Ngọc Giàu wrote this article in Vietnamese, published in Luat Khoa Magazine on Feb. 12, 2025. Đàm Vĩnh Hằng translated it into English for The Vietnamese Magazine.

From pandemic panic to bureaucratic backlogs, the act of queuing has become a defining, often frustrating, experience in modern Vietnamese life. Its legacy dates back to the subsidy era known as “Thời bao cấp” (1975-1986), when people would line up for hours, sometimes all day, simply to receive government rations. This article looks back at five of the most iconic queues of recent years—lines etched into the nation’s collective memory and headline history.