Communism? What Communism?

Today the Fulbright group went to Big C, which is perhaps one of the biggest displays of capitalism and consumerism I have ever seen, certainly not the kind of thing one would expect to stumble upon in Hanoi. Big C is like a cross between Wal-Mart and a shopping mall. The complex rises three stories, looks quite modern. The bottom level has a definite mall feel, with rather fancy stores displaying pricey goods like watches, athletic shoes, and jewelry. The top layer is the Wal-Mart section. The store sold virtually everything, soap, electronics, clothing, motorbikes, camping gear, food, you name it. The top level had a small video arcade. In short, Big C would have fit quite nicely in the suburban America that I know so well.

To cap all of this consumerism off were several restaurants, including Legends Beer (a great place resembling a German beer hall that I'll describe in another post), Highlands Coffee (think Starbucks with a wider food menu), and, believe it or not, Pizza Hut, where our group had dinner.

Truth be told, capitalism seems to be popping out all over Hanoi. Stores line virtually every street and alley, their wares so multitudinous that they spill out onto the sidewalk. Banks and Western businesses are opening up all over the city, their names all over the high-rises that have gone up and are going up on the skyline. The Vietnamese seem to love to shop and haggle, and watching them do business at an open-air market is really quite a treat. Quite frankly, the Vietnamese seem more capitalist than us Americans.

I was told by Vietnamese friends back home to expect a lot of free market enterprises, and the news reports I read told the same story, so I can't say that I'm totally shocked. Still, seeing so much capitalism in a place where the hammer and sickle is still stylish is nonetheless surprising.