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Name That War!
Maybe it all depends on your perspective?
The other day we were watching a tv travel program about Viet Nam. One of the things the host remarked on (with some surprise) was the extent to which tourists are warmly welcomed in this socialist country, along with many multinational capitalist brands that are now common on the high streets of its big cities.
“It’s a tribute to the Vietnamese people that they don’t seem to harbour any bitterness for people from countries that were colonial oppressors and military aggressors,” he said.
Which made me think: did the people of the Vietnamese peninsula refer to the conflict of the 1970s as “The Viet Nam War”? That just didn’t make sense.
I looked it up. And according to the Internet, Vietnamese people often call that awful conflict “The American War” or “The Resistance War Against America.”
When I mentioned this to my husband, he said, “Isn’t that interesting! Sounds like your next Medium story.”
Yep. Thanks, love of my life.
One of the reasons that the Vietnamese use these more specific terms is that, sadly, there have been lots of Vietnam wars, including other resistance wars against France, Japan, China, and the Mongols.