Name	Ho Chi Minh City
Native name	Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh
Nickname	Paris in the Orient, the Pearl of the Orient, the Pearl of the Far East
Settlement type	Centrally-governed city
Map caption	Location in Vietnam and Southern Vietnam
Pushpin map
Pushpin label position
Pushpin mapsize	300
Coordinates display	inline,title
Coordinates region	VN
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision name
Leader title1	Party Secretary
Leader name1	Lê Thanh Hải
Leader title2	People's Committee Chairman:
Leader name2	Lê Hoàng Quân
Leader title3	People's Council Chairwoman:
Leader name3	Nguyễn Thị Quyết Tâm
Established title	Founded
Established date	1698
Established title2	Renamed
Established date2	1976
Established title3
Unit pref	Imperial
Parts type	Demonym
Parts style	para
P1	Saigoners
Area total km2	2,095
Area total sq mi	809.23
Population as of	April 1, 2010
Population total	7,162,864 (1st in Vietnam)
Population total	7,382,287
Population density km2	3,524
Population density sq mi	9,123
Time zone	UTC+7
Utc offset	+7
Time zone dst	No DST
Utc offset dst	+7
Elevation footnotes
Elevation m	19
Elevation ft	63
Postal code type
Area code	+84 (8)
Website	www.hochiminhcity.gov.vn
Footnotes	}}

Ho Chi Minh City ( ), formerly named Saigon ( ) is the largest city in Vietnam. It was once known as Prey Nokor, an important Khmer sea port prior to annexation by the Vietnamese in the 17th century.

Under the name Saigon, it was the capital of the French colony of Cochin-china and later of the independent state of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. In 1976, Saigon merged with the surrounding Gia Định Province and was officially renamed Hồ Chí Minh City after Hồ Chí Minh (although the name ''Sài Gòn'' is still commonly used.)

The city center is situated on the banks of the Saigon River, from the South China Sea and south of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.

The metropolitan area, which consists of the Hồ Chí Minh City metropolitan area, Thủ Dầu Một, Dĩ An, Biên Hòa and surrounding towns, is populated by more than 9 million people, making it the most populous metropolitan area in Vietnam and the countries of the former French Indochina. The Greater Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan Area, a metropolitan area covering most parts of Đông Nam Bộ plus Tiền Giang and Long An provinces under planning will have an area of 30,000 square kilometers with a population of 20 million inhabitants by 2020. According to the Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Economist Intelligence Unit and ECA International, Ho Chi Minh City is ranked 132 on the list of world's most expensive cities.

Name

Ho Chi Minh City has gone by several different names during its history, reflecting settlement by different ethnic, cultural and political groups. Originally known as ''Prey Nokor'' while a part of the Khmer Empire, it came to be dubbed ''Sài Gòn'' informally by Vietnamese settlers from the north. In the 1690s, Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh, a Vietnamese noble, was sent by the Nguyen rulers of Huế to establish Vietnamese administrative structures in the Mekong Delta and its surroundings. Control of the city and the area passed to the Vietnamese, who gave the city the official name of '''' (Chữ Nôm: 嘉 定). This name remained until the time of French conquest in the 1860s, when the occupying force adopted the name ''Saigon'' for the city, a westernized form of the traditional name, although the city was still indicated as 嘉 定 on sinitic maps until at least 1891. Immediately after the communist takeover of South Vietnam in 1975, a provisional government renamed the city after Hồ Chí Minh, the pre-eminent but by-then deceased North Vietnamese leader. Even today, however, the informal name of ''Sài Gòn'' remains in daily speech both domestically and internationally, especially among the Vietnamese diaspora. In particular, ''Sài Gòn'' is still commonly used to refer to District 1.

Etymology

;Sài Gòn A frequently heard, and reasonable, etymology of ''Sài Gòn'' is that Sài is a Chinese loanword (Chinese: 柴, pronounced in Mandarin) meaning “firewood, lops, twigs; palisade”, while Gòn is another Chinese loanword (Chinese: 棍, pronounced gùn in Mandarin) meaning “stick, pole, bole”, and whose meaning evolved into “cotton” in Vietnamese (''bông gòn'', literally “cotton stick”, i.e., “cotton plant”, then shortened to ''gòn''). This name may refer to the many kapok plants that the Khmer people had planted around Prey Nokor, and which can still be seen at Cây Mai temple and surrounding areas. It may also refer to the dense and tall forest that once existed around the city, a forest to which the Khmer name, Prey Nokor, already referred.

Other proposed etymologies draw parallels from ''Tai-Ngon'' (堤 岸), the Cantonese name of Cholon, which means "embankment" (French: ''quais''), and Vietnamese ''Sai Côn'', a translation of the Khmer ''Prey Nokor'' (). ''Prey'' means forest or jungle, and ''nokor'' is a Khmer word of Sanskrit origin meaning city or kingdom—thus, "forest city" or "forest kingdom".

;Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh The current official name, ''Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh'', abbreviated Tp. HCM, is translated as ''Hồ Chí Minh City'', abbreviated HCMC, and in French as ''Hô Chi Minh Ville'' (the circumflex is sometimes omitted), abbreviated HCMV. The name commemorates Hồ Chí Minh, the pre-eminent North Vietnamese leader. This name, though not his given name, was one he favoured throughout his later years. It combines a common Vietnamese surname (Hồ, 胡) with a given name meaning "enlightened will" (from Sino-Vietnamese 志 明; Chí meaning 'will' (or spirit), and Minh meaning 'light'), in essence, meaning "bringer of light".

History

Early history

Hồ Chí 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 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.

Khmer territory

Beginning in the early 17th century, colonization of the area by Vietnamese settlers gradually isolated the Khmer of the Mekong Delta from their brethren in Cambodia proper and resulted in their becoming a minority in the delta.

In 1623, King Chey Chettha II of Cambodia (1618–1628) allowed Vietnamese refugees fleeing the Trịnh–Nguyễn civil war in Vietnam to settle in the area of Prey Nokor and to set up a custom house there. Increasing waves of Vietnamese settlers, which the Cambodian kingdom could not impede because it was weakened by war with Thailand, slowly Vietnamized the area. In time, Prey Nokor became known as Saigon.

Prey Nokor was the most important commercial seaport to the Khmers. The loss of the city prevented the Cambodians access to the East VietNam Sea. Subsequently, the Khmers' access to the sea was now limited to the Gulf of Thailand.

Nguyễn Dynasty rule

In 1698, Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh, a Vietnamese noble, was sent by the Nguyễn rulers of Huế 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 Định was built, which was later destroyed by the French following the Battle of Ky Hoa (see Citadel of Saigon).

Colonial French era

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. Saigon had, in 1929, a population of 123,890, including 12,100 French.

Capital of South Vietnam

Former Emperor Bảo Đại made Saigon the capital of the State of Vietnam in 1949 with himself as head of state. After the Việt Minh gained control of North Vietnam in 1954, it became common to refer to the Saigon government as “South Vietnam”. The government was renamed the Republic of Vietnam when Bảo Đại was deposed by his Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem in a fraudulent referendum in 1955. Saigon and Cholon, an adjacent city with many Sino-Vietnamese residents, were combined into an administrative unit called ''Đô Thành Sài Gòn'' ("Capital City Saigon").

Post-Vietnam War and today

At the conclusion of the Vietnam War, on April 30, 1975, the city came under the control of the Vietnamese People's Army. Among Vietnamese diaspora communities and particularly the U.S. (which had fought the communists), this event is commonly called the “Fall of Saigon,” while the communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam calls 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 Ðịnh and two suburban districts of two other nearby provinces were combined to create Hồ Chí Minh City in honour of the late communist leader Hồ 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 Hồ Chí Minh City.

