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How do Cambodians view Vietnamese?

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I answered a very similar question and have pasted the answer below.

I'm Vietnamese-American, so maybe my experience may not be representative of what someone from Vietnam might experience. Given the tumultuous history between the two nations and the rampant online animosity between the two peoples, I wasn't sure what to expect when I landed in Cambodia. I recently visited Siem Reap and I can say that I was treated with such respect, hospitality, and kindness wherever I went. I look very different and no one ever guesses that I'm Vietnamese by sight alone, but they know immediately from my last name what my heritage is. My English is impeccable, so people also were very curious about my background once they spoke to me, and I never once hesitated to tell them the truth when asked. It seems a Vietnamese tourist of any kind is a bit of a novelty for them. No one ever treated me differently once they found out even though they were surprised, shocked even. I very much enjoyed my trip to Cambodia and would gladly go back. To me, the Cambodians are not that different from Vietnamese in nature and in history. Both countries have taken some really hard knocks in history and the people share a common resilience, spirit, industriousness, and a melancholic hope for the future. Maybe they just saw tourist dollars when they looked at me, but I will honestly say that I felt the hospitality and humility in Cambodia were perfectly palpable relative to in Vietnam or Thailand. It goes to show that what people feel about a nation as a whole or in general doesn't necessarily translate to individuals.

I didn't directly answer the question because I am highly unqualified to do so, but hopefully my answer can shed some light to enable the reader to make up their own mind. At the end of the day that's what VietnamAnswer is about, giving and gaining perspective based on information.

EDIT: I've heard it stated that Cambodians regularly use the derogatory Yuon to refer to Vietnamese. There is a lot of debate about whether Yuon is actually a derogatory term. Apparently, there is no other word in Khmer for Vietnamese other than Yuon and it has been part of that language for centuries. The word has a cognate in Thai that is used in that language without any kind of stigma. The only other way to say Vietnamese in Khmer is something akin to “person of Vietnam” or something like that, so in that sense I can see why Yuon persists. I'm sure many people use Yuon in Khmer in derogatory turns of phrase. I have mixed feelings about whether this makes the word derogatory itself. Any word can be used in a derogatory manner and I think that the word itself is only coloured in the same light if its usage becomes predominantly for that purpose and then exclusively. I can't comment conclusively as I don't speak Khmer.

On the other hand, I would be very interested to hear from a Khmer speaker as to why many Cambodians insist on using the word Yuon in place of “Vietnamese” even when they are speaking English, wherein the most sensible and appropriate term would in fact be “Vietnamese.” If one is speaking English, why code-switch just for that one particular word? That action certainly lends itself to the idea that the words Yuon and Vietnamese are not equivalent in the Khmer speaker's mind, in which case it is logical to conclude that Yuon serves some type of (not so) hidden agenda. Ignorance of the proper English term is laughably improbable in such a situation given all the circumstances.

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As expected! The memory is to fresh! Not long ago the whole South VN was part of Cambodia. I think it is bigger than the current Cambodia. Well, that is human history and behavior: conquering and conquering when you can. The Cambodians owe a lot to the French. Without them, I think Cambodia would be no more, for that matter, no more Laos. There would be now just Vietnam. Khmer empire with Angkor Watt was a powerful and huge country. Vietnam used to be a tiny country around Hanoi. The up and down of the history.

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There is some interesting parallels between Sino-Vietnamese relations and Viet-Cambodian Relations, both have to do with the bigger power forcing their culture on the weaker one and taking land.

Ask a Cambodian:

Is the Mekong Delta originally Cambodian Land?

I would suspect everyone would say yes, and they will go on for days about how it was stolen by the “filthy” Vietnamese.

Ask a Vietnamese:

Are some parts of Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong a part of Vietnam?

Considering the timeline for Sino-Vietnamese hostilities is much longer, I would suspect not everyone would say yes. A very clear majority would say that land was stolen by the “Filthy” Chinese.

