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Facts in Brief
The Socialist Republic of Viet Nam is situated in South-East Asia, bordered to the north by the People’s Republic of China, to the west by the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Cambodia, and to the east by the South China Sea. The climate is humid during both the hot summer and the relatively cold winter, and there are monsoon rains in both seasons. Temperatures in Hanoi are generally between 13°C (55°F) and 33°C (91°F). The official national language is Vietnamese. The principal formal religion is Buddhism, although a sizeable proportion of the population adheres to indigenous religions. There are also Daoist, Confucian, Hoa Hao, Caodaist and Christian (mainly Roman Catholic) minorities. The national flag (proportions 2 by 3) is red, with a large five-pointed yellow star in the centre. The capital is Hanoi.
Image Citation: http://www.europaworld.com/entry/vn.FLAG
Text Citation: http://www.europaworld.com/entry?id=vn&go_country=GO
Map of Vietnam
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam covers a total area of 330,967 sq km (127,787 sq miles) and lies along the western shore of the South China Sea, bordered by the People’s Republic of China to the north, by the Lao People’s Democratic Republic to the west and by Cambodia to the south-west. The capital is Hanoi. The fundamental geographical outlines of the country are determined by the deltas and immediate hinterlands of the Mekong and Songkoi (Red River), which are linked by the mountain backbone and adjacent coastal lowlands of Annam.
Image Citation: http://www.europaworld.com/entry/vn.MAP
Snapshots of Vietnam from Wikimedia
Baie d'halong
Beach in Vietnam
Chùa Kiến An Cung
Danang
Adventure Guide
Adventure Guide Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia by Call Number: E-BookIncluding maps featuring walking and driving tours, this adventure guide offers travel information along with background information on history, culture, geography and climate of the region. It also provides information on: places to stay and eat; transportation to, from and around the destination; practical concerns; tourism contacts; and more.
Research Guides
Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh, original name Nguyen Sinh Cung, also called Nguyen Tat Thanh or Nguyen Ai Quoc , (born May 19, 1890, Hoang Tru, Vietnam, French Indochina—died September 2, 1969, Hanoi, North Vietnam), founder of the Indochina Communist Party (1930) and its successor, the Viet-Minh (1941), and president from 1945 to 1969 of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). As the leader of the Vietnamese nationalist movement for nearly three decades, Ho was one of the prime movers of the post-World War II anticolonial movement in Asia and one of the most influential communist leaders of the 20th century.
Citations:
Image Citation: Unknown. 1948. Ho Chi Minh. https://library.artstor.org/asset/LOCEON_1039799453.
Text Citation: Britannica Academic, s.v. "Ho Chi Minh," accessed August 30, 2019, https://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/Ho-Chi-Minh/40629.
Books on Vietnamese Cuisine
Southeast Asian Food by
The diversity of cooking styles and the delicious range of fresh ingredients are just two of the reasons for the allure of Southeast Asian cooking. With a selection of recipes showing the varieties and unique properties of each cuisine, from tangy Thai salads, satisfying Vietnamese soups, aromatic Indonesian curries and exquisite Malaysian sambals, Southeast Asian Food is the authoritative book on the subject. With the help of the authorAEs clear and easy-to-follow instructions and her knowledge of the local foods, youAEll be able to recreate these delightful, fragrant dishes in your own kitchen. As Brissenden says, oWith the world full of same-tasting, instant approaches to Southeast Asian food through packets and jars, this book aims to serve as a guide to cooks who wish to enjoy its true freshness and variety by cooking it for themselves. If it also conveys a sense of a rich and diverse set of culinary traditions I shall be more than happy.o
Call Number: TX724.I5 B7 2007
The Foods of Vietnam by
More than 150 recipes from the various regions of Vietnam, ranging from simple family dishes to elaborate banquets. There are sections on ingredients, the cuisine's history and ordering a meal in a Vietnamese restaurant. The author's recipes have been featured in The New York Times.
Call Number: TX724.5.V5 R68 1989
The Food of Asia by
Some of Asia's top chefs offer a selection of over 300 mouth-watering recipes that are both easy to prepare and delicious to eat.
Call Number: TX724.5.A1 F62 2002
Databases
- Anthropology OnlineA wide range of written ethnographies, field notes, seminal texts, memoirs, and contemporary studies, covering human behavior the world over.
- ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
Indexes journal articles and scholarly essays on world religions and religious perspectives on social issues from 1949 to present.
- Bibliography of Asian StudiesA Western-language bibliography covering all subjects pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia with a focus on humanities and social science. Coverage from 1971 to present.
Vietnamese Language Tools
Vietnamese Lessons!
ESL for Vietnamese speakers!
- Mango Languages
An online language learning resource that covers over 70 languages. Courses are accessible from a web browser or app.
- Transparent Language
A language learning application.
