Vinh-The Lam
(Paper presented at the Conference on Overseas Vietnamese Experience, Texas Tech University, Vietnam Center, Lubbock, Texas, USA, Mar.31 – Apr. 1, 2000; accessible online at this URL: http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/events/2000_Conference/lam2.pdf )
INTRODUCTION
The Republic of Vietnam, i.e., South Vietnam, officially ceased to exist at 12 noon, April 30th, 1975 after its last President, General Duong Van (Big) Minh surrendered to a high-ranking army officer of the North Vietnamese troops at the Dinh Doc Lap (Independence Palace). About 132,000 South Vietnamese were successful in getting out of the country either by their own means or being evacuated by the Americans.[1] By March 1996, almost one million Vietnamese have settled in the United States.[2] In Canada, the total number of Vietnamese was 136,810 in 1996.[3] There are also important Vietnamese communities in Western Europe and Australia. A significantly large body of recorded information has been generated by the Vietnamese expatriates throughout the world. This paper tries to summarize some of the important issues in the creation, organization, and use of that body of recorded information.
