- This article is about a unit of currency. For other uses, see Dong.
The đồng (VND) is the standard unit of currency used in Vietnam. It has a symbol ₫. It is subdivided into 10 hào, which is divided into 10 xu. The hào and xu units of currency are so small that they are no longer issued. Bills exist in denominations of 200₫, 1000₫, 2000₫, 5000₫, 10,000₫, 20,000₫, 50,000₫, 100,000₫ and a new bill worth 500,000₫ (around USD31.70). New coins of 200₫, 1000₫ and 5000₫ have recently been issued [1] (http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/2003-12/18/Stories/12.htm) (which exist along with the bills of the same value)
As of January 1, 2005, the US dollar was worth 15,770 đồng.
History
In Vietnamese, đồng literally means copper or bronze. This originates from the practice of minting coins from copper before French colonization. When Vietnam was part of French Indochina, the standard unit of currency was the piastre, which itself was a French term for the US dollar. The Vietnamese text on these currencies called it đồng or less commonly bạc ("silver"). After the French left, North and South Vietnam each minted its own separate currency, each calling it đồng. After the country was unified, the đồng was also made uniform throughout the country.
In the Vietnamese language, đồng can be used as a generic term for any currency by adding the country name as a qualifier. This practice is more common for more esoteric units of currency. In some overseas Vietnamese-speaking communities, notably Vietnamese Americans, it is used to denote the local currency (USD) and one must refer to VND as đồng Việt Nam (Vietnamese đồng).
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