Country of Analysis: Vietnam

Country of Analysis Project

VIET NAM

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South Vietnamese (before 1975)

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North Vietnamese – Current Government (after 1975)

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EXECUTIVE SUMMMARY

When considering in doing business in a foreign country, especially poor countries, there are major factors that investors should CONSIDER. In this report we will give the investors brief information on major factors that investors should look into are:

1. History

2. Geography

3. Language

4. Culture

5. Legal structure

6. Government

7. Economic structure

8. Education system

9. Religion

10. Population

11. Demographics

12. Physical infrastructure

13. Industrial structure

14. Trade agreements/associations

15. Small business practices in the region

16. Import/Export information

17. Future of the country

History

Like any other old nation in the world, Viet Nam has her own legends concerning the origins of the race in the dawn of time.

According to the National Annals, Viet Nam was formed when King Lac Long Quan, known as the "Dragon Lord of Lac" or the "Dragon Lord of the Seas", married Princess Au Co, a Chinese immortal and descended from the High Mountains. From this union, one hundred boys were hatched from one hundred eggs carried in a pouch by Au Co; and all the sons were handsome and stalwart. They soon established a nation that stretched from southern China to northern Indonesia. However, the King and the Princess became convinced that their different origins would ultimately make them unhappy, so they separated. Princess Au Co took 50 of the sons with her back into the mountains while King Lac Long Quan took the other 50 sons and ruled over the lowlands. After the King died in 2879 B.C., his eldest son, Hung Vuong established the Hung dynasty, and he is regarded as the real founder of the Vietnamese nation and of the first Vietnamese dynasty

For the next thousand years, Vietnam was mostly under Chinese rule. Early independence movements such as of those of the Trung Sisters and of Lady Trieu were only brief successful. It was independent as Van Xuan under the Anterior Ly Dynasty between 544 and 602. By the early 10th century, Vietnam had gained autonomy, but not independence, under Khuc family. In 938 CE, a Vietnamese lord named Ngo Quyen defeated Chinese forces at the Bach Dang River and regained independence after 10 centuries under Chinese control. Renamed as ??i Vi?t, the nation went through a golden era during the Ly and Tran Dynasties. During the rule of the Tran Dynasty, ??i Vi?t repelled three Mongol invasions. Buddhism flourished and became the state religion. Following the brief Ho Dynasty, Vietnamese independence was momentarily interrupted by the Chinese Ming Dynasty, but was restored by Le Loi, the founder of the Le Dynasty; Vietnam reached its zenith in the Le Dynasty of the 15th century, especially during the reign of Emperor Le Thanh Ton (1460–1497). Between the 11th and 18th centuries, the Vietnamese expanded southward in a process known as southward expansion. They eventually conquered the kingdom of Champa and part of the Khmer Empire.

Towards the end of the Le Dynasty, civil strife engulfed much of Vietnam. First, the Chinese-supported Mac Dynasty challenged the Le Dynasty's power. After the M?c Dynasty was defeated, the Le Dynasty was reinstalled, but with no actual power. Power was divided between the Tr?nh lord in the North and the Nguyen lord in the South, who engaged in a civil war for more than four decades. During this time, the Nguyen expanded southern Vietnam into the Mekong Delta, annexing the Champa in the