Culturally, the Indochinese Peninsula occupies a middle ground between the cultures of India and China, the two largest nations in Asia. Of all the countries in Southeast Asia, Vietnam is the most influenced by China. China conquered the northern half of Vietnam two thousand years ago and controlled it until Vietnam won its independence in 939 c. E. After 939, China continued
To treat northern Vietnam as one of its tributary states. Vietnam paid China money for protection while being allowed to manage its own internal affairs.
Vietnam's continuous struggle for complete independence from China has created centuries-old animosity between the two countries. Although Vietnam was a tributary colony of the Chinese, the Vietnamese were likely to fight fiercely over any outside political influence in their internal affairs.
Vietnamese diet and recreational pleasures are similar to those of other Southeast Asian countries. However, the Vietnamese, unlike people in other Southeast Asian countries, use Chinese chopsticks and have a political and intellectual life strongly influenced by Confucianism, rather than Buddhism or Islam. Vietnam's resistance to Chinese cultural hegemony restricted the growth of Chinese culture elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Generally, Southeast Asian countries resisted Chinese Confucian influence and followed Buddhism, which they acquired from India.
The Vietnamese, like the Chinese, spoke of their single ruler as "son of heaven" and expected the emperor to mediate between the spiritual and physical world to forestall natural disasters and provide good crops. The Vietnamese followed the Chinese notion of a strongly hierarchical bureaucracy with each grade having its
World History
