Most of the 12,000 Vietnamese living in Berlin are concentrated in the Lichtenberg district. They arrived either as guest workers from communist North Vietnam or as refugees from the South. Nestled among the towering grey Plattenbau apartment blocks of Lichtenberg, the Dông Xuân Center stands on the grounds of a former GDR coal plant. Inside, it’s a bustling hub—nail salons, tattoo parlors, plastic goods, food stalls, clothing shops—almost everything is available. While Vietnamese immigrants are often still viewed as “guests” in Berlin, the dynamic shifts within the Dông Xuân Center. Here, a vibrant parallel world has taken root, thriving within the boundaries of its own cultural enclave.