Vietnam Economy
On April 17, 2026, SJC gold bars in Vietnam traded at 18 million VND per tael above world prices — roughly US$680, or NT$20,000. The 13-year monopoly was officially ended in October 2025. Six months later, the premium is still here. Why?
Life
Hanoi's Region 1 minimum wage — VND 5.31 million a month — buys about 100 bowls of pho. The calculation comes from an ILO advocacy argument, not a Big Mac-style index. The real point is the gap between Vietnam's minimum wage and what it actually costs to live.
Industry
From building its own ecosystem to going asset-light. From expanding into multiple markets at once to focusing on just one. Behind Gogoro's Vietnam push is a 2028 deadline to break even on its vehicle business.
Politics
To Lam landed in Beijing on April 14 for his first foreign trip as state president. The real story isn't the optics. It's the three railways and the USD 256 billion trade list.
Vietnamese Brands
Vietnam is the world's largest Robusta producer, with record coffee exports of $8.4 billion in 2025. But that's roughly what Nestlé's coffee business alone pulls in. Trung Nguyên Legend is chasing 3,000 stores worldwide — its latest step landed in Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Vietnamese Brands
In 2003, a blind taste test at Reunification Palace handed Vietnam's upstart G7 instant coffee an 89-to-11 win over Nescafé. How founder Đặng Lê Nguyên Vũ went from a farmer's son in the Central Highlands to Vietnam's coffee king — and then nearly lost it all in a seven-year divorce.
Vietnam Life
Vietnam has 243 universities, most single-discipline, a direct Soviet legacy. After Doi Moi, private universities and international schools flooded in. Now 2026 brings five reforms at once, but a 120,000-teacher shortage looms.
Vietnam Life
Vietnam runs a 5-4-3 school system where students choose their path right after junior high. One exam decides both graduation and university admission. Tutoring costs 4 million VND a month. Adjusted for income, Vietnamese students score just behind Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea.
Vietnam People
In 1980 he became the first Asian to win the Chopin Competition. Forty-five years later, his students have won it three more times.
Vietnam Economy
VinSpeed broke ground on Vietnam's first cross-region high-speed rail — 120 km, $5.6 billion, 2028 operation. The real story isn't the speed. It's where the stations are.
Vietnam Politics
Le Minh Hung, Vietnam's youngest-ever central bank governor, was unanimously elected prime minister. Here's what his background, cabinet, and political constraints mean for the country's economic direction.
Vietnam
Vietnam's Q1 GDP growth looks impressive at 7.83%, but dig deeper and a structural imbalance emerges — foreign firms dominate exports while domestic companies fall behind.