Geography

Ho Chi Minh City is located at 10°45'N, 106°40'E in the southeastern region of Vietnam, south of Hanoi. The average elevation is above sea level. It borders Tay Ninh and Binh Duong provinces to the north, Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces to the east, Long An Province to the west and the South China Sea to the south with a coast 15 km long. The city covers an area of (0.63% of the surface of Vietnam), extending up to Cu Chi ( from the Cambodian border) and down to Can Gio on the South China Sea coast. The distance from the northernmost point (Phu My Hung Commune, Cu Chi District) to the southernmost one (Long Hoa Commune, Can Gio District) is , and from the easternmost point (Long Binh Ward, District Nine) to the westernmost one (Binh Chanh Commune, Binh Chanh District) is .

Climate

The city has a tropical climate, specifically a tropical wet and dry climate, with an average humidity of 75%. The year is divided into two distinct seasons. The rainy season, with an average rainfall of about annually (about 150 rainy days per year), usually begins in May and ends in late November. The dry season lasts from December to April. The average temperature is , the highest temperature sometimes reaches around noon in late April, while the lowest may fall below in the early mornings of late December.

Political and administrative system

Saigon is a municipality at the same level as Vietnam's provinces. The city has been divided into twenty-four administrative divisions since December 2003. Five of these {Area: 1,601 km²} are designated as rural (''huyện''). The rural districts are Nhà Bè, Cần Giờ, Hóc Môn, Củ Chi, and Bình Chánh. A rural district consists of communes (''Xã'') and townships (''Thị trấn''). The remaining districts {Area: 494 km²} are designated urban or suburban (''quận''). This includes districts one to twelve, as well as Tân Bình, Bình Thạnh, Phú Nhuận, Thủ Đức, Bình Tân, Tân Phú and Gò Vấp. Each district is sub-divided into wards ("Phường"). Since December 2006, the city has had 259 wards, 58 communes and 5 townships (see List of HCMC administrative units below).

People's Committee

The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee is a 13-member executive council for the city. The current chairman is Le Hoang Quan. There are several vice chairmen and chairwomen on the committee with responsibility for various city departments. The legislative branch of the city government is called the People's Council and consists of 95 deputies. Both the committee and the council are subordinate to the city's Communist Party, currently led by Party Secretary Lê Thanh Hải. The chairman of the People's Committee is the No. 2 position in the city government while chairman of the People's Council is No. 3.

Demographics

The population of Ho Chi Minh City, as of the October 1, 2004 Census, was 6,117,251 (of which 19 inner districts had 5,140,412 residents and 5 suburban districts had 976,839 inhabitants). In the middle of 2007 the city's population was 6,650,942 – with the 19 inner districts home to 5,564,975 residents and the 5 suburban districts containing 1,085,967 inhabitants. The result of the 2009 Census shows that the city's population was 7,162,864 people, about 8.34% of the total population of Vietnam, making it the highest population-concentrated city in the country. As an administrative unit, its population is also the largest at the provincial level. As the largest economic and financial hub of Vietnam, HCMC has attracted more and more immigrants from other Vietnamese provinces in recent years; consequently its population has been and still is growing rapidly. Since 1999 the city's population has increased by over 212,000 people per year.

The majority of the population are ethnic Vietnamese (Kinh) at about 93.52%. Ho Chi Minh City's largest minority ethnic group are the Chinese (Hoa) with 5.78%. Cholon – in District 5 and parts of Districts 6, 10 and 11 – is home to the largest Chinese community in Vietnam. Other ethnic minorities, including Khmer 0.34%, Cham 0.1%.

The inhabitants of Ho Chi Minh City are usually known as "Saigonese" in English, "Saigonnais" in French and "dân Sài Gòn" in Vietnamese.

The Hoa, in addition, speak Cantonese, Teochew (Chaozhou), Hokkien, Hainanese and Hakka dialects of Chinese, with only a few speaking Mandarin Chinese. A varying degree of English is spoken especially in the tourism and commerce sectors where dealing with foreign nationals is a necessity, so English has become a de facto second language for some Saigonese.

According to some researchers the religious makeup of HCMC is as follows: Buddhism (all sects and/or including Taoism, Confucianism) 80%, Roman Catholic 11%, others (Cao Dai, Protestant, Hoa Hao, Islam, Hinduism, Bahá'í Faith) 2%, and no religion or unknown 7%.. Note that this percentage is not based on the total population of Saigon as most Vietnamese are known to worship ancestors.

Economy

Ho Chi Minh City is the economic center of Vietnam and accounts for a large proportion of the economy of Vietnam. Although the city takes up just 0.6% of the country's land area, it contains 7.5% of the population of Vietnam, 20.2% of its GDP, 27.9% of industrial output and 34.9% of the FDI projects in the country in 2005. In 2005, the city had 4,344,000 laborers, of whom 130,000 are over the labor age norm (in Vietnam, 60 for male and 55 for female workers). In 2009, GDP per capita reached 2,800 US$, compared to the country’s average level of $1042 USD in 2009.

In 2007, the city's GDP was estimated at $14.3 billion, or about $2,180 per capita, up 12.6 percent from 2006 and accounting for 20% of the country's GDP. The GDP adjusted to Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) reached $71.5 billion, or about $10,870 per capita (approximately three times higher than the country's average). The city's Industrial Product Value was $6.4 billion, equivalent to 30% the value of the entire nation. Export – Import Turnover through HCMC ports accounted for $36 billion, or 40 percent of the national total, of which export revenue reached $18.3 billion (40 percent of Vietnam’s total export revenues). In 2007, Ho Chi Minh City's contribution to the annual revenues in the national budget increased by 30 percent, accounting for about 20.5 percent of total revenues.

The consumption demand of Ho Chi Minh City is much higher than other provinces and municipalities of Vietnam and 1.5 times higher than that of Hanoi.

As of June 2006, the city has been home to three export processing zones and twelve industrial parks. Ho Chi Minh City is the leading receiver of foreign direct investment in Vietnam, with 2,530 FDI projects worth 16.6 $ billion at the end of 2007. In 2007, the city received over 400 FDI projects worth $US 3 billion. In 2008, it attracted $US 8.5 billion in FDI.

Sectors

The economy of Ho Chi Minh City consists of industries ranging from mining, seafood processing, agriculture, and construction, to tourism, finance, industry and trade. The state-owned sector makes up 33.3% of the economy, the private sector 4.6%, and the remainder in foreign investment. Concerning its economic structure, the service sector accounts for 51.1%, industry and construction account for 47.7% and forestry, agriculture and others make up just 1.2%.

Quang Trung Software Park is a software park situated in District 12. The park is approximately 15 km from downtown Ho Chi Minh City and hosts software enterprises as well as dot.com companies. The park also includes a software training school. Dot.com investors here are supplied with other facilities and services such as residences and high-speed access to the internet as well as favorable taxation. Together with the Ho Chi Minh City Hi-tech Park in District 9 and the 32 ha. software park inside Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone in District 7 of the city, Ho Chi Minh City aims to become an important hi-tech city in the country and the South-East Asia region. This park helps the city in particular and Vietnam in general to become an outsourcing location for other enterprises in developed countries, as India has done.

Some 300,000 businesses, including many large enterprises, are involved in high-tech, electronic, processing and light industries, and also in construction, building materials and agro-products. Additionally, crude oil is a popular economic base in Ho Chi Minh City. Investors are still pouring money into the city. Total local private investment was 160,000 billion dong ($10 billion) with 18,500 newly founded companies. Investment trends to high technology, services and real estate projects.

