"VIETNAM" a Vietnam Travel Page by eManWithG

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In Vietnam there are some 80 tribes speaking 36 languages.
The French called them "Montagnards" - highland people. The ethnic Vietnamese still often refer to them as "Moi" (often pronounced "meo") - savages. The government now officially labels them "national minorities". They call themselves by their ancient names - Hmong, Zao, Tay, Ming, Cua, Hre, M'nong...
Languages: The minorities are traditionally separated into their three main linguistic family groups - Austro-Asian, the Malay-Polynesian and the Sino-Tibetan.
Religion: ancestor worship, animism, a sprinkling of Protestantism and Catholicism.
Formal education: Not much. The Hmong, for example, didn't get a written language until 1963. Most Hmong girls don't go to school and only a few boys do. Most minority groups are largely illiterate. Particularly in the remoter regions they suffer from poor health, poorer nutrition, and lousy soul for cultivation.
In 1959 two regions in the northern mountains were established as autonomous ethnic minority areas. The privilege was taken away in 1980. The minorities are still largely left alone up north provided they yield to the sovereignty of the Vietnamese government and pay taxes (on a per capita average income of less than $50).