Thanks to an extraordinary collection of photographs on a French-language web site, we can take a trip back in time to see for ourselves.

• France called the area of Vietnam Indo-Chine (Indochina) as reflected on its stamps.
  
  
• Young women with bare feet, worked at a tobacco plant in Hanoi.
  
  
• Commerce in Phat Diem during French colonial times.
  
  
• People smoked opium pipes, often while reclining, even during colonial times.
  
  
• Life in Vietnam before and during French involvement in the country.