30 years ago Vietnamese soldiers waged a final, furious battle in the hills of Lang Son near the country’s northern border to push back enemy troops. Both sides suffered horrific losses, but Vietnam eventually proclaimed victory. Decades later, diplomatic relations have been restored and the 2 nations, at least in public, call each other friend. …
“In Vietnam, New Fears of a Chinese ‘Invasion’” verder lezen
Labelled an ‘evil cult’ and banned in China, the Falun Gong spiritual movement has found a new breeding ground in neighbouring Vietnam, with a fast-growing number of followers. The exact figure is unknown, although some estimate it to be in the thousands. This is despite the fact that Falun Gong is not officially allowed by …
Just 5 years ago, Vietnamese-American researcher Dr. Thuy Le visited hospitals here and observed HIV/AIDS patients kept in locked wards and left without treatment to die. ‘HIV was a death sentence,’ said Le, who will join the University of Hawaii medical school this summer as an associate professor. Doctors were reluctant to treat AIDS patients …
Vietnam is marking the anniversary of its border war with China with an uneasy quiet, as official channels avoid mentioning the events of 30 years ago. But simmering nationalistic emotions are being brought to the surface by painful memories. Hoang Thi Lich, 72, remembers vividly the morning of 17 February 1979, when she and her …
The 3-day Tet festival is approaching in Vietnam, the climax of a long season of celebrations that began with the enthusiastic embrace of Christmas in mid-December. In the southern city that residents still call Saigon, parks and boulevards have been festooned with colorful lights, and Christmas carols drifted over restaurants, hotel lobbies and department stores …
It started as an ordinary day in Saigon. Cao Van Vien (1921-2008) was working as a commander of the airborne brigade, South Vietnam’s most elite combat unit, when he was called to military headquarters. This was not unusual for a high-ranking officer, and Vien did not give it much thought. Vien was 41 at the …
“Cao Van Vien: A South Vietnamese general cultivated inner peace even as he waged war” verder lezen
De Vietnamese overheid zoekt naar manieren om blogs te reguleren, in het bijzonder blogs die politiek getint zijn. Internetgebruik groeit in Vietnam en er ontstaat een steeds levendiger blogosfeer in het land. Blogs stonden al eerder ter discussie, maar in november kreeg de kwestie een nieuwe impuls, toen Vietnamese media meldden dat het ministerie van …
During Christmas 2007 I traveled back in time with my family, to Vietnam, for the first time in 32 years. I was feeling a deep need to see the place once more, a regret at having withdrawn from a country I had visited four times during the war. I wanted to understand the long-term lessons …
De economie van Vietnam heeft een uitstekend jaar achter de rug. Op grond van de gegevens die nu beschikbaar zijn is de economie in 2007 met 8,4 procent gegroeid. Het land behoort daarmee samen met China en India tot de snelst groeiende economieën in de wereld. In 2010 moet het jaarinkomen per hoofd van de …
Bij grootste schoenenmaker ter wereld zijn sweatshops verleden tijd … Om de schoenenfabriek van Yue Yuen, aan de rand van de Vietnamese zakenhoofdstad Ho Chi Minh-stad, staat een hoog hek met scherpe punten, zo nu en dan onderbroken door een lege wachttoren. Een herinnering aan de tijden dat het er weinig zachtzinnig aan toe ging …
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