Huế, formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province, is a municipality in central Vietnam, located approximately at the center of the country, and an educational, medical, and cultural hub. It borders Quảng Trị to the north, Đà Nẵng to the south, Salavan and Sekong of Laos to the west and the South China Sea to the east. As one of the country's six direct-controlled municipalities, it falls under the administration of the central government.
Huế has 128 km of coastline, 22,000 ha of lagoons and over 200,000 ha of forest. The city is located in the middle of the North Central and South Central regions (including the South Central Coast and Central Highlands), and is transitional in many aspects: geology, climate, administrative division, and local culture.
What is now the modern city was historically part of Thuận Hóa, a territory ceded by Champa to Đại Việt in 1306 as a wedding dowry. Huế (then known as Phú Xuân) became the provincial capital in 1687, the capital of Đàng Trong from 1738 to 1775, and the capital of Vietnam under the Nguyễn dynasty from 1802 to 1945. The city served as the Imperial Citadel and administrative capital of the Nguyễn dynasty, and later also functioned as capital of the protectorate of Annam during the colonial French Indochina period.
Huế is a popular tourist destination with its extensive UNESCO-designated complex of imperial palaces, tombs and temples. Alongside its moat and thick stone walls, the complex encompasses the Imperial City of Huế, with palaces and shrines; the Forbidden Purple City, once the emperor's home; a replica of the Royal Theater; as well as temples and monuments in the city's outskirts.
Etymology
In the present day, there are no sources of information that definitively confirm when the place name Huế officially appeared, but according to some information:
- It is possible that Emperor Lê Thánh Tông of the Lê dynasty was the first to mention the place name Huế in Thập giới cô hồn quốc ngữ văn, a literature written in Chữ Nôm. In the literature, there is a line: “Hương kỳ nam, vảy đồi mồi, búi an tức, bì hồ tiêu, thau Lào, thóc Huế, thuyền tám tầm chở đã vạy then [Sandalwood incense, tortoiseshell scales, An Tức cloth, pepper hides, Lao bronze, Huế rice, an eight-fathom boat with a worn rudder].”
- Older historical documents, with the exception of Quốc Triều Chính Biên Toát Yếu, used the name Phú Xuân, Kinh Đô, or simply Kinh, rather than the name Huế, when referring to Huế.
- Việt Nam sử lược by Trần Trọng Kim was the first Vietnamese history book written in Chữ Quốc Ngữ. In addition to traditional historical sources, Trần Trọng Kim utilized Western historical sources, and the name Huế appeared.
- In the memoir of Pierre Poivre, a French merchant who visited Phú Xuân (Huế) in 1749, the name Huế in the form of Hué appeared on numerous occasions.
- In 1787, Le Floch de la Carrière drew a map of the Đàng Trong coast for the French Navy, in which the map of Huế was depicted quite clearly, and the name Huế was recorded as the French would later write it: Hué.
- In a letter written in Hồ Chí Minh City on July 15, 1789, by Oliver de Puynamel to Létodal in Macau, the name Hué was mentioned twice when discussing the situation there.
History
The region's history dates back some 2,800 years according to archaeological findings from the Sa Huỳnh culture, as well as from relics in the region.
The oldest ruins in Huế belong to the Kingdom of Lâm Ấp, dating back to the 4th century AD. The ruins of its capital, the ancient city of Kandarpapura (lit. 'the city where Śiva burnt Kama'), is now located in Long Tho Hill, three kilometers to the west of the city. Kandarpapura might have only been established during the reign of Kandarpadharma (r. 629–640) and it was named after the king, certainly it may be not the name of the capital of former Lâm Ấp kingdom. Another Champa ruin in the vicinity, the ancient city of Hoa Chau is dated back to the 9th century. Đại Việt became an independent nation in 938 AD; four centuries of territorial conflicts between Đại Việt and Champa followed. The two provinces then changed their names to Thuận and Hóa.
In 1306, the King of Champa, Chế Mân offered Vietnam two Cham prefectures, Ô and Lý, in exchange for marriage with a Vietnamese (Trần dynasty) princess named Huyền Trân. The Vietnamese King Trần Anh Tông accepted this offer. In 1307, Đoàn Nhữ Hài was appointed by the emperor, Trần Anh Tông, to administer the area. Settlers from the north (Thanh Hóa) migrated south and integrated with the people of the Kingdom of Champa. During this time, the settlement of Hóa Châu province began, which included the area of present-day Huế.
thumb|left|Map of Thua Thien province in 1909
thumb|Map of Huế citadel in 1885
Between the settlement of Thuận Hóa (1306) to the founding of Phú Xuân (1687), there were conflicts and uncertainties for the local people, which including the fall of the Trần Dynasty to the renaissance of the Hồ dynasty.
