The history of Bronze wares in Vietnam
The most famous bronze wares to have come out of Vietnam are the Dong Son drums, intricately patterned drums cast by people of the Dong Son civilization, which Vietnamese archeologists date from the seventh century B.C. to the first century A.D. The graves of ruling-class people from the Dong Son period also contain a wealth of bronze artifacts, including dagger blades, swords, axes, arrowheads and crossbow triggers.
While modern-day scholars still debate the function of the massive Dong Son drums, these drums may have evolved from the rice mortar. 'Pestle music' - that is the sound made when pounding rice - is mentioned in ancient Chinese texts as an important ritual element for southern peoples. Moreover, the tympanums of some Dong Son drums depict scenes of people pounding drum-like vessels that are similar to modern-day scenes of peasants pounding rice.
Moving into the Christian era, the best bronze casters in Vietnam were Buddhist monks. De Cau and Dong Mai, two villages in Bach Ninh province, both claim 11th century monks as the founders of their village's bronze craft. These monks, named Quoc Tai and Tran Lac, were said to be students of Vietnam's most famous bronze caster, a legendary figure named Khong Lo.
According to a Vietnamese folk tale, Khong Lo was a monk during the reign of King Ly in the 11th century. The King of Dai Viet - as Vietnam was then known - ordered Khong Lo to go to China to obtain some black bronze.
Upon reaching the Chinese court, Khong Lo asked the Chinese monarch for a bag of black bronze so that the king of Dai Viet might cast some statues as offerings to the Buddha. The King readily agreed, reasoning that, with his vast stores of bronze, he would never miss a single bag.
Upon seeing the solitary monk with his small sack, the Chinese king's storekeeper joked that perhaps Khong Lo would like to carry off a statue of a buffalo, made from solid gold. The monk replied that all be required was a sack of black bronze. But Khong Lo was actually carrying a magic sack, which, no matter how much was crammed inside, never became full. So it was that Khong Lo obtained a huge quantity of black bronze, which he carried back to Dai Viet.
Back home, Khong Lo divided the bronze into pour parts. With one part he cast the nine-tiered tower of Bao Thien; with another part he cast a massive Buddha statue; with the third part he cast a urn big enough to hide ten men; and with fourth part he cast a huge bronze bell. When this bell was finished, its peals could be beard as far away as the Chinese capital.
Black bronze, it is said, is the mother of gold, For this reason, upon hearing the peals of giant bell, the golden buffalo statue at the Chinese king's court woke up and ran towards Dai Viet, where it settled beside its 'mother'.
Khong Lo worried that whenever the bell was struck it would attract golden objects. To avoid antagonizing Dai Viet's neighbors, the bell was thrown into Hai Noi's West Lake. Hearing the peals of the bell as it sank beneath the waves, the golden buffalo statue followed, which is why West Lake is sometimes called 'Golden Buffalo Lake'.
While fanciful, this story contains some elements of truth. The four bronze objects described in the folk tale did exist, and were collectively known as 'the Four Holy Objects'. Moreover, there is a connection between bronze-casting and West Lake. The most famous bronze-casters in Vietnam came from five villages to settle in Ngu Xa (the name of which translates as 'Five Villages'). Founded during the Le Dynasty in the 15th century, this hamlet is located on the eastern bank of Truc Bach Lake, the small lake that, today, is separated from West Lake by Thanh Nien Road.
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In their cultural tradition, the Vietnamese attach a great importance to flowers. This is seen in their marked preference for names of flowers in the choice of feminine first names. There was even an anecdote on the given name that king Lý Thánh Tông of the Ly dynasty has chosen for his concubine Ỷ Lan known later as Linh Nhân Hoàng Hậu. One day, on his way back to the capital, the king was greeted by jubilant villagers. He noticed there was a young country girl of extraordinary beauty who kept looking timidly at him while leaning against the hedge of amaryllis. Desirous of knowing her, he made her come in front of him
That was due to the premature death of Hồ Thị Hoa the favorite of crown prince Nguyễn Phuớc Ðảm, the future king Minh Mang. She was the daughter of the mandarin Hồ Văn Bôi and piously served her parents-in-law, emperor Gia Long and empress Thuận Thiên Cao Hoàng Hậu. To immortalize the affliction they continue to bear for their daughter-in-law, from then on, they forbade their close relations and subjects to use the word Hoa not only in the choice of given names but also in the naming of public buildings. Because of that prohibition, the Ðông Hoa market in Hue became the central market Ðông Ba. The province Thanh Hoá was from then on called Thanh Hoa. The bridge stretching across the Thi Nghe river in Saigon changed its name to Cầu Bông from the name Hoa Bắc. However "Hoa" is the word the most used in Nguyễn Du's Kim Vân Kiều, the masterpiece of Vietnamese literature. Without counting the name of the flowers evoked, one can come up with an inventory of at least 130 verses containing the word "Hoa". Moreover, this word appears in a great number of terms having the connotation of flower in the Vietnamese literature.
Another learned man Ðào Tấn, the father of stage productions of the Bình Ðịnh region in Central Vietnam, also nurtured the hope of dying near plum trees some day. That is why, while living, he chose ( Mộng Mai )( Dream of Plum Flowers ) as his pseudonym and had the opportunity to reveal his mood in the two verses found in one of his poems
Núi mai rồi giữ xương Mai nhé
Uớc mộng hồn ta là đóa Mai

