The protests served stark notice that even staunch loyalists will accept only so much hardship. And with 80 percent of Vietnam's population living in the countryside and the country facing both an economic downturn and weather-related crop failures, the recipe exists for widening rural dissent. Unrest also has been reported in a province in the south. But we've made some mistakes in economic management. In fact, little of Vietnam's recent prosperity has reached this densely populated coastal province in the hardscrabble Red River Delta 85 miles southeast of Hanoi.
Most people still ride one-speed bicycles and count a TV as their single modern appliance.
Even fewer benefits have trickled down to communes like Quynh Hoa, which was wired for electricity only five years ago. Most people live in one-room homes. The reception room where Duyen met reporters, with a dirt floor and a peeling gold star beneath the bust of Ho Chi Minh, mirrored the commune's dire straits. Two years ago, residents in at least two areas of the province noticed that while they struggled, local officials who also farmed rice were able to buy luxuries. In Thai Thuy, a district on the Gulf of Tonkin, farmers complained Thursday that the land-management officer insisted on receiving steep bribes.