The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a strip of S-shaped land and is located in the centre of South-East Asian. The north of Vietnam borders on China; the west meets Laos and Cambodia; and the eastern south overlooks East Sea and Pacific Ocean. The coastline of Vietnam is 3,260 kilometres long and the frontier of the mainland is 4,510 kilometres long.
Vietnam is a country attached with an age-old history. If calculated from the very ancient time up to now, Vietnam's history can be divided into four large periods along with many important stages in constructing and protecting the country.
Vietnam is a small country lying to the south of China. From the old time, the country had many official names: Van Xuan, Dai Co Viet, Dai Viet, Viet Nam, etc. but the last name that still exists till these days is Viet Nam. In the past, in order to bring peace for the nation, although feudal dynasties like Ly, Tran, Le and so on always opposed to the invasion from the Northern (China), proclaimed themselves emperors and named the countries by themselves but normally they still kept a good relationship with China and even received conferment from it.
Vietnam is a peaceful and beautiful country which underwent a lot of disastrous wars in the past. During its Feudalism, Vietnam gained the ownership of its land from Chinese invaders, and thereafter opened the land to the South, which was known as The Southward March.
Vietnam is a country which has many ethnic groups residing with village community model and mostly each village has its festivals. Annually, especially the years when there are bumper crops, villages operate festivals jubilantly.
Every year, after the Tết holidays, when the apricot flowers whiten Huong Son forest, thousands of people make a pilgrimage towards Huong pagoda. The festival season starts from January 6th until the end of lunar March.
