In the middle of 19th century (1858), French colonialists began to invade Vietnam. The incompetent government of the Nguyen gradually gave in and from 1884

In the spring of 1975, the patriotic armed forces of Vietnam swept across the country in the great general offensive and overthrew the Saigon government. The southern part of Vietnam was liberated and the country was united as one.

At the 6th Congress of the Communist Party in 1986, the Doi Moi (reform) policy was launched with the focus on economic reform

The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) was established on February 3, 1930. Over the past 75 years, the CPV has been in the vanguard of the struggle for national independence

Vietnam is subdivided into 59 provinces and 5 province-level cities, which are further subdivided into districts and municipalities

Agriculture and forestry (20.4% of GDP, 2006): Principal products--rice, maize, sweet potato, peanut, soya bean, cotton, coffee, cashews. Cultivated land--12.2 million hectares. Land use--21% arable; 28% forest and woodland; 51% other.

At present there are 54 different ethnic groups inhabiting Vietnam, in which Kinh (Viet) people make up nearly 90% of the whole population, and 53 other ethnic groups represent over 10%.

At the start, with primitive and rudimentary cognition of materialism and dialectics, Vietnamese thought was mixed with beliefs

Vietnamese literature came into being at an early date, including two major components - folk literature and written literature

which the set of percussion instruments is the most popular, diverse and long-lasting such as trong dong (copper drums). The set of blowing instruments is represented by flutes and pan-pipes, while the set of string instruments is specified by dan bau and dan day.