In 1592, the Mạc dynasty was forced to flee to Cao Bằng province and the Lê emperors were enthroned as de jure Vietnamese rulers under the leadership of Nguyễn Kim, the leader of Lê dynasty loyalists. Later, Kim was poisoned by a Mạc dynasty general which paved the way for his son-in-law, Trịnh Kiểm, to take over the leadership. Kim's eldest son, Nguyen Uông, was also assassinated in order to secure Trịnh Kiểm's authority. Nguyễn Hoàng, another son of Nguyễn Kim, feared a fate like Nguyễn Uông's so he pretended to have a mental illness. He asked his sister Ngoc Bao, who was a wife of Trịnh Kiểm, to entreat Trịnh Kiểm to let Nguyễn Hoàng govern Thuận Hóa, the furthest south region of Vietnam at that time.
Because Mạc dynasty loyalists were revolting in Thuận Hóa, and Trịnh Kiểm was busy fighting the Mạc dynasty's forces in northern Vietnam during this time, Ngoc Bao's request was approved, and Nguyễn Hoàng went south. After Hoàng pacified Thuận Hóa, he and his heir Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên secretly made this region loyal to the Nguyễn family; then they rose against the Trịnh lords. Vietnam erupted into a new civil war between two de facto ruling families: the clan of the Nguyễn lords and the clan of the Trịnh lords.
Thuận Hóa and Phú Xuân became the location of the Đại Việt kingdom once Nguyễn Hoàng was appointed head of Thuận Hóa (1511–1558). Lord Nguyễn Hoàng (1558–1613) established bases at Ai Tu, Tra Bat and Dinh Cat, while his lords moved palaces to (1636), where they would eventually base their operations in Phú Xuân (1687). The Nguyễn lords ruled the area until the Trinh clan conquered it in 1775.
thumb|Drawing of Huế citadel in the Nguyễn dynasty in the early 20th century.
However, Tây Sơn rebellions broke out in 1771 and quickly occupied a large area from Quy Nhon to Bình Thuận province, thereby weakening the authority and power of the Nguyễn lords. While the war between Tây Sơn rebellion and Nguyễn lord was being fought, the Trịnh lords sent south a massive army and easily captured Phú Xuân in 1775. After the capture of Phú Xuân, the Trịnh lords' general Hoàng Ngũ Phúc made a tactical alliance with Tây Sơn and withdrew almost all troops to Tonkin and left some troops in Phú Xuân. In 1786, Tây Sơn rebellion defeated the Trịnh garrison and occupied Phú Xuân. Under the reign of the emperor Quang Trung, Phú Xuân became the Tây Sơn dynasty capital. The Tây Sơn insurgent army conquered the Nguyễn capital after winning the battle of Phú Xuân in 1786, where they continued north and overthrew the Trinh Dynasty. In Phú Xuân, Nguyễn Huệ appointed himself king; with internal strife within the Tây Sơn Movement and the death of Nguyễn Huệ (1792), Nguyễn Ánh took advantage of the situation and conquered Gia Định with the support of foreign forces. He became attached to the Tây Sơn movement and took over Phú Xuân and the throne, thereby choosing the dynasty title of Gia Long (1802).
left|thumb|250x250px|Hue City in 1875
In 1802, Nguyen Ánh, a successor of the Nguyễn lords, recaptured Phú Xuân and unified the country. Nguyễn Ánh rebuilt the citadel entirely and made it the Imperial City capital of all of Vietnam. Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (later Emperor Gia Long) succeeded in establishing his control over the whole of Vietnam, thereby making Huế the national capital.
The second emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty to rule from Huế, reigning from his birthday on 14 February 1820 until his death, on 20 January 1841 was Minh Mạng. He was a younger son of Emperor Gia Long, whose eldest son, Crown Prince Cảnh, had died in 1801. Minh Mạng was well known for his opposition to French involvement in Vietnam, and for his rigid Confucian orthodoxy.
After the French conquest of Vietnam, Phú Xuân was officially renamed to Huế in 1899. It remained the capital of Annam, one of French Indochina's six constituent regions, until the State of Vietnam was established in 1949. Prior to 1975, the province was known simply as Thừa Thiên. During the French colonial period, Huế was in the protectorate of Annam. It remained the seat of the Imperial Palace until 1945, when Emperor Bảo Đại abdicated and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) government was established with its capital at Ha Noi (Hanoi), in the north.
While Bảo Đại was proclaimed "Head of the State of Vietnam" with the help of the returning French colonialists in 1949 (although not with recognition from the communists or the full acceptance of the Vietnamese people), his new capital was Saigon, in the south.
