 Highly-polished articles coated with several layers of resin that developed into Sophisticated art.  Brilliant Colors and gilded embellishments 10 pagodas and temples.  Large wall-hung artworks.  Wood craving seen in statuary, furniture, architecture and ornaments.  Manufactured- Knives, rush mats, bamboo bird cages ceramics and rice wine.  Ethnic crafts- embroidery, batik, appliqué work and different styles of weaving.  Pagodas, temples, palaces and tombs displayed exquisite symbolic and devotional Motifs and embellishments.

 Although Vietnam had its own religion Buddhism that came from china, made most Vietnamese practice that faith  Buddhism- Most Vietnamese identified themselves with Buddhism  Founder- Gautama from India  Buddhism spread first from China to Vietnam around the second century A.D  Mahayana Buddhism- Became the faith of most Vietnamese.  Differences Between Vietnamese Buddhism and India Buddhism  In Vietnam the Mahayana school teaches that Gautama was only one of many “enlightened ones”  In India the Theravada school teaches that Gautama was the one- and- only enlightened one and the great teacher.

 Major influences- Chinese origin  Bureaucratic officials from china- Vietnamese adopted the political system.  Rulers were identified as Gods  Vietnamese beliefs conflicted with Confucian theory.

 They traded with hill dwellers for forest products  In exchange for silk manufactured by the Chinese they traded ivory, tortoise shells, pearls, Peacock feathers, aromatic woods and other exotic products drawn from the sea and tropical forests. Women from Vietnam weaving hand craft products from sedge for trade

 Spoken language not Chinese  Women wore long skirts instead of long pants, they chewed betel nut which the Chinese found disgusting and they would blacken their teeth.  Inter married Mon- Khmer- and tai speaking peoples in the Red river area which was a crucial step in forming the Vietnamese as a distinct ethnic group.  Women had more freedom and had more influence both within the family and in society at large than their Chinese counter part  Favors nuclear family to the extended house hold preferred by Chinese. Never developed the clan networks that have prominent feature in Chinese society

 Vietnam is a country of tropical lowlands, hills, and densely forested highlands  Vietnam has a tropical monsoon climate, with humidity averaging 84 percent throughout the year.  The Red River and the Mekong River are navigable in their entirety and are considered to be the two major rivers in Vietnam.  To help prevent flooding in their deltas, a system of dikes and canals has been erected. This has helped improve farming in the Mekong Delta due to salt water flooding from the South China Sea, especially during the long, wet monsoon season.

 39 CE- Trung sisters- who were children of a deposed local leader, points to the importance of more favored position of women in Vietnamese society.  By 939 Vietnamese had won political independence  a succession of dynasties beginning with the Le  11 th to 18 th century – they fought a long series of generally successful wars against the Chams