From Protests to Book Translation: How Văn Lang Civic Group Sustains Vietnamese Civil Society in the Czech Republic

Walking down the cobbled lanes of Prague, Brno, Pilsen, or almost any other cities and towns in the Czech Republic, a curious visitor can easily locate small, well-stocked Asian grocery stores—as they are generally called potraviny in Czech—existing alongside the country’s famed breweries and bistros serving savory knedlíky.

A majority of these humble potraviny are owned and managed by Vietnamese retailers, many of whom have their roots dating back to the two countries’ shared communist brotherhood before the final collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989.

In Prague, Sapa Praha, a large commercial neighborhood that features eateries, bubble tea shops, supermarkets, flight ticket agencies, and other Asian-style grocery stores, has increasingly turned into a touristic attraction that draws both Vietnamese and foreign tourists who want to experience a slice of diasporic Vietnamese life—and food—in the heart of Europe.

But the footprint of the migrants from Việt Nam in this Central European country extends beyond restaurant and commercial operations. They also build a vibrant civil society that reflects the growing awareness of Vietnamese communities regarding various social issues in their homeland.

One of the most well-known platforms of Czech-Vietnamese diasporic civil society is the Văn Lang civic group, [1] a Prague-based nongovernmental organization born out of the necessity for the presentation of the voices of Vietnamese descendants living in the Czech Republic. The group advocates for a strong civil society, human rights, and democracy in Việt Nam.

We talked to Hoàng Quốc Hùng, [2] also known as Hoàng Hùng, one of Văn Lang’s first administrators who now helps co-manage its operations, to learn more about the group’s activities and the Vietnamese community’s contribution to Czech society.

From Potraviny to Migrant Identity

Văn Lang has been officially active in the 2010s, and Hoàng Hùng first joined the group in 2013 after he co-hosted a conference on Vietnamese sovereignty amid its maritime disputes with China.

Born in Hà Nội in 1971 in a family with a revolutionary background, where both his parents were Communist Party members, Hùng arrived in the Czech Republic through family sponsorship in 1997. 

He began working at a border market, part of an extensive commercial retail network dominated by Vietnamese merchants. A majority of people like him, who arrived in socialist Czechoslovakia before the Velvet Revolution broke out in 1989, came either as contract workers or enrolled in engineering studies at Czechoslovak institutions. Many later became permanent residents and settled down in the country they call a second home.

After arriving in the Czech Republic, Hùng learned about the country’s communist past and its admirable transition to a politically plural country. But the Vietnamese diaspora in the Czech Republic, Hùng told us, is complex.

On the one hand, people view the Vietnamese community as a diligent and hardworking minority. And that viewpoint is true, Hùng said. Vietnamese-run potraviny offer a wide selection of consumer products at affordable prices—and they have long opening hours, often between 8:00 am and 10:00 pm daily, including on weekends and public holidays.

“You can hardly imagine any Czech person willing to work such long hours,” he said with a grin, adding that these grocery stores have assisted countless families of Vietnamese migrants financially, such as sending their children to school.

These typical go-to stores also create a dense and connected network of supply chains that officially becomes a daily life necessity in this Central European country. “In any Czech town or city with a few thousands of residents, people can find at least a Vietnamese grocery shop there,” Hùng said, emphasizing the fact that potraviny has found its way to nearly all corners of this society. 

We also talked to several Czech people regarding this retail model, who agreed that these family-run shops have been an integral part of the local economy.

At the same time, second and third generations of naturalized Czech-Vietnamese venture beyond traditional businesses and further integrate into society. 

These groups speak fluent languages and work at a diversity of jobs, becoming engineers, artists, doctors, and even entrepreneurs. One example of such entrepreneurship is the establishment of Elmich Group, [3] a Czech business producing household appliances that later expands operations to Việt Nam, established by Đỗ Thành Trung, a Czech-Vietnamese businessman from the eastern Moravian-Silesian region.

But one issue stands out. “Many people from the community here still support the communist regime in Việt Nam,” Hùng said. 

That reason originates from the reality that a majority of Vietnamese residents in the Czech Republic need to travel back home to visit their families who still live there.

