Overseas Vietnamese ( ,
which literally means "Overseas Vietnamese", or Việt
Kiều, a Sino-Vietnamese word literally
translating to "Vietnamese sojourner") refers to Vietnamese people living outside Vietnam
in a
diaspora. Of the about 3 million
Overseas Vietnamese, a majority left Vietnam as
refugees after 1975 as a result of the
Fall of Saigon and the resulting takeover by
the Communist regime.
The term "Việt Kiều" is used by people in Vietnam to refer to
ethnic Vietnamese living outside of Vietnam, and is not a term of
self-identification. The Overseas Vietnamese community itself
rarely use this for self-identification, instead, most prefer the
technically-correct term of
Người Việt Hải Ngoại
(literally translating to
Overseas Vietnamese), or
occasionally
Người Việt Tự Do (
Free
Vietnamese).
Vietnamese worldwide
Overseas Vietnamese can be generally divided into four distinct
categories that rarely interact with each other.
The first category
consists of people who have been living in territories outside of
Vietnam prior to 1975; they usually reside in neighboring
countries, such as Cambodia
, Laos
, and
China
. These people are not usually considered
"Việt Kiều" by people residing in Vietnam.
During French
colonialism, some also migrated to France
and some
French-speaking areas, such as Québec
. The
second category, consisting of the vast majority of overseas
Vietnamese, are those who escaped Vietnam after 1975 as refugees
and their descendants. They usually reside in industrialized
countries in
North America,
Western Europe, and
Australia. The third category consists of
Vietnamese working and studying in the
Soviet bloc who opted to stay there after the
Soviet collapse. This group is found
mainly in
Central and
Eastern Europe.
The last category
consists of recent economic migrants who work in regional Asian
countries such as Taiwan
and Japan
.
They also
include women who married men from Taiwan and South Korea
through marriage agencies. These brides
usually follow their husbands to live in those countries. Recently
a new group of Vietnamese have been emerging. These are naturally
born Vietnamese who attended high school and college in the U.S. or
other developed nation. After which they stay in those countries
and work and live as permanent residents.
United States
According
to the 2000 census, more than 1.2 million people who are of
Vietnamese origin live in the United States
, constituting between a third to a half of all
overseas Vietnamese. They tend to live in metropolitan areas in
the West, especially in California
and Texas
.
Significant areas where they are
well-represented include Orange County, California
, San Jose, California
, and Houston, Texas
. As almost all of them left Vietnam after
1975 to escape the communist Vietnamese government, they are
generally antagonistic towards the current government of
Vietnam.
As of 2007, the Vietnamese American population has grown to more
than 1.6 million
See also:
List
of U.S. cities with large Vietnamese American populations,
List of Vietnamese
Americans,
Little Saigon
Cambodia
The
Vietnamese constitute about 5% of the population of Cambodia, and they
have been antagonized by ethnic Khmers. Clashes between
ethnic
Khmer and Vietnamese have been
the cause of some conflicts
between the two countries.
The platform of some mainstream parties include restricting rights
of the Vietnamese minority.
Europe
France
The number of ethnic Vietnamese living in France is estimated to be
around 250,000 as of 2006.
The French-Vietnamese have been in the country since the early
1900s due to the colonization of Vietnam by France, but they only
started to become visible after the massive influx of refugees
after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Unlike their counterparts
in North America or Australia, the French Vietnamese have not
formed distinct Vietnamese enclaves within the major cities of
France (although many Vietnamese-run shops can be found in the
Chinatown neighborhood of Paris) and the degree of assimilation is
higher than in the United States, Canada or Australia due to better
cultural, historical and linguistic knowledge of the host
country.
The community is still strongly attached to its homeland while
being well-integrated in the French society. As the first
generation of French-Vietnamese refugees continues to hold on to
traditional values, the second generation of French-born Vietnamese
strongly identifies with the French culture rather than the
Vietnamese one and most of them are unable to speak and/or
understand the Vietnamese language. The level of integration of
immigrants and their place in French society have become prominent
issues in France in the past decade, but the majority of the French
people views the Vietnamese community in a much better light than
other immigrant groups, partially because of their high degree of
integration within the French society and their economic as well as
academic success.
Most of the French Vietnamese live in
Paris
and its surrounding areas but a sizable number also
reside in the major urban centers in the south-east of the country,
primarily Marseille
and Lyon
.
Germany
Vietnamese comprise the largest Asian ethnic group in Germany
[94546]. In western Germany, most Vietnamese
arrived in the 1960s or 1970s as refugees from the Vietnam war.
