History: The Vietnamese are a branch of the Chinese people. Chin unified China in the 26th year of Chin Emperor. Chin named Vietnam Tsang County; Emperor Han Wu-ti renamed it Chao Che in the Han Dynasty. Vietnam was always an outlying dependent state of China through the Later Han, Six Dynasties, Sui and Tang, up until the Five Dynasties. Cha Long, King of Ruann named the region "Vietnam" when he unified North Vietnam in 1802.
　　France invaded Vietnam in 1858, and Vietnam became a French colony in 1883. Ho Chi Minh founded the Indo-China Communist Party in 1930, and established the "Vietminh" to fight against France. French suppression forced the "Vietminh" underground, and Ho Chi Minh had to go into exile. During World War II, Japan took advantage of the defeat of France and occupied Vietnam easily in 1942, installing Bao Dai as puppet emperor. Ho Chi Minh came back to Vietnam secretly in 1944. He incited the people to form a guerrilla army. The guerrillas fought until Japan surrendered in 1945, and established the provisional democratic government of the Republic of Vietnam. However, France soon reoccupied Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh escaped and hid in the mountains. France rebuilt the government, with Bao Dai remaining as head of state.
　　The Vietnamese Communists finally defeated France at Dien Bien Phu, and the Geneva Peace Treaty was signed. Vietnam was divided into South and North Vietnam at the 17th parallel. Ho Chi Minh became ruler of the "Vietnam Democratic Republic" in North Vietnam, while Wu Yian Yain headed the "Republic of Vietnam" in South Vietnam.
　　Ruann Wen Shao was elected the second president of the Vietnam Democratic Republic in September 1967. In order to keep South Vietnam from being conquered by North Vietnam, the USA intervened in the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 70s, and helped South Vietnam to fight against the North Vietnamese communist troops. Ho Chi Minh died from illness in 1969. Suen De Sheng took over as chairman of the Communist Party, and North Vietnam came under joint leadership. By 1973, the US Congress was unwilling to continue providing Vietnam with military and economic aid, so South Vietnam fought on alone. The communists defeated South Vietnam in April of 1975. South and North Vietnam were merged in July of the following year. The country's name was changed to "The Socialist Republic of Vietnam".