As of June 2006, the city had three export processing zones and twelve industrial parks, in addition to Quang Trung Software Park and Ho Chi Minh City Hi-Tech Park. Intel has invested about 1 billion dollars in a factory in the city. Over 50 banks with hundreds of branches and about 20 insurance companies are also located inside the city. The Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, the first stock exchange in Vietnam, was opened in 2001. There are 171 medium and large-scale markets as well as several supermarket chains, shopping malls, and fashion and beauty centers. Some of the larger shopping malls and plazas opened recently include:

Saigon Centre (1997) – 65 Le Loi Blvd, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1

Tax Plaza (1998) – 135 Nguyen Hue Blvd, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1

Diamond Plaza (1999) – 34 Le Duan Blvd, District 1

Big C (2002)- 138A To Hien Thanh St, 15th Ward, District 10

Parkson's (2005–2009) – Multiple locations

Saigon Paragon (2009) – 3 Nguyen Luong Bang St, Tan Phu Ward, District 7

NowZone (2009) – 235 Nguyen Van Cu Ave, Nguyen Cu Trinh Ward, District 1

Kumho Asiana Plaza (2010) – 39 Le Duan Blvd, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1

Vincom Centre (2010) – 70–72 Le Thanh Ton St, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1

Bitexco Financial Tower (2010) – Hẻm số 2 Hàm Nghi Blvd, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1

In 2007, three million foreign tourists, about 70 percent of the total number of tourists to Vietnam, visited the city. Total cargo transport to Ho Chi Minh City’s ports reached 50.5 million metric tonnes, nearly one-third of the total for Vietnam.

New urban areas

With a population now of 7,162,864 (as of Census 2009 on April 1, 2009) (registered residents plus migrant workers as well as a metropolitan population of 10 million), Ho Chi Minh City is in need of vast increases in public infrastructure. To meet this need, the city and central governments have embarked on an effort to develop new urban centers. The two most prominent projects are the Thu Thiem city center in District 2 and the Phu My Hung Urban Area, a new city center in District 7 (as part of the Saigon South project) where various international schools such as Saigon South International School, a Japanese school, Australia's Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Taiwanese and Korean schools are located. In December 2007, Phu My Hung New City Center completed the 17.8 km 10–14 lane wide Nguyen Van Linh Boulevard linking the Saigon port areas, Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone to the National Highway 1 and the Mekong delta area. In November 2008, a brand new trade center, Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center, also opened its doors. Other projects include Grandview, Waterfront, Sky Garden, Riverside and Phu Gia 99. Phu My Hung New City Center received the first Model New City Award from the Vietnamese Ministry of Construction.

Transport

Air

Ho Chi Minh City is served by Tan Son Nhat International Airport, located in Tan Binh District. Tan Son Nhat Airport is currently the largest airport in Vietnam in terms of passengers handled (with an estimated number of over 15.5 million passengers per year in 2010, accounting for more than half of Vietnam's air passenger traffic); it will soon be superseded by Long Thanh International Airport, scheduled to begin operation in 2025. Based in Long Thanh, Dong Nai Province, about 40 km northeast of Ho Chi Minh City, Long Thanh Airport will serve international flights, with a maximum traffic capacity of 100 million passengers per year when fully completed; Tan Son Nhat Airport will serve domestic flights.

Rail

Ho Chi Minh City is also a terminal for many Vietnam Railways train routes in the country. The Reunification Express (tàu Thống Nhất) runs from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi from Saigon Railway Station in District 3, with stops at cities and provinces along the line.

Water

The city's location on the Saigon River makes it a bustling commercial and passenger port; besides a constant stream of cargo ships, passenger boats operate regularly between Ho Chi Minh City and various destinations in Southern Vietnam and Cambodia, including Vung Tau, Can Tho and the Mekong Delta, and Phnom Penh. Traffic between Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam's southern provinces has steadily increased over the years; the Doi and Te Canals, the main routes to the Mekong Delta, receive 100,000 waterway vehicles every year, representing around 13 million tons of cargo. A project to dredge these routes has been approved to facilitate transport, to be implemented in 2011–2014.

Inner city transportation

The main means of transport within the city are motorbikes, buses, taxis, and bicycles. Motorbikes remain the most common way to move around the city. Taxis are plentiful and usually have trip meters, although it is also common to agree on the trip price before taking a long trip, for example, from the airport to the city centre. Public buses run on many routes and fare can be purchased on the bus. For short trips, "xe ôm" (literally, "hug vehicle") motorcycle taxis are available where the passenger sits at the rear of a motorbike. A popular activity for tourists is a tour of the city on cyclos, which allow for longer trips at a more relaxed pace. For the last few years, cars have become more popular.

Light rail

The Ho Chi Minh City Metro, a light rail rapid transit network, is currently in the preparation stages, with the first line currently under construction, to be completed by 2014. This first line will connect Ben Thanh Market to Suoi Tien Park in District 9, with a depot in Long Binh. Planners expect the route to serve more than 160,000 passengers daily. A line between Ben Thanh and Tham Luong in District 12 has been approved by the government, and several more lines are currently the subject of feasibility studies.

Society

Public Health

The health care system of the city is relatively developed with a chain of about 100 government owned hospitals or medical centers and dozens of privately owned clinics. The 1,400 bed Chợ Rẫy Hospital, upgraded by Japanese aid and the French-sponsored Institute of Cardiology, are among the top medical facilities in Indochina. The Hoa Hao Medical Diagnosis Center (Medic) and FV Hospital have recently attracted many clients, including foreigners, because of their good quality of service and modern equipment. Patients come from cities in nearby provinces and Cambodia as well. The Franco-Vietnam Hospital (FVH) is certified to French health standards.

Communications

The city's media are the most developed in the country. At present, there are seven daily newspapers: Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Saigon) and its Chinese, investment and finance, sports, evening and weekly editions; Tuoi Tre (Youth), the highest circulation newspaper in Vietnam; Thanh Nien (Young Men), the second largest circulation in the south of Vietnam; Nguoi Lao Dong (Labourer); The Thao (Sports); Phap Luat (Law) and the Saigon Times Daily, the business newspaper in English, and over 30 other newspapers and magazines. The city has hundreds of printing and publishing houses, many bookstores and a widespread network of public and school libraries; the city's General Library houses over 1.5 mìllion books.

Locally-based Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV) is the second largest television network in the nation, just behind the national Vietnam Television (VTV), broadcasting 24/7 on 7 different channels (using analog and digital technology). Many major international TV channels are provided through two cable networks (SCTV and HTVC), with over one million subscribers. The Voice of Ho Chi Minh City is the largest radio station in Southern Vietnam.

Internet coverage, especially through ADSL connections, is rapidly expanding, with over 2,200,000 subscribers and around 5.5 million frequent users. Internet service providers (ISPs) operating in Ho Chi Minh City include the Vietnam Data Communication Company (VDC), Corporation for Finance and Promoting Technology (FPT), Netnam Company, Saigon Post and Telecommunications Services Corporation (Saigon Postel Corporation, SPT) and Viettel Company. As in all of Vietnam, Internet access is regulated; websites containing sensitive political or religious content are routinely blocked, and certain websites such as Facebook have been blocked, though government officials deny that this is intentional.

The city has over 2 million fixed telephones and about 15 million cellular phones (the latter growing annually by 20%). Mobile phone service is provided by a number of companies, including Viettel Mobile, MobiFone, VinaPhone, and S-Fone.

