Figure 1.--Here we see a group of Boat People attempting to escape from Vietnam. They are being rescued from their decrepit craft, I believe, by Hong Kong authorities.

After the 1975 Communist victory in Vietnam thousands of South Vietnamese attempted to flee their cointry. As this was only possible by sea, they have become known as the Boat People. The term whas since been applied to waves of refugees from other countries attempying to reach th United States Wesrern Europe, and Australis. The Vietnamese Boat People were escaping totalitarian political oppression. The more modern migrants are mostly economic migrants seeking decent paying jobs and fleeing countries that bave not adopted capitalisdt economies like the Asian Tigers. Escaping the Communists by boat was a very dangerous undertaking. There were many dangers. Unlike the more recent Boat People, the South Vietnamese Boat Peoole did not have a safe destination within a relatively short distance. Venturing out into The Pacific is very different than crossing the Mediterranean or Florida Straits. It was a very dangerous undertaking, The dangers included: Vietnamese patrols and arrest, the fact that in most cases their boats and rafts were not only unseaworthy but often over crowded, and the presence of violent predatory pirates. As a result the Boat People faced death by dehydration, starvation, and drowning as wella s violence from the Vietnamese authorities and pirates. Assessments of these refugeess is controversial and often affected by views about the Vietnam War itself. Many believe that the refugees were fleeing the Communists and and their repressive measures. Some believe that the Communists killed about 1 million people in Vietnam after their victory. Others South Vietnamese suffered lengthy detention in concentration camps an reducation centers. Other refugees were fleeing the economic disaster that resulted from the Communist victory. Both factors were almost certainly important. Anti-Communists tend to emphasize the former. The anti-War movement tend to focus on the latter, referring to the Boat People as economic refugees. The Boat Beople story includes the escape, dangers at sea, pirates, refugee caps, resettlent, and the diaspora. Emigration laws vary from country to country, but political refugees are generally accorded greater protection than economic refugees. We are not sure how many people were involved, but it was cetainly in the hundreds of thousands. An unknown number of these refugees perished at sea in their often decrepit boats. Many attempted to reach Hong Kong which at the time was still a British territory. Some managed to eventually emigrate to countries like Australia, Canada, France, and the United States which all have sizeable Vietnamese communities.

North Vietnamese Communist Victory

Repression

The victorious communist North Vietnamese authorities established the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Communis authorities exacted revenge against the South Vietnamese and who had resisted Communist eule and who has associated with the Americans.

Fleeing the Communists

After the 1975 Communist victory in Vietnam thousands of South Vietnamese attempted to flee their country.

Geography

Fleeing South Vietnam was only possible by sea, they have become known as the Boat People.

Terminology

The term Boar People originated with the South Vitnamese people the Communists after the collapse of th South Vietnamese Governmnt. The term has since been applied to waves of refugees from other countries attempying to reach th United States Wesrern Europe, and Australis. The Vietnamese Boat People were escaping totalitarian political oppression. The more modern migrants are mostly economic migrants seeking decent paying jobs and fleeing countries that bave not adopted capitalisdt economies like the Asian Tigers.

Makeup

There is no exact accounting of the Boat People who fled South Vietnam. Thre were prbabky some 2 million people who attempted to escape totalitarian Communist rule. [Vo] .

Chronology

The exodus of the Boat People was preceeded by the earlier exodus of people, including many Catholics from North Vietnam after the Communists defeated the French (1954). Some one million North Vietnamese fled to the south to escape war, famine, and the violent Communist land reform campaign--Operatiin Ecodus. The same situation occurred again with the Communist victory in South Vietnam. And this time the victims of Communism had no way to run. The KJymer Rouge were even woiest than the noirt Vietnamese Communists. Their backs were to the sea. The result was a massive population movement (1970s-80s). It was the largest population movement in Vietnamese history, creating a a wide diaspora around the world. The major exodus was in 1975 with the North Vietnamese Communist victory, but smaller numbers followed. The Boat People beganto leave with the Communist victory (April 1975). The exodus did not end, however, with the Communist consolidatiion of their regime. People confront with harsh Communist role and the destruction of the econmy by socialist economics, continued to try to escape by boat. We note the story of a Saigon family (November 1978). They were a Chinese business family whose prosperous lives ended with the Communit victory. The desperate family decides to leave home and friends to escapr the grim, grey realities of Communist rile. Their four oldest children have cescaped and are kiving in the United States. They have to evade strict communist patrols. Their 11-year-old daughter, Nam Moi is afraid and now homeless. Her future is frought with danngr. The family iwas Chiunese and had faced the same problems before. They escaped China and settled in French Indo-China (1898). When the Comminists seized control of North Vietman, they fled again, this time to South Vietnam (1954). Nam Moi (little girl from the South) was born in Saigon during the Vietnam War. After 3 years of Comminism, their father made the dangerous decision to escape in hope of better future. The parents believe that chances must be taken for the future. They bribe their way aboard a rusty rusty cargo ship plying the South China Sea for months. [Ung]

