semi-skilled workers who arrived during the 1990s as economic cooperation between Vietnam and Malaysia increased.
Taiwan
Vietnamese form one of the largest foreign ethnic groups in Taiwan, with a resident population of around 200,000, including students and migrant workers.
Vietnamese in Taiwan largely arrived as workers in the manufacturing industry or as
domestic helper
A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...
s. There are also a large number of Vietnamese women married to Taiwanese men through international matchmaking services in Vietnam, despite the illegality of such services in the country.
Japan
Over 135,000 Vietnamese people resided in Japan at the end of 2014.
In 2019, around 371,755 Vietnamese people lived in Japan, making it the third largest foreign community in the country. At least 190,000 are "skilled trainees" and this particular number is growing sharply. Vietnamese people first came to Japan as students beginning in the 20th century.
Most of the community, however, is composed of refugees admitted in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as well as a smaller proportion of migrant laborers who began arriving in 1994.
Laos
As Vietnam and Laos are neighbors, there has been a long history of population migrations between the territories making up the two respective countries. When Laos was a
French protectorate in the first half of the 20th century, the French colonial administration brought many Vietnamese people to Laos to work as civil servants. This policy was the object of strenuous opposition by Laotian nationals, who in the 1930s made an unsuccessful attempt to replace the local government with Laotian civil servants.
China
The Vietnamese in China are known as the ''Gin'' ethnic group, arriving in Southeastern China beginning in the 16th century. They largely reside in the province of
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
and 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 ...
and a local variety of
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
.
Hong Kong
Vietnamese migration to Hong Kong began after the end of the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, 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 Vie ...
in 1975, when
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 ...
took to the sea and began fleeing Vietnam in all directions. Those who landed in Hong Kong were placed in refugee camps until they could be resettled in a third country. Under the Hong Kong government's
Comprehensive Plan of Action
The Comprehensive Plan of Action (CPA) is a program adopted in June 1989 at a conference in Geneva held by The Steering Committee of the International Conference on Indo-Chinese Refugees. It was designed to deter and to stop the continuing influx ...
, newly arriving Vietnamese were classified as either political refugees or economic migrants. Those deemed to be economic migrants would be denied the opportunity for resettlement overseas.
Singapore
There are about 15,000 Vietnamese people in Singapore, primarily composed of restaurant/
hawker centre
A hawker centre or cooked food centre is an open-air complex commonly found in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. They were built to provide a more sanitary alternative to mobile hawker carts and contain many stalls that sell different variet ...
service workers and overseas students. Early waves of Vietnamese refugees and immigrants to Singapore in the 1970s mainly include
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 escaped Vietnam during the aftermath of the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, 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 Vie ...
, who were initially housed in an ex-
military barracks
Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...
turned refugee camp. 32,457 Vietnamese refugees were hosted in Singapore from 1976 to the early 1990s, with around 5,000 settling throughout the 1970s.
[
]
Philippines
During the Indochina refugee crisis
The Indochina refugee crisis was the large outflow of people from the former French colonies of Indochina, comprising the countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, after communist governments were established in 1975. Over the next 25 years and ...
, around 400,000 Vietnamese refugees
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 ...
landed on the shores of Palawan
Palawan (), officially the Province of Palawan ( cyo, Probinsya i'ang Palawan; tl, Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in ...
in the western 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 ...
after the fall of South Vietnam
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 ...
in 1975. They were housed in a temporary refugee camp known as the Philippine First Asylum Center (PFAC) in the city of Puerto Princesa
Puerto Princesa, officially the City of Puerto Princesa (Cuyonon: ''Siyudad i'ang Puerto Princesa''; fil, Lungsod ng Puerto Princesa), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Mimaropa region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, ...
