November 20, 2011 - Teacher's Day

– Vietnam

Today is a day for honoring teachers in Vietnam...so...

Teach yourself about Vietnam today!

This country is located on the Indochina peninsula, south of China; this area was colonized by France, and during World War II it was occupied by Japan. In 1941, a man named Ho Chi Minh led an effort to free Vietnam from the Japanese and the French. But many people considered Ho Chi Minh a communist and therefore bad—and the nation was divided in two: communist North Vietnam and non-communist (but unfortunately also non-democratic) South Vietnam. For years, the two sides fought against each other, egged on by first France and then the United States.

The war finally ended in 1975, and since then Vietnam has been one of the fastest-growing economies in the world!

• Watch this YouTube video about Vietnam. It is a tourism video, so it is only positive about the country—nothing negative exists there, apparently, or has ever happened there (for example, there is not even one tiny acknowledgement of the Vietnam War). But the video was beautifully shot and shows a ton of natural beauty I hadn't known about...

• Rainbow Kids has coloring pages and other resources about Vietnam.

• Wart Games offers links for more resources.