|  People
The origins of the Vietnamese people are a combination of the Mongol races of
north and east Asia, with Chinese and Indian influences. The population had reached
an estimated 77.3 million in 1999, and is surpassed only by Indonesia as Southeast
Asia's most heavily populated country. However, Vietnam is the regions most ethnically
homogenous country with the Vietnamese making up about 90% of the population.
85% of Vietnam's ethnic-minority population belongs to indigenous groups - the
largest of which are Thai and Hmong - who have been settled in the mountainous
regions of the country for many centuries. About 3% of the population is ethnic
Chinese living in the urban centres of the South.
 Language
Vietnamese language reflects the country's unique mix of racial and cultural origins,
with its fusion of monotonic Mon-Khmer, and Tai tonality and grammar. Having been
a Chinese province for over a millenium (111 BC-939 AD), most of the country's
governmental, literary, and technical vocabulary comes from the Chinese language.
Though a writing system called Chunom, using partly modified Chinese characters,
was developed in the 8th century. It was a French missionary in the mid-17th century
who developed a system of spelling using the Roman alphabet that employed additional
signs and several accents to indicate the tones. The use of this script spread
and it was made the official written language by the French in 1910. Called Quoc-ngu
or national language, it is now universally learned and written by all Vietnamese.
Religion With
ten million followers and 20,000 pagodas, Buddhism is undoubtedly the largest
established religion, however Vietnam has a rich and wide variety of religions
based on imported faiths and popular beliefs, with several indigenous groups embracing
animism, theism and ancestor worship. Catholicism, introduced by European missionaries,
is the second largest religion, with about six million followers, and more than
6,000 churches. Vietnam's indigenous religions, including the Cao Dai and
Hoa Hao sects, have their holy lands in the city of Tay Ninh and the provinces
of Chau Doc and An Giang in the Mekong Delta. They peacefully coexist with one
another and have contributed to the struggle against foreign aggression through
the Vietnam Fatherland Front.
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