Education

There are many famous high schools in Ho Chi Minh City such as Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted, High School for the Gifted (Pho Thong Nang Khieu), Tran Dai Nghia High School, Nguyen Thuong Hien High School, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School, Gia Định High School,etc. There are two main high school systems in Ho Chi Minh City, public schools and private schools. High school consists of grade 10–12 ( sophomore, junior, and senior).

Higher education in Ho Chi Minh City is quite developed, concentrating over 80 universities and colleges with a total of over 400,000 students in such places as: Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City with 50,000 students, the most important university in the Southern Region, consisting of 6 main member schools: The University of Sciences (formerly Saigon College of Sciences); The University of Social Sciences and Humanities (formerly Saigon College of Letters); The University of Technology (formerly Phu Tho National Institute of Technology); The International University, The University of Economics and Law and the newly-established University of Information Technology.

Some other important higher education establishments include: HCMC University of Pedagogy, University of Economics, University of Architecture, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Nong Lam University (formerly University of Agriculture and Forestry), University of Law, University of Technical Education, University of Banking, University of Industry, Open University, University of Sports and Physical Education, University of Fine Arts, University of Culture, the Conservatory of Music, the Saigon Institute of Technology, Van Lang University, Saigon University and Hoa Sen University.

The RMIT University with about 6,000 students, the unique foreign-invested higher-education unit in Vietnam at the present, was founded in 2001 by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) of Australia. This is one of the best private institutions in Vietnam at the moment and the tuition fee here, which is more than U.S $35000 a year, is equal to the price of studying abroad in Australian universities or the U.S universities for many Vietnamese students.

Generally, public universities are more preferable because they are cheaper, more difficult to enter and earn a higher reputation than private universities. In particular,many well-known public universities are concentrated in Ho Chi Minh City. In recently years, there is a tendency that Vietnamese students go abroad before they enter university.

Several reputable English language schools following international curricula are located in Ho Chi Minh City as well.

Tourism

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 Thống Nhất''), City Hall (''Ủy ban nhân dân Thành phố''), the Municipal Theatre (''Nhà hát thành phố'', also known as the Opera House), City Post Office (''Bưu điện thành phố''), State Bank Office (''Ngân hàng nhà nước''), City People's Court (''Tòa án nhân dân thành phố'') and Notre-Dame Cathedral (''Nhà thờ Đức Bà''). Some of the historic hotels are the Hotel Majestic, dating from the French colonial era, and the Rex Hotel, Caravelle hotel some former hangouts for American officers and war correspondents in the 1960s and 1970s.

The city has various museums, such as the Ho Chi Minh City Museum, Museum of Vietnamese History, the Revolutionary Museum, the Museum of Southeastern Armed Forces, the War Remnants Museum, the Museum of Southern Women, the Museum of Fine Art, the Nha Rong Memorial House, and the Ben Duoc Relic of Underground Tunnels. The Củ Chi tunnels are northwest of the city in Củ Chi district. The Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens, in District 1, dates from 1865.

Besides the Municipal Theatre, there are other places of entertainment such as: the Bến Thành and Hòa Bình Theaters and the Lan Anh Music Stage. The Đầm Sen Tourist and Cultural Park, Suoi Tien Amusement and Culture Park, and the Can Gio Eco beach resort are three recreational sites inside the city which are popular with tourists. Ho Chi Minh City is home to hundreds of cinemas and theatres, with cinema and dramatic ticketing revenue accounting for 60–70% of Vietnam’s total revenue in this industry. Unlike other dramatic teams in Vietnam’s provinces and municipalities, those in Ho Chi Minh City live on their own income and keep their theaters active everyday, and are not subsidized by the Vietnamese government. The city is home to most of the private movie companies in Vietnam. Like many of Vietnam's smaller cities, the city boasts a multitude of restaurants serving typical Vietnamese dishes such as phở or rice vermicelli. Backpacking travelers most often frequent the "Western Quarter" on Pham Ngu Lao street in District 1.

Sports and recreation

As of 2005, Ho Chi Minh City was home to 91 football fields, 86 swimming pools, 256 gyms. The largest stadium in the city is the 25,000-seat Thong Nhat Stadium, located on Đào Duy Từ Street, in Ward 6 of District 10. The next largest is Army Stadium, located near Tan Son Nhat Airport in Tan Binh district. Army Stadium was of the venues for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup finals. As well as being a sporting venue, it is also the site of a music school. Phú Thọ Racecourse, another notable sporting venue established during colonial times, is the only racetrack in Vietnam. The city's Department of Physical Education and Sports also manages a number of clubs, including Phan Dinh Phung, Thanh Da, and Yet Kieu.

Ho Chi Minh City is home to a number of association football clubs. One of the city's largest clubs, Ho Chi Minh City F.C., is based at Thong Nhat Stadium. As ''Cảng Sài Gòn'' , they were four-time champions of Vietnam's V-League (in 1986, 1993–94, 1997, and 2001–02). The team currently plays in Vietnam's First Division. Navibank Saigon F.C., founded as ''Quân Khu 4'' and also based at Thong Nhat Stadium, emerged as champions of the First Division in the 2008 season, and were promoted to the V-League in 2009. The city's police department also fielded a football team in the 1990s, Công An Thành Phố, which won the V-League championship in 1995. Celebrated striker Lê Huỳnh Đức, now manager of SHB Ðà Nẵng F.C., played for the Police F.C. from 1995 to 2000, setting a league record of 25 goals in the 1996 season.

Ho Chi Minh City hosts a number of international sports events throughout the year, such as the AFF Futsal Championship and the Vietnam Vertical Run. Several other sports are represented by teams in the city, such as volleyball, basketball, chess, athletics, and table tennis.

Sister cities

There are 25 sister cities/regions of Ho Chi Minh City:

{| style="background:#f5f5f5; padding:0 1em; width:90%" |- !width=65%| City !width=25%| From |- | Shanghai, People's Republic of China || May 14, 1994 |- | Manila, the Philippines || June 27, 1994 |- | San Francisco, the USA || April 10, 1995 |- | Osaka, Japan || June 13, 1995 |- | Busan, Republic of Korea || November 3, 1995 |- | Guangzhou, People's Republic of China || April 1, 1996 |- | Lyon, France || January 17, 1997 |- | Shenyang, People's Republic of China || April 21, 1999 |- | Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia || September 5, 2000 |- | Champasak Province, Laos || August 28, 2001 |- | Vientiane, Laos || September 1, 2001 |- | Rhône-Alpes (region), France || November 8, 2001 |- | Phnom Penh, Cambodia || June 2002 |- | Moscow, Russia || October 31, 2003 |- | Saint Peterburg, Russia || December 9, 2005 |- | Toronto, Canada || February 13, 2006 |- | Geneva, Switzerland || April 13, 2007 |- | Yokohama, Japan || July 23, 2007 |- | Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan || October 27, 2007 |- | Guangdong, People's Republic of China || September 10, 2008 |- | Minsk, Belarus || November 4, 2008 |- | Vladivostok, Russia || May 21, 2009 |- | Barcelona, Spain || May 29, 2009 |- | Seville, Spain || May 29, 2009 |- | Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa || November 10, 2009 |- |}

Photo Gallery

Gallery

District 1

City views

See also

List of tallest buildings in Vietnam

Notes

References

External links

Official website (in Vietnamese and English)

Ho Chi Minh City People's Council

Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee

History of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Ho Chi Minh city – Vietnam Online

