Viet gian ( vi, Việt gian;

Chữ Nôm Chữ Nôm (, ; ) is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses Chinese characters (''Chữ Hán'') to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, with other words represented ...

: ) refers to a Vietnamese person who sells Vietnamese interests. This term has existed since the imperial era of Vietnam and was later used by both 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 and

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 to refer to supporters of the other side.

North Vietnam

Since 1945, the

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 ...

have officially used it in legal documents to refer to the Vietnamese who cooperated or collaborated with French colonists. The policies of the Viet Minh include "arming the people, punishing the ''Việt gian''" and "confiscation of the assets of the French and Japanese imperialists and the ''Việt gian''." On January 20, 1953,

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 Prime ...

issued Order No. 133-SL in

to punish the ''Việt gian''.

South Vietnam

It is believed that the term "

Việt Cộng The Viet Cong, ; contraction of (Vietnamese communist) was an armed Communism, communist organization in South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. It fought under the direction of North Vietnam against the South Vietnamese and United States governments ...

" is a contraction of the term ''Việt gian cộng sản'' ("Communist Traitor to Vietnam").

References

Vietnamese words and phrases Political slurs for people History of Vietnam Treason {{Vietnam-hist-stub

North Vietnam

South Vietnam

See also

References