VIETNAM

Name:	Vietnam (Socialist Republic of Vietnam)
Local name (Vietnamese):	Viêt Nam (Công hòa Xã hôi chù nghĩa Viêt Nam)
Bordering countries:	China, Laos, Cambodia
Status:	sovereign state
Surface:	329.6 ths. sq. km
Population (2003):	81 625 ths.
Capital:	Hanoi (Hà Nôi)
Official language:	Vietnamese

Current national symbols

Historical symbols:

Vietnamese (Annamese) Empire (1802-1945, since 1883 - French protectorate)

French Indo-China (1887-1949)

Vietnam under Japanese occupation (1940-1945)

State of Vietnam (1945-1955)

Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945-1976)

South Vietnam (1954-1976)

Ethnic minorities

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