Word: vietnam
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...immediately after the end of the Thieu regime failed, as refugees from the central provinces found it easier to stay on in the cities than to face fields full of unexploded American mines. The PRG discovered it had to assist them in order to repopulate the rural areas. South Vietnam's leaders created what they call New Economic Areas--rural areas, mainly in the north and central parts of the country, that have not been previously cultivated or had been destroyed by American bombs. Teams of volunteers accompany returning peasants into these areas to clear out unexploded mines...
This "back to the land" program is now one of the PRG's highest priorities. South Vietnam cannot provide jobs in industry for all the Vietnamese left in the cities at the end of the war, nor can it feed them unless they return to the countryside. Hundreds of hectares in each province have already been reclaimed, and in the cities special educational meetings are being held to explain the program's objectives to those who remain. The PRG hopes to help 100,000 peasants a month return to their homes, so that by the end of this year...
...production. Along the coast, fishing cooperatives form to purchase motor boats. In farming areas, peasants band together to build irrigation systems or buy pumps. Schools are going up everywhere--by last October, four million children were in grade school. Schooling is free for the first time in South Vietnam's history: the government provides the materials and the villagers help build. Teachers are being trained as quickly as possible, and many are coming down from the north to help...
...about their business," Saigon has "a carnival atmosphere, it's noisy, there are a lot of people standing around, dressed in Western clothing." Small stands on the streets of Saigon still sell Salems and Coca-Colas left from the American occupation. Hondas scream up and down the streets. South Vietnam still bears the marks of the war. While the government has managed to keep everyone fed and clothed, with the aid from North Vietnam, the Soviet Union, China, and many other countries, the unemployed are only gradually being reabsorbed into the economy...
...reed mats in many Vietnamese households has been converted so that it can use native reeds. A company that imported Virginia tobacco now uses domestic tobacco, grown by villagers who have learned how to cure it from the government Textile factories that replaced the centuries old silk industry in Vietnam with cheap cotton goods now use cotton imported from the north. The PRG's goal in industry is to reach the highest level of production possible without new capital investment; the rural areas have top priority, and only when that sector of the economy is stabilized will the government...