It’s a Living: Work & Life in Vietnam Today

Note to the Reader

xxiii NOTE TO THE READER About Tết: References to Tết, the Lunar New Year, appear in dozens of the interviews that follow. Tết is the most important holiday in the Vietnamese calendar, and is often described as a sort of Thanksgiving, New Year, and birthday all rolled into one. Lasting up to a week or more, it is a time for families and friends to come together through parties, celebrations and ceremonies often centered on the family’s ancestral village. About place names: In 1976, Saigon, the former capital of the Republic of Vietnam, was merged with the surrounding province of Gia Định and officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City. Today both names are commonly used in Vietnam. In this book, I use “Ho Chi Minh City” to refer to the metropolitan area, and “Saigon” to refer to the city’s historical core centered in District One. About prices: At the time we did the interviews, the exchange rate for the Vietnamese đồng was hovering at just over 20,000 đồng to 1 USD, which is the rate I’ve used to give US dollar equivalents. It’s also worth noting that inflation was upwards of 10 per cent per year, which means that even in the relatively short period we did the interviews there were appreciable changes in prices and salaries. About orthography: Vietnamese words that are commonly used in English, like “Vietnam,” “Hanoi,” “Saigon,” or “Ho Chi Minh City” have been written following English practice; all others use Vietnamese diacritics. As for personal names, I’ve used English orthography and order for everyone from the United States, and standard Vietnamese for people living in Vietnam. ...