54 Ethnicities of Vietnam

Vietnam has 54 ethnic groups. Over the centuries, the Vietnamese community of ethnic groups has stuck together and united to fight against invaders, defend the country, gain independence and freedom, and build the country. Each ethnic group has its own cultural identity, creating the unity and diversity of Vietnamese culture.

Vietnam's 54 ethnic groups are classified into 3 language families and 8 language groups: Viet - Muong, Tay - Thai, Mong - Dao, Ka Dai, Tibetan Burmese, Nam Dao, and Han.

The Viet - Muong group has 4 ethnic groups: Kinh, Muong, Tho, and Chut. The people live mainly by farming wet rice and fishing. In the spiritual life, there is a custom of worshiping with ancestors and traditional crafts are developed at a high level.

The Tay - Thai language group has 8 ethnic groups: Tay, Thai, Nung, Giay, Lao, Lu, San Chay, Bo Y. The people live mainly in the Northeast and Northwest provinces of Vietnam such as: Lang Son. , Cao Bang, Thai Nguyen, Bac Kan, Tuyen Quang, Son La, Lai Chau, Yen Bai.... Ethnic groups of the Tay Thai language group speak South Asian languages, live in houses on stilts, cultivate wet rice in combination with farming. Upland farming, taking advantage of the valley's terrain, inventing a rice mill, a gyroscope, and a system of ditches, steering, and soldiers to bring water to the fields. The crafts are quite developed such as: Forging, weaving with beautiful and delicate products. They have a common view of the universe, people and gods. Besides, each ethnic group has its own identity, which is expressed through costumes, houses, eating habits, customs, lifestyles and ethnic lifestyles.

Mong - Dao language group has 3 ethnic groups: Mong, Dao, Pa Then; Ka Dai language group has 4 ethnic groups: La Chi, La Ha, Co Lao, Pu Peo; The Tibetan Burmese language group has 6 ethnic groups: Lo Lo, Phu La, Ha Nhi, La Hu, Cong, and Si La. Ethnic groups belonging to these 3 groups reside in the provinces: Cao Bang, Lang Son, Thai Nguyen, Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang, Son La, Lao Cai, and Lai Chau. Their villages are built on high mountain slopes or halfway up the mountain. Some ethnic groups such as La Chi, Cong, Si La and some Dao groups set up villages along rivers and streams. Depending on the land situation, people build houses on stilts, houses on land, half-stilt houses and half-land houses.

The people are good at cultivating maize, glutinous rice, plain rice and vegetables, perching on upland fields and terraces, and at the same time developing handicrafts such as forging, weaving, and knitting. Especially highland women are very good at weaving, embroidering and creating unique costumes for themselves, their families and the community. The fair is a place to clearly show the cultural identity of the highlands, showing the entire economic life from culinary culture, wearing culture, embroidery, flower printing, music performance, and dance. imbued with ethnic culture.

Mon Khmer language group has 21 ethnic groups: Ba Na, Brau, Bru - Van Kieu, Cho Ro, Co, Co Ho, Co Tu, Gie Trieng, H're, Khang, Khmer, Kho Mu, Mang, Xinh Mun, Mnong, O Du, Ma, Ro Mam, Ta Oi, Xo Dang, Xtieng. The people are scattered in the Northwest, the Central - Central Highlands and the South. Economic life is mainly swidden cultivation by the method of digging holes and planting seeds. The architecture of communal houses, long houses of the Central Highlands, pagodas of the Khmer ethnic group; Knitting crafts and community cultural festivals are unique cultural features of Mon - Khmer residents.

The Austronesian language group has 5 ethnic groups: Cham, Gia Rai, Ede, Raglai, and Chu Ru. People live concentrated on the red soil plateau of the Central Highlands and the central coastal strip; The culture of the South Island is boldly matriarchal.

The Han language group has 3 ethnic groups: Hoa, Ngai, and San Diu. People residing in all three regions of the North, Central and South, Han culture is strongly patriarchal.

It can be said that Vietnamese culture is the synthesis of cultural values ​​of 54 ethnic groups, in which there are indigenous peoples living in the territory of Vietnam, there are ethnic groups who have migrated from other places; there are ethnic groups with only a few hundred people, there are ethnic groups with millions of people, but the ethnic groups always consider each other as brothers and sisters, love and support each other and work together to build and defend the Fatherland.