Vietnamese people

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Vietnamese people
người Việt

Phan Bội Châu • Vietnamese girl wearing an áo dài • Nguyễn Trãi

Total population

75 million

Regions with significant populations

Vietnam 72,000,000 [1]

Cambodia 600,000 [2]

Laos 100,000

China 30,000

Significant overseas populations
USA	1,521,353 (2005)	[3]
France	250,000	[4]
Taiwan	120,000 - 200,000	[5][6]
Australia	174,200 (2001)	[7]
Canada	151,410 (2001)	[8]
Germany	83,526 (2004)	[9]
Czech Republic	45,362 (2007)	[10]
Poland	45,000
Japan	36,860 (2007)	[11]
Russia	36,225	[12]
United Kingdom	35,000	[13]
Norway	18,333 (2006)	[14]
Netherlands	18,000 (2007)
Finland	4,000	[15]

Languages

Vietnamese

Religions

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For vague historical references, see also Yue (peoples).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.

Genetic studies in the past decade have shown that the Vietnamese population exhibits genetic markers that are closely related and/or identical to those of Southern Chinese populations, 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 populations^[1]. The Vietnamese people are classified in the same genetic family as the Miao, Southern Han (Southern Chinese), Buyi and Thai, with a divergent family consisting of Singaporean and Thai Chinese, Minnan and Hakka^[2].

1 Origins
2 Diaspora
3 See also
4 Notes and references

[edit] Origins

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According to legend, the first Vietnamese descended from the dragon lord Lạc Long Quân and the female heavenly spirit 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.

[edit] 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.