According to unofficial statistics, between 1978 and 1982 nearly 500,000 ethnic Chinese left Vietnam. Some of them crossed the border and went to mainland China. Others took boats to the countries of Southeast Asia and created the problem of the world-renowned "boat people."
據非正式的估計，一九七八至八二年間，將近五十多萬華人離開越南，他們一部分跨過邊界回到中國大陸；其他則乘船到東南亞國家，釀成當時國際矚目的海上難民問題。