Vietnam is a Republic (government officials elected by popular vote). The Vietnamese Communist Party is in charge, and they grant permission to other parties to run for office every so often (usually in local government only, and usually other left-wing parties, such as the Socialist Labor Party). For the most part, your choices for who is elected are between 2 different members of the Communist Party, usually one who is more moderate and one who is more hard-line.
Most Vietnamese follow Buddhism. However, Buddhism involves very little mythology and superstition, and is more philosophical than religious in nature, so it can be said that most Vietnamese are not religious. There are some Roman Catholics and Protestants, but their numbers have decreased dramatically over the last decade as their economy and educational systems improve rapidly.
Vietnamese architecture reflects the country's history. Although there are plenty of neo-classical French style buildings as well as ancient khmer-style temples, gardens, and monasteries and even ultra modern buildings, most structures were built quickly during their post-war reconstruction and resemble Soviet-style prefabricated concrete structures.
The Vietnamese usually wear modern western style clothing like jeans and t-shirts, and most jobs and schools require very plain uniforms.
They have a mixed-capitalist economy with strong government regulation to protect workers and consumers. The government maintains high taxes on private corporations in order to keep individual taxes very low while still having enough income to provide free education and health care, as well as subsidized housing. Most industries have at least one company run by the government, and some industries, such as Transportation, Mining, Education, and Communication are run entirely by government agencies to avoid greed-driven disasters and economic failure; These companies adhere to government-planned production schedules. Most foreign-owned businesses operate out of China, Thailand, and Japan, though there are some German and American companies with facilities in Vietnam. They have rapid economic growth (higher than 8?er year since 2005), and Agriculture and Fishing is the largest industry at about 34?f the GDP and 44?f the workforce. Since the late 1990s, they have pulled away from agriculture and begun to move more into manufacturing and technology, as well as placing more emphasis on tourism.
The Vietnamese have a healthy diet with Rice as a staple food. Meats usually include fish, pork, and chicken, and in some areas they also eat rats, squirrels, snakes, and lizards. Their food is often spicy, and there is no shortage of peppers that grow naturally in Vietnam. Vegetables include carrots, beats, radishes, spinach, bok choy, and caggabe, and they eat alot of fruits like jackfruit, guava, lychee, mango, and papaya.
They have a strong educational system through University provided for no cost to citizens. Their lower schools focus on math, science, and language, and higher education focuses on industry, health, research, and sociology.
The Vietnamese speak Vietnamese, called tiếng Việt locally. It is a Khmer language, related to Cambodian, and is monosyllabic (words are one syllable, and complex conceptual words are formed by linking existing single-syllable words together) and tonal - that is, the tone of a syllable changes to show different meanings of a word. Chinese is also a tonal language, but they are not related. Minorities there speak Hmong, Chinese, Khmer, and Cham, and there is some influence from French
The Vietnamese have access to all the same entertainment as the rest of the world, sometimes dubbed into Vietnamese and sometimes not. As well, they have their own music and film industries. They also have casinos, bars, and resorts, and many Vietnamese play sports such as Soccer, Tennis, Cricket, and Rugby.
Answered By: Dawn Of Apostasy - 2/4/2012 |