Similar to this, if you mistake a Vietnamese person for a Chinese person there is a chance they will get mad at you and start explaining how Vietnam is different from China and all that stuff.

Mistake a Cambodian for a Vietnamese and they will also get heated, but I suspect they will get even more heated as Vietnamese people share a lot of culture with China, so the hatred might be a bit muted in some aspects (I heard some Vietnamese people talking about the reason they are so much better off is because of Confucian values and expressing some pretty racist and supremacist views at the same time). For Cambodians and Vietnamese, their cultures are incredibly different.

Cambodia is an Indic-based culture, like Thailand and Burma. Vietnam is a firmly Sinosphere culture being very culturally close to Southern China.

Historically speaking, Vietnam’s Sinic culture looked down upon Cambodia as a barbarian culture that must be assimilated.

During the highly Sinophillic Nguyen dynasty, the king Mihn Mahn (That’s the Vietnamese translation of the name: Ming Meng) hoped that:

“We must hope that their barbarian habits will be subconsciously dissipated, and that they will daily become more infected by Han [Sino-Vietnamese] customs."

That’s actually really quite similar to how the Chinese viewed the Southern tribes before their assimilation.

This feeling of hatred will continue to persist, historical issues aren’t easy to patch up without modernization and economic interdependence. Don’t worry however, do French and German people hate each other? Germany again and again plunged France into decades of brutal war over and over again, even decades after WWII they still had ill-feeling towards each other, but as France and Germany modernized, this hatred began to die off.

I suspect that will happen in terms of Cambodia-Vietnam and China-Vietnam some time in the future.

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My own experiences could be different from majority of posters here. I am Vietnamese origin, can speak Khmer. During time staying Cambodia, I had 2 Khmer girlfriends, one in capital Phnompenh, She was Chinese Cambodian. The other Khmer gf lived in Battambang when I worked there. Both of them emigrated to USA afterward.. I had Khmer friends who were former Polpot combatants, the other high- ranking Khmer female friend who was trained in Vietnam, currently work in Phnompenh My recent visit of Cambodia happened on year 2000. That time, entrance fee for tourist was 10usd per person. When I visited there, I spoke Khmer with guards regarding to my past at Angkor temples during the war time. They treated me real nice, exempt entrance fee and invited me to their homes after my tour. A lot of changes since the war ended. .. In my mind, Cambodian people as average is friendly, honest and to me they didn't hold hatred against Vietnamese Share…

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Well it’s true many Cambodians tend to be hateful towards Vietnamese. The Vietnamese have liberated Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge, but apparently the Cambodians don't like Vietnamese even today. To begin, there is historical animosity. The southern third of Vietnam today once was part of the Khmer Empire. Vietnam and Cambodia fought at different times, and less than two hundred years ago Vietnam had invaded Cambodia and installed a new monarch. So there is a revanchist quality to this. Cambodia still claims parts of the border area between Vietnam and Cambodia, and there remains a large ethnic 'Khmer Krom' population living in what today is Vietnam's Mekong Delta.

Under the French colonial Indochinese federation, Vietnamese were by far the numerically superior group. And because most of the modern training institutions were based in Vietnam, they also dominated the colonial bureaucracy and community in Phnom Penh. French colonialists believed the Vietnamese were the more robust race, superior to the Khmer and Lao. This gave rise to a saying that went more or less: 'a Vietnamese will plant rice, the Khmer will sit down and watch him plant, and the Lao will lay down and listen to him plant'. When Cambodia emerged from independence, many saw it as the end of two colonialisms, one French and the other Vietnamese.

Regarding the Khmer Rouge period, keep in mind that the Ho Chi Minh trail ended in Cambodia’s sovereign territory. As the war escalated, these foreign Vietnamese troops further pushed into the Cambodian countryside away from the Cambodian-Viet border. With them came more bombings, more fighting, and a foreign authority. Though they toppled the Khmer Rouge, the subsequent occupation was another period of Vietnamese occupation from their perspective. Hanoi did not plan it as an humanitarian mission. The aim was removing a defiant Pol Pot who had invaded Vietnamese territory and refused to work with the Vietnamese SRV government. The Vietnamese would occupy Cambodia for the next decade.

