Northern and southern Vietnam
Encyclopedia
Northern Vietnam and Southern Vietnam are two general regions within Vietnam
.
Of the two regions, the older is Northern Vietnam, where the Vietnamese culture originated over 2000 years ago in the Red River Delta
, though Vietnamese people
eventually spread south into the Mekong Delta
. During the Trịnh-Nguyễn War (1627-1673), the country was partitioned between two ruling families, with the border being the Gianh River
in Quang Binh Province
. From 1954 to 1975, Vietnam was again divided into two separate nations, divided by the Ben Hai River
at the 17th parallel
, each with its own government. Although the nation has been united since 1975, linguistic, cultural, and other differences serve to delineate the two regions from one another, with accompanying stereotypes.
The largest city in the North is Hanoi
, the nation's capital, and the largest city in the South is Ho Chi Minh City
(formerly called Saigon).
Each region consists of four subregions, with often considerable cultural differences between each subregion.
Northern Vietnam includes the following subregions:
Southern Vietnam includes the following subregions:
The Vietnamese nation originated in the Red River Delta
, in what is today northern Vietnam. As the nation became stronger, the Vietnamese expanded southward in a process known as nam tiến (literally "southward march"). This culminated in the incorporation of territories formerly belonging to Champa
and part of the Khmer empire
into Vietnam, quite relatively recently in Vietnamese history. Along with the troops sent south, civilians were also sent to cultivate the land, and in their contact with the native Chams and Khmers, slightly different regional cultures began to emerge. At the same time, it is important to note that Vietnamese of all regions still share a general Vietnamese culture
.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Vietnam was ruled by a figurehead emperor of the Lê Dynasty
. Actual power rested in the Trịnh Lords in the North, called Đàng Ngoài (Outer Expanse) and Nguyễn Lords in the South, called Đàng Trong (Inner Expanse). The two sides ruled their own domain independent of the other, and frequently fought each other. The imposed separation encouraged the two regions to develop their own cultures.
During French colonialism
, the French divided the country into three parts, directly ruling over Cochinchina
(southern Vietnam) while establishing protectorates in Annam
(central Vietnam) and Tonkin
(northern Vietnam). Consequently, Cochinchina was more directly influenced by French culture than the other two regions.
Between 1954 and 1975, the country was again divided. The North, ruled by a communist regime, had more contact with China
and the Soviet Union
while the South had more contact with the United States.
, and so on; and "intangible" cultural differences dealing with stereotypes of behavior, attitude and such between the people of these two regions.
have given rise to some stereotypes about people from different regions:
) have their birthplace in the North. The South's cuisine has been influenced by the cuisines of southern Chinese immigrants, and thus Southerners prefer sweet flavors in many dishes.
Central Vietnamese cooking, due to its royal setting, is quite different from the cuisines of both the Northern and Southern regions, in its use of many small side dishes, and also its distinct spiciness when compared to its counterparts.
Certain unusual foods are more prevalent in one region than in another. For example, dog meat
is more popular in the North than in the South.
with the central region (due to its emergence in the Vietnamese royal court in the 18th century), and the Ao Ba Ba
in the South (although many of these clothes are worn across different regions).
s of the Vietnamese language
, with major differences in phonology
.
Despite the countless different accents one can find in each province, the three main accents are those of the North, Center, and South. Of these, the Northern and Southern accents are usually intelligible to speakers from either region (unless it is a particularly heavy accent) but, strangely, the Central accent is often unintelligible to both Northern and Southern speakers.
Differences in these accents lay in several different factors, including but not limited to the following:
Because the accents of Central Vietnam (particularly that of the ancient capital of Huế
) make extensive use of local vocabulary and, to the unaccustomed ear, reduce the number of tones to only 4, Central Vietnamese speech can be relatively difficult to understand for Vietnamese speakers from the Northern and Southern regions.
While these differences may seem superficial to non-Vietnamese speakers, even the difference in sound between Northern and Southern Vietnamese is quite striking.
The vocabularies of the different regions also differ, as certain words mean different things in different regions. For example, the word mận refers to two different fruits: it is used for Prunus salicina
(a type of plum) in the North, while in the South it refers to Syzygium samarangense
(the rose apple). Kinship terms are especially affected, as each term has a subtly different meaning in each region. In the South, the eldest child in a family is referred by the ordinal number 2, while in the North the number 2 refers to the second-eldest child.