}} Category:Cities in Vietnam Category:District capitals in Vietnam Category:Đông Nam Bộ Region Category:Populated places in Ho Chi Minh City Category:Port cities in Vietnam Category:Provinces of Vietnam

ace:Kota Ho Chi Minh af:Ho Chi Minh-stad als:Ho-Chi-Minh-Stadt ar:هو تشي منه (مدينة) an:Ciudat Ho Chi Minh roa-rup:Ho Chi Minh City frp:Ho Chi Minh Vela ast:Ciudad Ho Chi Minh gn:Táva Ho Chi Minh ay:Ho Chi Min marka az:Ho Chi Minh (şəhər) bm:Ho Chi Minh-Ville bn:হো চি মিন সিটি bjn:Ho Chi Minh City zh-min-nan:Hồ Chí Minh Chhī map-bms:Kota Ho Chi Minh be:Горад Хашымін bcl:Ho Chi Minh City bi:Ho Chi Minh City bar:Ho-Chi-Minh-Stadt bo:ཧོ་ཀྲི་མིན་གྲོང་ཁྱེར། bs:Ho Ši Min Grad br:Kêr Ho-Chi-Minh bg:Хошимин ca:Ciutat Ho Chi Minh cv:Хошимин cs:Ho Či Minovo Město ch:Ho Chi Minh cbk-zam:Ciudad Ho Chi Minh tum:Ho Chi Minh City cy:Dinas Ho Chi Minh da:Ho Chi Minh-byen pdc:Ho Chi Minh-Schtadt de:Ho-Chi-Minh-Stadt nv:Ho Chi Min Sídii dsb:Ho Chi Minh město et:Hồ Chí Minh (linn) el:Χο Τσι Μινχ (πόλη) es:Ciudad Ho Chi Minh eo:Ho-Ĉi-Min-urbo ext:Ciá Ho Chi Minh eu:Ho Chi Minh Hiria ee:Ho Chi Minh City fa:هوشی‌مین (شهر) hif:Ho Chi Minh City fo:Ho Chi Minh City fr:Hô-Chi-Minh-Ville fy:Ho Chi Minh stêd ga:Cathair Ho Chi Minh gv:Caayr Ho Chi Minh gd:Ho Chi Minh (baile) gl:Cidade Ho Chi Minh - Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh gan:胡志明市 ko:호찌민 시 hy:Հոշիմին hi:हो ची मिन्ह शहर hsb:Ho Chi Minh město hr:Ho Ši Min (grad) io:Ho Chi Minh urbo ig:Ho Chi Minh City id:Kota Ho Chi Minh ia:Ho Chi Minh City ie:Ho Chi Minh Cité ik:Ho Chi Minh City os:Хошимин zu:IHochiminh is:Ho Chi Minh-borg it:Ho Chi Minh (città) he:הו צ'י מין סיטי jv:Kutha Ho Chi Minh kl:Ho Chi Minh Illoqarfik pam:Ho Chi Minh Lakanbalen ka:ხოშიმინი csb:Ho Chi Minh City kw:Cita Ho Chi Minh rw:Ho Chi Minh (umujyi) sw:Mji wa Ho Chi Minh kg:Ho Chi Minh City ht:Hô-Chi-Minh-Vil ku:Ho Chi Minh City lad:Sivdad Ho Chi Minh la:Hochiminhopolis lv:Hošimina lb:Ho Chi Minh City lt:Hošiminas lij:Ho Chi Minh Cittæ li:Ho Chi Minhstad ln:Ho Chi Minh Engumba jbo:Ho Chi Minh tcadu lg:Ho Chi Minh City lmo:Cità de Ho Chi Minh hu:Ho Si Minh-város mg:Hô-Chi-Minh-Ville ml:ഹോ ചി മിൻ നഗരം mt:Ho Chi Minh (belt) mi:Ho Chi Minh City mr:हो चि मिन्ह सिटी arz:هو تشى مينه ms:Bandar Raya Ho Chi Minh mwl:Ho Chi Minh Cidade mdf:Хошимин mn:Хо Ши Мин (хот) my:ဟိုချီမင်းစီးတီး nah:Āltepētl Ho Chi Minh na:Ho Chi Minh City nl:Ho Chi Minhstad nds-nl:Ho Chi Minh (stad) ja:ホーチミン市 nap:Ho Chi Minh (cità) frr:Ho Chi Minh-stää pih:Ho Chi Minh City no:Ho Chi Minh-byen nn:Ho Chi Minh-byen nrm:Ho Chi Minh Ville nov:Ho Chi Minh City oc:Ho Chi Minh (ciutat) pfl:Ho-Chi Minh-Schdadt pap:Saigon km:ក្រុងព្រៃនគរ pcd:Ho Chi Minh Vile pms:Ho Chi Minh City tpi:Ho Chi Minh City nds:Ho-Chi-Minh-Stadt pl:Ho Chi Minh (miasto) pt:Cidade de Ho Chi Minh kaa:Ho Chi Minh City ro:Ho Și Min (oraș) rmy:Ho Chi Minh City rm:Citad Ho Chi Minh qu:Ho Chi Minh llaqta ru:Хошимин se:Ho Chi Minh City sm:Ho Chi Minh City sc:Ho Chi Minh (Tzitade) sco:Ho Chi Minh Ceety stq:Ho-Chi-Minh-Stääd st:Ho Chi Minh City tn:Ho Chi Minh City sq:Ho-Chi-Minh-Stadt scn:Ho Chi Minh City simple:Ho Chi Minh City sk:Hočiminovo Mesto sl:Hošiminh sr:Хо Ши Мин (град) sh:Ho Chi Minh (grad) su:Kota Ho Chi Minh fi:Hồ Chí Minhin kaupunki sv:Ho Chi Minh-staden tl:Lungsod ng Ho Chi Minh ta:ஹோ சி மின் நகரம் kab:Ho Chi Minh City roa-tara:Ho Chi Minh (cetate) tt:Хошимин tet:Ho Chi Minh City th:นครโฮจิมินห์ chy:Ho Chi Minh City tr:Ho Chi Minh Kenti tk:Ho Chi Minh City tw:Ho Chi Minh City udm:Хошимин bug:Ho Chi Minh City uk:Хошимін ur:ہو چی من ug:سايگون za:Ho Chi Minh Si vec:Ho Chi Minh City vi:Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh fiu-vro:Ho Chi Minh wa:Hô Chí Minh Veye war:Syudad han Ho Chi Minh wo:Ho Chi Minh City wuu:胡志明市 yi:הא טשי מין שטאט zh-yue:胡志明市 diq:Ho Chi Minh (bacar) zea:Ho Chi Minh stad bat-smg:Hošėmins zh:胡志明市

name	Hồ Chí Minh
nationality	Vietnamese
birth date	May 19, 1890
birth place	Nghệ An Province, French Indochina
death date	September 02, 1969
death place	Hanoi, Democratic Republic of Vietnam
order	Chairman of the Workers' Party of Vietnam
term start	19 February 1951
term end	2 September 1969
predecessor	Position established
successor	Post abolished
order2	First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Vietnam
term start2	1 November 1956
term end2	10 September 1960
predecessor2	Trường Chinh
successor2	Lê Duẩn
order3	President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
term start3	2 September 1945
term end3	2 September 1969
predecessor3	Position established
successor3	Tôn Đức Thắng
order4	Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
term start4	2 September 1945
term end4	20 September 1955
predecessor4	Position established
successor4	Phạm Văn Đồng
party	Workers’ Party of Vietnam
signature	Ho Chi Minh Signature.svg }}

Hồ Chí Minh (), born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc (19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969) was a Vietnamese Marxist revolutionary leader who was prime minister (1945–1955) and president (1945–1969) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). He was a key figure in the formation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945, as well as the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Vietcong during the Vietnam War until his death in 1969.

