Written by Jim Spates
Directed by Gwynne Decker
Produced by Tom D'Agostino

Vietnam has experienced dramatic change since reunification in 1975, due largely to the introduction of sweeping economic reforms in the latter half of the 1980s. The impact of modernization and the transition from a rural, agricultural society to an increasingly modern, urban one has been most apparent in the country’s two largest cities, Hanoi and Saigon. Hanoi, the capital, is the locus of political power while Saigon (officially “Ho Chi Minh City”) is the country’s financial center and economic engine. As Professor Jim Spates illustrates in this segment, while these cities differ in significant ways, both have served as driving forces behind Vietnam’s profound transformation over the past two decades.