More people are going to church, and more can join. Intellectual freedom is stirring as well. Vietnam now has three private universities, and Hanoi's new Internet access provider, netnam, has as much business as it can handle. Late last year, when Hanoi officials tried to ignore the killing of an innocent person by a policeman, hundreds demonstrated in front of the Hanoi People's Court. But it's out there, and if the government doesn't pay attention, they know they'll have a problem.
Limits remain, though.
The press is still tightly censored, and outspokenness is punished. Duong Thu Huong, whose 1988 novel Paradise of the Blind portrayed the communist system as exploitative and corrupt, spent six months in jail in 1991 and remains under surveillance. Two of the country's most prominent Buddhist prelates are in prison or under house arrest for political activities. Though many of the country's leaders are themselves Buddhists, they are determined to keep religion from undermining their authority. That impulse to control is thwarting Vietnam's move to a market economy.