ABSTRACT
Vietnam means ‘land to the south’ (of China). Communist Party membership is 2.2 million (FT, 29 June 1996, p. 3). ‘In a
nation of 76 million the party accounts for 2.4 million members. Less than 12 per cent are below the age of thirty; more than 41 per cent are over fifty … Over half of Vietnam’s population [is] below twenty-five’ (FEER, 24 August 2000, p. 26).
