The Imperial Citael of Thang Long – Ha Noi recognized world cultural heritage

The central sector of Imperial Citadel of Thang Long – Ha Noi, Vietnam covers area of 20ha, comprises archaeological area at 18 Hoang Dieu Street and relics in Ha Noi Citadel consists of Bac Mon, Doan Mon, Hau Lau, stone dragons in Kinh Thien Palace, dragon house, house D67 and Ha Noi flag tower. These relics are surrounded by four streets: Phan Dinh Phung Street in the north, Dien Bien Phu Street in the south, Nguyen Tri Phuong Street in the east & Hoang Dieu Street in the west.

History

In 1009, Ly Cong Uan was enthroned, founded Ly Dynasty. In July, 1010, the king promulgated Chieu Doi Do (the royal decree) to vary the capital town from Hoa Lu (Ninh Binh) to Dai La Citadel. When transferring the capital city, Ly Cong Uan had Citadel of Thang Long built and also the citadel construction was completed in early 1011. 

The ancient Citadel of Thang Long was encircled by 3 integrated forts. The outer fort was Kinh Thanh (Imperial City) where the general public lived. Surrounded by the Hong includes To Lich and Kim Nguu rivers, Kinh Thanh acted as a dyke system for the capital town. The second fort (the middle ring) was Hoang Thanh (Imperial Citadel), where the royal court, offices and residence of mandarins were situated. the smallest and most inner enclosure was Tu Cam Thanh (Forbidden City) where the King, Queens and concubines lived in seclusion. The Citadel of Thang Long was repaired and had several new works in Tran Dynasty and enlarged in Le So Dynasty. From 1516 to 1788 in dynasties of Mac and Le Trung Hung, the Citadel of Thang Long was broken down many times. In early 1789, King Quang Trung transferred the capital city to Phu Xuan, the Citadel of Thang Long solely acted as Bac Thanh (the northern defensive fortification). In Nguyen Dynasty, the remainders of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long were transferred to Phu Xuan for building new citadel. Only Kinh Thien Palace and Hau Lau were retained to be accommodations for Kings Nguyen throughout their business journey to the Bac Thanh. In 1805, King Gia Long ordered the demolition of walls surrounding the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long and requested the building of a new, smaller citadel referred to Ha Noi Citadel with architectural kind of Vauban (France). In 1831, King Minh Mang modified name of the Citadel of Thang Long to Ha Noi Province in an massive administrative reform. When French colonists occupied all Indochina, they selected Ha Noi because the capital of French Indochina Union and also the Hanoi Citadel was damaged to create military camp for French colonists. Since the Vietnamese army took the management of the capital town in 1954, the Ha Noi Citadel was the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense. The first value of the central sector of Imperial Citadel of Thang Long – Ha Noi showed that it was like a book displaying over ten century- history of Thang Long – Ha Noi from Dai La Citadel in Pre-Thang Long period to these days.

Archaeological value

History showed that Imperial Citadel of Thang Long modified many things however, its centre, especially Forbidden city, remained nearly unchanged. When architectural structures within the Imperial Citadel were rebuilt and upgraded many times, this explained for the findings of layers of architectural 

vestiges and artefacts at archaeological website at 18 Hoang Dieu. These vestiges reflect relation clearly between urban project and architectural house and succession of dynasties in building the Citadel of Thang Long. This can be the distinctive and distinguished value of the central area of Imperial Citadel of Thang Long – Ha Noi. Here, archaeologists excavated a big porcelain and ceramic wares utilized in the Imperial Citadel through varied stages of development. The findings paved the means for researchers to review ceramics made in Thang Long and ceramic wares utilized in the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long through totally other dynasties. It’s additionally concrete proof regarding high development level of economy and culture. Moreover, porcelains and bronze coins of China, Japan, Western Asia… found here showed that Thang Long was centre of cultural exchange among countries in religion and perceived quintessence values of humanity.

At 20h30 on July 30, 2010 in Brasilia Capital of Brazil, World Heritage Committee of UNESCO recognized the central sector of Imperial Citadel of Thang Long – Ha Noi as world cultural heritage primarily based on 3 distinguished criterions: historical and length; its continuousness as a power centre; diversification And lots of vestiges and artifacts. In gap ceremony of the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long – Ha Noi on October one, 2010, Ms Irina Bokova – General Director of UNESCO recognized to give certification of the central sector of Imperial Citadel of Thang Long – Hanoi to leaders of Ha Noi capital.

