BURMA/MYANMAR
Burma, officially the Union of Myanmar, is the
largest country by geographical area in mainland
Southeast Asia, or Indochina. The country is
bordered by the People's Republic of China on the
northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the
southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the
northwest, and the Bay of Bengal to the southwest
with the Gulf of Martaban and Andaman Sea defining
its southern periphery. One-third of Burma's total
perimeter, 1,930 kilometres (1,199 mi), forms an
uninterrupted coastline.
The country's culture, heavily influenced by
neighbours, is based on Theravada Buddhism
intertwined with local elements. Burma's diverse
population has played a major role in defining its
politics, history and demographics in modern times,
and the country continues to struggle to mend its
ethnic tensions. The military has dominated
government since General Ne Win led a coup in 1962
that toppled the civilian government of U Nu. The
Burmese Way to Socialism drove the formerly
prosperous country into deep poverty. Burma remains
under the tight control of the military-led State
Peace and Development Council.
LAOS
Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic
Republic, is a landlocked country in southeast Asia,
bordered by Burma (Myanmar) and China to the
northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the
south, and Thailand to the west. Laos traces its
history to the Kingdom of Lan Xang or Land of a
Million Elephants, which existed from the fourteenth
to the eighteenth century.
After a period as a French protectorate, it gained
independence in 1949. A long civil war ended
officially when the communist Pathet Lao movement
came to power in 1975, but the protesting between
factions continued for several years.
Laos is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia and
the thickly forested landscape consists mostly of
rugged mountains, the highest of which is Phou Bia
at 2,817 m (9,242 ft), with some plains and
plateaus. The Mekong River forms a large part of the
western boundary with Thailand, whereas the
mountains of the Annamite Chain form most of the
eastern border with Vietnam.
Landscape in Vang Vieng
The climate is tropical and monsoonal. There is a
distinct rainy season from May to November, followed
by a dry season from December to April. Local
tradition holds that there are three seasons (rainy,
cold and hot) as the latter two months of the
climatologically defined dry season are noticeably
hotter than the earlier four months. The capital and
largest city of Laos is Vientiane, and other major
cities include Luang Prabang, Savannakhet and Pakxe.
In 1993, the government set aside 21% of the
nation's land area as National Biodiversity
Conservation Areas (NBCA), which may be developed
into a national park system.
Laos is the home to the Indochinese tiger, the giant
gaur, and the Asian elephant. A number of animal
species have been discovered or re-discovered in
Laos in recent years. These include the striped or
Annamite rabbit, the saola, and most recently the
Laotian rock rat or kha-nyou.
The country is one of four in the opium poppy
growing region known as the "Golden Triangle".
According to the October 2007 UNODC fact book "Opium
Poppy Cultivation in South East Asia", the poppy
cultivation area was 15 square kilometres (3,700
acres), down from 18 square kilometres (4,400 acres)
in 2005
VIETNAM
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam, is the easternmost country on the Indochina
Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China
to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the
southwest, and the South China Sea to the east. With
a population of over 86 million, Vietnam is the 13th
most populous country in the world.
The people of Vietnam regained independence and
broke away from China in AD 938 after their victory
at the battle of Bạch Đằng River. Successive
dynasties flourished along with geographic and
political expansion deeper into Southeast Asia,
until it was colonized by the French in the mid-19th
century. Efforts to resist the French eventually led
to their expulsion from the country in the mid-20th
century, leaving a nation divided politically into
two countries. Fighting between the two sides
continued during the Vietnam War, ending with a
Communist victory in 1975.
Emerging from this prolonged military engagement,
the war-ravaged nation was politically isolated. The
government’s centrally planned economic decisions
hindered post-war reconstruction and its treatment
of the losing side engendered more resentment than
reconciliation. In 1986, it instituted economic and
political reforms and began a path towards
international reintegration. By 2000, it had
established diplomatic relations with most nations.
Its economic growth had been among the highest in
the world in the past decade. These efforts
culminated in Vietnam joining the World Trade
Organization in 2007 and its successful bid to
become a non-permanent member of the United Nations
Security Council in 2008.
Vietnam has two World's Natural Heritage sites:
Halong Bay and Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park and 6
World's biosphere reserves including: Can Gio
Mangrove Forest, Cat Tien, Cat Ba, Kien Giang, Red
River Delta, Western Nghe An.
Biodiversity
Saola
Vietnam is in the Indomalaya ecozone.
According to chapter 1 of the 2005 National
Environmental Present Condition Report,
"Biodiversity Subject of Vietnam Environment
Protection Agency", in terms of species diversity
Vietnam is one of twenty five countries considered
to possess a high level of biodiversity, and is
ranked 16th in biological diversity (having 16%
world's species) (page 9). 15,986 flora were
identified, of which 10% are endemic (p9).
