Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnamese: Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh) is the largest city in Vietnam and, as Saigon (Vietnamese: Sài Gòn), was the capital of South Vietnam from 1954 to 1976. It is situated on the western bank of the Saigon River.

Origin of the name

There is much debate about the origins of the name Sài Gòn. Vuong Hong Sen, a Vietnamese scholar in the early 20th century, asserted that Sai Gon had its origins from Chinese. In 1778, the Hoa living in Bien Hoa had to take refuge in what is now know as Cholon because they were retaliated by the Tay Son forces for their support of the Nguyen lords. In 1782 they were again massacred by the Tay Son and had to rebuild. They built large dikes and called the new location "Tai-Ngon" or "Tin-Gan", meaning "high dikes". They also called the Vietnamese living in the area "Xi-coon".

Other theories assert that Sài Gòn originated from the word "Sài" from the Chinese character for firewood and "Gòn" from the Chu Nom character for the cotton plant.

Sài is a Vietnamese borrowing from Chinese meaning firewood, Gòn is a Vietnamese word meaning cotton. People say that this name originated from the many cotton plants that the Khmers had planted around their posts, and they can still be seen at Cây Mai temple and surrounding areas. …

Trương Vĩnh Ký, "Souvenirs historiques sur Saigon et ses environs", in Excursions et Reconnaissance X. Saigon, Imprimerie Coloniale 1885.

The debate surrounding the name is still not settled, but it is clear that prior to the name Saigon the city was know by the Khmer inhabitants as Prei Nokor. Prei Nokor means Forest City in Khmer (Prei = Forest, Nokor= City.). This reference to Saigon is still used by Khmers to date. Prei Nokor was the official residence of the vice-king of the Chenla kingdom from the Cholon district to the Cay Mai temple. Before Chenla, the area was ruled by Funan (Phnom) also predominantly a Khmer civilization.

History

Saigon began as a small fishing village. The area that the city now occupies was originally swampland, and was inhabited by Khmer people for centuries before the arrival of the Vietnamese. Throughout the 20th century, Vietnamese domination slowly assimilated the native Khmer culture.

Nguyen Phuc Chu, a Vietnamese noble, was sent to establish administrative structures in the area in 1698. He is often credited with the expansion of Saigon into a significant settlement. The city was also influenced by the French during their colonial occupation of Vietnam, and a number of prominent buildings in the city reflect this.

In 1954, the French were defeated by the Communist Viet Minh in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, and withdrew from Vietnam. Rather than recognise the Communists as the new government, however, they gave their backing to a government established by Emperor Bao Dai. Bao Dai had set up Saigon as his capital in 1950. When Vietnam was officially partitioned into North Vietnam (the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (the Republic of Vietnam), the southern government, led by President Ngo Dinh Diem, retained Saigon as its capital.

At the conclusion of the Vietnam War in 1975, the city came under the control of the North Vietnamese Army and its allies. In the U.S. this event is commonly called the "Fall of Saigon," while in Vietnam it is called the "Liberation of Saigon."

In 1976, upon establishment of the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the victorious Communists renamed the city after socialist Vietnam's founding father, Ho Chi Minh. The former name Saigon is still used by most Vietnamese, especially in informal contexts. Officially, the term Saigon refers only to District One of Ho Chi Minh City.

Ho Chi Minh City is home to a well-established ethnic Chinese population. The Cholon district serves as its Chinatown.

Government

Ho Chi Minh City is a municipality that exists at the same level as Vietnam's provinces. As such, it has a similar political structure to provinces, with a People's Council and a People's Committee being the principle administrative entities.

The municipality is divided into twenty-two districts. Five of these are designated as rural districts, covering the farmland around the city which is included in the municipality's official boundaries. These districts are named Nha Be, Can Gio, Hoc Mon, Cu Chi, and Binh Chanh. The remaining seventeen districts are found in the city itself. Only five of the urban districts have names (Tan Binh, Binh Thanh, Phu Nhuan, Thu Duc, and Go Vap) – the remainder are simply numbered from one to twelve.

Demographics

The population of Ho Chi Minh City (as of 2003) is believed to be around 6 million, making it the most populous city in the country. It is also the most populous of Vietnam's province-level administrative units. Ethnically, the majority of the population is either Vietnamese (Kinh) or Hoa (overseas Chinese), although people from other Vietnamese minorities have also moved to the city.

External link

• Travel guide to Ho Chi Minh City from Wikitravel
• Official website (in Vietnamese and English)
• American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City)