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Chinatown - Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City Chinatown - Cholon Chinese in Vietnam Vietnam is the first country in Southeast Asia to receive a large numbers of Chinese migrants. It is also the Southeast Asian nation with the highest degree of Chinese cultural influence due to geographical proximity (China and Vietnam share a border of 1,306 km) and the fact that Chinese dynasties ruled northern Vietnam for more than one thousand years as a Chinese province. As a result, the Vietnamese view the Chinese with ambivalent feelings –closely related yet foreign. When Saigon (the former name of Ho Chi Minh City) fell under communist rule in 1975, the wealthy Chinese were stripped of their wealth and properties. Chinese schools were closed down, so did Chinese newspapers, hospitals and voluntary associations. The ant-Chinese campaign in the north was even harsher. As a result between 1978 and 1989, about 600,000-700,000 refugees left Vietnam to escape the persecution. About 10 % perished at sea. Today, the local Chinese, which is also the single largest ethnic minority group in the country, continue to play a role in the economy but muted by years of socialist control.
Cholon—History and DevelopmentCholon means 'big market'. It is one of the numerous areas in Vietnam that was first settled by the Chinese. It began as a small settlement of villages 5 km from Saigon In order to escape the ravages of the Tay Son rebellion, in 1778 a group of Chinese moved from their settlement in Tran Bien (today's Bien Hoa), northeast of Saigon, to a place that came to be known as Cholon (today's districts 5 and 6 of Ho Chi Minh City), southwest of Saigon. This is also the site of a massacre of the Chinese in 1792 during the reign of Tay Son The Chinese dominated the rice trade in Saigon during the French rule Cholon was where the rice merchants were concentrated In 1876, the Chinese had their own mechanical mill, taking only seven years to catch up with the Europeans. By 1932, Chinese owned nearly all the 75 rice mills in Cholon, and large fleets of junks to conduct the trade. They controlled the entire process from distribution to purchasing and processing. The rice trade was at the heart of Chinese commerce in Vietnam and the main index of Chinese prosperity. When the Ngo Dinh Diem government in 1956 barred non-nationals from 11 trades, including rice milling and transportation, the Chinese role in the trade was crippled. Today, most Chinese families in Cholon are engaged in small business—handicrafts, cafés, restaurants and other services. . Cholon continues to home to most of Vietnam's ethnic Chinese. At the heart of Cholon is the Binh Tan Market, which throngs with people from early morning. The gloomy, narrow walkways are crammed with consumer items and exotic foodstuffs. The sound of bargaining, are quite often in Chinese rather than Vietnamese
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Compiled by Yeo Ai Hoon |