Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Vietnam officially became a unified state in 1976, and since then the contrasts between north and south have diminished. The northern capital, Hanoi, has long lagged behind bustling Saigon (now renamed Ho Chi Minh City to honor North Vietnam’s revolutionary leader), but today its growing skyline reflects modernization and the overland links to its outport of Haiphong have been upgraded. With 7.5 million residents, Hanoi anchors the northern (Tonkin Plain) core area of Vietnam, the lower basin of the Red River (its agricultural hinterland). A leading development focus in Vietnam since 2000 has been the expansion of agricultural production. . . . Other major Vietnamese crops [other than coffee], led by rice, include rubber, tea, sugar, and spices—all with increasingly favorable export opportunities. . . . Today, Ho Chi Minh City is a burgeoning metropolis of 10.1 million, propelled by the rapid development of the east bank of the Saigon River, which includes a Chinese-style Special Economic Zone as well as the booming New Saigon business/residential district. In fact, the Saigon area now accounts for more than a quarter of Vietnam’s industrial output and about a third of its tax revenues. Somewhat ironically, Vietnam these days has become one of the most pro-American countries in Southeast Asia despite its persistence as a communist state. Undoubtedly, these good feelings toward their former enemy in the “American War” at least partially reflect the growing perception of dominance by China, against whom the United States can provide a counterbalance." [Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts, 17th Edition, p. 435]