The reunification of Vietnam took place in the year following the fall of Saigon. The tremendous differences between the cultures of the North and South were revealed as the two were united after 20 years. The affects on the South were particularly staggering, the equivalent of an economic downshift from fourth to first gear. With the economy closed off from the outside world, the country's merchant class, mostly Chinese, found life particularly hard. In addition to this, persecution of Vietnam's Chinese community increased markedly as the Vietnamese Communists, long antagonistic toward their neighbor to the north, began to target the ethnic Chinese population for being counter-revolutionary. Another important development was Vietnam's 1978 invasion of Cambodia. In 1975, the Khmer Rouge (Khmer Communists) took control of the country, emptying all cities and forcing the population to work in the fields. This maniacal regime sought to expand its land holdings to include land in the Mekong Delta that had been Khmer territory hundreds of years before. The Khmer Rouge made repeated incursions into Vietnamese territory resulting in the slaughter of Vietnamese civilians. Vietnam struck back and drove the murderous Khmer Rouge from power. The invasion of Cambodia made things difficult for Vietnam in the international community as China, the U.S., and all ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries condemned the action.
On the economic front, the mid-80s brought the advent of Doi Moi, or "renovation." What Doi Moi meant to the average Vietnamese was increased small scale economic opportunity. For the government, it was a chance to court foreign investment and modernize an infrastructure severely damaged by years of war and neglect. The period from the early 1990s to present has brought a rebirth of Vietnam's potential, with foreign investment in all sectors of the economy. At present, the country strives to maintain a balance between Communist ideology and economic elasticity. Only time will reveal what this holds for the future, but at the present time, life is changing greatly for the Vietnamese people.