Hanoi

Read its story

• A capital inside a dykeThe Red River delta, a thousand years of citadel, and the walls that keep the water out.4 chapters · about 9 min · 3 sources

Where it is

Hanoi sits on the right bank of the Red River, on the delta the river built, about a hundred kilometres inland from the Gulf of Tonkin. Its name means the city inside the river — it is ringed by water, and the river beside it runs at times above the level of the streets, held off by dykes. Lakes are scattered through it, several of them former river channels left behind when the water moved.

The land and water around it

• The Red Riverriver

  Named for its sediment load. Confined by dykes for a millennium, so it deposits on its own bed and rises; the dykes have to rise with it.

• Hoàn Kiếm and the lakeslake

  Several of the city's lakes are abandoned river channels. West Lake, the largest, is a cut-off meander — the river's earlier course, still holding water.

• The delta plaindelta

  Flat, low and among the most densely farmed land anywhere. The city is spreading onto rice fields that took centuries to level.

Its history, in short

The city was founded as Thăng Long in 1010 and has been the seat of power for most of the thousand years since, with interruptions when other dynasties built elsewhere. It was the capital of French Tonkin and then of the Indochinese Union, which gave it a French quarter of villas and boulevards alongside the guild streets of the old quarter. It was the capital of North Vietnam from 1954, was bombed during the war, and became the capital of the reunified country in 1976. Since the đổi mới reforms of 1986 it has grown very quickly, and the argument over what to keep is live in every district.

Timeline

Dates are shown on a timeline rather than as changing shapes on the map. The globe draws modern boundaries only, and tinting a modern outline to stand for a historical one would state something we cannot source.

Places that carry meaning

• The Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long1010 onward

  Stratified remains of successive dynasties on one site, found during construction and excavated instead of built over. The decision to change the building plan is why it exists as heritage.

• The Old Quarter15th century onward

  Streets named for the trade once practised on them, still legible: silk, tin, votive paper, baskets. Tube houses, narrow at the front because frontage was taxed, run deep behind.

• The Temple of Literature1070 onward

  The graduate stelae are inscribed with the names of examination successes over three centuries — a public record of who passed, on stone, in a system that claimed to promote on merit.

Learn the language here

1. 1Understand which languages are spoken hereHanoi is multilingual. Start with which languages are used, by whom, and for what — the phrase list only covers one of them.Written by Globe Quest
2. 2Learn 11 phrasesCurated everyday phrases for Hanoi, with audio and a written form.Written by Globe Quest
3. 3Say them out loudSpeaking practice with pronunciation feedback, one phrase at a time.Globe Quest material, your own additions
4. 4Come back to themSpaced review, so what you learned this week is still there next month.Written by Globe Quest
5. 5Practise with people: Vietnamese practice · Ho Chi Minh CityAn in-person practice circle. It is a prepared plan and needs a host before it runs.Run by members
6. 6Read why the language is what it isThe quest for this place covers how its languages got here and who speaks them.Written by Globe Quest

Check yourself

• What does the name Hanoi describe?

  The city inside the river

  Hà Nội means inside the river. Thăng Long, the older name, is the ascending dragon.

• Why was the imperial citadel excavated in the 2000s?

  A planned government building over the site prompted the dig

  Construction plans led to the excavation, and the plans changed. The World Heritage inscription followed in 2010.

Worth arguing about

• A construction plan uncovered a thousand years of capitals, and the plan changed. Who should decide when that happens?
• The capital's accent is the one everyone learns. What does a standard pronunciation do to the varieties it is not?

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