Vietnam

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam (or just Vietnam) (Vietnamese: Cộng hòa Xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam) is a country in Southeast Asia. The neighboring countries are Cambodia, China, and Laos. The capital is Hanoi. The most populous city is Ho Chi Minh City. There are about 99,497,680 people living in Vietnam.^[15] Vietnam was united under a communist government. In 1986, the government made economic and political changes that began Vietnam's path to be a part of the world economy.^[16] Since 2000, Vietnam's economic growth has been among "the highest in the world",^[16] and in 2011 it had the highest global growth generator index among 11 "major" economies.^[17]

The length of the country, from North to South, is 1,650 kilometers (1,025 miles).^[18] "At its narrowest point, Vietnam is only 30 miles (48 kilometers) wide".^[19] Northern Vietnam offers a "humid" subtropical climate with 4 seasons (winter, spring, summer, and fall) while Southern Vietnam is "hot year-round".^[20]

In A.D. 40, the Trưng Sisters Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị led a rebellion to get rid of Tô Định, the Chinese governor occupying Vietnam. They were daughters of a Lạc lord in Giao Chỉ (now Northern Vietnam) and widows of aristocrats. They successfully formed their own kingdom in Mê Linh, where Trưng Trắc was proclaimed queen, and a capital was built for her".^[21] While ruling in Mê Linh, the sisters abolished taxes. They were defeated in A.D. 43 by Ma Yuan, a Chinese general, and are regarded as female military heroes and national heroines.^[22]

After Ma Yuan’s defeat of the Trung sisters, the Chinese maintained domination over Vietnam for more than a thousand years. They established a bureaucracy that emphasized Confucianism, and they focused on educating Vietnam’s ruling class with Chinese literature and ideas.^[23]

The kings of Champa (Chiêm Thành in Vietnamese) started construction of Hindu temples at Mỹ Sơn in the 4th century AD.^[24][25]

France desired trading freedom in Vietnam. They wanted to bring more missionaries into the country. The Nguyen dynasty disliked French involvement in Vietnam, and executed missionaries and Vietnamese coverts. This spurred the French Emperor, Napoleon III, to attack Vietnam and attempt to force the court to accept the title of "French protectorate." By the 1880s Vietnam was officially a French protectorate.^[26]

The nation was divided into North Vietnam and South Vietnam. After independence was achieved, the French gave the land of the Mekong delta that was part of Cambodia to South Vietnam. The United States had influence in the South, and the Việt Minh controlled the North. Hồ Chí Minh became President of the Democratic Republic of (North) Việt Nam. It was agreed that the nation would be reunited by elections in 1956. The Americans and the Southern government stopped the elections from happening because they expected Hồ Chí Minh to win because North Vietnam refused to hold free elections. Dwight Eisenhower said he thought Hồ would win with around 80% of the vote if elections were held because of the majority of the population being in the north added with Hồ's supporters in the South.^[27]

In Vietnam, the approximate population is around 99,298,522 to 101,531,681 people.^[28][29] The Vietnamese male population is 50,205,096 and the female population is 51,326,584.^[29] 25.2% of these people are aged between 0-14, with 13,365,800 being male and 12,161,135 being female. 69.3% of the population are between the ages of 15-64. The male-to-female ratio is 35,024,433 being male and 35,156,146 being female. 5.5% are 65 and over, with 2,149,957 being male and 3,459,991 being female. So within the older 2 categories, there are more women than men.^[30]

Media said in 2011 that investment in science and technology was 2% of GDP.^[31]

"Vietnam provides no incentives for students to return to Vietnam from their foreign graduate programmes" was the opinion (in 2011) of French physicist Pierre Darriulat.^[31][32]

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