Statistics indicate that there are 307 nematodes,
200 oligochaeta, 145 acarina, 113 springtails, 7750
insects, 260 reptiles, 120 amphibians, 840 birds and
310 mammals of which 100 birds and 78 mammals are
endemic (p9,10). Vietnam also has 1438 fresh water
microalgae (9,6% species in the world) (Table 1.2,
p9). It is also noted that there are 794 aquatic
invertebrates and 2458 sea fish (p10,11). In recent
years, there have been 13 genera, 222 species, and
30 taxa of flora newly described, and 6 mammals have
been discovered such as the saola, giant muntjac,
Edwards's Pheasant, Tonkin Snub-nosed Langur,
livistona halongensis, geothelphusa vietnamica, and
others (frame 1.4, p11,12). In agricultural genetic
diversity, Vietnam is one of the world's twelve
original cultivar centers (p13). The Vietnam
National Cultivar Gene Bank is preserving 12,300
cultivars of 115 species (p14).
In chapter 4 of that report, it is said that the
Vietnamese government spent 49.07 million USD for
preserving biodiversity in 2004 (p71) and has
established 126 conservation areas including 28
national parks (p73).
Culture
Main article: Culture of Vietnam
The Temple of Literature, main entry
Vietnamese phở noodle soup with sliced rare beef and
well done beef brisket.
The official spoken and written language of Vietnam
is Vietnamese.
The culture of Vietnam has been influenced by
neighboring China. Due to Vietnam's long association
with the south of China, one characteristic of
Vietnamese culture is filial duty. Education and
self-betterment are highly valued. Historically,
passing the imperial Mandarin exams was the only
means for Vietnamese people to socially advance
themselves.
In the socialist era, the cultural life of Vietnam
has been deeply influenced by government-controlled
media and the cultural influences of socialist
programs. For many decades, foreign cultural
influences were shunned and emphasis placed on
appreciating and sharing the culture of communist
nations such as the Soviet Union, China, Cuba and
others. Since the 1990s, Vietnam has seen a greater
exposure to Southeast Asian, European and American
culture and media.
One of the most popular Vietnamese traditional
garments is the "Áo Dài", worn often for special
occasions such as weddings or festivals. White Áo
dài is the required uniform for girls in many high
schools across Vietnam. Áo Dài was once worn by both
genders but today it is worn mainly by females,
except for certain important traditional
culture-related occasions where some men do wear it.
Vietnamese cuisine uses very little oil and many
vegetables. The main dishes are often based on rice,
soy sauce, and fish sauce. Its characteristic
flavors are sweet (sugar), spicy (serrano peppers),
sour (lime), nuoc mam (fish sauce), and flavored by
a variety of mint and basil.
Vietnamese music varies slightly in the three
regions: Bắc or North, Trung or Central, and Nam or
South. Northern classical music is Vietnam's oldest
and is traditionally more formal. Vietnamese
classical music can be traced to the Mongol
invasions, when the Vietnamese captured a Chinese
opera troupe. Central classical music shows the
influences of Champa culture with its melancholic
melodies. Southern music exudes a lively attitude.
See also: Vietnamese art, theatre, dance, and
literature
My Dinh National Stadium in Western Hanoi
Football (soccer) is the most popular sport in
Vietnam. Sports and games such as badminton, tennis,
ping pong, and chess are also popular with large
segments of the population. Volleyball, especially
women's volleyball, is watched by a fairly large
number of Vietnamese people. The (expatriate
Vietnamese) community forms a prominent part of
Vietnamese cultural life, introducing Western
sports, films, music and other cultural activities
in the nation.
Vietnam is home to a small film industry.
Among countless other traditional Vietnamese
occasions, the traditional Vietnamese wedding is one
of the most important. Many of the age-old customs
in a Vietnamese wedding continue to be celebrated by
both Vietnamese in Vietnam and overseas, often
combining both western and eastern elements.
CAMBODIA
The Kingdom of Cambodia, formerly known as Kampuchea
, , transliterated: Preăh Réachéanachâkr Kâmpŭchea)
is a country in South East Asia with a population of
over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and
largest city is Phnom Penh. Cambodia is the
successor state of the once powerful Hindu and
Buddhist Khmer Empire, which ruled most of the
Indochinese Peninsula between the eleventh and
fourteenth centuries.
A citizen of Cambodia is usually identified as
"Cambodian" or "Khmer," though the latter strictly
refers to ethnic Khmers. Most Cambodians are
Theravada Buddhists of Khmer extraction, but the
country also has a substantial number of
predominantly Muslim Cham, as well as ethnic
Chinese, Vietnamese and small animist hill tribes.
The country borders Thailand to its west and
northwest, Laos to its northeast, and Vietnam to its
east and southeast. In the south it faces the Gulf
of Thailand. The geography of Cambodia is dominated
by the Mekong river (colloquial Khmer: Tonle Thom or
"the great river") and the Tonlé Sap ("the fresh
water lake"), an important source of fish.
Cambodia's main industries are garments, tourism,
and construction. In 2007, foreign visitors to
Angkor Wat numbered more than 4 million. In 2005,
oil and natural gas deposits were found beneath
Cambodia's territorial waters, and once commercial
extraction begins in 2011, the oil revenues could
profoundly affect Cambodia's economy. Observers fear
much of the revenue could end up in the hands of the
political elites if not monitored correctly. |
