The Vietnamese term bụi đời (,"life of dust" or "dusty life") refers to

vagrants Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western countries, ...

in the city or, ''trẻ bụi đời'' to

street children Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids, or urchins; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policymakers ...

or juvenile gangs. From 1989, following a song in the musical ''

Miss Saigon ''Miss Saigon'' is a sung-through musical theatre, stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera ''Madama Butterfly'', and similarly tells th ...

'', "Bui-Doi" came to popularity in Western lingo, referring to

Amerasian An Amerasian may refer to a person born in East or Southeast Asia to an East Asian or Southeast Asian mother and a U.S. military father. Other terms used include War babies or G.I. Babies. Several countries in East and Southeast Asia have sign ...

children left behind in Vietnam after the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

Rural poor coming to the towns

The term ''bụi đời'' ("dust of life") originally referred to the starving people of the countryside taking refuge in towns, in the 1930s. The term ''trẻ bụi đời'' "young vagrants," now refers to street children or juvenile gang members. It is intended to bring to mind an image of a child abandoned and moving about without purpose, like dust. In Vietnamese, it has no racial connotation. Vietnamese refer to Amerasians as ''Mỹ lai'' (mixed American and Vietnamese), ''con lai'' (mixed-race child), or ''người lai'' (mixed-race person). The connection to mixed-race parentage given in Western media, from connection with ''Miss Saigon'', is not widely known in Vietnam today. The term ''bụi đời'' in Vietnam today refers to any people, but usually, young men, who live on the street or live as wanderers. A related verb ''đi bụi'' ("go dust") means someone who has left their home, usually due to arguments with their family, to take on the ''bụi đời'' wandering or street life.

Miss Saigon and Amerasian orphans

In the West, the term Bui-Doi became widely known from the use in the dialogue, and particularly the song title "Bui-Doi", of 1989 musical ''Miss Saigon'' by

Claude-Michel Schönberg Claude-Michel Schönberg (born 6 July 1944, in Vannes) is a French record producer, actor, singer, songwriter, and musical theatre composer, best known for his collaborations with lyricist Alain Boublil. Major works include '' La Révolution Fr ...

and

Alain Boublil Alain Boublil (born 5 March 1941) is a French national musical theatre lyricist and librettist, best known for his collaborations with the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg for musicals on Broadway and London's West End. These include '' La ...

, which opened in 1991 on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

, and, until its closing in 2001, was the thirteenth longest-running Broadway musical in musical theater history. The song "Bui-Doi" had lyrics written by Alain Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr. They took the term ''bụi đời'' to mean not Vietnamese

, but the

offspring of Vietnamese women and American soldiers abandoned at the end of the

Mixed race children in Vietnam

The majority of mixed-race people after the Vietnam War were Amerasians or children of Vietnamese mothers and military or civilian men from the United States. Amerasians born during the

(1965–73) could be the issue of anything from long-term unions to rape. Due to the large sex industry brought on by the military economy, Amerasians were predominantly seen as off-spring of

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

mothers and G.I. fathers. Life was frequently difficult for such Amerasians; they existed as pariahs in

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

society. Under the Amerasian Homecoming Act of 1988, a Vietnamese Amerasian could obtain a U.S. visa based on appearance alone. Amerasians gained the attention of con artists who claimed to be their relatives in the hope of obtaining visas.'' Surviving twice: Amerasian Children of the Vietnam War'' By Trin Yarborough, p. 103. About 23,000 Amerasians immigrated to the U.S. under this act. In the United States, ''bui doi'', or the term "dust of life", again referred to the criminal class, where the youths included newly transplanted Vietnamese and Amerasians. The misuse of the word ''bui doi'' also migrated to the United States and was appropriated by the mainstream.

In popular culture

The 1977 made-for-TV " Green Eyes" is a fictional movie about an American veteran who makes a trip back to Southeast Asia to search for his son from a liaison with a Vietnamese woman. He encounters a boy with green eyes who insists that he must be half American and thus eligible to go to America. The 1994 documentary film ''Bui doi: Life Like Dust'' uses the term to describe Ricky Phan, a Vietnamese refugee who turned to a life of crime after escaping from Vietnam to California. The 2004 movie '' The Beautiful Country'' depicts the life of a fictional ''bui doi'' and his efforts to become reunited with his American father. Its prologue opens with a definition: "Bui Doi: 'less than dust' Term used to describe Vietnamese children with American fathers." The 2014 movie ''

Noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Gr ...

'' is a

biopic A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudrama films and histo ...

of Christina Noble, who overcomes the harsh difficulties of her childhood in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

to find her calling by helping the bụi đời on the streets of

Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

References

External links

* The son
"Bui Doi"
from the musical ''

'' (1989). Sung by

Peter Polycarpou Peter Polycarpou (born 31 March 1957) is an English-Cypriot actor, playwright and singer, known for playing the roles of Chris Theodopolopodous in the television comedy series '' Birds of a Feather'' from 1990 to 1994 and Louis Charalambos in t ...

. Lyrics by

. Music by