Perspectives

Asia is where most of the economic growth will happen, experts say, as Chinese villages turn into megacities and similar phenomena become evident across the continent, including Vietnam. The World Economic Forum has predicted that the next billion members of the world’s middle class will come from Asia. However, these impressive figures, the higher living standards and rising wealth generation have been accompanied by a disaster of unimagined proportions that both citizens and policymakers are not paying sufficient attention to, in terms of long term ameliorative measures. There is literally aplenty on the scale of the problems caused by rising levels of air pollution across the country caused by heavy industries and rapidly increasing number of motorized vehicle owners. Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital, only had 38 days of "clear air" (an AQI below 100) in 2017, with average pollution four times higher than those deemed acceptable by the World Health Organization's air quality … [Read more...] about Slowly, but surely, an invisible poison is choking Vietnamese cities

I have spent over 40 percent of my adult life outside of my home country, never content with having my soul controlled by geography, to paraphrase George Santayana. I carry a U.S. passport but it doesn’t define me. I am a U.S. ex-patriot and global citizen who calls Vietnam home.  It was during my first visit to Hanoi 23 years ago this month that this country - with its tragic yet inspirational millennia-long history - cast its spell on me.  After moving here in 2005, I joined a select group of expats – an estimated 100,000 of them, according to official sources - who live in the midst of 97 million Vietnamese.  Love us, love us not As a foreigner, I am one of those strange creatures from a distant planet, walking enigmas who evoke a panoply of emotions, ranging from interest and curiosity to indifference, contempt, and fear. As outsiders, we are sources of income, role models, fonts of wisdom, bearers of all things good, easy marks, and importers of evil … [Read more...] about On the outside looking in: A US American in Vietnam

Journalist Luu Dinh Long Life is sacred. No one can deny its sanctity. It is only through being alive that one can enjoy all that life offers: beauty, fame, fortune and so on. Life presents us the opportunity to forge our own path and make our dreams a reality. And if we value our life, we have to value the life of others, too. It is unbelievable that there are people who do not get this. We can add some of our drivers to this list. Last year, 8,400 human lives were lost on the roads of Vietnam. According to the World Health Organization, road accidents are the leading cause of death for people between 15 and 29 years of age. For every 100,000 people on the road, 26 die in accidents in Vietnam. Earlier this month, a truck killed 4 and injured at least 20 others waiting at a traffic light in the southern province of Long An. Driver Pham Thanh Hieu, 32, was found to have been high on liquor and heroin when the carnage happened. Further investigations have revealed that … [Read more...] about In deadly traffic accidents, the blame goes beyond drivers

Le Giang Lam On Taiwan’s Shifen Old Street, famous for its sky lanterns, I came across the sign "Viet Nam Quan," meaning a Vietnamese shop. The saleswoman there was from Ninh Binh, a province in the Red River Delta in northern Vietnam. She said she had come to Taiwan several years ago as a guest worker. She asked me about how much I had paid for a visa and the visa application procedure. "It was easy. I got my tourist visa for free through an online application and am allowed to stay for two weeks. The plane ticket and accommodation costs the same as a trip from Hanoi to Saigon," I told her. "Then you can come, find a job and then overstay, right?" she asked, but clammed up soon after. I didn't want to tell her that a Taiwanese tourist visa is only easy to get for someone who has got a U.S. or European visa before. After speaking to about 10 other Vietnamese workers in Taiwan, I understood more about why the conversation at the lantern street had been a bit awkward. For … [Read more...] about Brokers lead Vietnamese workers into exile in foreign lands

Researcher Nguyen Khac Giang It was a Saturday evening. Across all big cities of Vietnam, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to celebrate the AFF Cup victory of the Vietnamese men’s football team. I was one of them. To be exact, I was stuck in the crowd and could not make it home after the match ended at the My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi. And it was that evening that I witnessed something I haven’t seen before: people in an urban area treating each other with understanding and kindness.   Two luxury cars got into a fender bender, and what happened next was that the two drivers opened their windows, happily shook hands and kept driving. Those on motorbikes drove slowly, waving flags, shouting "Vietnam is champion" with big smiles on their faces, a scene completely different from what I usually see on the streets of Hanoi, when people keep beeping the horns and driving as fast as they can. That an event can attract many to the streets is an … [Read more...] about Football victories show us what we’re missing as a society