The
comparatively larger Vietnamese community in eastern Germany traces
its origins to assistance agreements between the GDR
and the
North Vietnamese government. Under these agreements, guest
workers from Vietnam were brought to East Germany, where they soon
made up the largest immigrant group
[94547], and were provided with technical training.
Following
the fall of the Berlin
Wall
, many stayed in Germany, although they often faced
discrimination, especially in the early years following
reunification.
Norway
Norway has received Vietnamese refugees since 1975. They numbered
about 18,300 in 2006 and are considered one of the best integrated
non-western immigrant groups in Norway.
Poland
Around
30,000 to 50,000 Vietnamese live in Poland
, mostly in
big cities. They publish a number of newspapers, both pro-
and anti-Communist. The first immigrants were Vietnamese students
at Polish universities in the post-
World
War II era. These numbers increased slightly during the
Vietnam War. Most of today's immigrants
arrived after 1989.
United Kingdom
Vietnamese residing in the United
Kingdom
number around 55,000 people, which is fairly low in
comparison to other European countries, and goes against the trend
of the UK tending to have the largest East and South East Asian diasporas in
Europe. In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher agreed to take quotas of
refugees and 12,000 boat people came to
Britain The are established Vietnamese communities in Hackney
and other parts of London. There are also
communities in Birmingham
, Manchester
and other major UK cities.
Recently, the Vietnamese in Britain had risen to prominence in the
British press due to criminal
cannabis-growing activities and trafficking or
facilitating illegal migrants.
Czech Republic
Many
Vietnamese immigrants in the Czech Republic
reside in Prague
.
There is
an enclave called "Little Hanoi", named after the capital
city Hanoi
of Vietnam.
Unlike Vietnamese immigrants in Western Europe and the United
States, these immigrants were usually communist cadres studying or
working abroad who decided to stay after the collapse of communism
in Central and Eastern Europe. The Vietnamese surname
Nguyen is even listed as the most common of foreign
surnames in the Czech Republic.
The number of Vietnamese people in the Czech Republic is estimated
at between 40,000 and 80,000.
Bulgaria
In
Bulgaria
, Vietnamese people have lived since the 1960s, but
most left in 1991. However, with recent immigrants their
number is at around 1,500.
Russia
Vietnamese people in Russia form the
72nd-largest ethnic minority community in Russia
according to
the 2002 census. The
Census estimated their population at only 26,205 individuals,
making them one of the smaller groups of Việt Kiều. However,
unofficial estimates put their population as high as 100,000 to
150,000.
Australia
Vietnamese Australians constitute the seventh-largest ethnic group
in Australia, with 159,848 the population claiming to been born in
Vietnam according to the 2006 Census.
Vietnamese is the sixth most
widely-spoken language in the country, with 194,863 speakers. They
vary widely in income and social class levels. Many Vietnamese
Australians are upper-class professionals, while others work
primarily in blue-collar jobs. Australian-born Vietnamese
Australians have a higher than average rate of participation in
tertiary education. In 2001 the labor participation rate for
Vietnamese-born residents was 61%, only slightly lower than the
level for Australian born residents (63%)
[94548].
Over three quarters of
Vietnamese-Australians live in New South Wales
(40.7%) and Victoria
(36.8%). Being mostly refugees after the
Vietnam War, they are generally
antagonistic toward the government of Vietnam.
The
popular surname Nguyễn is the seventh
most common family name in Australia
(second only to Smith in the Melbourne
phone book).
Canada
According to the 2001 census, Canada has 151,410 people with
Vietnamese origins.
They include 67,450 in Ontario
, 28,310 in Québec and 21,490
in Alberta
. They are similar to Vietnamese Americans in
most respects. Some of those lived in Québec before 1975.
Vancouver is a major destination
for newly arrived Vietnamese immigrants since 1980, including those
of Chinese descent since Vancouver has a large Chinese population
(see
Chinese Canadians).
Philippines
Many
Vietnamese boat refugees landed in the Philippines
in post-1975 and, as a result, a community called
Viet-Ville (French for "Viettown")
was formed in Puerto Princesa,
Palawan, making it the center of Vietnamese commerce and
culture complete with Vietnamese restaurants, shops, and Catholic churches and Buddhist temples at the time. Its ethnic
Vietnamese population of the community has dwindled greatly,
however, as many have since been resettled in the United States,
Canada, Australia, or Western Europe; while others were integrated
to the Filipinos, changing their surnames and speaking tagalog or
visayan. Viet-Ville remains a popular destination for local
Filipino residents.