Luc Yen Gem Market

Gems as the products are displayed in groups on the table. Gems maybe have been operated or being original. However, no matter what kinds of gem, they all look brilliant.

Luc Yen gem market is opened at a beautiful corner of a lake in Yen The town. The market works in just several hours in every morning. Depending on reasons and weather, the market can be taken place sooner or later, but at about 6.30 am there are sellers in the market.  They slowly arrange their stalls that are not complicated but very simple. The market contains about thirty to forty stalls; all sellers are female who almost has attached to the market since its establishment.

Luc Yen is the only destination in all over the country where there is gem picture making career. Visit the place, people can have a chance to discover the gem picture making career as well as to contemplate the specious pictures which cost hundreds of millions VND.

Gems as the products are displayed in groups on the table. Gems maybe have been operated or being original. However, no matter what kinds of gem, they all look brilliant. According to the sellers, gems are gathered from the persons who have already gone to the mountains; if have time, craftsmen will operate the gems to make pendants of rings, necklaces, earrings, etc… Gems are also used as materials for making gem picture, which are sold in the unit of kilogram or gram.

Each of blue, red, purple, yellow, white, black gems having different sizes and shapes is supervised and considered by the customers who are conversant with gem. The prices are announced depending on the type of gem which can be ten thousands, hundreds of thousand or a million, tens of millions dong. However, the succession of transaction is decided by the bargaining process.    

Besides gem traders and makers seeking for materials, there are many people who have heard about the gem market then come to this to see and to buy some products as the souvenirs.  After two to three hours, the market is closed. According to the sellers, in different days, there can be transaction costing tens, hundreds of millions dong or just several millions.  

The owner of a gem stall in Luc Yen market said that every early morning, hundreds of local residents went to the forest, walking along the stream, picking up each gem. After a long time, the gem became rare so people had to go further to the caves to gather it. Nowadays, people find it hard to seek for gem in the cave; many of them must use machines to dig deeply on the mountains then wash the soil for gem.

If people find out original sapphire, ruby gems (which are big, transparent, right color, not cracked), they can sell them with the price of several hundred millions dong. However, they usually get the color gems including ruby, sapphire which have lower quality, being crushed and small, used for making picture. To get the suitable color gems (especially black gems for drawing hair, blue ones for illustrating the color of water), they must wander on the mountains in a month.

For directly seeing the gem exploiting fields, it takes about 30 minutes riding motorbike. Different from gold field, the gem fields locates scattered over the mountains and forests. The local residents freely exploit the gem, that’s why there is a gem market which is also the supplying source for the gem picture making career. The visitors also can pick up the gem themselves.
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Ly Son Island - Wonderful Scenery

Only a few people know that Ly Son Island in Quang Ngai Province in Central Vietnam was d from five extinct volcanoes during the prehistoric age. With wonderful scenery left by these volcanoes, the island has now become an alluring destination, attracting a large number of tourists.

Seen from the shore on a fine day, Ly Son Island looks like a pyramid on the sea with its top being the peak of Thoi Loi Mountain. Among five mountains founding on the island, Thoi Loi is a rocky one. After a long time climbing the tortuous path on the mountain, tourists reach the peak of Thoi Loi where they have a panoramic view of the garlic field that looks like a chess-board and an immense blue sea dotted with fishing boats in the distance.

A panoramic view of Gieng Tien Mountain from the peak of Thoi Loi Mountain. Photo: Viet Cuong

According to the old people in Ly Son, the hollow of the extinct Thoi Son Volcano was formerly a primitive forest of different valuable trees and had abundant fresh water resources which ran at the foot of the mountain to form Chinh Stream with Vietnam travel guide. Then, the forest was totally destroyed and the stream no longer exists. So far, there is only a relic left – Hang (Cave) Pagoda. Due to the sea’s impact on geology for hundreds of years, the layers of rock have been eroded and have formed a cave in the shape of a pagoda.

