Hoi An, Vietnam
The streets of Hoi An, Vietnam are overwhelmingly chaotic. Walking outside means navigating a maze of storefronts and hawkers while weaving between oncoming motorcycles. I quickly learned that the key to crossing the street is to move slowly and predictably. The motorcycles will weave around like a school of fish.
Most of Hoi Anโs storefronts advertise the same product: custom-made clothing. Close to a hundred tailors line both sides of the streets.
Each competitor offers clothes that can be designed, sewn, fitted, and shipped all in a matter of hours. While here, my sister sketched her ideal prom dress and had it made from scratch for less than $100. She drew the dress in pencil on Thursday, had a fitting Friday morning, and on Friday afternoon a woman arrived with a scale to ship the finished dress on the spot.
The tailor scene is market capitalism in its purest form. Every buyer haggling with a tailor is an auction with what economists call perfect price discrimination; the sellers squeeze out of each buyer exactly what theyโre willing to pay.
I have to remind myself that Vietnam is ostensibly a communist country. Iโm not even sure what that means anymore, besides the ubiquitous hammer and sickle flags (hanging just outside the tailor shops).
As a first-time visitor, I am struck by Vietnamโs many contradictions. The country is nominally communist, but it has distinctly capitalist characteristics. Vietnam is prosperous and friendly to Americans, but it suffered incredible carnage in the Vietnam War.
Bui Thi Ming Phoung, a Hanoi resident who studied accounting and now works in hospitality, says, โThe past is the past.โ Vietnam is rocketing toward the future.
Vietnamโs GDP has grown at about 6 percent on average during the last decade. This growth is evident in the major cities. Urban migration is outpacing the construction of infrastructure. The result is congested roads, urban sprawl and a sense of constant motion.
One of the biggest drivers of growth has been the textile industry. The evidence of this success is apparent in every tailor shop in Hoi An.
Perhaps because the private sector is outpacing the public sector, some Vietnamese are beginning to tire of the single-party system. โPeople donโt want a one-party system,โ Bui Thi Ming Phoung says, โThey want to be more like America.โ
Post-war, the United States and Vietnam have had a diplomatic relationship for 22 years. In that time, the U.S. has had a large impact on the Vietnamese economy as an importer of Vietnamese goods.
America is Vietnamโs largest importer. Today, nearly 20 percent of Vietnamese exports go to the U.S., many of which are clothes.
In November 2000, Bill Clinton was the first American president to visit Vietnam after the war. He was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd in Hanoi. At the time he said, โThe history we leave behind is painful and hard. We must not forget it, but we must not be controlled by it.โ
Dinh Thi Phoung, a 22-year-old living in Hanoi, shares Clintonโs sentiment, โIn the past we hated Americans, but now it is normal.โ
Dinhโs grandparents lived through the war. American troops burned their village. Dinhโs grandmother cut her hair like a manโs to avoid rape.
Dinh says even her grandparents do not despise Americans. She says, โThey only want to remind me we are more happy than in the past.โ
The forgiveness goes both ways. In 1985, John McCain, a Vietnam War veteran, returned to the prison where he was held for five years and repeatedly tortured. He has visited Vietnam several times since. Pete Peterson, the first American ambassador to Vietnam, was also a POW.
In todayโs constant talk of conflict, Vietnam is a refreshing reminder that countries are capable of remarkable resilience.
My sister will wear her Vietnamese-made dress to Hanover High Schoolโs prom. Perhaps someday my children will be able to visit a functional Iraq or Afghanistan as prosperous and welcoming as todayโs Vietnam. Maybe they can even get a dress made.
Katrina Wheelan is a Hanover High graduate who is traveling during a gap year before college.