Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon)
This is the largest city in Vietnam. Under the name Prey Nokor, it was the main port of Cambodia, before being annexed by the Vietnamese in the 17th century. Under the name Saigon, it was the capital of the French colony of Cochinchina and later of the independent state of South Vietnam from 1954 to 1975. In 1976, Saigon merged with the surrounding province of Gia ??nh and was officially renamed H? Chí Minh City.
The city center is situated on the banks of the Saigon River, 60 kilometers from the South China Sea and 1,760 kilometers south of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
History of City
Ho Chi Minh City began as a small fishing village known as Prey Nokor. The area that the city now occupies was originally swampland, and was inhabited by Khmer people for centuries before the arrival of the Vietnamese. It should be noted that in Khmer folklore that Southern Vietnam was given to the Vietnamese government as a dowry for the marriage of a Vietnamese princess to a Khmer prince in order to stop constant invasions and pillaging of Khmer villages.
In 1623, King Chey Chettha II of Cambodia (1618-1628) allowed Vietnamese refugees fleeing the Trinh-Nguyen civil war in Vietnam to settle in the area of Prey Nokor, and to set up a custom house at Prey Nokor. Increasing waves of Vietnamese settlers, which the Cambodian kingdom, weakened because of war with Thailand, could not impede, slowly Vietnamized the area. In time, Prey Nokor became known as Saigon.
In 1698, Nguy?n H?u C?nh, a Vietnamese noble, was sent by the Nguy?n rulers of Hu? by sea to establish Vietnamese administrative structures in the area, thus detaching the area from Cambodia, which was not strong enough to intervene. He is often credited with the expansion of Saigon into a significant settlement. A large Vauban citadel called Gia D?nh was built, which was later destroyed by the French over the Battle of Chi Hoa
Then conquered by France in 1859, the city was influenced by the French during their colonial occupation of Vietnam, and a number of classical Western-style buildings in the city reflect this, so much so that Saigon was called “the Pearl of the Far East” or “Paris in the Orient”
Former Emperor B?o ??i made Saigon the capital of the State of Vietnam in 1950 with himself as head of state. After the Vietminh gained control of North Vietnam in 1955, the Saigon government was renamed the Republic of Vietnam, commonly referred to as South Vietnam. Saigon and Cholon, an adjacent city with many Sino-Vietnamese residents, were combined into an administrative unit called “Capital City Saigon”
At the conclusion of the Vietnam War, on April 30, 1975, the city came under the control of the Vietnamese People’s Army. In the U.S. this event is commonly called the “Fall of Saigon,” while the communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam call it the “Liberation of Saigon.”
In 1976, upon the establishment of the unified communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the city of Saigon (including Cholon), the province of Gia Ð?nh and 2 suburban districts of two other nearby provinces were combined to create H? Chí Minh City in honour of the late communist leader H? Chí Minh. The former name Saigon is still widely used by many Vietnamese, especially in informal contexts.Generally, the term Saigon refers only to the urban districts of H? Chí Minh City. The word “Saigon” can also be found on shop signs all over the country, even in Hanoi.
Points of interest
* Reunification Palace
formerly known as Independence Palace, it was built on the site of the former Norodom Palace, is a historic landmark in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was designed as the home of former president Ngo Dinh Diem, the U.S.-backed leader of Vietnam until his assassination in 1962, this building is most notable for its symbolic role in the fall of Saigon in April 1975, when its gates were breached by North Vietnamese tanks and the victor’s flag hung on the balcony; the very tanks that crashed through the gates are enshrined in the entryway and photos and accounts of their drivers are on display. Built on the site of the French governor general’s home, called the Norodom Palace, the current modern building, designed when “modern” meant “sterile,” was completed in 1966. It looks something like an old elementary school to our eye now, but modern-design fans love it. Like the Bao Dai Palace in Dalat, the Reunification Palace is a series of rather empty rooms that are nevertheless interesting because they specialize in period kitsch and haven’t been gussied up too much. Most interesting is the war command room, with its huge maps and old communications equipment, as well as the basement labyrinth. There is an ongoing screening in a series of rooms in the basement mercifully cool and a good rest while touring of mostly propaganda about the war years (plays in French, English, Japanese, and Chinese in separate screening rooms).
* Sai Gon Notre Dame Cathedral
The cathedral located in the downtown of Saigon, Vietnam. Established by French colonists, the cathedral was constructed between 1863 and 1880. It has two bell towers, reaching a height of 58 meters (190 feet), attracting not only Catholics but also most tourists for its neo-Romanesque style architecture and a sacred atmosphere.
