Dr Ngân Lương, a member of the Tày ethnic minority group, as one of the youngest course directors at UK-based London South Bank University, is doing her best to make social contributions to causes which benefit her homeland.

At the start of the third lunar month, all Vietnamese people remember their ancestors – the 18 Hùng kings.

American lawyer Nancy Hollander recently handed 450 documents, photographs and other memorabilia concerning the first meeting between the Vietnamese Women’s Union and the US Women Strike for Peace Organisation in Jakarta in 1965, to the Vietnamese Women’s Museum. Hollander is the only surviving American to have attended the meeting. Vân Hương spoke with her at the hand-over ceremony.

Ten countries, dozens of fables, scores of cultural symbols, hundreds of places to visit and thousands of delicacies to relish – diversity flourishes across this region of over 628 million people. Here are some interesting facts about the regional grouping’s members.