Music from Vietnam
Vietnamese Cuisine
Pho
Ingredients:
1/4 lb (125 g) lean boneless top round or sirloin steak
1/4 lb (125 g) fine rice noodles
2-inch (5-cm) piece gingerroot
2 (10-oz/284-mL) cans sodium-reduced beef broth
2 soup cans water
1 tbsp (15 mL) fish sauce
2 large mushrooms
2 green onions
1 cup (250 mL) bean sprouts
1 tsp (5 mL) lime juice
Directions:
Place steak on foil in freezer for 15 min. to firm. Generously cover noodles with hot water. Soak until softened, about 15 min. Slice ginger and bring to a boil with undiluted broth, water and fish sauce. Cover and simmer for 10 min. Meanwhile, slice cold steak paper thin. Place in deep warm soup bowls. Drain noodles. Thinly slice mushrooms and onions. Divide among bowls, along with bean sprouts. Remove ginger from broth. Add lime juice. Bring to a rolling boil. Pour into bowls. (Heat will cook steak.) Serve with lime wedges, fish sauce and hot pepper sauce, if you like. Serves 4
Nutrients per serving 10.6g protein, 2 g fat, 29 g carbohydrates, 1.2 mg iron, 19 mg calcium, 1.6 g fibre, 172 calories
Citations:
"Vietnamese pho soup." Chatelaine, May 2000, p. 194. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A62026142/AONE?u=tel_a_utl&sid=AONE&xid=7fd1198a. Accessed 30 Aug. 2019.
Image Citation: Wikimedia
Music Books in the Collection
Songs for the Spirits by
Songs for the Spirits examines the Vietnamese practice of communing with spirits through music and performance. During rituals dedicated to a pantheon of indigenous spirits, musicians perform an elaborate sequence of songs--a "songscape"--for possessed mediums who carry out ritual actions, distribute blessed gifts to disciples, and dance to the music's infectious rhythms. Condemned by French authorities in the colonial period and prohibited by the Vietnamese Communist Party in the late 1950s, mediumship practices have undergone a strong resurgence since the early 1990s, and they are now being drawn upon to promote national identity and cultural heritage through folklorized performances of rituals on the national and international stage. By tracing the historical trajectory of traditional music and religion since the early twentieth century, this groundbreaking study offers an intriguing account of the political transformation and modernization of cultural practices over a period of dramatic and often turbulent transition. An accompanying DVD contains numerous video and music extracts that illustrate the fascinating ways in which music evokes the embodied presence of spirits and their gender and ethnic identities.
Call Number: E-Book
Sounding Out Heritage by
Sounding Out Heritage explores the cultural politics that have shaped the recent history and practice of a unique style of folk song that originated in Bắc Ninh province, northern Vietnam. The book delves into the rich and complicated history of quan họ, showing the changes it has undergone over the last sixty years as it moved from village practice onto the professional stage. Interweaving an examination of folk music, cultural nationalism, and cultural heritage with an in-depth ethnographic account of the changing social practice of quan ho folk song, author Lauren Meeker presents a vivid and historically contextualized picture of the quan họ "soundscape." Village practitioners, ordinary people who love to sing quan họ, must now negotiate increased attention from those outside the village and their own designation as "living treasures." Professional singers, with their different performance styles and representational practices, have been incorporated into the quan họ soundscape in an effort to highlight and popularize the culture of Bắc Ninh province in the national context. With its focus on the politics of rescuing, preserving, and performing folk music, this book makes a timely contribution to studies of cultural politics by showing with considerable nuance how a tradition can become a self-conscious heritage and national icon. In 2009, Quan Họ Bắc Ninh Folk Songs was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Defining and reframing quan họ as cultural heritage has further complicated the relationship between village and professional quan họ and raises crucial issues about who has the authority to speak for quan họ in the international context. Sounding Out Heritage offers an in-depth account of the impact of cultural politics on the lives and practices of quan họ folk singers in Vietnam and shows compellingly how a tradition can mean many things to many people.
Call Number: ML3758.V5 M44 2013
Popular Music of Vietnam by
Based on the author's research in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and other urban areas in Vietnam, this study of contemporary Vietnamese popular music explores the ways globalization and free market economics have influenced the music and subcultures of Vietnamese youth, focusingnbsp;on the conflict between the politics of remembering, nurtured by the Vietnamese Communist government, and the politics of forgetting driven by the capitalist interests of the music industry. Vietnamese youth at the end of the second and beginning of the third millennium are influenced by the challenges generated by a number of seemingly opposite ideologies and realities, such as "the past" versus "the present," socialism versus capitalism, and cultural traditionalism versus globalization. Vietnam has undergone a radical demographic shift with a very pronounced youth movement, andnbsp;consequently, Vietnamese popular culture has been radically reshaped by a young population coming of age in the twenty-first century. As Olsen reveals, the waynbsp;Vietnamese young people cope with these opposing and contrasting forces is often expressed in their active and passive music making.
Call Number: ML3502.V5 O57 2008