The road to the peak of Thoi Loi Mountain. Photo: Thong Thien

Unlike Thoi Loi Mountain that has only rocks, Gieng Tien Mountain has a special fertile soil, similar to the Bazan soil in Tay Nguyen (the Central Highlands). The locals often use this soil and sand to fertilize the garlic fields. Thanks to these fertilizers, the variety of garlic grown in Ly Son has a special flavour that is hardly known in other places.

At the foot of Thoi Loi Mountain. Photo: Viet Cuong.

Around the crater of Gieng Tien Mountain that is smaller than that of Thoi Loi Mountain is a piece of land where no plants can grow. According to the beliefs of the locals, it is the sacred oil that was used as ash on the graves of soldiers of Kiem Quan Bac Hai Squad who laid down their lives when protecting the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands during the reign of King Minh Mang (1791-1841).

Duc Pagoda is located halfway up Gieng Tien Mountain. Photo: Thong Thien

To the east of Gieng Tien Mountain is a strange pagoda, called Duc by locals. Visiting the pagoda, tourists learn a story about the Goddess of Mercy who traveled on Bac Hai Sea to save fishermen in distress. Seeing fishing boats being sunk by storms, she tore her robe into thousands of pieces and threw them into the sea.

The cold lava from the exinct volcanoes millions of years ago forms a beautiful scenery. Photo: Viet Cuong

These pieces of cloth turned into dolphins which saved fishermen on the sea. Due to their belief, the locals made a statue of the Goddess of Mercy, 27m high, facing the sea and placed it at the pagoda with the hope that the Goddess of Mercy will protect fishermen when they go to the sea.

A garlic field at the foot of the mountain. 
The rain-water reservoir built on an area which was formerly a primitive forest. Photo: Viet Cuong
"The Heaven Gate" was formed by the cold lava from the exinct volcanoes millions of years ago. Photo: Viet Cuong
Beautiful cliffs near Hang Pagoda on Ly Son Island. Photo: Thong Thien

Although the relic of three extinct volcanoes is only small mounds, the presence of cold lava is seen in many places on Ly Son Island, forming a wonderful landscape. They are rocks in different shapes that leave a long-lasting impression on tourists to the island.

Ha Giang Tourism toward 2015

In order to develop tourism effectively and sustainably matching with potentials and advantages of the province and to catch up with tourism development of other provinces, the orientation for tourism development has been outlined in Resolution No. 01-NQ/TU dated 10 April 2006 by the Executive Board of provincial Party Committee as follows:

Ha Giang is a frontier mountainous province in Northernmost of the Viet Nam, having an important position in the socio-economic development, defense and security. It shares border with China to the north (over 270km). Ha Giang's diversified topography includes karts plateau, caves, diverse flora and fauna.

The province is home to 22 ethnic groups, each of which preserves and stores its own unique cultural values and specific characters. Thanks to those potentials, the province has many advantages to develop tourism, especially eco-tourism, adventure tourism, cultural tourism, etc.

I. Current situation of tourism development

In 2001, there were only one tour operator and 32 hotels with 195 rooms. In 2005, there were 3 tour operators and 69 hotels with 815 rooms including 11 classified hotels. Tourism income revenue increased from 39.7 billion to 82 billion VND between 2001 and 2005. At the same time, the number of tourists to Ha Giang grew from 37,650 to 144,828 arrivals.

II. Point of view and objectives

1- Point of view

-  Considering tourism as a leading economic industry of the province. Diversifing tourism and service forms: cultural-historical tourism, festival tourism, ecotourism, handicraft village tourism, adventure tourism, spiritual tourism; hot mineral water bathing for medicine purposes, leisure services in weekends…

- Encouraging all economic sectors to invest in Vietnam travel guide.

- Developing tourism combined with protecting ecological environment and preserving cultural characteristics.

2- Objectives

- Developing tourism while ensuring national defense, security, landscape embellishment and ecological protection.

- Developing cultural festival tourism along with local culture preserve, absorbing mankind knowledge

- Linking Ha Giang and surrounding provinces. Developing planning strategy for  provincial tourism development.

- Exploiting available potentials and advantages to develop tourism areas in order to make breakthrough steps.

