Hi-Tek incident

The Hi-Tek incident, referred to in Vietnamese-language media as the Trần Trường incident (Vietnamese: Vụ Trần Trường or Sự kiện Trần Trường), was a series of protests in 1999 by Vietnamese Americans in Little Saigon, Orange County, California in response to Trần Văn Trường's display of the flag of communist Vietnam and a picture of Ho Chi Minh in the window of Hi-Tek Video, a video store that he owned. Occurring amidst the backdrop of the restoration of relations between the two countries and continuous anti-communist activities, some violent, undertaken through the past two decades, it has been considered the largest such protest in the history of Little Saigon.

The protests took place over 53 days, starting on January 17, when the flag and picture were first hung. Over the following two months, hundreds of people gathered daily to protest in front of the shop and called on Trường to remove these symbols, which the community, consisting mostly of anti-communist refugees from South Vietnam and their descendants, found very offensive. The conflict reached its climax on the evening of February 26, when about 15,000 people gathered for a candlelight vigil to protest the human rights situation in Vietnam. The event ended on March 11 when the store closed under threat of eviction and video piracy charges, with Trường being sentenced for the latter five months later.

The demonstrations were considered unique at the time due to their large scale and unlikely participants, with the presence of various demographic groups and more "moderate" voices creating a sense of increased unity among the Vietnamese American community. On the other hand, there were controversies over the disturbances brought on by the protests as well as the cost and manner of police deployment, concerns that Trường's right to freedom of speech was violated, and questions about assimilation and inter-community relations. The event was later regarded as an important turning point in the history of Little Saigon, inspiring many Vietnamese Americans to become more involved in political and civic matters.