Northern, Central and Southern Vietnam

After the division of Vietnam from 944, the country was unified and the Đinh Dynasty was established as the first Vietnamese one with the title of emperor in 968.

Northern and Southern Vietnam was a fluid concept that changed constantly during the course of history.

During the Trịnh–Nguyễn War and from 1627 to 1777, two ruling Lords existed in the country with the border (mostly) being the Gianh River in Quảng Bình Province.

The North, called Đàng Ngoài (Outer Realm) was ruled by the Trịnh lords and Nguyễn lords in the South, called Đàng Trong (Inner Realm) or Quảng Nam Quốc, with Lê emperors still nominally acting as head of state.

Although the nation has been united since 2 July 1976, linguistic, cultural, and other differences serve to delineate the two regions from one another, with accompanying stereotypes.

Discussions of inherent differences between people in the North and in the South are prohibited and can be classified as "reactionary" in Vietnamese state-controlled media[1] or ''undermining national unity''.

While relations between the two groups are generally civil, the increased contact due to the influx of northerners into South since the start of the Vietnam War have given rise to very many stereotypes about people from so different regions; etc.

Examples of sour-flavored food items include canh chua and green mango salad/green papaya salad.

Southern cookery also tends to use a significantly larger variety of fresh ingredients while Northern cuisine much relies on preserved and dried goods.

The cuisines of Southern Vietnam and Cambodia also share considerable similarities in ingredients, cooking style and food dishes, such as hủ tiếu Nam Vang.

Southern Vietnam has a renowned coffee culture while tea is the preferred beverage in the North.

Due to cultural prominence, the Hanoi and Saigon accents are mostly intelligible to speakers from other regions.

For example, chi, mô, tê, răng and rứa (what, where, that, why and thus) are used instead of gì, đâu, kìa, sao and vậy in Standard Vietnamese.

Regions located near the tropics and at high altitudes are endowed with a temperate climate.

[10] Snow can even be (rarely) found in the high mountains of Northern Vietnam such as Sapa and Mount Mẫu Sơn when the region receives a strong cold wave.