Close to twenty years have passed since South Vietnam was liberated in 1975. The economy of a re-unified Vietnam, however, is still poverty-ridden. One of the reasons for this is the lack of effectiveness in the use of private domestic resources, particularly that of the ethnic Chinese in Vietnam. Before 1975, Chinese capital, entrepreneurship, and skilled manpower in South Vietnam played an important role in the development of domestic markets and international trade. After 1975, however, Chinese participation in the Vietnamese economy underwent a decline brought about by the socialist transformation of the South and an exodus of capital. However, the residual economic potential of the Chinese who have remained in Vietnam is still considerable.

Under doi moi, which is the programme of economic and political reforms in Vietnam, there is evidence that the Chinese are once again contributing significantly to the expansion of internal markets and capital accumulation for small-scale industrial development. Accordingly, the role which die Chinese have played in the past and are beginning to play again seems eminently worthy of study. From a more pragmatic point of view, it is also possible that a better appreciation of the role of the Chinese in the Vietnamese economy both historically and in the immediate future may well be of some value, if not indeed essential, to economic development. In addition to this, there are other related issues which continue to be of academic interest, for example, the study of ethnic relations and the interaction of the Chinese and Vietnamese in more recent times.

The role of the Chinese in Vietnam's economy has been the subject of study by many Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese scholars, and it would be impossible to review all the relevant literature here. However, a brief summary will provide an understanding of the subject and issues that require further investigation.

Vietnamese audiors began writing on the Overseas Chinese in the 1920s. Prominent among them at the time was Dao Trinh Nhat.