Qualla: Măng Đen https://qualla.com/mang-en en-us © 2026 Bendyline Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:34:16 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/t/5/mang-en-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Măng Đen https://qualla.com/mang-en Măng Đen: Introduction https://qualla.com/mang-en/ Photo credit Weendang, CC BY-SA 3.0. The town was renamed by accident. When the Republic of Vietnam fell in 1975, administrative clerks transcribed the local name — Măng Đeng, meaning 'the vast plain' in the M'nâm language — into official documents as Măng Đen. One letter dropped, and the meaning shifted entirely: in Kinh, Vietnam's majority language, măng đen means 'black bamboo shoot.' Textbooks for decades dutifully explained that the area must have lots of black bamboo. The M'nâm people, whose ancestors named the plateau, were not consulted. Măng Đen has been absorbing that kind of indifference for a long time. Its story is one of a place that keeps surviving what other people decide to do with it.

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]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/t/5/mang-en-wp/w6t5-m-ng-en-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Măng Đen: The Vast Plain at 1,200 Meters https://qualla.com/mang-en/ Photo credit Weendang, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Măng Đeng Plateau sits in the northern reaches of Vietnam's Central Highlands, in Kon Plông district of Kon Tum province. At 1,200 meters above sea level, temperatures stay cool even during summer — a rarity in tropical Vietnam — and the surrounding forests carry pine trees a...

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]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/t/5/mang-en-wp/w6t5-m-ng-en-the-vast-plain-at-1-200-meters.mp3 0:06 2 full Măng Đen: Wars and a Handless Madonna https://qualla.com/mang-en/ Photo credit Bùi Thụy Đào Nguyên, CC BY-SA 4.0. During the Vietnam War, Măng Đeng was militarized. It became the Central Highlands headquarters for the Free World Military Assistance Forces, and American soldiers built a small airstrip in haste to support helicopter operations. In 1971, a chapel was constructed to serve both l...

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Image: Bùi Thụy Đào Nguyên | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/t/5/mang-en-wp/w6t5-m-ng-en-wars-and-a-handless-madonna.mp3 0:06 3 full Măng Đen: FULRO and the Long Shadow https://qualla.com/mang-en/ Photo credit Weendang, CC BY-SA 3.0. The postwar decades were not peaceful. Through the 1970s and into the early 1990s, Măng Đen was a security hotspot — targeted repeatedly by FULRO, the Front Uni de Lutte des Races Opprimées, an armed resistance movement fighting for the rights of highland indigenous peoples again...

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]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/t/5/mang-en-wp/w6t5-m-ng-en-fulro-and-the-long-shadow.mp3 0:06 4 full Măng Đen: The Second Dalat — and the Question Behind It https://qualla.com/mang-en/ Photo credit Weendang, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 2019, Măng Đen was elevated from commune to township, officially acknowledging the population of 6,913 that had gathered around the old American airfield, now simply called Plateau G.I. The COVID-19 pandemic, paradoxically, boosted the town's profile: Vietnamese media promoted...

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]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/t/5/mang-en-wp/w6t5-m-ng-en-the-second-dalat-and-the-question-behind-it.mp3 0:06 5 full