Hồ led the Việt Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communist-governed Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at Điện Biên Phủ. He lost political power in 1955—when he was replaced as prime minister—but remained the highly visible figurehead of North Vietnam—through the presidency—until his death. The capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, after the Fall of Saigon, was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in his honor.

Early life

Nguyễn Sinh Cung was born in 1890 in Hoàng Trù Village, Vietnam, his mother’s hometown. From 1895, he grew up in his paternal hometown of Kim Liên Village, Nam Đàn District, Nghệ An Province, Vietnam. He had three siblings: his sister Bạch Liên (or Nguyễn Thị Thanh), a clerk in the French Army; his brother Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm (or Nguyễn Tất Đạt), a geomancer and traditional herbalist; and another brother (Nguyễn Sinh Nhuận) who died in his infancy. As a young child, Cung studied with his father before more formal classes with a scholar named Vuong Thuc Do. Cung quickly mastered Chinese writing, a requisite for any serious study of Confucianism, while honing his colloquial Vietnamese writing. In addition to his studious endeavors, he was fond of adventure, loved to fly kites and go fishing. In deference to his father, Cung received a French education, attended lycée in Huế, the ''alma mater'' of his later disciples, Phạm Văn Đồng and Võ Nguyên Giáp. He later left his studies and chose to teach at Dục Thanh school in Phan Thiết.

In the USA

In 1912, working as the cook’s helper on a ship, Cung traveled to the United States. From 1912 to 1913, he lived in New York (Harlem) and Boston, where he worked as a baker at the Parker House Hotel. Among a series of menial jobs, he also has claimed to have worked for a wealthy family in Brooklyn between 1917 and 1918. During this time, he was influenced by Marcus Garvey in Harlem. It is believed that, while in the United States, he made contact with Korean nationalists, an experience that developed his political outlook.

In England

At various points between 1913 and 1919, Cung lived in West Ealing, west London, and later in Crouch End, Hornsey, north London. He is reported to have worked as a chef at the Drayton Court Hotel, on The Avenue, West Ealing. It is claimed that Ho trained as a pastry chef under the legendary French master, Escoffier, at the Carlton Hotel in the Haymarket, Westminster, but there is no evidence to support this. However, the wall of New Zealand House, home of the New Zealand High Commission, which now stands on the site of the Carlton Hotel, displays a blue plaque, stating that Cung worked there in 1913 as a waiter.

Political education in France

From 1919–1923, while living in France, Nguyễn Sinh Cung embraced communism, through his friend and Socialist Party of France comrade Marcel Cachin. Cung claimed to have arrived in Paris from London in 1917, but French police only have documents of his arrival in June 1919.

Following World War I, under the name of Nguyễn Ái Quốc (“Nguyễn the Patriot”), he petitioned for recognition of the civil rights of the Vietnamese people in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks, but was ignored. Citing the language and the spirit of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, Nguyễn petitioned U.S. President Woodrow Wilson for help to remove the French from Vietnam and replace them with a new, nationalist government. While he was unable to obtain consideration at Versailles, the failed effort had the effect of further radicalizing Nguyễn, while at the same time making him a national hero of the anti-colonial movement at home in Viet Nam.

In 1920, during the Congress of Tours, in France, Nguyễn Ái Quốc became a founding member of the ''Parti Communiste Français'' (French Communist Party)(PCF) and spent much of his time in Moscow afterwards, becoming the Comintern’s Asia hand and the principal theorist on colonial warfare. During the Indochina War, the PCF would be involved with anti-war propaganda, sabotage and support for the revolutionary effort.

In May 1922, Nguyễn wrote an article for a French magazine criticizing the use of English words by French sportswriters. The article implores Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré to outlaw such Franglais as ''le manager'', ''le round'' and ''le knock-out''. While living in Paris, he had a relationship with dressmaker Marie Brière.

In the Soviet Union and China

In 1923, Nguyễn left Paris for Moscow, where he was employed by the Comintern, studied at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East, and participated in the Fifth Comintern Congress in June 1924, before arriving in Canton (present-day Guangzhou), China, in November 1924. In June 1925, Hoàng Văn Chí said that Nguyễn had betrayed Phan Bội Châu, the head of a rival revolutionary faction, to French police in Shanghai for 100,000 piastres. Hồ later claimed that he did this because he expected Chau’s trial to stir up anti-French resentment and because he needed the money to establish a communist organization. But in ''Ho Chi Minh: A life'', Duikers denied this hypothesis. Châu never denounced Nguyễn.

During 1925-26 he organized 'Youth Education Classes' and occasionally gave lectures at the Whampoa Military Academy on the revolutionary movement in Indochina. He married a Chinese woman, Tăng Tuyết Minh (Zeng Xueming), on 18 October 1926. When his comrades objected to the match, he told them, “I will get married despite your disapproval because I need a woman to teach me the language and keep house.” She was 21 and he was 36. They married in the same place where Zhou Enlai had married earlier and then lived together at the residence of Comintern agent Mikhail Borodin.

Chiang Kai-shek’s anti-communist 1927 coup triggered a new round of wanderings for Hồ. He left Canton again in April 1927 and returned to Moscow, spending some of the summer of 1927 recuperating from tuberculosis in the Crimea, before returning to Paris once more in November. He then returned to Asia by way of Brussels, Berlin, Switzerland, and Italy, from where he took a ship to Bangkok, Thailand, where he arrived in July 1928. “Although we have been separated for almost a year, our feelings for each other do not have to be said in order to be felt”, he reassured Minh in an intercepted letter.

He remained in Thailand, staying in the Thai village of Nachok, until late 1929 when he moved on to Hong Kong, and Shanghai. In June 1931, he was arrested in Hong Kong. To reduce French pressure for extradition, it was announced in 1932 that Nguyễn Ái Quốc had died. The British quietly released him in January 1933. He then made his way back to Milan, Italy, where he served in a restaurant. The restaurant is now a traditional Lombard-cuisine temple and harbors a portrait of Ho Chi Minh on the wall of its main dining hall. He then moved to the Soviet Union, where he spent several more years recovering from tuberculosis. In 1938, he returned to China and served as an adviser with Chinese Communist armed forces, which later forced China’s government to the island of Taiwan. Around 1940, Nguyễn Ái Quốc began regularly using the name "Hồ Chí Minh", a Vietnamese name combining a common Vietnamese surname (Hồ, 胡) with a given name meaning "enlightened will" (from Sino-Vietnamese 志明; Chí meaning 'will' (or spirit), and Minh meaning 'light'), in essence, meaning “bringer of light”.

Independence movement

In 1941, Hồ returned to Vietnam to lead the Việt Minh independence movement. The “men in black” were a 10,000 member guerilla force that operated with the Việt Minh. He oversaw many successful military actions against the Vichy French and Japanese occupation of Vietnam during World War II, supported closely but clandestinely by the United States Office of Strategic Services, and also later against the French bid to reoccupy the country (1946–1954). He was also jailed in China for many months by Chiang Kai-shek’s local authorities. After his release in 1943, he again returned to Vietnam. He was treated for malaria and dysentery by American OSS doctors. In the highlands in 1944, he lived with Do Thi Lac, a woman of Tay ethnicity. Lac had a son in 1956.

