The troubled relationship with China continues to the present day, though not so much with the ethnic Chinese. Many Viet Kieu, as those who fled are called, have been able to return to Vietnam and prosper.
But resentment at China's aggressive policies over disputed islands in the South China Sea, and its growing economic clout, fuels powerful anti-Chinese sentiment in the population.
"He [Ke Huy Quan] is not of Vietnamese descent, he is just Chinese-Vietnamese and was born in Vietnam. We have to make that clear," wrote one person on the BBC Vietnamese Facebook page.เว็บพนันออนไลน์
"They should write very clearly that he is Chinese-American, that he used to have Vietnamese nationality! I cannot not see any "Vietnamese origin" here?" wrote another.
But yet another poster wrote that "we should say he is Vietnamese, as he was born in Vietnam and is of Chinese descent".
From Ho Chi Minh City, writer Tran Tien Dung suggested on Facebook that Ke Huy Quan's identity is as a "Saigon-Cho Lon" person: "For me, Quan Ke Huy gets his energy from his birthplace in Saigon - Cho Lon, and his fame from growing up in the United States. So I want to congratulate him and share the joy with the public on social media."