During these more than 1,000 years, when China more or less directly ruled over the Vietnamese, but also after Vietnamese dynasties had gained independence, China influenced Vietnamese culture and government structures enormously. The basic foundations of the Vietnamese culture and its government structures are the teachings of Confucius (551-479 B.C.). Vietnamese dynasties and the Vietnamese emperors' courts, in architectural as well as political matters, follow the structural examples of Beijing; well into the 20th century official Vietnamese publications used Chinese script.

In 1471, after the Vietnamese empire had slowly expanded to the South in previous decades, an army of the Vietnamese Le Dynasty conquers the kingdom of Champa with its center in the present-day Danang area. The kingdom of Champa is reduced to a small state around Nha Trang.

In the 18th century the Vietnamese expand farther to the South into the Mekong delta, an area that until then had been settled by Khmers (Cambodians). The Khmers are pushed to the West into an area roughly covering present-day Cambodia.