After the August Revolution (1945) organized by the Việt Minh, Hồ became Chairman of the Provisional Government (Premier of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and issued a Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam that borrowed much from the French and American declarations. Though he convinced Emperor Bảo Đại to abdicate, his government was not recognized by any country. He repeatedly petitioned American President Harry Truman for support for Vietnamese independence, citing the Atlantic Charter, but Truman never responded.

In 1945, in a power struggle, the Việt Minh killed members of rival groups, such as the leader of the Constitutional Party, the head of the Party for Independence, and Ngô Đình Diệm’s brother, Ngô Ðình Khôi. Purges and killings of Trotskyists, the rival anti-Stalinist communists, have also been documented. In 1946, when Hồ traveled outside of the country, his subordinates imprisoned 25,000 non-communist nationalists and forced 6,000 others to flee. Hundreds of political opponents were also killed in July that same year, notably members of the Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang and the Dai Viet Quoc Dan Dang. All rival political parties were banned and local governments purged to minimise opposition later on.

Birth of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

On 2 September 1945, after Emperor Bảo Đại’s abdication, Hồ Chí Minh read the Declaration of Independence of Vietnam, under the name of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. With violence between rival Vietnamese factions and French forces increasing, the British commander, General Sir Douglas Gracey, declared martial law. On 24 September, the Việt Minh leaders responded with a call for a general strike.

In September 1945, a force of 200,000 Chinese Nationalists arrived in Hanoi. Hồ Chí Minh made arrangement with their general, Lu Han, to dissolve the Communist Party and to hold an election which would yield a coalition government. When Chiang Kai-Shek later traded Chinese influence in Vietnam for French concessions in Shanghai, Hồ Chí Minh had no choice but to sign an agreement with France on 6 March 1946, in which Vietnam would be recognized as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union. The agreement soon broke down. The purpose of the agreement was to drive out Chiang’s army from North Vietnam. Fighting broke out with the French soon after the Chinese left. Hồ Chí Minh was almost captured by a group of French soldiers led by Jean-Etienne Valluy at Việt Bắc but was able to escape.

“The last time the Chinese came, they stayed a thousand years. The French are foreigners. They are weak. Colonialism is dying. The white man is finished in Asia. But if the Chinese stay now, they will never go. As for me, I prefer to sniff French shit for five years than to eat Chinese shit for the rest of my life.”—Hồ Chí Minh, 1946

In February 1950, Hồ met with Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong in Moscow after the Soviet Union recognized his government. They all agreed that China would be responsible for backing the Việt Minh. Mao’s emissary to Moscow stated in August that China planned to train 60-70,000 Việt Minh in the near future. China’s support enabled Hồ to escalate the fight against France.

According to a story told by journalist Bernard Fall, after fighting the French for several years, Hồ decided to negotiate a truce. The French negotiators arrived at the meeting site: a mud hut with a thatched roof. Inside they found a long table with chairs and were surprised to discover in one corner of the room a silver ice bucket containing ice and a bottle of good Champagne which should have indicated that Hồ expected the negotiations to succeed. One demand by the French was the return to French custody of a number of Japanese military officers (who had been helping the Vietnamese armed forces by training them in the use of weapons of Japanese origin), in order for them to stand trial for war crimes committed during World War II. Hồ replied that the Japanese officers were allies and friends whom he could not betray. Then he walked out, to seven more years of war.

In 1954, after the important defeat of French Union forces at the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, France was forced to give up its empire in Indochina.

Becoming president

The 1954 Geneva Accords, concluded between France and the Việt Minh, provided that communist forces regroup in the North and non-communist forces regroup in the South. Hồ’s Democratic Republic of Vietnam relocated to Hanoi and became the government of North Vietnam, a communist-led single party state. The Geneva accords also provided for a national election to reunify the country in 1956, but this provision was rejected by South Vietnam’s government and the United States. The U.S. committed itself to oppose communism in Asia beginning in 1950, when it funded 80 percent of the French effort. After Geneva, the U.S. replaced France as South Vietnam’s chief sponsor and financial backer, but there never was a treaty between the U.S. and South Vietnam.

Following the Geneva Accords, there was to be a 300-day period in which people could freely move between the zones of the two Vietnams. Some 900,000 to 1 million Vietnamese, mostly Roman Catholic, as well as many anti-communists, intellectuals, former French colonial civil servants and wealthy Vietnamese, left for South Vietnam, while a much smaller number, mostly communists, went from South to North. This was partly due to propaganda claims by a CIA mission led by Colonel Edward Lansdale that the Virgin Mary had moved South out of distaste for life under communism. Some Canadian observers claimed that some were forced by North Vietnamese authorities to remain against their will. During this era, Hồ, following the communist doctrine initiated by Stalin and Mao, started a land reform in which thousands of people accused of being landlords were summarily executed or tortured and starved in prison. With the backing of the U.S., the 1956 elections were canceled by Diem.

At the end of 1959, Lê Duẩn was appointed acting party leader and began sending aid to the Vietcong insurgency in South Vietnam. This represented a loss of power by Hồ, who is said to have preferred the more moderate Giáp for the position. The so called Ho Chi Minh Trail was built in 1959 to allow aid to be sent to the Vietcong through Laos and Cambodia, thus escalating the war. Duẩn was officially named party leader in 1960, leaving Hồ a figurehead president and symbol of Vietnamese Communism.

In 1963, Hồ corresponded with South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in the hope of achieving a negotiated peace. This correspondence was a factor in the U.S. decision to tacitly support a coup against Diem later that year.

In late 1964, North Vietnamese combat troops were sent southwest into neutral Laos. During the mid to late 1960s, Lê Duẩn permitted 320,000 Chinese volunteers into northern North Vietnam to help build infrastructure for the country, thereby freeing a similar number of North Vietnamese forces to go south.

By early 1965, U.S. combat troops began arriving in South Vietnam to counter the threat imposed by both the local Vietcong and the North Vietnamese troops in the border areas. As the fighting escalated, widespread bombing of North Vietnam by the U.S. Air Force and Navy escalated as Operation Rolling Thunder. Hồ remained in Hanoi during his final years, demanding the unconditional withdrawal of all foreign troops in South Vietnam. By July, 1967, Hồ and most of the Politburo of North Vietnam met in a high-level conference where they concluded that the war was not going well for them since the American military blunted every attempt by the Peoples Army of Vietnam to make gains. However, with Hồ's permission, the Viet Cong planned to execute the Tet Offensive as a gamble to take the South by force and defeat the U.S. military.

The offensive was a huge tactical failure which resulted in the decimation of whole units of Viet Cong as well as a fundamental change in the attitudes of people in the South. Up until Tet, they had generally favored the Viet Cong; in the wake of mass executions conducted during the Offensive, popular support shifted to the government. It appeared to Hồ and the rest his government that the war was indeed lost--until it became clear from news coverage that the scope of the action had shocked an American public that up until then had been assured that the Communists were "on the ropes." Ironically, at the moment that they genuinely were struggling, the overly positive spin that the U.S. military had offered for years came crashing down. The bombing of North Vietnam was halted, and negotiations with U.S. officials opened to discuss how to end the war. From that moment on, Hồ and his government realized that while defeat of the U.S. military in battle was impossible, merely prolonging the conflict would lead to eventual acceptance of the terms that Hanoi wanted.

By 1969, with negotiations still dragging on, Hồ's health began to deteriorate from multiple health problems, including diabetes among other ailments, which prevented him from participating in further active politics. However, he insisted that his forces in South Vietnam continue fighting until all of Vietnam was reunited under his government, regardless of the length of time that it might take, believing that time and politics were on his side.