Plum mountain please keep Plum skeleton buried
I dream that my soul would be a Plum flower.
It was not an utopia for him because at his death (July 1907), he was buried at mount Huynh Mai, not too far from a plum garden which is a few kilometers away. Contrary to the Chinese, it is the plum and lotus flowers that are more appreciated than the peony. That's why they are called Hoa Khôi ( Flowers of first rank ).

Someone asked me the other day what my favorite food was..."Vietnamese!" I quickly replied, "At least for the moment."
Why am I so attracted to this particular cuisine? I adore Indian food, can't get enough Mexican, have a passion for pizza...but there is something about Vietnamese cooking that doesn't just excite me — it seduces me. And even though I always qualify my favorite foods as being "for the moment," I'm finding that my enthusiasm for Vietnamese food is waxing and not waning.
Many critics shun fusion cuisine — and yet that is exactly what Vietnamese food is. But unlike the contrived fusion cooking of some avant-garde chefs, Vietnamese cooking is characterized by an inherent balance and harmony.

Vietnamese cuisine subscribes to the same Chinese principles of yin and yang — the balance of opposites — but takes on its own distinct personality through the use of local ingredients and indigenous spices. As in China, you will find a balance of the five flavors — sweetness, sourness, saltiness, hotness, and bitterness — cooked in stir-fries, hearty soups, rice and noodle dishes. But in Vietnam, their dishes will be laced with limes and lemongrass, light and pungent fish sauce, or wrapped in delicate lettuce leaves with fresh, feathery herbs. Neighboring Southeast Asian countries also use the same indigenous flavorings, but somehow they never quite hit the unique union of technique and taste that appears in Vietnamese cuisine.
The French have also contributed to Vietnamese dishes — or perhaps more appropriately, the Vietnamese have added their own finesse to French standards, particularly to European-style sauces, meats and patés. Vietnamese cold roast pork sandwiches are a Hanoi lunch staple, stuffed with fresh herbs and raw vegetables into Vietnamese-style baguettes: French rolls made softer by a subtle mixture of rice and wheat flours. Vietnamese dishes also commonly combine indigenous flavorings with such French-introduced ingredients as asparagus and potatoes.
In the south, Vietnam adds to its cuisine the hot and fragrant curry dishes (cari) of Indian influences, introduced through the spice trade. While northern Vietnam uses black pepper, sesame, and the oil-rich frying techniques of its Chinese roots, the southern region weaves together a lighter mix. They rely less on oil and more on grilling or water-based cooking methods, usually serving herbs and vegetables raw, with such flavorings as fresh chiles, limes, coconut milk, vinegars, tamarind, sugar cane, and of course the ubiquitous fish sauce, or nuoc mam.
Sophisticated, exotic, delicate, complex, fresh and light...these are the qualities of Vietnamese cuisine that seduce me. Lately, I've been experimenting with ways to whip up a fast Vietnamese-style meal whenever I'm in the mood. It's not hard to do: Vietnamese cooking naturally lends itself to quick and easy cooking, and these two Vietnamese-inspired dishes I've created are ideal meals for a busy weeknight, casual weekend, or informal dinner

Although a main religion of the world, Christianity does not play a major role in the culture of Vietnam. It was introduced into Vietnam rather late, in the second half of the sixteenth century, by Portuguese, Spanish and French European missionaries. The first missionary, Ignatio, came to Vietnam in 1533. In the first half of the seventeenth century, the Jesuits came to Vietnam and founded in Hoi-An the Cochinchina's mission. In 1626, Alexandre de Rhodes was chosen to head the Jesuit mission in North Vietnam. He published a catechism book in Latin and Vietnamese in 1650 and the first Vietnamese, Portuguese and Latin dictionary in 1651 in Rome. Christianity began to develop rapidly.

About the middle of the seventeenth century, preaching of Christianity was banned in Vietnam. Despite the proscription, Catholic missionaries continued their evangelization of Vietnam. Under the Nguyen dynasty, especially under Kings Minh-Mang, Thieu Tri, and Tu Duc, the Christians were persecuted and labeled "perverse to the public order." Using the persecution of Christians as a pretext, the French conquered Vietnam in the second half of the nineteenth century. Under the French administration, the Catholics enjoyed the support of the government. It was during the Ngo Dinh Diem regime that the Catholics filled key positions in the government, the army, and the police. Today there are about three million Christians in Vietnam, most of them Catholics. Although they represented a small percentage of the population, the Catholics played an important role in the political life of Vietnam during the last three decades prior to the fall of Saigon in 1975.