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Saigon Buries War Past
Breakneck rush to development leaves high-rises in place of multi-tiered history
By Michael Foreman
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Posted Aug 19, 08 12:21 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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It looks like Saigon, “the Paris of the East,” can't wait to ditch its colorful culture and tumultuous history for a shining capitalist future, Peter Jon Lindberg writes in Travel + Leisure. Officially Ho Chi Minh City, the Vietnamese “cosmopolis,” 8 million strong, boasts the world's fastest-growing retail market, with high-rises and reclamation projects replacing its once "singular sense of place."
Foreign expatriates and returning Vietnamese have spread global trends among the locals, two-thirds of whom were born after the war's end in 1975. Says one British expat, "There’s a sense of exasperation among young Vietnamese when it comes to the war. They’re sick of hearing about it. For anyone under 30 the attitude is, 'Let’s move on.'"