A Look at Vietnamese History and Culture

             The early inhabitants of the area were Negritos. Some 4,000 years ago, Austronesian (Indonesian) migrants from the north moved into the area that is now North Vietnam. Later, Austro-Asiatic (Mon-Kilmer and Maylayo-Polynesian) peoples arrived. Then, about 2500 years ago, Viet (Yueh) and Tai peoples moved down from southern China. Out of this mixture of people, languages and cultures arose Van Lang, considered to have been the first Vietnamese Kingdom. In the mid-third century B.C Van Lang was overrun by and incorporated into another state to the north, forming the kingdom of Au Lac. Then Au Lac was incorporated into an even larger and more powerful state: Nam Viet. (Levison 284)
             Historically speaking, Vietnam (officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as of 1992) has struggled for independence for at least two thousand years, primarily from China. There have been brief periods when the country has itself played the role of conqueror, but for the most part Vietnam has been a subject of conquest by French and Japanese Imperialists during the 1800s and 1900s and most recently by the United State during the Vietnam War (1959-75).
             But it has been communist China that shares its northern border with Vietnam that has had the greatest impact on Vietnam, an influence that is more than obvious in terms of philosophy, art, dress, politics, and most of all religion. As in China, the most widely practiced religion is Buddhism of the Mahyana (Mahyana means "greater vehicle"). Although its popularity is not as great as the form of Buddhism that is practiced in those parts of Burma, about two thirds of all Vietnamese are practicing Buddhists.
             The impact China has had on Vietnam is not to be wondered at, for "the Vietnamese suffered through one thousand years of Chinese Colonial Rule" (Castagno 293) and the country has often been referred to as "Little China" (301). In spite of its long relationship and physical closeness to China, Viet...

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A Look at Vietnamese History and Culture. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 01:26, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/37550.html