Huế

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Image:TuHieuPagoda.jpg Huế (help·info) (化 in chữ Nôm) is the former modern capital of Vietnam. It is well known for its monuments and architecture. It is the capital city of Thừa Thiên Huế province. Its population stands at about 340,000 people.

1 Geography
2 Sights
3 History
4 External links

[edit] Geography

The city is located in central Vietnam on the banks of the Sông Hương (Perfume River), just a few miles west of the South China Sea. It is about 540 km (335 mi.) south of the national capital of Hanoi and about 644 km (400 mi.) north of Hồ Chí Minh City, the country's largest city formerly known as Saigon.

[edit] Sights

Image:Hue Porte Citadelle.jpg

On the north side of the river is the Citadel, the centre of the historic city. Most of Huế's important monuments, temples, and pagodas are found in this area. The south side of the river is newer, and contains most of the city's business and residential areas.

Huế's most outstanding attractions are the royal citadel, an imperial city and the emperor's tombs.

Huế's complex of monuments is listed among the UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.

[edit] History

Image:Grave khai dinh.jpg

Huế originally rose to prominence as the capital of the Nguyễn family, a feudal dynasty which dominated much of (then) southern Vietnam from the 17^th to the 19^th century. In 1775 when Trịnh Sa captured it, it was known as Phu Xuan. In 1802, Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (later Emperor Gia Long) succeeded in establishing his control over the whole of Vietnam, thereby making Huế the national capital.

Emperor Gia Long of built a palace and fortress in Huế that was intended to be a smaller copy of the Chinese Forbidden City in the 1800s. In English it is called the "Imperial City". The name of the inner palace complex in Vietnamese is translated literally as "Purple Forbidden City", which is the same as the Chinese name for the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Huế was the national capital until 1945, when Emperor Bảo Đại abdicated and a Communist government was established in Hà Nội (Hanoi), in the north. While Bảo Đại was briefly proclaimed "Head of State" with the help of the returning French colonialists in 1949 (although not with recognition from the Communists and the full acceptance of the Vietnamese people), his new capital was Sài Gòn (Saigon), in the south.

In the Vietnam War, Huế's central position placed it very near the border between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The city was located in the South. In the Tết Offensive of 1968, the city suffered considerable damage to not only its physical features, but its reputation as well, most of it from American firepower and bombings on the historical buildings as well as the now infamous massacre at Huế. After the war's conclusion, many of the historic features of Huế were neglected, being seen by the victorious regime and some other Vietnamese as a "relic of the feudal system", but there has since been a change of policy, and some parts of the historic city have been restored.