¶ … Vietnam focuses primarily on land ownership by the Vietnamese. The paper clearly demonstrates what issues were encountered on the subject of land from the time of French Colonialism to the ruling of Ngo Diem. The paper also highlights the class structure and economic policies installed by the French in Vietnam. Vietnam

Even after the passing of three decades, the Vietnamese can still feel the affects of the foreign power upon them and their land. It is hard to believe that Vietnam was once a French Colony. Many Vietnamese had fought against the French Colonialism in order to undo the harms the French had caused them. The French had ruled the country with the help of Annam Empire administration, consisting of mainly of civil servants.

The class structure of the Vietnamese had been changed considerably. Wealth and income was unequally distributed among the Vietnamese. Hence, the rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. The authorities were dogmatic. Hostile domestic and international forces hid behind the pretence of human rights and democracy to threaten peace and order. The French had suppressed the Vietnamese right to freedom of expression. The farmers were deprived of their lands and properties. "Under French colonialism, Vietnamese land was stolen and given to French landowners and their Vietnamese cronies" (Irene Huangyi Lin, Vietnam: The War And The Country).

During the French rule, trade between France and Vietnam increased immensely. Under the French colonialism, Vietnam was divided into three regions, namely, Tokin, Annam and Cochinchina. The economic policies of the French differed from the town to the countryside and especially from the north to the south. Hence, there was no economic unification in the country. Under...

The agricultural economy resembled that of Bangladesh or Java, with high population densities on usable land, little capital, low yields per hectare, and extreme poverty. Colonial Vietnam's education system had probably reached fewer people than any other colonial system in Southeast Asia; and, aside from successful campaigns against smallpox and cholera, the colonial health system had been similarly limited (John
Bryant, Communism, Change And Demographic Change In North Vietnam).

Hence, the land distribution was poor and the farmers often made use of insurance plantations. Families started to insist upon smaller families, as a result of poverty.

North Vietnam's fertility decline evidently reflected changes in the demand for children. The rapid mortality decline improved survival chances and made it easier to achieve, or harder to avoid, large families. Fertility fell fastest in the cities and lowland areas, where mortality also fell fastest" (John Bryant, Communism, Change

And Demographic Change In North Vietnam).

While the conditions in North Vietnam were deplorable, the South on the other prospered in the agricultural production. Large areas of land in the South were handed over to…