Miss Saigon and Amerasian Orphans
Later it refers to Vietnamese street children, especially the Amerasian offspring of American soldiers and Vietnamese mothers abandoned at the end of the Vietnam War. This association was popularised by the number "Bui Doi" in the musical Miss Saigon.
It is intended to bring to mind an image of a child abandoned and moving about without purpose, like dust. In Vietnamese, it has no racial connotation. Vietnamese refer to Amerasians as Mỹ lai (mixed American and Vietnamese), con lai (mixed-race child), or người lai (mixed-race person).
The majority of mixed race people after the Vietnam war were Amerasians or children of Vietnamese mothers and military or civilian men from the United States. Amerasians born during the Vietnam War (1964–75) could be the issue of anything from long-term unions to rape. Because of the large sex industry brought on by the military economy, Amerasians are predominantly seen as off-spring of GI fathers and prostitute mothers. Life was frequently difficult for such Amerasians; they existed as pariahs in Vietnamese society. Oftentimes, they would be persecuted by the communist government and sometimes even sold into prostitution as children. Under the Amerasian Homecoming Act of 1988, a Vietnamese Amerasian could obtain a U.S. visa on the basis of appearance alone. Amerasians gained the attention of con artists who claimed to be their relatives in the hope of obtaining visas. About 23,000 Amerasians immigrated to the U.S. under this act.
In the United States, bui doi, or the term "dust of life", again referred to the criminal class, where the youths included newly transplanted Vietnamese and Amerasians. The misuse of the word bui doi also migrated to the United States and was appropriated by the mainstream.
Its application to mixed-race children was popularized by the 1989 musical Miss Saigon. The 2004 movie The Beautiful Country describes the life of a fictional bui doi and his efforts to become reunited with his American father.
Read more about this topic: Bui Doi
Famous quotes containing the words saigon and/or orphans:
“I told them I’m not going to let Vietnam go the way of China. I told them to go back and tell those generals in Saigon that Lyndon Johnson intends to stand by our word, but by God, I want something for my money. I want ‘em to get off their butts and get out in those jungles and whip hell out of some Communists. And then I want ‘em to leave me alone, because I’ve got some bigger things to do right here at home.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“My profession brought me in contact with various minds. Earnest, serious discussion on the condition of woman enlivened my business room; failures of banks, no dividends from railroads, defalcations of all kinds, public and private, widows and orphans and unmarried women beggared by the dishonesty, or the mismanagement of men, were fruitful sources of conversation; confidence in man as a protector was evidently losing ground, and women were beginning to see that they must protect themselves.”
—Harriot K. Hunt (1805–1875)