The city was also the battleground for the Battle of Huế, which was one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War. During the Republic of Vietnam, Huế, being very near the border between the North and South, was vulnerable in the Vietnam War. In the Tet Offensive of 1968, during the Battle of Huế, the city suffered considerable damage not only to its physical features but also to its reputation from combination of American military bombing of historic buildings held by the North Vietnamese and from the massacre at Huế. The city suffered from heavy fighting during the Vietnam War, as it was the second-most northerly province of the South Vietnam, close to the North Vietnamese border (DMZ) at the 17th parallel. 2,893 U.S. soldiers died in Huế, more than in any other Vietnamese province. The Massacre at Huế occurred here; an estimated 2,800 to 6,000 civilians and South Vietnamese army prisoners of war were slaughtered by the Việt Cộng during the Tet Offensive of 1968.
After the war's conclusion in 1975, many of the historic features of Huế were neglected because they were seen by the victorious communist regime and some other Vietnamese as "relics from the feudal regime"; the Communist Party of Vietnam (then Workers' Party of Vietnam) doctrine described the Nguyễn dynasty as "feudal" and "reactionary". With the adoption of liberalizing reforms, however, these hostile policies have been abandoned. Many of the city's historic areas and buildings are undergoing restoration, most notably the full reconstruction of Kien Trung Palace in 2024, and the city is quickly developing into a tourism and transportation hub for central Vietnam.
The province saw a large influx of northern settlers soon after the Vietnam War ended, as with the rest of the former South. At the same time, Thừa Thiên was merged with Quảng Bình and Quảng Trị to form the province of Bình Trị Thiên, before being reformed again as Thừa Thiên Huế in 1989. Thừa Thiên Huế and neighboring Quảng Nam province suffered greatly from severe flooding in 1999.
In recognition of Huế's rapid development, the city became Vietnam's sixth centrally-governed municipality in 2025. As part of this process, Huế was merged with the rest of Thừa Thiên Huế province to streamline administration. The National Assembly of Vietnam voted and passed a resolution to establish Huế city as a direct-controlled municipality, comprising the entirety of Thừa Thiên Huế province. At the same time, the former provincial city Huế was divided into two new districts, Phú Xuân district and Thuận Hóa district. Huế municipality officially came into operation in 2025.
Geography
The Perfume River (called Sông Hương or Hương Giang in Vietnamese) passes through the center of the city. The city also accommodates the Tam Giang–Cau Hai lagoon, the largest lagoon in Southeast Asia, which is long with a surface area of . The city is divided into four distinct zones: mountainous areas, hills, plains, and lagoons separated from the sea by sandbanks. It has a coastline of 128 kilometres (80 mi) with extensive beaches. The mountains, located along the western and southwestern borders, cover more than half of the province’s total area, with elevations ranging from 500 metres (1,600 ft) to 1,480 metres (4,860 ft). The hills, which lie between the mountains and the plains, account for about one-third of the territory and range in height from 20 metres (66 ft) to 200 metres (660 ft), with occasional peaks rising to 400 metres (1,300 ft). The plains occupy roughly one-tenth of the surface area, reaching elevations of up to 20 metres (66 ft) above sea level. The lagoons, located between the hills, represent the remaining 5% of the city’s area.
Bạch Mã National Park is a protected area in the city of Huế. The area covers 220 square kilometres (85 sq mi) and is divided into three zones: a strictly protected core area, an administrative area, and a buffer zone.<gallery class="center" caption="Natural landscapes of Huế">
File:Sông Hương với hoa phượng.jpg|Perfume River
File:Bach Ma NP2.jpg|Bạch Mã National Park
File:Tam Giang and Sam-Thanh Lam lagoons.jpg|Tam Giang–Cầu Hai lagoon
File:Mirador de Lang Co, Vietnam (29537339568).jpg|Lăng Cô
File:Strand - panoramio (20).jpg|Phú Vang
File:Hue DoiVongCanh.jpg|Vọng Cảnh Hill
File:Vinh hien.jpg|Vinh Hiền
</gallery>
Climate
Huế’s climate mostly resembles the rest of central Vietnam, characterized as tropical monsoon, but because of the topography and altitude, several climatic types occur which can be the same as found in temperate latitudes (A Lưới and Bạch Mã). In the plains and hills, the average annual temperature is 25 °C (77 °F), while in the mountains it is lower, at around (Statistical Yearbook 2004).
The cool season extends from November to March, accompanied by northeasterly winds. January records the lowest average monthly temperature, 20 °C (68 °F), though temperatures in the plains can drop to 12 °C (54 °F). Relative humidity in this season is generally high, ranging from 85% to 95%. From April to September, the climate becomes warmer, with average monthly temperatures reaching 29 °C (84 °F) in July and extremes of up to 41 °C (106 °F). Despite high humidity in July, the relative humidity may occasionally decrease to around 50%.