Death

With the outcome of the Vietnam War still in question, Hồ Chí Minh died at 9:47 a.m. on the morning of 2 September 1969, at his home in Hanoi at age 79 from heart failure. His embalmed body is currently on display in a mausoleum in Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi.

News of his death was withheld from the North Vietnamese public for nearly 48 hours due to not wanting to announce his death on the anniversary of the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. He was not initially replaced as president, but a "collective leadership" composed of several ministers and military leaders took over. They took control of North Vietnam to continue Hồ's goal of finishing the war with South Vietnam and uniting it under his founding government.

Six years after his death, after the communists were successful in the war against South Vietnam, several North Vietnamese tanks in Saigon displayed a poster with the following quote; "You are always marching with us, Uncle Hồ".

Legacy

The former capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, was officially renamed Hồ Chí Minh City on 1 May 1975 shortly after its capture which officially ended the war.

Hồ Chí Minh's embalmed body is on display in Hanoi in a granite mausoleum modeled after Lenin's Tomb in Moscow. Streams of people queue each day, sometimes for hours, to pass his body in silence. This is similar to other Communist leaders.

The Hồ Chí Minh Museum in Hanoi is dedicated to his life and work.

Chilean musician Victor Jara references Ho Chi Minh in his song "El Derecho de Vivir en Paz" (The Right to Live in Peace).

Cult of personality

In Vietnam today, he is regarded by the Communist government with god-like status in a nationwide cult of personality, even though, since the mid-1980s, the government has abandoned most of his economic policies. He is still referred to as "Uncle Hồ" or just "Uncle" (''Bác'') in Vietnam. Hồ's image appears on the front of every Vietnamese currency note, and Hồ's portrait and bust is featured prominently in many of Vietnam's public buildings, classrooms and even temples, many of which are devoted to him. In 1987, UNESCO officially recommended to member states that they "join in the commemoration of the centenary of the birth of President Hồ Chí Minh by organizing various events as a tribute to his memory", considering "the important and many-sided contribution of President Ho Chi Minh in the fields of culture, education and the arts" and that Hồ Chí Minh "devoted his whole life to the national liberation of the Vietnamese people, contributing to the common struggle of peoples for peace, national independence, democracy and social progress."

Publications about Ho's non-celibacy are banned in Vietnam. A newspaper editor in Vietnam was dismissed from her post in 1991 for publishing a story about Tang Tuyet Minh. William Duiker's ''Ho Chi Minh: A Life'' (2000) presents much information on Ho's relationships. The government requested substantial cuts in the official Vietnamese translation of Duiker's book, which was refused. In 2002, the Vietnamese government suppressed a review of Duiker's book in the ''Far Eastern Economic Review''.

References

Further reading

Essays

Bernard B. Fall, ed., 1967. ''Ho Chi Minh on Revolution and War, Selected Writings 1920-1966''. New American Library.

Biography

William J. Duiker. 2000. ''Ho Chi Minh: A Life''. Theia.

Jean Lacouture. 1968. ''Ho Chi Minh: A Political Biography''. Random House.

N. Khac Huyen. 1971. ''Vision Accomplished? The Enigma of Ho Chi Minh''. The Macmillan Company.

David Halberstam. 1971. ''Ho.'' Rowman & Littlefield.

Hồ chí Minh toàn tập. NXB chính trị quốc gia

Sophie Quinn-Judge. 2003. ''Ho Chi Minh: The missing years''. C. Hurst & Co. ISBN 1-85065-658-4

Ton That Thien, ''Was Ho Chi Minh a Nationalist? Ho Chi Minh and the Comintern'' Information and Resource Centre, Singapore, 1990

The Việt Minh, NLF and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

William J. Duiker. 1981. ''The Communist Road to Power in Vietnam''. Westview Press.

Hoang Van Chi. 1964. ''From colonialism to communism''. Praeger.

Truong Nhu Tang. 1986. ''A Viet Cong Memoir''. Vintage.

The War in Vietnam

Frances FitzGerald. 1972. ''Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam''. Little, Brown and Company.

American foreign policy

Christopher Hitchens. 2001. ''The Trial of Henry Kissinger''. Verso.

Henry A. Kissinger. 1979. ''White House Years''. Little, Brown.

Richard Nixon. 1987. ''No More Vietnams''. Arbor House Pub Co.

External links

The Drayton Court Hotel

Obituary in ''The New York Times'', 4 September 1969

TIME 100: Hồ Chí Minh

Hồ Chí Minh's biography

Hồ Chí Minh pictures as slides

Satellite photo of the mausoleum on Google Maps

Final Tribute to Ho Chi Minh from the Central Committee of the Vietnam Workers' Party

Bibliography: Writings of Ho Chi Minh, and Books about Him

|- |- |-

Category:1890 births Category:1969 deaths Category:People from Nghe An Province Category:Cold War leaders Category:Communist rulers Category:Anti-Revisionists Category:People of the First Indochina War Category:People of the Vietnam War Category:Presidents of Vietnam Category:Prime Ministers of Vietnam Category:Vietnamese revolutionaries Category:Vietminh members Category:World War II resistance members Category:Communist Party of Vietnam politicians Category:Bandung Conference attendees *

am:ሆ ቺ ሚን ar:هو تشي منه an:Ho Chi Minh ast:Ho Chi Minh bn:হো চি মিন zh-min-nan:Hồ Chí Minh be:Ха Шы Мін be-x-old:Ха Шы Мін bs:Ho Ši Min br:Hồ Chí Minh bg:Хо Ши Мин ca:Ho Chi Minh cs:Ho Či Min cy:Ho Chi Minh da:Ho Chi Minh de:Ho Chi Minh et:Hồ Chí Minh el:Χο Τσι Μινχ es:Hồ Chí Minh eo:Ho Chi Minh eu:Ho Chi Minh fa:هوشی‌مین fr:Hô Chi Minh fy:Ho Tsji-Minh gl:Ho Chi Minh gan:胡志明 hak:Fù Tsṳ-mìn ko:호찌민 hi:हो चि मिन्ह hsb:Ho Chi Minh hr:Ho Ši Min io:Ho Chi Minh id:Ho Chi Minh is:Ho Chi Minh it:Ho Chi Minh he:הו צ'י מין jv:Ho Chi Minh ka:ხო ში მინი la:Hồ Chí Minh lv:Ho Ši Mins lt:Ho Ši Minas hu:Ho Si Minh ml:ഹോ ചി മിൻ mr:हो चि मिन्ह ms:Ho Chí Minh mn:Хо Ши Мин my:ဟိုချီမင်း nl:Hồ Chí Minh ja:ホー・チ・ミン no:Hồ Chí Minh nn:Ho Chi Minh oc:Ho Chi Minh pl:Hồ Chí Minh pt:Ho Chi Minh ro:Ho Și Min qu:Ho Chi Minh ru:Хо Ши Мин sa:हो चि मिन्ह sco:Ho Chi Minh sq:Ho Chi Minh scn:Ho Chi Minh simple:Ho Chi Minh sk:Ho Či Min sl:Ho Ši Minh (politik) sr:Хо Ши Мин sh:Hồ Chí Minh fi:Ho Tši Minh sv:Ho Chi Minh tl:Ho Chi Minh ta:ஹோ சி மின் te:హొ చి మిన్ th:โฮจิมินห์ tr:Ho Chi Minh uk:Хо Ши Мін vi:Hồ Chí Minh war:Ho Chi Minh zh-yue:胡志明 zh:胡志明