The Vietnamese government, therefore, can manipulate these relationships and shape the community voices according to their agenda. Several members of Văn Lang face the same conundrum, as they need to navigate their activism alongside the need to return home.

Another notable attempt of the Vietnamese government and its embassy to interfere in the community was apparent during a visit of the then-Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc to the Czech Republic in 2019. 

In Prague, Phúc had a conversation with Vietnamese people at Sapa Praha, saying that the Vietnamese Association, an umbrella organization of the Czech-Vietnamese diaspora with over 80 subgroups, must monitor the activities of other civil associations.

“That is clearly in violation of Czech law, because only Czech authorities can monitor the activities of those groups in their territory,” Hùng said.

Hùng further shared that the Vietnamese embassy once lobbied for the appointment of a person they endorsed to serve as a Vietnamese community representative for the Government Council for National Minorities of the Czech Republic. 

This national body is part of the Czech government, which officially recognized the Vietnamese community in 2013, along with the Belarusians. 

However, the Czech authorities later elected Phạm Hữu Uyển, [4] a prominent member of Văn Lang, as a community head instead of the individual the embassy favored. “It showed that the Czech government had trust in us,” he said.

Văn Lang and Vietnamese Civil Society in Czech Republic

One of Văn Lang’s crucial achievements was the organization of peaceful protests that gathered dozens of demonstrators in front of the Vietnamese embassy in Prague to oppose a law proposed by the National Assembly, which allows land leases to foreign businesses for 99 years (the Law on Special Economic Zones). 

Both those living inside the country and those living abroad were concerned about the risks to national security and territorial integrity posed by Chinese investors. Hùng said that was the largest protest that ever occurred at the Vietnamese embassy in the Czech Republic.

In addition, the group has written open petitions to Czech leaders, including the president and prime minister, urging them to raise human rights issues in diplomatic dialogues with Vietnamese officials. 

In January 2025, Văn Lang sent a letter [5] to Czech President Petr Pavel and then Prime Minister Petr Fiala, just before Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính arrived in the Czech Republic on the occasion of the 75th diplomatic establishment anniversary between the two countries.

Văn Lang’s letter emphasized Việt Nam’s severely restricted civil space and the names of imprisoned activists and journalists who were convicted for simply expressing their peaceful points of view. It linked the current Hà Nội regime to the authoritarian state of Czechoslovakia before 1989, drawing historical lessons to their once shared autocratic communist past.

In addition to advocacy, the group takes part in literary publication, translating books written by former Czech President Václav Havel into Vietnamese, which provides lessons and guidance for Việt Nam’s future democratic transition. 

A notable published title is “Quyền lực của kẻ không quyền lực” (“The Power of the Powerless”) [6], an essay Havel wrote in 1978. At the same time, Văn Lang organizes talk sessions related to social issues and national territory, raises funds in support of families of political prisoners, and releases statements concerning press freedom and religious freedom.

Due to the activities promoting civil society, Văn Lang increasingly became a target of the Vietnamese security apparatus.

Hùng told us that when he came back home to attend his mother’s funeral in 2016, the local police summoned him for questioning and asked him to hand over his phone for inspection. 

However, he refused to do so because the request would infringe on his privacy rights. Before the security police allowed him to return to Europe, they made him sign a commitment that promised “not to oppose the Vietnamese government.” Hùng said he signed the document and answered the police’s questions regarding Văn Lang’s activities because his activism was “all public and transparent.”

“When they [the security apparatus] accused us of advocating for the abolition of Article 4 in the Constitution [which affirms the Vietnamese Communist Party’s leadership in the country], I said we never made such an announcement,” Hùng said. 

He added that Văn Lang operated with transparency, and his mission was to consolidate a civic mindset, single out corruption, and help improve the professionalism of Vietnamese diplomatic agencies abroad. 

He also co-managed “Tôi và Sứ Quán” (“I and the Embassy”), an online group that helps expose the misconduct of Vietnamese embassies and its consulates, such as mistreatment of overseas Vietnamese and overcharging of consular fees.

With these small but impactful actions, Hùng said he believed in what he was doing. “I’m not against the communist regime or the Vietnamese government; I’m simply against dictatorship and these diplomatic agencies’ harassment of Vietnamese nationals living abroad,” he added.