Northern Vietnam has a full four seasons, with much cooler temperatures than in the South, as well as winters that can get quite cold. The lowest temperature reached in Hanoi was 2.7 °C in 1955. The cold experienced during Northern winters is intensified by the humidity, as many are forced to use ointments to prevent their skin from cracking due to the cold. Snow can even be found to an extent up in the mountains of the extreme Northern regions in places such as Sapa
and Lang Son
.
Southern Vietnam, with its much hotter temperatures, has only two main seasons: a dry season and a rainy season.
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
.
Of the two regions, the older is Northern Vietnam, where the Vietnamese culture originated over 2000 years ago in the Red River Delta
Red River Delta
The Red River Delta is the flat plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries joining in the Thai Binh River in northern Vietnam. The delta measuring some 15,000 square km is well protected by a network of dikes. It is an agriculturally rich area and densely populated...
, though Vietnamese people
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day 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...
eventually spread south into the Mekong Delta
Mekong Delta
The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southwestern Vietnam of . The size of the area covered by water depends on the season.The...
. During the Trịnh-Nguyễn War (1627-1673), the country was partitioned between two ruling families, with the border being the Gianh River
Gianh River
The Gianh River is a river in the Quang Binh Province of Vietnam's North Central Coast . The river is 268 km in length.It was the border between ruling families during the partition of Vietnam following the Trịnh-Nguyễn War of the 17th century, serving to effectively divide the country between...
in Quang Binh Province
Quang Binh Province
Quảng Bình , formerly Tiên Bình under the reign of Le Trung Hung of the Lê Dynasty, this province was renamed Quảng Bình in 1604) is a province in the North Central Coast of Vietnam....
. From 1954 to 1975, Vietnam was again divided into two separate nations, divided by the Ben Hai River
Ben Hai River
The Ben Hai River is a river in central Vietnam which became an important landmark in the partition of the country into a northern and a southern zone along the 17th parallel by the Geneva Accords of 1954...
at the 17th parallel
17th parallel north
The 17th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 17 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, Central America, the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean....
, each with its own government. Although the nation has been united since 1975, linguistic, cultural, and other differences serve to delineate the two regions from one another, with accompanying stereotypes.
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
, the nation's capital, and the largest city in the South is Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
(formerly called Saigon).
Each region consists of four subregions, with often considerable cultural differences between each subregion.
Northern Vietnam includes the following subregions:
- NorthwestTay BacTây Bắc is one of the regions of Vietnam, located in the mountainous northwestern part of the country. It consists of four provinces: Điện Biên, Lai Châu, Sơn La, and Hòa Bình. It has a population of about two and a half million....
(Tây Bắc) - NortheastDong BacThe Northeast is the region at the north of the Red River Delta, Vietnam. Northeast called to distinguish them from the Northwest, but it's actually in the north and northeast of Hanoi, wider than Việt Bắc. The northeast is one of three sub-regions of northern Vietnam...
(Đông Bắc) - Red River DeltaRed River DeltaThe Red River Delta is the flat plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries joining in the Thai Binh River in northern Vietnam. The delta measuring some 15,000 square km is well protected by a network of dikes. It is an agriculturally rich area and densely populated...
(Đồng Bằng Sông Hồng) - North Central CoastBac Trung BoBắc Trung Bộ is one of the regions of Vietnam. It consists of six provinces: Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế...
(Bắc Trung Bộ)
Southern Vietnam includes the following subregions:
- South Central CoastNam Trung BoNam Trung Bộ is one of the regions of Vietnam. It consists of the independent municipality of Đà Nẵng and seven other provinces. The two southern provinces Ninh Thuận and Bình Thuận are sometimes seen as part of the Southeast region.The region has traditionally been one of the main gateways to...
(Nam Trung Bộ) - Central HighlandsTây NguyênTây Nguyên, translated as Western Highlands and sometimes also called Central Highlands, is one of the regions of Vietnam. It contains the provinces of Đắk Lắk, Đắk Nông, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Lâm Đồng....
