Factory Asia - on the way to Halong Bay

I borrowed the title of this piece from an article in The Economist that we discussed in class the week before we left. The article talked about the historical progression of manufacturing in Asia starting with the rise of Japan after World War 2, followed by South Korea, Taiwan and more recently China. As wages continue to rise in China so do workers' expectations and manufacturing is slowly beginning to trickle out of China into nearby South-East Asia where wages are lower. 

Vietnam is one of the beneficiaries of this foreign direct investment and we saw many examples of that and of Vietnam's increasing integration with the global economy during our long drives from and to Halong Bay. We saw giant facilities for manufacturing assembly built by companies like Canon, Foxconn and Samsung.  (Foxconn is a Taiwanese multinational company and is the world's largest electronics contractor manufacturer. Some of the products that many of us use like IPhones, PS4, Kindles are assembled by Foxconn.) 

Realizing its potential for inflows of FDI, the Vietnamese government has invested in education to allow Vietnamese  workers the opportunity to move up the value-added chain and this had made the country an even more attractive destination for FDI.

Both our guides so far seem to almost revere Bill Clinton for removing the US trade embargo on Vietnam in 1993 which they credit for beginning the country's ascent in the world economy.

As we travel we are certainly seeing the many faces of globalization and in addition to the delicious cuisine, we are getting plenty of food for thought!