ABSTRACT
Vai SO'n commune Viii San commune is located 27 kilometres from Hanoi, in Ha Tay province in the Red River delta. This densely populated delta is often described as one of Vietnam's two 'rice baskets', providing rich harvests two or three times a year. Yet in spite of the fertility of the land, life in the delta is harsh. The climate is brutal, with mercilessly hot summers and freezing winters, and typhoons and £loodings often make life here precarious. Since land is limited and taxation tough, many farming families struggle to survive, constantly searching for secondary occupations to supplement meagre agricultural incomes. But as elsewhere in the country, new signs of wealth are now emerging - a small cafe or sugarcane juice stall here, a shop selling birds or toys there - pointing to the newly-acquired prosperity of at least some of the delta's people.
