Ho Chi Minh City: Paris of the Orient to Hi-Tech Tiger
Situated on the banks of the Saigon River and just 60km from the South China Sea, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is the largest city in Vietnam. Though still known to many as Saigon, the city was renamed in 1976 subsequent to the Fall of Saigon, a historical event triggering a series of dramatic changes in the national economy pushed by Ho Chi Minh‘s successors. The rapidly expanding city is the economic center of Vietnam, and is quickly becoming an important hi-tech center in South-Eastern Asia.
Ho Chi Minh City skyline
The architecture of HCMC attests to its varied past. Wide boulevards and classical Western-style buildings earned the city the nickname “the Paris of the Orient” during the French Colonial era. The elaborate Hotel de Ville de Saigon is now somewhat incongruously named the HCMC People’s Committee Head Office.
Former Hotel de Ville de Saigon
The Reunification Palace is a restoration of the former South Vietnamese Presidential Palace, and recreates the conditions of the 1960s building, before a tank famously crashed through the gate, signaling the end of the Vietnam War.
Today, HCMC drives the economy of Vietnam. Since 1999, the population has increased by over 200,000 people per year, and predictions place the city at a population of 20 million by 2020. In response to this rapid growth, the city has launched aggressive development efforts to establish new urban centers. Two of the most recent centers are the Thu Thiem Center and the Phy My Hung Center, which include several international schools and received the Model New City Award from the Vietnamese government.
The industries in Ho Chi Minh City range from mining, seafood processing and agriculture to construction, tourism, finance, and trading. The first stock exchange in Vietnam opened in HCMC in 2001. The economic growth of the city is apparent in the increase of GDP per capita: in 2006 the GDP per capita of the city was $730USD, and in 2007 it was $2,100USD.
Perhaps the most exciting area of development in HCMC is the expanding hi-tech and software sector. HCMC increasingly is a center for outsourcing, drawing both foreign and local investment. The city has 15 industrial parks and export-processing zones, as well as three large software parks. These parks—the Quang Trung Software Park, Saigon Hi-Tech Park, and the Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone—include software enterprises, dot.com companies, and software training schools. In addition, these parks provide residencies and favorable taxation for workers.
Ho Chi Minh City has a vibrant cultural scene, with both historical and contemporary attractions. In many ways the cultural center of Vietnam, HCMC is home to the Museum of Vietnamese History, Botanical Gardens, and the Fine Arts Museum. Though demographically the city is about 90% ethnic Vietnamese, the Cholon district functions as the city’s Chinatown and is filled with beautiful colorful pagodas.
Home to 80 universities, Ho Chi Minh City is the country’s center of higher education. The HCMC General Library houses 1.5 million books. Ho Chi Minh City is also home to many theater companies, the majority of which are privately owned, and unlike other Vietnamese theater troupes are not subsidized by the government. The Conservatory of Music performs both traditional Vietnamese and Western classical music.
Ho Chi Minh City is the most popular Vietnamese destination for foreign tourists. Accommodations range from upscale luxury hotels to a myriad of budget hostel-style establishments, especially common in the backpacker quadrant of Pham Ngu Lao. Standard Vietnamese fare is the delicious Pho—noodles and meat in a broth soup, usually served with an accompanying plate of bean sprouts, chili, lime wedges and basil leaves.
Comments (1)
Good momentum from the leaping tiger!