Vietnamese people

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Vietnamese people người Việt
Phan Bội Châu • Vietnamese girl wearing an áo dài • Nguyễn Trãi
Total population
Greater than 77,000,000
Regions with significant populations
Vietnam      74,000,000 (2008 est.)[1] (86% population of Vietnam)
USA 1,521,353 (2005) [1]  Cambodia 600,000 [2]  France 250,000 [3]  Taiwan 120,000 - 200,000 [4][5]  Australia 174,200 (2001) [6]  Canada 151,410 (2001) [7]  Laos 100,000  Germany 83,526 (2004) [8]  United Kingdom 70,000 [9]  Czech Republic 45,362 (2007) [10]  Poland 45,000  Japan 36,860 (2007) [11]  Russia 36,225 [12]  China 30,000  Philippines 27,600  Thailand 19,876  Norway 18,333 (2006) [13]  Netherlands 18,000 (2007)  Finland 4,000 [14]
Languages
Vietnamese
Religion
Predominantly Mahayana Buddhism, with influences of Taoism and a background of Confucian thought (Triple Religion theory). Significant Roman Catholic, Hao Hao Budhist and Caodaist minorities. Small Protestant and Muslim presences.
Related ethnic groups
Gin people of China (also known as Jing or Kinh) Muong people Southern Chinese or other people in South China. For vague historical references, see also Yue (peoples).

The Vietnamese people (Vietnamese: người Việt or người Kinh) are an ethnic group originating from what is now northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam.

Although geographically and linguistically labeled as Southeast Asians, long periods of Chinese domination and influence have placed them culturally closer to East Asians, or more specifically their immediate northern neighbours, the Southern Chinese and other tribes within the proximity of South China.

According to a research study done by the Hopital Saint-Louis in Paris, France: "the comparison of the Vietnamese with other East Asian populations showed a close genetic relationship of the population under investigation with other Orientals," with the exception of seven unique markers. These results, along with remnants of Thai enzyme morphs, indicate a dual ethnic origin of the Vietnamese population from Chinese and Thai-Indonesian populations^[2]. According to another research by the Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan, the Vietnamese people are classified in the same genetic cluster as the Miao, Southern Han (Southern Chinese), Buyi and Thai, with a divergent family consisting of Singaporean and Thai Chinese, Minnan and Hakka.^[3]

Origins

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According to legend, the first Vietnamese descended from the dragon lord Lạc Long Quân and the female heavenly angel Âu Cơ. They married and had one hundred eggs, from which hatched one hundred children. Their eldest son Hùng Vương ruled as the first Vietnamese king. The predecessors of the Vietnamese people emigrated from present southern China to the Red River Delta and mixed with the indigenous population.^{citation needed}

In 258 BC, An Dương Vương founded the kingdom of Âu Lạc in what is now northern Vietnam. In 208 BC, Chao Tuo (known as Triệu Đà in Vietnamese), a former Qin Dynasty general from China, allied with the leaders of the Yue peoples in what is now modern-day Guangdong and declared himself King of Southern Yue. He defeated An Dương Vương and then combined Âu Lạc with territories in southern China and named his kingdom Nam Việt, or Southern Yue (Nam means "south"). Việt is cognate to Yue, which is the pronunciation of Yue in ancient Chinese and some modern southern Chinese dialects. The term was used in bai yue ("hundred Yue") for the various peoples in what is now southern China, including the regions of northern Vietnam.

Diaspora

Originally from northern Vietnam and southern China, the Vietnamese have conquered much of the land belonging to the Champa Kingdom and Khmer Empire over the centuries. They are the dominant ethnic group in most provinces of Vietnam, and constitute a significant portion of the population of Cambodia. Under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, they were the most persecuted group. Tens of thousands were murdered in regime-organized massacres. Most of the survivors fled to Vietnam.

During the sixteenth century, some Vietnamese migrated into Thailand and China. In Thailand, they are mostly distributed in Isan provinces such as Nakhon Phanom or Mukdahan. In China, although somewhat more sinicized, their descendants still speak Vietnamese and form the Gin people of China. They are among the recognized minority groups in the People's Republic of China based especially in or around Guangxi Province.

When the French left Vietnam in 1954, some Vietnamese emigrated to France. However, there already have been ethnic Vietnamese residing and/or studying in France at least since the end of World War I. As a result of the partition of North and South Vietnam, nearly one million Vietnamese fled the North for the South to escape persecution. Meanwhile, a much smaller number of southerners joined the north.

The end of the Vietnam War prompted many others to flee the country. The six countries that accepted Vietnamese refugees were the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, West Germany, and Australia. Tens of thousands had been sent to work or study in Central and Eastern Europe and later settled there, the vast majority among those from the north or those who stayed in reunified Vietnam after 1975.

See also

Notes and references