Bien Dong (South China Sea; SCS) is a semi-enclosed tropical sea located between China and Vietnam to the north and west, the Philippines islands to the east, Borneo to the southeast, and Indonesia to the south. The total area is about 3.5 million square kilometres. SCS is connected to the East China Sea by the Taiwan Strait, to the Pacific by the Luzon Strait, to the Sulu Sea by the Mindoro Strait, to the Java Sea by the Gasper and Karimanta Straits, and to the Indian Ocean by the Strait of Malacca. The complex topography includes a continental shelf in the north and the south-southwest, a deep shaped basin in the center and many reef islands and underwater plateaus. This paper focusses on some hydrodynamic characteristics of the sea of Vietnam and adjacent waters. Climate, geometry size, geographical location, characteristics of bottom topography, coastline and the capacity of water exchange of the region with adjacent waters are briefly discussed.
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