To the outside world, Vietnam is a success story but the country’s youth believe that is not their reality
4-MIN READ4-MIN ListenSCMP ReporterPublished: 6:30pm, 31 Aug 2026A tree in Hanoi has become a symbol of how Vietnam’s Gen Z views its country – but it is not the enviable growth story sold by the government.Tree 55 on Nguyen Huy Tu Street – now dubbed the “Justice Tree” – was buried under bouquets earlier this month. It was an act of digital-age defiance over the death of a teenager in a road traffic accident in the area that went unpunished.
Response to the accident, which triggered a belated explanation from the state, reveals unease with a system many young Vietnamese no longer believe can deliver on its socialist promises, analysts say.
The national narrative is one of a Southeast Asian nation on the rise, with region-topping economic growth and an international profile to match. But there is also simmering discontent from its 100 million population – especially from youth, connected to parts of the internet even one of the world’s tightest surveillance regimes is slow to reach.
Tree No 55 is a case in point. Last May, 18-year-old Do Ngoc Phuong Thuy and her father were hit by a BMW that swerved into their lane. The seriously wounded teenager died 10 days before her high school graduation exam.