(Tây Nguyên) - SoutheastDong Nam BoĐông Nam Bộ is a region in Vietnam. This region includes one municipality, Ho Chi Minh City; and five provinces: Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, Binh Phuoc and Tay Ninh. This region is the most economically developed region in Vietnam...
(Đông Nam Bộ) - Mekong River DeltaMekong DeltaThe Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southwestern Vietnam of . The size of the area covered by water depends on the season.The...
(Đồng Bằng Sông Cửu Long)
History
Red River Delta
The Red River Delta is the flat plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries joining in the Thai Binh River in northern Vietnam. The delta measuring some 15,000 square km is well protected by a network of dikes. It is an agriculturally rich area and densely populated...
, in what is today northern Vietnam. As the nation became stronger, the Vietnamese expanded southward in a process known as nam tiến (literally "southward march"). This culminated in the incorporation of territories formerly belonging to Champa
Champa
The kingdom of Champa was an Indianized kingdom that controlled what is now southern and central Vietnam from approximately the 7th century through to 1832.The Cham people are remnants...
and part of the Khmer empire
Khmer Empire
The Khmer Empire was one of the most powerful empires in Southeast Asia. The empire, which grew out of the former kingdom of Chenla, at times ruled over and/or vassalized parts of modern-day Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, and Malaysia. Its greatest legacy is Angkor, the site of the capital city...
into Vietnam, quite relatively recently in Vietnamese history. Along with the troops sent south, civilians were also sent to cultivate the land, and in their contact with the native Chams and Khmers, slightly different regional cultures began to emerge. At the same time, it is important to note that Vietnamese of all regions still share a general Vietnamese culture
Culture of Vietnam
The Culture of Vietnam, an agricultural civilization based on the cultivation of wet rice, is one of the oldest in East Asia; the ancient Bronze age Dong Son culture is considered to be one of its most important progenitors...
.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Vietnam was ruled by a figurehead emperor of the Lê Dynasty
Lê Dynasty
The Later Lê Dynasty , sometimes referred to as the Lê Dynasty was the longest-ruling dynasty of Vietnam, ruling the country from 1428 to 1788, with a brief interruption....
. Actual power rested in the Trịnh Lords in the North, called Đàng Ngoài (Outer Expanse) and Nguyễn Lords in the South, called Đàng Trong (Inner Expanse). The two sides ruled their own domain independent of the other, and frequently fought each other. The imposed separation encouraged the two regions to develop their own cultures.
During French colonialism
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
, the French divided the country into three parts, directly ruling over Cochinchina
Cochinchina
Cochinchina is a region encompassing the southern third of Vietnam whose principal city is Saigon. It was a French colony from 1862 to 1954. The later state of South Vietnam was created in 1954 by combining Cochinchina with southern Annam. In Vietnamese, the region is called Nam Bộ...
(southern Vietnam) while establishing protectorates in Annam
Annam (French Colony)
Annam was a French protectorate encompassing the central region of Vietnam. Vietnamese were subsequently referred to as "Annamites." Nationalist writers adopted the word "Vietnam" in the late 1920s. The general public embraced the word "Vietnam" during the revolution of August 1945...
(central Vietnam) and Tonkin
Tonkin
Tonkin , also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is the northernmost part of Vietnam, south of China's Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces, east of northern Laos, and west of the Gulf of Tonkin. Locally, it is known as Bắc Kỳ, meaning "Northern Region"...
(northern Vietnam). Consequently, Cochinchina was more directly influenced by French culture than the other two regions.
Between 1954 and 1975, the country was again divided. The North, ruled by a communist regime, had more contact with China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
while the South had more contact with the United States.
Cultural differences
The cultural differences between the regions can be divided into two main categories: "tangible" cultural differences such as traditional clothing, cuisineCuisine of Vietnam
Vietnamese cuisine is a style of cooking derived from Vietnam. Fish sauce and paste, soy paste, rice, fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables are commonly used. Vietnamese recipes utilize a diverse range of herbs, including lemongrass, mint, Vietnamese mint, long coriander and Thai basil leaves...
, and so on; and "intangible" cultural differences dealing with stereotypes of behavior, attitude and such between the people of these two regions.
