page_title: Vietnamese people
section_title: Diaspora
hierarchical_section_title: Vietnamese people / Diaspora
caption_attribution_description: English: Vietnamese New Year parade, San Jose, California. Nikon F100, Kodak Portra 400VC. Nikon F100, 24mm f2.8 AF-D Nikkor, Portra 400VC. Heavily cropped.
context_page_description: Vietnamese people or Kinh people are a Southeast Asian ethnic group and nation native to Vietnam. They speak the Vietnamese language, the most widely spoken Austroasiatic language. They formed 85.32% of the population of Vietnam in the 2019 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from minority ethnic groups within the country. The earliest recorded name for the ancient Vietnamese people is Lạc or Lạc Việt.
  Although the Vietnamese are geographically, linguistically and genetically Southeast Asian, they belong in the Chinese cultural sphere due to the historical Chinese domination of Vietnam. The Vietnamese are therefore culturally similar to neighbouring southern Han Chinese subgroups and ethnic minorities from South China. The word Việt derives from Bách Việt and Nam means "south". "Baiyue" was a name used by the Han Chinese in ancient times to describe various southern non-Chinese peoples. Together, Vietnam means "to the south of the Viet", as Vietnam is located south of the Bách Việt.
  The Viet are one of the 4 main groups of Vietic speakers in Vietnam, the others being the Muong, Thổ and Chứt.
context_section_description: Originally from northern Vietnam and southern China, the Vietnamese have conquered much of the land belonging to the former Champa Kingdom and Khmer Empire over the centuries. They are the dominant ethnic group in most provinces of Vietnam, and constitute a significant portion of the population of Cambodia.
  Beginning around the sixteenth century, groups of Vietnamese migrated to Cambodia and China for commerce and political purposes. Descendants of Vietnamese migrants in China form the Gin ethnic group in the country and primarily reside in and around Guangxi Province. Vietnamese form the largest ethnic minority group in Cambodia, at 5% of the population. Under the Khmer Rouge, they were heavily persecuted and survivors of the regime largely fled to Vietnam.
  During French colonialism, Vietnam was regarded as the most important colony in Asia by the French colonial powers, and the Vietnamese had a higher social standing than other ethnic groups in French Indochina. As a result, educated Vietnamese were often trained to be placed in colonial government positions in the other Asian French colonies of Laos and Cambodia rather than locals of the respective colonies. There was also a significant representation of Vietnamese students in France during this period, primarily consisting of members of the elite class. A large number of Vietnamese also migrated to France as workers, especially during World War I and World War II, when France recruited soldiers and locals of its colonies to help with war efforts in Metropolitan France. The wave of migrants to France during World War I formed the first major presence of Vietnamese people in France and the Western world.
  When Vietnam gained its independence from France in 1954, a number of Vietnamese loyal to the colonial government also migrated to France. During the partition of Vietnam into North and South, a number of South Vietnamese students also arrived to study in France, along with individuals involved in commerce for trade with France, which was a principal economic partner with South Vietnam.
  Forced repatriation in 1970 and deaths during the Khmer Rouge era reduced the Vietnamese population in Cambodia from between 250,000 and 300,000 in 1969 to a reported 56,000 in 1984.
  The Fall of Saigon and end of the Vietnam War prompted the start of the Vietnamese diaspora, which saw millions of Vietnamese fleeing the country from the new communist regime. Recognizing an international humanitarian crisis, many countries accepted Vietnamese refugees, primarily the United States, France, Australia and Canada. Meanwhile, under the new communist regime, tens of thousands of Vietnamese were sent to work or study in Eastern Bloc counties of Central and Eastern Europe as development aid to the Vietnamese government and for migrants to acquire skills that were to be brought home to help with development. However, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a vast majority of these overseas Vietnamese decided to remain in their host nations.
caption: Vietnamese New Year parade, San Jose, California
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