VIETNAM IS ONE OF THER MOST BEUTIFUL COUNTRIES IN ASIA. IT LIES ON THE EASTERN PART OF THE INDOCHINA PENINSULA BORDERING CHINA TO THE NORTH, LAOS AND CAMBODIA TO THE WEST, AND THE EAST SEA AND THE PACIFIC OCEAN TO THE EAST AND SOUTH. THE COUNTRIES TOTAL LENGTH IS 1,650 KILOMETRES FROM THE MOUNTAIN ON THE CHINESE BORDER IN THE NORTH TO THE MEKONG DELTA IN THE SOUTH.
CAPITAL AND MAJOR CENTRES.
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Hanoi, the capital as well as the political, economic and cultural centre of Vietnam, is a city of shaded boulevards, green public parks and blue lakes.
Other major cites include Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest and bustling centre. Haiphong is Vietnam's third most populated city and the north's main industrial centre as well as a major seaport.
THE PEOPLE.
A warm, friendly people, the Vietnamese population exceeds 77 million divided into 54 ethnic groups.
The largest group is the Viet accounting for 80% of the growing Vietnamese population. .
Vietnam's population is dominated in number by people below 28 years of age, the so called .
"X Generation".
Six great philosophies influence their lives. They are Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Brahmanism. The speak Vietnamese ( north and south differing slightly from each.
other ) and English of French.
HISTORY.
Artefacts dating as far back as the Hung Kings shows that Vietnam was as a nation founded thousands of years ago.
From the 1st to the 6th centuries, the South of what is now Vietnam was a part of the Indianised kingdom of Funan. In the late 2nd century, the Hindu kingdom of Champa appeared around the Danang area and by the 8th century had spread south to what is now Nha Trang.
The Chinese took power over the Red River Delta in the 2nd century BC, ruling for the next 1,000 years. This period brought great stress for the Vietnamese, rebelled constantly until 938 AD, when Nqo Quyen conquered the Chinese armies at the Bach Dang River.
Despite repeated Chinese invasion during the centuries that followed, Vietnam was able to expand its borders southwards from the Red River Delta settlements into much of the Mekong Delta.
