In Vietnam, the Vietnamese native Ngai culture and Ngai dialect evolved from the Hakka culture and their Ngai dialect from China have always been considered as part of the important Vietnamese national heritage. Since 1979, Vietnam has recognized that the Ngai and the Chinese have a separate dominant ethnic status; the descendants of the Ngai in the country are given choice to identify themselves as the descendants of the Chinese/Hakka based on their cultural origin; or to regard themselves as an ethnic minority influenced by Hakka, making use of Hakka Ngai dialect as their mother tongue, according to their localized multi-ethnic integration process. However, the ethnic affiliations among the Ngai people have never necessarily affected the mutual identity and recognition of relatives living between the Ngai Chinese and Ngai ethnic groups. In fact, Vietnam's current constitution and ethnic policy have confirmed the obligation of the authorities to respect and protect the overall Chinese and other minorities. In addition, the consideration of Ngai as a separate minority group also benefits the national need of paying more substantial attention to the Ngai people with a population of less than 2,000, for the protection of the declining Ngai language and its culture.