Dangers

Escaping the Communists by boat was a very dangerous undertaking. There were many dangers. Unlike the more recent Boat People, the South Vietnamese boat peoole did not have a safe destination within a relatively short distance. Venturing out into the open Pacific is very different than crossing the Mediterranean or Florida Straits. It was an extrodinarily dangerous undertaking, especialy for people without navigatioinal skills. The dangers included: Vietnamese patrols and arrest, the fact that in most cases their boats and rafts were not only unseaworthy but often over crowded, and the presence of violent predatory pirates. As a result the Boat People faced death by dehydration, starvation, and drowning as wella s violence from the Vietnamese authorities and pirates. An unknown number of these refugees perished at sea in their often decrepit boats.

Assessments

Assessments of these refugeess is controversial and often affected by views about the Vietnam War itself. Many believe that the refugees were fleeing the Communists and and their repressive measures. Some believe that the Communists killed about 1 million people in Vietnam after their victory. Others South Vietnamese suffered lengthy detention in concentration camps an reducation centers. Other refugees were fleeing the economic disaster that resulted from the Communist victory. Both factors were almost certainly important. Anti-Communists tend to emphasize the former. The anti-War movement tend to focus on the latter, referring to the Boat People as economic refugees.

Destination

Vietnam faces the South China Sea. Many attempted to reach Hong Kong which at the time was still a British territory. The northern coast was North Vietnam and China, obviously where they did not want to go, but some headed to Hong Komg and Taiwan which required a long journey and some navigational expertise. To the east was the Philippines, but a long oceanic voyage. To the west was Thailand . To the south was Malaysia, and further into the Java Sea south was Indonesia. Unlike Hong Kong and Taiwam, precise navigatioin was less important to these other destinations. All these counries in the region struggled with the Boat People issue. They were not rich countries with the rresources to care for huge numbers of refugees. British Hong Kong in particlar had a problem. How could they admmit Vietnamese refugeess and refuse entry to Chinese people trying to enter. The regional countries wanted to pass the Boat People on to the richer countries both the United States and the European countries. Thus the Boat People were for the mosy part not granted peranent resident staus, but held in deprssing refugee camps until other countries accepted them for permaanent reselement. Tiny Hong Kong of all places emerged as especially important. Unlike the other regional destinatiins, Hong Kong did not have the physicak space for regugees. And the South Vietnamese escaping on rafts and small boats could not reach Hing King on their own. A Danish reighter brought the first Vietnamese refugees to Hiong Kong (1975). Hong Kong authorities appealed to the United Nations for aid (1976). Really large numbers did not begin to arrive (1979). space and facilities for refugees. Vietnamese authorities began began repressing ethnic Chinese. Hong Kong declared itself the 'port of first asylum'. At the same time Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia began turning Vietnamese refugees away. The United States established a processing facility for refugees on Guam.

Disapora

The Boat People created a huge Vietnamese Diaspora around the world. The countries neighboring Vietnam for the most refussed to accpt them as permanent residents.In the end the United States accepted more than half of the Boat People, more than a million people. Emigration laws varied from country to country, but political refugees are generally accorded greater protection than economic refugees. Some managed to eventually emigrate to countries like Australia, Canada, France, and the United States which today all have sizeable Vietnamese communities.

Sources

Ung, Charlen Lin. Nam Moi: A Young bGirl's Story of Her Family's Escape from Vietnam (2015).

Vo, Nghia M. The Vietnamesde Boat People, 1954 and 1975-1992 (McFarlanf and Co.: 2006). Vo has authored othr imprtant works on Vietnam. including The Bamboo Gulag: Political Imprisonment in Communist Vietnam.

Created: 10:11 PM 4/26/2006
Last updated: 1:58 PM 11/22/2019