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Ho Chi Minh City, situated in the southern part of Vietnam, is still called Saigon by most of the natives. This modern city used to be considered as the Pearl of the Orient by the French. The wide Saigon River, which takes a huge turn from the east of Saigon, links the city with the sea. Unlike Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City may lack charm and elegance, but the city with its essential French colonial character has enough to draw your attention. The city’s colonial villas, wide avenues and a lively cafe society remind you the days of French dominance. Over the last 10 years, Ho Chi Minh City has experienced a spectacular change in its cityscape. The once low-rise landscape of the city’s central area, District 1, is now marked with shining skyscrapers including high-rise apartments, international hotels and companies. This bustling, vibrant, industrial hub of the nation is the biggest city of Vietnam as well. Saigon is also the cultural center and economic capital of the country. 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, Nguyen Huu Canh, a Vietnamese noble, was sent by the Nguyen rulers of Huế 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 Dinh was built, which was later destroyed by the French over the Battle of Chi Hoa. 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” (Hòn ngọc Viễn Đông) or “Paris in the Orient” (Paris Phương Đông).[6] Former Emperor Bao Đại 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 Cho Lon, a nearby city with many Sino-Vietnamese residents, were combined into an administrative unit called Đô Thành Sài Gòn (“Capital City Saigon”). The French withdrew from South Vietnam in 1956. At the conclusion of the Vietnam War, on April 30, 1975, the city came under the control of the Vietnam 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 Ðinh and 2 suburban districts of two other nearby provinces were combined to create Hồ Chí Minh City in honour of the late communist leader Ho Chi Minh. The former name Saigon is still widely used by many Vietnamese, especially in informal contexts.[6]. Generally, the term Saigon refers only to the urban districts of Ho Chi Minh City. The word “Saigon” can also be found on shop signs all over the country, even in Hanoi. Today, the city’s core is still adorned with wide elegant boulevards and historic French colonial buildings. The most prominent structures in the city center are Reunification Palace (Dinh Thong Nhat), City Hall (Uy ban Nhan dan Thanh pho), City Theater (Nha hat Thanh pho), City Post Office (Buu dien Thanh pho), State Bank Office (Ngan hang Nha nuoc), City People’s Court (Toa an Nhan dan Thanh pho) and Notre-Dame Cathedral (Nhà thờ Đức Bà). One of the oldest hotels dating from the French colonial era is the Hotel Majestic. The city has various museums, such as the Ho Chi Minh City Museum, Museum of Vietnamese History and concerning modern history the Revolutionary Museum (Bao tang Cach mang) and the War Remnants Museum (Ho Chi Minh City). Ho Chi Minh City is home to a well-established ethnic Chinese population. Cholon, which is made up of District 5 and parts of Districts 6, 10 and 11, serves as its Chinatown. |
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