Perceived traits and stereotypes
While relations between Northerners and Southerners are generally civil, the increased contact due to the influx of Northerners into the South since the end of the Vietnam WarVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
have given rise to some stereotypes about people from different regions:
- Northerners tend to view themselves as more cultured and refined.
- Southerners consider themselves more dynamic.
- Northerners are more concerned about status and appearances.
- Southerners are freer with their money while Northerners are more thrifty.
- Northerners are more conservative and afraid of change, while Southerners are more dynamic.
- Southerners are more direct while Northerners are more ceremonious and formal.
Cuisine
Cuisine is one of the cultural differences between the regions. With Northern Vietnam being the cradle of Vietnamese civilization, many of Vietnam's most famous dishes (such as phởPHO
PHO may refer to:* Primary Health Organisation* Potentially hazardous object, an asteroid or comet that could potentially collide with Earth...
) have their birthplace in the North. The South's cuisine has been influenced by the cuisines of southern Chinese immigrants, and thus Southerners prefer sweet flavors in many dishes.
Central Vietnamese cooking, due to its royal setting, is quite different from the cuisines of both the Northern and Southern regions, in its use of many small side dishes, and also its distinct spiciness when compared to its counterparts.
Certain unusual foods are more prevalent in one region than in another. For example, dog meat
Dog meat
Dog meat refers to edible parts and the flesh derived from dogs. Human consumption of dog meat has been recorded in many parts of the world, including ancient China, ancient Mexico, and ancient Rome. According to contemporary reports, dog meat is consumed in a variety of countries such as...
is more popular in the North than in the South.
Clothing
Traditional clothes are also often used to symbolize different regions. Commonly the Ao Tu Than is associated with the North, the áo dàiÁo dài
The áo dài is a Vietnamese national costume, now most commonly for women. In its current form, it is a tight-fitting silk tunic worn over pantaloons. The word is pronounced ow zai in the North and ow yai in the South of the country. Áo is derived from a Middle Chinese word meaning "padded coat"...
with the central region (due to its emergence in the Vietnamese royal court in the 18th century), and the Ao Ba Ba
Áo bà ba
Áo bà ba is a traditional Vietnamese costume. It is most associated with southern Vietnam, especially in rural areas....
in the South (although many of these clothes are worn across different regions).
Linguistic differences
There are an abundance of different dialectDialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
s of the Vietnamese language
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
, with major differences in phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
.
Despite the countless different accents one can find in each province, the three main accents are those of the North, Center, and South. Of these, the Northern and Southern accents are usually intelligible to speakers from either region (unless it is a particularly heavy accent) but, strangely, the Central accent is often unintelligible to both Northern and Southern speakers.
Differences in these accents lay in several different factors, including but not limited to the following:
- Pronunciation of certain letters, an example would be: Hanoi "d" is pronounced like the English "z" while Ho Chi Minh City "d" is pronounced like the English "y"
- Northern Vietnamese has the full 6 tonesTone (linguistics)Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is, to distinguish or inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information, and to convey emphasis, contrast, and other such features in what is called...
, whereas Southern Vietnamese has only 5 (merging two of the tones into one) - Words ending in "nh" are pronounced differently between North and South (See Vietnamese phonologyVietnamese phonologyThis article is a technical description of the sound system of the Vietnamese language, including phonetics and phonology.-Consonants:Two main varieties of Vietnamese, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, are described below.-Hanoi:...
for details) - Merging of the "tr" and "ch" sounds in Northern Vietnamese
- Subtle differences in vocabulary between different regions
Because the accents of Central Vietnam (particularly that of the ancient capital of Huế
Hue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...
) make extensive use of local vocabulary and, to the unaccustomed ear, reduce the number of tones to only 4, Central Vietnamese speech can be relatively difficult to understand for Vietnamese speakers from the Northern and Southern regions.
While these differences may seem superficial to non-Vietnamese speakers, even the difference in sound between Northern and Southern Vietnamese is quite striking.
The vocabularies of the different regions also differ, as certain words mean different things in different regions. For example, the word mận refers to two different fruits: it is used for Prunus salicina
Prunus salicina
Prunus salicina , commonly called the Chinese plum or Japanese plum, is a small deciduous tree native to China...