The first church was built on Rue 5 (today’s Ngo Duc Ke Street). This had been a Vietnamese pagoda, which had been abandoned during the war. Bishop Lefevre decided to make this pagoda a church. In 1959, Bishop Joseph Pham Van Thien, whose jurisdiction included Saigon parish, attended Holy Mother Congress held in Vatican and ordered a Peaceful Notre Dame statue made with granite in Rome. When the statue arrived in Saigon, on February 16th, 1959, Bishop Pham Van Thien held a ceremony to install the statue on the empty base and presented the title of “Regina Pacis”. It was Bishop Pham Van Thien who wrote the prayers “Notre-Dame bless the peace to Vietnam”. On the following day, Cardinal Aganianian came from Rome to chair the closing ceremony of the Holy Mother Congress and solemnly chaired the ceremony for the statue, thus the cathedral was then-on called Notre-Dame Cathedral.
The special architectural style
Apart from the religious meaning that attracts tourists, the even more special captivating point of Notre-Dame Cathedral is its special neo-Romanesque style of architecture. During its construction, all its red bricks were imported from Marseilles and colored glass windows made in France’s Chartres Province, France. Tiles have been carved with the words Guichard Carvin, Marseille St André France (perhaps stating the locality where the tiles were produced). Some tiles were carved with the words “Wang-Tai Saigon.” Many tiles have since been made in Saigon to replace the broken tiles caused by war. There are 56 glass squares supplied by the Lorin firm of Chartres province in France. The cathedral foundation was designed to bear 10 times the weight of the cathedral. In front of the cathedral is a statue of the Virgin Mary. On a whole, the neo-Romanesque architecture and two 58m-high square towers tipped with iron spires dominate the city’s sky line, creating a beautiful religious site!
* War Remnants Museum
Operated by the Vietnamese government, the museum was opened in September 1975 as the “The House for Displaying War Crimes of American Imperialism and the Puppet Government of South Vietnam.” Later it was known as the Museum of American War Crimes, then as the War Crimes Museum until as recently as 1993. Its current name follows liberalization in Vietnam and the normalization of relations with the United States, but the museum does not attempt to be politically balanced.The museum comprises a series of eight themed rooms in several buildings, with period military equipment located within a walled yard.
* Chinatown
A Chinatown is a section of an urban area with a large number of Chinese residents, usually outside of Greater China. Chinatowns are present throughout the world. In the past, overcrowded Chinatowns in urban areas were generally shunned by the non-Chinese public as ethnic ghettos, and seen as places of vice and cultural insularity where “unassimilable foreigners” congregated. Nowadays, many old and new Chinatowns are considered significant centers of commercialism and tourism. Some of them also serve, to varying degrees, as centers of multiculturalism, if in a somewhat superficial manner.
* Cu Chi Tunnels:
Cu Chi Tunnel from 70 km from Ho Chi Minh City in the Northwest is miniature battle versatile of Cu Chi’s military and people during the 30-year struggle longtime and fierce to fight invading enemy to receive independence, freedom for motherland, also is the special architecture lying deeply underground with many stratums, nooks and crannies as complex as a cobweb, having spares for living, meeting and fighting with total lengths over 200 km. Real legends coming from the Tunnel are over human imaginativeness. Creeping down into the tunnel, only some yards, you can find out why Vietnam? A tiny country could defeat its enemy, the large and richest country in the world. Why Cu Chi, a barren and poor land could face strongly for 21 years to the army crowded many times compared with its force, warlike and equipped modern war weapons and means. In the fight, Cu Chi people won illustriously. Thanks to systems of tunnel ways, fortifications, combat trenches, soldiers and people of Cu Chi fought very bravely creating glorious feat of arms. The American invaders at first time stepped into Cu Chi land, they had to face so fierce resistances from tunnels from important and very difficult bases that they cried out, “Underground villages”, “Dangerous secret zone”, “cannot see any VC but they appear everywhere”… With its war pasture, Cu Chi Tunnels become a historical war hero of Vietnamese People like a 20th century legend and famous land in the world.
Cu Chi Tunnels have two places:
Ben Duoc Tunnels is Zone Party Committee Base & Saigon – Gia Dinh Military Zone, which is protected in Phu Hiep Hamlet, Phu My Hung Village, Cu Chi District, Ho Chi Minh City.
Ben Dinh Tunnels is Cu Chi District Party Committee, which is protected in Ben Dinh Hamlet, Nhuan Duc Village, Cu Chi District, Ho Chi Minh City. Coming to Ho Chi Minh City, you should visit Cu Chi Tunnels Historical Monument to understand what the protracted and arduous struggle is. You will evidence clearly and directly an exploit of loving peace, independence and happiness at the present.
Vietnam destinations
Hanoi – Ninh Binh – Hai Phong – Ha Long Bay – Hoa Binh – Sapa
Phong Nha – Ke Bang – Hue – Danang – Hoi An – Nha Trang -Mui Ne