Vietnamese people in France
During the colonial period, there was a significant representation of Vietnamese students in France, which largely consisted of members from the elite class and royal household, primarily from Cochinchina.
Vietnamese-owned rice farms were also established in southeastern France, and second and third-generation French Vietnamese started to run their own commercial firms or work in professional sectors.
The most notable was in Sainte-Livrade-sur-Lot near Bordeaux, which hosted the Centre d'Accueil des Français d'Indochine (Reception Center for the French of Indochina).
Most of these camps were structured in a similar layout as a traditional town in Vietnam, with a Buddhist temple, markets, schools and medical facilities.
Although many initially returned home, as the war situation worsened, a majority decided to resettle permanently in France and brought their families along.
[7] Early Vietnamese refugees who settled in France largely consisted of professionals who made up the middle class and elite in South Vietnam, along with those with high levels of education and those with family already present in the country.
Larger waves of refugees later included South Vietnamese from different social standings, although their average level of education and affluence was still higher than their peers who settled in North America, Australia, and the rest of Europe.
[7] Slightly more than half of the Vietnamese population in France live in Paris (especially in the 13th, 18th and 19th arrondissements) and the surrounding Île-de-France area, while a sizable number also reside in the major urban centers in the south-east of the country, primarily Marseille and Lyon, as well as in Toulouse.
[7] Reflecting the community's long history in the country, first-generation immigrants form about over a third of the ethnic Vietnamese population in France, with about 128,000 individuals born in Vietnam as of 2012.
Unlike their counterparts in North America or Australia, the Vietnamese have not formed distinct enclaves within the major cities of France (although many Vietnamese-based shops and cultural institutions can be found in the Quartier asiatique neighborhood of Paris' 13th arrondissement) and the degree of assimilation is higher than in the United States, Canada, or Australia, due to better cultural, historical, and linguistic knowledge of the host country.
Buddhist temples have played important roles in the community, helping to serve immigrant needs as well as forming a base for cultural and youth organizations for the generations of French-born Vietnamese.
[17] However, despite this model minority image, demeaning racial stereotypes about Asians (lumping Chinese and Vietnamese people together) are far from uncommon in France.
[23] This political rift remained minor until the Fall of Saigon in 1975, when staunchly anti-communist refugees from South Vietnam arrived and established community networks and institutions.
Such political divisions, especially the presence of a pro-Hanoi faction, have prevented the Vietnamese in France from forming a strong, unified community in their host nation as their counterparts have in North America and Australia.
[25] Those who support the Vietnamese government coalesce under the umbrella group Union Générale des Vietnamiens de France (UGVF).
After the communist victory in 1975, many UGVF members planned to repatriate to help rebuild the country, but they were viewed as a threat by the government due to their Western background.
[34] Unlike the Hanoi supporters, the anticommunists do not unite under any single nationwide group, but they share the same view of opposing the communist regime in Vietnam.
[36] While the economic situation of the first generation of refugees is less stable and the group is not as organised as UGVF, their descendants and pre-Vietnam War anticommunist community members in the Paris region have organized under the AGEVP.
Most notable are the Chân Dăng of New Caledonia, descendants of Vietnamese contract laborers and prisoners recruited to work the nickel mines of the Pacific island during the 1890s to early 1950s.
This created protests among the Vietnamese, who desired to return to their native region and petitioned to the Hanoi government to send delegates to New Caledonia for negotiation.
[40] After two and a half years of talks with the North Vietnamese government, France eventually agreed to send back Chân Dăng to northern Vietnam.
