Floating-market Vietnamese merchants' activities in the Mekong Delta: Vietnamese people's socio-cultural features

Abstract

The economic activities of a community depend on natural conditions of the place where the community lives. On the other hand, the economic activities of a community are particular expressions of the community’s cultural features since economic activities clearly demonstrate the adaptability of a community in its specific natural environment. The Mekong Delta is the largest delta in our country where many ethnic groups reside. The Mekong Delta communities’ economic activities reflect a common characteristic of all the communities at the place in the process of cultural exchange; on the other hand, they represent each community’s own culture associated with a particular ethnic group. Our paper presents living-earning activities of floating-market Vietnamese merchants in order to clarify socio-cultural features in the specific context of the South.