(a type of plum) in the North, while in the South it refers to Syzygium samarangense
Syzygium samarangense
Syzygium samarangense is a plant species in the Myrtaceae, native to India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Samoa, Sri Lanka and Thailand, and widely cultivated in the tropics...
(the rose apple). Kinship terms are especially affected, as each term has a subtly different meaning in each region. In the South, the eldest child in a family is referred by the ordinal number 2, while in the North the number 2 refers to the second-eldest child.
Differences in climate
While the entire country lies in the tropics, there is quite a large difference in climate between Northern and Southern Vietnam.Northern Vietnam has a full four seasons, with much cooler temperatures than in the South, as well as winters that can get quite cold. The lowest temperature reached in Hanoi was 2.7 °C in 1955. The cold experienced during Northern winters is intensified by the humidity, as many are forced to use ointments to prevent their skin from cracking due to the cold. Snow can even be found to an extent up in the mountains of the extreme Northern regions in places such as Sapa
Sa Pa
Sa Pa , or Sapa, is a frontier town and capital of Sa Pa District in the Lao Cai province in northwest Vietnam. It is one of the main market towns in the area, where several ethnic minority groups such as Hmong, Dao , Giay, Pho Lu, and Tay live....
and Lang Son
Lang Son
Lạng Sơn , sometimes Langson, is a city in far northern Vietnam, is the capital of Lang Son province. It is accessible by road and rail from Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, and it is the northernmost point on National Road 1A.-History:...
.
Southern Vietnam, with its much hotter temperatures, has only two main seasons: a dry season and a rainy season.
Miscellaneous cultural differences
- While Southern Vietnamese often ring in the Lunar New Year (TếtTetTet can mean:*Tết or Tết Nguyên Đán, the Vietnamese new year**Tet Offensive, a military campaign that began in 1968*Têt in Roussillon, France*Equal temperament, abbreviated as 12-TET, 19-TET and so on...
) with yellow mai (umeUmePrunus mume, with the common names including Chinese plum and Japanese apricot, is an Asian tree species classified in the Armeniaca section of the genus Prunus. The flower, long a beloved subject in the traditional painting of East Asia, is usually translated as plum blossom. This distinct tree...
) blossoms, Northern Vietnamese often prefer hoa đào (peachPeachThe peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...
) blossoms.
External links
- Article about distinctions and stereotypes between northern and southern Vietnamese
- Article on Vietnam including climate information
- Article on Vietnam tourist including some informations about Hanoi and Saigon
See also
- North VietnamNorth VietnamThe Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
- South VietnamSouth VietnamSouth Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
- :vi:Bắc Bộ Việt Nam (Vietnamese Wikipedia article about historical administrative region of northern Vietnam)
- :vi:Nam Bộ Việt Nam (Vietnamese Wikipedia article about historical administrative region of southern Vietnam)
- :vi:Miền Bắc Việt Nam (Vietnamese Wikipedia article about general region of northern Vietnam)
- :vi:Miền Trung Việt Nam (Vietnamese Wikipedia article about general region of central Vietnam)
- :vi:Miền Nam Việt Nam (Vietnamese Wikipedia article about general region of southern Vietnam)
- Provinces of VietnamProvinces of VietnamVietnam is divided into 58 provinces and five centrally governed cities existing at the same level as provinces ....
- Partition of VietnamPartition of VietnamThe Partition of Vietnam was the establishment of the 17th parallel as the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone in 1954, splitting Vietnam into halves after the First Indochina War.The Geneva Conference was held at the conclusion of the First Indochina War...
- Southern and Northern Dynasties of VietnamSouthern and Northern Dynasties of VietnamSouthern and Northern Dynasties , spanning from 1533 to 1592, was a period that occurred during 16th century in Vietnam. During this period, there existed a Northern Dynasty, established by Mạc Đăng Dung in Đông Đô, and a Southern Dynasty, established by Nguyễn Kim under the name of Lê emperors in...
- Trịnh-Nguyễn War
- Northern and Southern ChinaNorthern and southern ChinaNorthern China and southern China are two approximate regions within China. The exact boundary between these two regions has never been precisely defined...