Beyond that Vietnamese can often have a patronizing view of the Khmer and Lao (just as some Khmer have a very dim view of Vietnamese). It’s not uncommon to hear some Vietnamese talk idyllically about a new Indochina federation. For them the idea sounds wise and natural. Their vision is of a bigger political space, once again guided by Vietnam. For Khmer, this sounds like the return to yet another era of Vietnamese political domination.

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They hate Vietnamese!

Historical issues : The Vietnamese attacked them several times in the past but the real reason is: The Vietnamese soldiers were invited by the King of Cambodia when Thailand was conducting a war with Cambodia, or the time when the Cambodian prince wanted to become King. Then they needed Vietnamese help. Many Cambodian people think Vietnam has grabbed land from them. Franky, most of the lands were ceded by the King of Cambodia more than 200 years ago. Phu Quoc (Koh Tral) island was ceded by a Chinese man to Vietnam. In addition, a part of the land was ceded when Cambodia’s King married Vietnamese princess. Many Cambodians accuse Vietnam of stealing 21 provinces. It isn’t right. And to this day, they are still angry regarding this issue.

I ave also read some Vietnamese documents about Vietnamese soldiers in Cambodia in the 19th century. Sadly, I have also found out about a Vietnamese commander who treated a native Cambodian badly, Le Van Duc - a Vietnamese commander who forced a Cambodian princess to marry him.

Khmer Rouge : Everyone knows about the Khmer Rouge. Some Cambodians blame the Khmer Rouge for receiving support from North Vietnam. In fact, the Khmer Rouge hadnt a good relationship with Vietnam from 1975. They refused to mention to China. I had a chat with a Cambodian student, he said: China only did good things for them or China is the friend, a loyal companion. I know many Cambodians who think just like him. Many Chinese companies are investing in Cambodia, and China is supporting the Cambodian military now to counter Vietnam.

Many Vietnamese people wonder: Why are the Cambodian ungrateful? Frankly, When Vietnamese ousted PolPot, Many Cambodian people showed gratitude to the Vietnamese. However, by now 80% of them have died, and those young Cambodian who didn't live under Khmer Rouge, they don't feel the need to thank anyone. Although Vietnam may have defeated the Khmer Rouge when it entered Cambodia in 1979, many young Khmer still view the Vietnamese march on Phnom Penh as an invasion, not a liberation.

Present : Some Vietnamese corporations are investing in Cambodia. They have signed with the Cambodia government about land for 99 years. And one million Vietnamese are living in Cambodia (I don't know the number is real or not). While Cambodia’s population is 13 million. A Vietnamese woman in Cambodia said: “For the time being, I feel Cambodian people hate Vietnamese people,” she said, in a quiet voice. “Vietnamese people just come to Cambodia to look for jobs. They don’t hate anyone.” In Cambodian history, Many times Cambodian want to kill all of Vietnamese in Cambodia. Example: They killed over 20,000 vietnamese in 1960s. Not to mention, Pol Pot who kill more than this. Vietnamese books almost do not mention this incident. The Vietnamese have reasons to look down and hate Cambodia, but we simply do not.

Hunsen : Hunsen and his family have hundreds of millions of dollars in Cambodia. When 80% of the Cambodian people are farmer and living poorly. The Cambodian people suppose Hunsen is the Vietnamese’ puppet. They don't trust him. They blame him all of the things, and then blame the Vietnamese. As my opinion, it is understandable. An election is going to happen in 2018, I hope it changes Cambodia’s thoughts and creates a stable new government!

Vietnamese - Cambodian border dispute : In Svayrieng province when the Cambodian accuse the Vietnamese of digging several ponds in their territory.

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