27 Stunning Facts About Vietnam

Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is a long country on the Indochinese Peninsula’s eastern coast. The culture of the country is a combination of local traditions and has Chinese, French, and American influences. The country has emerged as a significant electronics exporter, with electrical and electronic products supplanting coffee, textiles, and rice as thecountry’s top export item. Samsung is Vietnam’s largest exporter and has contributed to the country’s trade surplus.

1. The country is bordered by Cambodia and Laos to the west, China to the north, the South China Sea to the east and south, and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest.
2. The meaning of “Vietnam” is a combination of two Vietnamese words. According to the ancient Vietnamese language, Viet means preeminent or descendants of a dragon soaring to the sun. While “Nam” refers to the southern territory.
3. The country is uniquely shaped, and no other country is like the shape of Vietnam. The country is shaped in the shape of “S.” It stretches along the Indochinese peninsula with a north-south distance of 1650 Km. The country boasts diverse geography, stunning natural landscapes, and extensive coastline.
4. Half of the world’s black pepper is produced in Vietnam, with an annual production of 262,658 tonnes.
5. Geographically Vietnam is a southeast Asian country and part of the ASEAN bloc. But the Vietnamese culture is heavily influenced by the Chinese culture in terms of government, social, political, and moral ethics due to the fact that the nation was under Chinese rule for 1000 years.
6. Vietnam has witnessed ten wars from the year 1940 to the year 1979.
7. The country is the biggest producer of cashew nuts on planet earth. In the year 2010, Vietnam produced 958,000 tonnes of cashew. The second highest producer of cashews is India.
8. The Fansipan mountain peak is the highest mountain peak in the country, with an elevation of 3,147.3 meters (10,326 ft). It is the highest mountain peak in the Indochinese Peninsula( comprising Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam), because of which it is also called as “the roof of Indochina.”
9. Vietnam is a country with high biodiversity and is been kept as one of the prioritized nations for global conservation. The country’s terrestrial ecosystem has more than 10000 faunal species and more than 13,200 floral species.
10. The country is the second-biggest producer and exporter of coffee in the world, just after Brazil. In 2019 Vietnam produced 1,650,000 tonnes of coffee which were worth 3,637,627,000 pounds.
11. Hồ Chí Minh is the national hero of the country. He led the Việt Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communist-ruled democratic republic of Vietnam in 1945. He defeated the French union in 1954 at the battle of Điện Biên Phủ, which was the end of the first Indochina war.
12. The lunar new year is the biggest celebration and festival in the country. It usually falls in January or February. Tết Eve is the most important day in the lunar calendar.
13. Bambusa ventricosa is the national tree of the country.
14. Hang Son Doong of Vietnam is the largest known cave on the planet earth. The cave is 3 million years old is one of the beautiful places on the globe.
15. Vietnamese families strongly believe in Feng Shui or known as Phong thuỷ in Vietnamese. This is an ancient Chinese practice that involves the meticulous placement of furniture objects. Even the whole home is optimized according to the flow of chi to achieve positive energy.
16. The tortoise is a treated as a symbol of good fortune and is also a part of feng shui and Vastu shastra.
17. Vietnam has eight UNESCO world heritage sites, out of which five are cultural, two are natural, and one is mixed.
18. The water buffalo is the national animal of Vietnam. Whereas Chim Lac an imaginary bird and the national bird of the country.
19. There is an alcoholic beverage in the country known as the snake vine. It is made by infusing the whole snake in rice wine or grain alcohol.
20. The country is the second-biggest consumer of Dog meat after china. The people of Vietnam think eating dog meat brings good fortune.
21. The most popular sport in the country is Football which is also the national sport.
22. There is a river in the country known as the perfume river, which crosses the city of Huế. In the autumn season, flowers from orchards upriver from Huế fall into the water, giving the river a perfume-like aroma which is why it is named as the perfume river.
23. The country has a complicated river system and has over 2,360 rivers with a length of greater than 10 km and 109 main channels. There are about 16 major river basins with an average catchment area of over 2,500 km2.
24. Tiết canh is a Vietnamese dish made up entirely of animal blood and flesh. Pork and duck are the most common animals used to create this raw blood pudding.
25. Over 39.7% or 12,931,000 hectares of the total area of the country is covered in forests.
26. The top 5 exports of Vietnam are Broadcasting Equipment ($42.8 Billion), Telephones ($23.1 Billion), Integrated Circuits ($16 Billion), Textile Footwear ($11.4 Billion), and Broadcasting Accessories ($8.81 Billion).
27. The top 5 imports of Vietnam are Integrated Circuits ($23 Billion), Telephones ($10.8 Billion), Refined Petroleum ($8.56 Billion), Light Rubberized Knitted Fabric ($5.79 Billion), and Electrical Parts ($4.28 Billion).