Vi?t Nam is home to more than 50 ethnic minorities-such as the Cham and Thai-many of which have distinctive clothing and weaving traditions linked to antiquity. The tight-fitting tunic called ao dai, widely recognized as a national symbol, has its roots in the country’s 2,000-year history of textiles. Beginning with silk production in the Bronze Age cultures of the Red River, this book covers textiles in Vi?t Nam-including bark-cloth, kapok and hemp-through the centuries of Chinese rule in the north, a number of independent feudal societies and the brief period of French colonial rule.