3- Specific objectives:

The objectives for provincial tourism development up to 2015 include:

- Average tourism growth rate of about 17% per year.

- Receiving 170,000 tourist arrivals in 2006; 600,000 in 2010 and 1.2 million in 2015.

- Tourism revenue gains 95 billion VND in 2006; 200 billion VND in 2010 and over 500 billion VND in 2015.

- Tourism infrastructure: There will be one, two, three 3+ star hotel in 2006, 2010, and 2015, respectively.

- In 2010, establishing from 2 to 3 cultural tourism villages in every districts combined with protecting ecological environment; making plan and investing to develop recreation and public sites. Focusing on training, creating jobs for 2,000 to 3,000 employees in tourism sector.

- Mobilizing some 400 billion VND for tourism investment period 2006 -2010 gains.

4- Specific tasks:

- Paying attention to build and promulgate management mechanism, policies  for investment incentive, and infrastructure development. Training management and professional staff of enough qualifications to meet immediate and long term requirements.

- Completing detailed planning of tourist attractions, formalization of tours in the province infrastructures integrated with domestic and international tours

- Completing construction in tourist sites of Tien stream, Cam mountain, Ha Phuong water park, Quang Minh lake, Thanh Ha tourist area, Tay Con Linh tourist area, Nan Ma cultural and historic site area, ancient rock field, Vuong family vestiges (Xin Man District)…; developing ecotourism in Nam Ma, Noong lake, Tung Ba, Khe My, Thong Nguyen caves…; embellishing and restoring Sung Khanh Pagoda (Vi Xuyen District), Binh Lam Pagoda (Phu Linh District), Mau temple (Ha Giang City)…

- Diversifing tourism and service products, developing quality products to attract visitors.

- Establishing community-based tourism villages in every districts (from 2 to 3 ones each district) along the tourist routes in order to develop community tourism and ecotourism meeting demand of visitors. The northern districts will plan peach flower trees to attract visitors  to Peach Flower Festival in spring.

- Completing infrastructure building in tourist sites

- Promoting investment to tourist sites including Tam Son (Quan Ba), Lung Cu, Vuong family vestiges (Dong Van District), Ma Pi Leng peak, Khau Vai love market (Meo Vac District), Cang Bac Me (Bac Me District), Xin Man ancient rock field (Xin Man District), Thong Nguyen (Hoang Su Phi District)…

- Continueing to enhance capacity building in management, organization of tourist services.

Fusion Maia Danang among world’s best hotels

The Fusion Maia Danang Resort has been included in the 2013 edition of the Tatler Travel Guide, listed among the world’s 101 best hotels.

According to the guide’s representatives, Fusion Maia earned its place with the uniformly rave reviews it had received from previous patrons.

“It’s fantastic. Cheeky, fresh, and cutting edge, the resort is on almost 19 miles of rockless sand and water. It’s laid out with airy spaces and zen-calm architecture; the villas have large private pools in fern-walled gardens just yards from the sea”, said the guide’s and Travel Editor Melinda Stevens.

The prestigious Tatler Travel Guide picks its 101 best hotels in the world annually.

Fusion Maia Danang was also the only Vietnamese hotel to receive thespecial award in 2012.

Hanoi promotes tourism in 2012

The Hanoi People’s Committee has the plans to promote tourism to achieve a target of 2 million foreign visitors in 2012.

This year, the city will host the International Tourism Fair and a meeting of the Council for Promoting Tourism in Asia (CPTA) to highlight Hanoi ’s potential for tourism of Vietnam travel guide as well as images of the city to international friends.

Except for stepping up tourism promotions in the worlds major markets, the city will also focus on religion such as Eastern Europe , Australia and New Zealand .

The city and other cities and provinces across the country have got together to promote and attract more tourists by taking part in activities organised for National Tourism Year 2012. These include the Maritime tourist festival in Ha Long Bay, a fireworks festival in the central city of Da Nang and the International Travel Expo in Ho Chi Minh City .

It is also developing the city’s infrastructure and information networks to supply tourists with Vietnam guide the necessary information.

The city also expects enterprises to provide visitors with free information via the world-wide-web, posters, maps and magazines. These action will both help the city to attract more tourists and make it easier for Hanoi ’s tourist industry to develop new products.