Taiwan
Hong Kong
Vietnamese migration to Hong Kong began after the end of the
Vietnam War in 1975, when
boat people took to the sea and began fleeing
Vietnam in all directions. Those who landed in Hong Kong were
placed in refugee camps until they could be resettled in a third
country. Eventually, under the Hong Kong government's
Comprehensive Plan of Action,
newly arriving Vietnamese were classified as either political
refugees or economic migrants. Those deemed to be economic migrants
would be denied the opportunity for resettlement overseas.
South Korea
Vietnamese people in South Korea today
consist mainly of migrant workers and
women introduced to South
Korean husbands through marriage agencies. There are a small
number of Vietnamese people who settled in South Korea before or
after 1975.In the 1200s, several thousand Vietnamese fled to Korea
following the exile of the Vietnamese
Ly
Dynasty. The descendants of these people today have largely
mixed with Koreans and are found in both South and North Korea. On
November 6, 1958, during his visit to South Vietnam, South Korean
president
Syngman Rhee reportedly told
the local press that he was a descendant of
Ly Long Tuong. The settlements of these
Vietnamese people (temples, family tree houses) still stand and
exist today.
Israel
The
number of Vietnamese people in Israel
is
estimated as 200. Most of them came to Israel in between
1976-1979, after prime minister Menachem Begin authorized their
admission to Israel and granted them political asylum. The
Vietnamese people living in Israel are Israeli citizens who also
serve in the
Israel Defence
Forces.
Today, the majority of the community lives
in the Gush
Dan
area in the center of Israel.
Japan
26,018 Vietnamese people resided in Japan as of 2004. Some
Vietnamese students came to Japan as early as the beginning of the
20th century. However, the majority of the community is composed of
refugees admitted in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as well as a
smaller proportion of migrant laborers who began arriving in
1994.
China
French Guyana
New Caledonia
Relations with Vietnam
Relations between overseas Vietnamese populations and the current
government of Vietnam traditionally range between polarities of
geniality and overt contempt. Generally, overseas Vietnamese
residing in North America, Western Europe, and Australia (which
represent the vast majority of overseas Vietnamese populations) are
opposed to the existing government of Vietnam. However, there is a
smaller population of overseas Vietnamese residing in Central and
Eastern Europe, most of whom have been sent for training in
formerly communist countries. These populations generally maintain
positive relations with the government. Those who left prior to the
political exodus of 1975 generally identify their sentiments as
somewhere in between the two polarities.
However, relations seem to be improving in recent years. The former
South Vietnamese prime minister
Nguyen Cao Ky returned to Vietnam in
2004 and was generally positive about his experience. Notable
expatriate artists have returned to Vietnam to perform (some are
met with scorn and boycott by the expatriate community itself after
they have done so).
Notably, the composer Pham Duy had returned to Ho Chi Minh
City
to live the rest of his life there after living in
Midway City,
California
since 1975. The government in Vietnam used
less antagonistic rhetoric to describe those who left the country
after 1975. According to the Vietnamese government, while in 1987
only 8,000 overseas Vietnamese returned to Vietnam for visits, that
number jumped to 430,000 in 2004.
The Vietnamese government, for its own part, had actively tried to
woo back overseas Vietnamese, who bring capital and expertise. Its
view of the Việt Kiều changed from "cowardly traitors" to
"essential elements of Vietnamese people" (or "integral parts of
the Vietnamese Nation"). The government enacted laws to make it
easier for overseas Vietnamese to do business in Vietnam, including
those allowing them to own land. However, some overseas Vietnamese
still complain about discrimination that they face while trying to
do business there.
In June
2007, Vietnamese president Nguyen Minh
Triet visited the United States, one of his scheduled stops is
within the vicinity Orange County, home of Little
Saigon, the largest Vietnamese community outside of
Vietnam. Details of his plans were not announced beforehand
due to concerns of massive protests. Several thousand people
protested in Washington, D.C. and Orange County during his
visit.
See also
References
- http://www.rp.pl/artykul/2,223266.html
- http://www.gigawat.net.pl/article/articleview/1209/1/86/
- Coilin O'Connor, Is the Czech Republic's Vietnamese community
finally starting to feel at home?, Czech Radio, 29 May
2007
- Miroslav Nozina, The Dragon & the Lion: Vietnamese Organized
Crime in the Czech Republic, Think Magazine
- .
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Facts
Map
Search
