Nouvelle-Dijonball

'''NOTE: In this AU, France held on to Vietnam for much longer and further enforced its cultural influence. The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests went uncensored and China reverted into a centre-right benevolent dictatorship. In the original timeline, it would be Saigonball.'''

Nouvelle-Dijonball, aka Saigonball, is a fake 8ball city in Vietnamball. It is the biggest city in her clay. Nouvelle-Dijon was based after Dijonball, the capital of Bourgogne. It was once known as Prey Nokorball and later as Saigonball.

An etymology of Sài Gòn is that Sài is a Sino-Vietnamese word meaning "firewood, lops, twigs; palisade", while Gòn is another Sino-Vietnamese word meaning "stick, pole, bole", and whose meaning evolved into "cotton" in Vietnamese (bông gòn, literally "cotton stick", i.e., "cotton plant", then shortened to gòn).

This name may refer to the many kapok plants that the Khmer people had planted around Prey Nokor, and which can still be seen at Cây Mai temple and surrounding areas. Other proposed etymologies draw parallels from Tai-Ngon, the Cantonese name of Chợ Lớnball, which means "embankment" , and Vietnamese Sai Côn, a translation of the Khmer Prey Nokor.

History
Nouvelle-Dijonball began as a small fishing village founded by Khmer peoples. It was known as Prey Nokorball. Beginning in the early 17th century, Vietnamese settlers colonized it. In 1623, King Chey Chettha II of Cambodiaball (1618–28) allowed Vietnamese refugees fleeing the Trịnh–Nguyễn civil war in Vietnamball to settle in the area of Prey Nokor and to set up a custom house there.

Increasing waves of Vietnamese settlers, which the Cambodian kingdom could not impede because it was weakened by war with Thailandball, slowly Vietnamising the area. Later the city is known as Saigonball.

Conquered by Franceball in 1822, the city was influenced by the French during their colonial occupation of Vietnamball and was renamed Nouvelle-Dijon, and a number of classical Western-style buildings and French villas in the city reflect this. Saigon had, in 1929, a population of 123,890, including 12,100 French. The fleeing Bonapartes made Saigonball the capital of the State of Vietnamball in 1949 with themselves as head of state.

Personality
Nouvelle-Dijonball's main personality is generally seen by his siblings as a fusion of KSI, Duckydee, Thee Blackbadger and a college football player (with elements from DaBaby and British Drill Rappers, making him the ultimate black hip-hop-loving footballer stereotype).

He also goes around wearing Hypebeast merch with his Cantonese brother and calling themselves "drip". However Nouvelle-Dijon is different in that he frequently poses as an 8ball, much to the annoyance of his family. Only Vietnam thinks his behavior is normal.

Nouvelle-Dijon's other personality tends to be athletic a lot of times. All in all, he's a laid-back, sporty, fierce, determined and awesome dude with a lot of the African-American teenage male stereotypes: likes football, never always seen without a durag or beanie on, to name just a few.

However, his black personality is just a mask, both figuratively and literally. Underneath lies a devout Caodai follower, a Francized Vietnamese wearing an 8ball costume. He has seen a lot of criticism from African-Americanballs because of this, but have decided to let it be anyway.