. The center was built in 1979 by the Philippine government in partnership with the United Nations High Commission 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 integratio ...
through the initiative of the Philippine Catholic Church. Most of the refugees were moved to the Philippine Refugee Processing Center
The Philippine Refugee Processing Center (PRPC) was a large facility near Morong, Bataan, Philippines, which was used as the final stop for Indochinese refugees making their way to permanent resettlement in other nations. It was situated south o ...
in Bataan
Bataan (), officially the Province of Bataan ( fil, Lalawigan ng Bataan ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the entir ...
before being resettled to other countries. However, by the time the refugee campes were closed in 1996, around 2,710 Vietnamese refugees remained in the country. Unlike other neighboring countries which implemented forced repatriation, the Philippines was the only country that allowed the refugees to stay indefinitely. The refugees established a community called Viet-Ville ( French for "Viet-Town"), also in Puerto Princesa. At the time, it became the centre of Vietnamese commerce and culture, complete with Vietnamese restaurants, shops, Catholic churches and Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
temples. In the decades that followed however, the Vietnamese population dwindled greatly as they finally got approval for resettlement in the United States, Canada, Australia or Western Europe. By 2005, only two of the former refugees remained, both of whom are married to locals. Viet-Ville today remains a popular destination for local tourists and 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 reflec ...
still remains popular in the city of Puerto Princesa.
Israel
The number of Vietnamese people in Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
is estimated at 150 to 200. Most of them came between 1976 and 1979 when about 360 Vietnamese refugees were granted political asylum by Prime Minister Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'' (); pl, Menachem Begin (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ''Menakhem Volfovich Begin''; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of Israel. B ...
. Most later left Israel, mainly for Europe or North America, to reunite with their extended families. Many of the second generation descendants have assimilated into Israeli culture, marrying Israelis, speaking Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
and serving in the Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...
. A minority choose to keep their culture alive by shunning intermarriage and speaking Vietnamese at home. Today, the majority of the community lives in the Gush Dan
Gush Dan ( he, גּוּשׁ דָּן, ''lit.'' "Dan bloc") or Tel Aviv metropolitan area ( he, מֶטְרוֹפּוֹלִין תֵּל אָבִיב) is a conurbation in Israel, located along the country's Mediterranean coastline. There is no sing ...
area in the center of Israel but also a few dozen Vietnamese-Israelis or Israelis of Vietnamese origin live in Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
, Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
and Ofakim
Ofakim ( he, אֳפָקִים ''ʾŎfāqīm'', or אוֹפָקִים ''ʾŌfāqīm'', ''lit.'' "horizons") is a city in the Southern District of Israel, 20 kilometers (12.4 mi) west of Beersheba. It achieved municipal status in 1955. I ...
.
Relations with Vietnam
Relations between overseas Vietnamese populations and the current government of Vietnam traditionally range between polarities of geniality and overt contempt. Generally, overseas Vietnamese residing in North America, Western Europe, and Australia (which represent the vast majority of overseas Vietnamese populations) are virulently opposed to the existing government of Vietnam. The smaller population of overseas Vietnamese residing in Europe, however, (mainly in Central and East Europe), the Middle East, Africa and Asia, most of whom have been sent for training in formerly communist countries, generally maintain positive or more neutral, if not very friendly relations with the government.[ Many of these East European Vietnamese are from Northern Vietnam and usually have personal or familial affiliations with the communist regime Those who left before the political exodus of 1975, largely residing in France, generally identify their sentiments as somewhere in between the two polarities.][ This division is also strongly reflected in their religious adherence. Most of the Vietnamese diaspora living in Western Europe, North America, and Oceania have been religious (]Christian
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'' (Χρι ...
, Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
, Caodaist
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 ...
) and anti-communist, while the Vietnamese living in Eastern Europe and Asia are more aligned to irreligion
Irreligion or nonreligion is the absence or rejection of religion, or indifference to it. Irreligion takes many forms, ranging from the casual and unaware to full-fledged philosophies such as atheism and agnosticism, secular humanism and a ...
, and, to a lesser extent, folk religions and Buddhism.
