Vietnam

The most important holiday in Vietnam is Tet, the Lunar New Year. This is a time to honor one’s ancestors and celebrate new beginnings by dressing up, eating special foods and giving red money envelopes for luck. Explore Vietnam’s rich culture and history through the direct links on The Times Launch Point Web site: https://www.latimes.com/launchpoint.

Level 1

Destination: Vietnam for Kids: Tet is a time when people try to be especially nice to each other because the Vietnamese believe that what you do during this time sets the tone for the entire year. Learn more about this important holiday, read some illustrated folk tales and find out about water puppets, a unique art form that has been around since the 10th century.

https://www.destinationvietnam.com/kids/kids.htm

Jewels of the Mekong--Vietnam: Learn basic information about Vietnam and visit such places as Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital, and Halong Bay, whose 3,000 islands were once thought to be created by the thrashing of a giant dragon’s tail.

https://www.pata.org/patanet/mekong/vietnam.html

The Mekong Delta: The Mekong Delta covers almost 26,000 square miles and is one of the top rice-producing areas in Asia. Take a photo tour of Vietnam: its monuments, scenery, art and daily life.

https://metalab.unc.edu/vietnam/mcleod/

Level 2

Encarta: Vietnam: More than 75 million people live in Vietnam, an S-shaped country south of China and east of Cambodia and Laos. Get a quick overview of this country’s geography, economy, government and history through this informative site.

https://www.encarta.com/find/article.asp?z=1&pg;=2&ti;=0048F000&search;=vietnam

Explore Vietnam: In AD 39 the Trung sisters led a successful though short-lived rebellion against Chinese occupation, a struggle for independence that would be repeated many more times as different countries fought to rule Vietnam. Learn more about Vietnam’s history, people, arts and history through a timeline, photos and a gallery of heroes and heroines.

https://www.explorevietnam.com/

Destination Vietnam: Culture: The ao dai, or the traditional pants and long tunic worn by women, was once worn by both men and women as part of a decree by Lord Vu Vuong in 1744. This is a fascinating collection of articles about Vietnamese culture.

https://www.destinationvietnam.com/aboutvn/culture/aboutvn.culture.htm

Level 3

Viet Nam: The k’ni is a unique stringed instrument that resembles a cross between a harmonica and a fiddle. Listen to sound clips of distinctive musical instruments and experience the incredible beauty contained in Vietnamese art, architecture, history, literature, and even its coins and stamps.

https://www.viettouch.com/

Vietnam: A Country Study: Learn about Vietnam’s geography, economy, government, culture and history, which begins with findings from the Bronze Age and continues through the Indochina wars.

https://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/vntoc.html

The Wars For Vietnam: 1945-1975: Trace the sequence of events that led to the Second Indochina War through this overview that includes links to such important documents as the Geneva Peace Accords of 1954 and excerpts from the 1961 “White Paper” that urged increased U.S. aid to South Vietnam.

https://students.vassar.edu/~vietnam/overview.html

EXPLORER’S QUEST

The answer to this Internet quiz can be found in the sites at right.

What does it mean to “eat Tet”?

Clue: See Destination: Vietnam for Kids

Find What You Need to Know: Have a project on California history? Need help doing a math problem? Launch Point now covers more than 80 topics for getting your schoolwork done. Go to https://www.latimes.com/launchpoint/ for the full list of subjects and direct links to the best Internet sites.

Answer to last week’s Quest: You would be 10,560 “days” or 1 year old on Jupiter if you were born on Feb. 10, 1998.

Launch Point is produced by the UC Irvine department of education, which reviews each site for appropriateness and quality. Even so, parents should supervise their children’s use of the Internet. This column was designed by Brandie Hayungs, Loren Okroi and Anna Manring.