Viet Bac - Far North region
The North Upland of Vietnam is characterized by biophysical, social and cultural diversity as well as its important role in the national economy's development. However, the region, like those in other developing countries, suffers from serious environmental problems such as deforestation, soil degradation, loss of biodiversity and unsustainable livelihoods. Major causes are attributed to ineffective institutional arrangements such as inadequate property rights and enforcement, lack of local participation and empowerment, and misguided government policies.
The North Upland of Vietnam can be divided into two ecological-climatic zones: the Northeastern and the Northwestern. The Northeastern zone extends from the coast along the border of China to the Red River, and covers an area of 67,006 km2. This is the ancestral domain of the Tay, Nung and Dzao people and other less numerous minority groups belonging to 38 ethnic groups. Its population density of 150-300 persons per km2 is significantly higher than those in other upland zones. Compared with the other upland zones the Northeastern zone boasts of better educational level among its inhabitants, material-cultural standards and transportation network.
In early 1940, Ho Chi Minh returned to southern China, after having spent most of the previous seven years studying and teaching at the Lenin Institute in Moscow. After thirty years absence, Ho returned to Vietnam in February 1941 and set up headquarters in a cave at Pac Bo, near the Sino-Vietnamese border. The League for the Independence of Vietnam (Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi, Viet Minh for short) was established to struggle for national independence, which took primacy over class war or other concerns of socialist ideology. The cornerstone of the strategy, of which Ho appears to have been the chief architect, was the melding of the forces of urban nationalism and peasant rebellion into a single independence effort.
In order to implement the new strategy, two tasks were given priority: the establishment of a Viet Minh apparatus throughout the country and the creation of a secure revolutionary base in the Viet Bac border region from which southward expansion could begin. This area had the advantages of being remote from colonial control but accessible to China, which could serve both as a refuge and training ground. Moreover, the Viet Bac population was largely sympathetic to the Communists. Viet Minh influence began to permeate the area, and French forces attempted, but failed, to regain control of the region in 1941. The liberation zone soon spread to include the entire northern frontier area until it reached south of Cao Bang.
By June 1945, in the provinces of the Viet Bac, the Viet Minh had set up people's revolutionary committees at all levels, distributed communal and French-owned lands to the poor, abolished the corvee, established quoc ngu classes, set up local self-defense militias in the villages, and declared universal suffrage and democratic freedoms. The Viet Minh then established a provisional directorate, headed by Ho Chi Minh, as the governing body for the liberated zone, comprising an estimated one million people.
After the defeat of the French in 1954, special autonomous administrative zones were established in the northern mountains such as (i) Khu tu tri Thai-Meo (Thai-Meo Autonomous Zone) covering most parts of the present northwestern areas, and (ii) Khu tu tri Viet bac (Viet bac Autonomous Zone) encompassing the present northeastern zone. Many social and economic changes were introduced in the mountains. A series of successive mass mobilization campaigns were conducted to eliminate illiteracy and provide education, suppress shifting cultivation and sedentarise supposedly nomadic minorities, as well as expand the area under cultivation, introduce modern farming technology, and establish agricultural cooperatives.
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