The former South Vietnam
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 ...
ese Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ
Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (; 8 September 1930 – 23 July 2011) was a South Vietnamese military officer and politician who served as the chief of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force in the 1960s, before leading the nation as the prime minister of South V ...
returned to Vietnam in 2004 and was generally positive about his experience. However, Kỳ's reconciliation was met with anger by most overseas Vietnamese, who called him a traitor and a communist collaborator for reconciling and working with the current communist regime. Notable expatriate artists have returned to Vietnam to perform (many of whom are met with scorn and boycott by the expatriate community itself after they do so). Notably, the composer Pham Duy had returned to Ho Chi Minh City
, population_density_km2 = 4,292
, population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2
, population_demonym = Saigonese
, blank_name = GRP (Nominal)
, blank_info = 2019
, blank1_name = – Total
, blank1_ ...
(referred to as Saigon
, population_density_km2 = 4,292
, population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2
, population_demonym = Saigonese
, blank_name = GRP (Nominal)
, blank_info = 2019
, blank1_name = – Total
, blank1_ ...
by overseas Vietnamese and those living in Vietnam) to live the rest of his life there after living in Midway City, California
Midway City is a census-designated place in the United States that forms part of the county land controlled by Orange County, California. The only area in Orange County that incorporates its chamber of commerce and homeowners association to act ...
since 1975. The government in Vietnam used less antagonistic rhetoric to describe those who left the country after 1975. According to the Vietnamese government, while in 1987 only 8,000 overseas Vietnamese returned to Vietnam for the purpose of visiting, that number jumped to 430,000 in 2004.
The government enacted laws to make it easier for overseas Vietnamese to do business in Vietnam, including laws allowing them to own land. Overseas Vietnamese, however, still face discrimination while trying to do business there. The first company in Vietnam to be registered to an Overseas Vietnamese was Highlands Coffee
Highlands Coffee is a Vietnamese coffee shop chain and producer and distributor of coffee products, established in Hanoi by Vietnamese American David Thai in 1998. The establishment of the Highlands Coffee company marked the first time an oversea ...
, a successful chain of specialty coffee shops
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...
, in 1998.
In June 2007, Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet visited the United States, and one of his scheduled stops was in the vicinity 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 ...
, home of 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 ...
, the largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam. Details of his plans were not announced beforehand due to concerns about massive protests. Despite these efforts, a large crowd of anti-communist protest still occurred. Several thousand people protested in Washington, D.C. and Orange County during his visit.
Relations among the Vietnamese diaspora
There is a significant level of tension amongst the Vietnamese diaspora
A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...
. Widespread regionalism exists between Vietnamese from North America and Western Europe against Vietnamese from other parts of the world. Former Soviet-aligned nations and other Asian countries have influenced the existing regionalism through frequent negative portrayals; most Vietnamese from Western Europe and North America have long viewed themselves as more civilized and developed. Those from Vietnam, other Asian countries, and occasionally Eastern Europe complain about racism perpetuated by Vietnamese from Western Europe and North America. This treatment was further exacerbated by the election 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 Pe ...
as President of the United States, with some of Vietnamese in the United States having pro-Trump attitudes while the remaining Vietnamese people being skeptical of him. Flag allegiances were further soured and the generational divide was further exacerbated when the former South Vietnamese flag appeared during the 2021 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 pow ...
.
See also
*Diasporic Vietnamese narratives
Diasporic Vietnamese narratives refer to the stories, memories, and experiences written about the Vietnamese diaspora. Vietnamese diaspora is the dispersion of Vietnamese people living outside of Vietnam. Scholars indicate that the Vietnamese dia ...
*Vietnamese Diasporic Music
Vietnamese exiled music, also called Vietnamese diasporic music, refers to the Vietnamese music brought overseas, especially to the United States and France by the forced migration of Vietnamese artists after the Fall of Saigon in 1975.
Background ...
*Overseas Vietnamese Buddhist temples
Overseas may refer to:
* ''Overseas'' (album), a 1957 album by pianist Tommy Flanagan and his trio
*Overseas (band), an American indie rock band
* "Overseas" (song), a 2018 song by American rappers Desiigner and Lil Pump
* "Overseas" (Tee Grizzley ...
*List of Vietnamese People
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
*Vietnamese 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 ...
*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 ...
Notes
References
Further reading
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External links
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