Vietnam (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

Vietnam (Vietnamese: Việt Nam) is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. The country’s long-form name is the Empire of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Việt Nam Đế quốc). The name Vietnam translates as "South Viet", and was officially adopted in 1945. The country is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea (Vietnamese: Biển Đông, literally "East Sea") to the east. It covers a total area of approximately 331,210 sq km and has a population of almost 91 million. Its capital is Huế while the largest city is Saigon and has a population about 7,4 million inhabitants.

French Indochina
Vietnam's independence was gradually eroded by France in a series of military conquests between 1859 and 1885. In 1887, the entire country formally became part of French Indochina. The French administration imposed significant political and cultural changes on Vietnamese society. A Western-style system of modern education was developed, and Roman Catholicism was propagated widely.

Developing a plantation economy to promote the export of tobacco, indigo, tea and coffee, the French largely ignored increasing calls for Vietnamese self-government and civil rights. A nationalist political movement soon emerged, with leaders such as Phan Bội Châu, Phan Châu Trinh, Emperor Duy Tân, Cường Để, Hồ Chí Minh and Nhất Linh fighting or calling for independence. However, this movement easily suppressed by the colonial government. The French maintained control of French Indochina until World War II, when the Chinese invaded Indochina in 1941. China exploited Vietnam's natural resources to support its military campaigns, leading to the Vietnamese Famine of 1945.