Hanoi Streets, Hanoi Names

HỎA LÒ (EARTHEN STOVE)

Southeast of Thăng Long Citadel was the small village of Nam Phụ. It was also called Hỏa Lò (earthen stove) because the main occupation of the village was making hoả lò and other earthenware.

In the late 19th Century, the French relocated the entire village in order to build its main prison, Maison Centrale. Logically, they named the street on which the prison was located Rue de la Prison. Following the return of Vietnamese rule in Vietnam, the authorities kept the prison, but changed the name of the street to reflect the area’s original occupation.

Maison Centrale, now converted into a muse­um, is the sole occupant on this street. Many of those for whom streets are named were imprisoned there before being executed on prison grounds. During its latter use, the prison housed criminal elements as well as American pilots and crew who had been shot down during air attacks on North Vietnam. Current U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, ’Pete’ Peterson, was detained in Maison Centrale for seven years.

HỒ HOÀN KIẾM (HOÀN KIẾM LAKE)

This short street runs off the lake for which it is named. During the French era, a cinema, the Philharmonique, was built on this street opposite the lake. Consequently, the street was originally named Rue de la Philhar­monique. After the French withdrew from Vietnam in 1954, the movie theatre was renamed Hòa Bình (Peace) Cinema House. In the 1980’s, it was demolished and a the­atre designed for water puppet shows was built in its place.

Hoàn Kiếm Lake derives its name from the legend of Lê Thái Tổ’s magic sword. For years, King Tổ (Lê Lợi) had warded off the invading Ming troops from China with the help of a magic sword given to him by the gods. When he returned to the capital, he was boating in a lake near the citadel when a golden tortoise emerged from the depths, snatched the sword from the king, and disappeared beneath the surface with the sword. To Lê Lợi, the message was clear: peace was at hand so the time had come for the mighty sword to be restored to its heav­enly origins. Thus, Hồ Hoàn Kiếm means Lake of the Restored Sword.

There are two islands in the lake. The most apparent, especially when it is beautifully illuminated at night, is the small island across from the Hoà Phong Tower on Đinh Tiên Hoàng Street. It is home to the Tortoise Tower. Originally, however, it was built as a pavilion for the Trịnh Lords and intended to be a complement to the Báo Ân Pagoda across from the Hòa Phong Tower. The real intent of the contractor, however, was to con­struct a sarcophagus in which remains of his father could be placed. Somehow, this became common knowledge. The Trịnh Lord let construction continue until completion. The contractor did find a resting-place for his father, but not for eternity. The body dis­appeared overnight.

The ornate Ngọc Sơn (Jade Mountain) Temple graces the larger island in the lake. It can be reached by crossing Cầu Thê Húc (Bridge of the Rising Sun). The temple is dedicated to three men who exemplify the Vietnamese ideal: the scholar, Văn Xương Đế Quân; the warrior, Trần Hưng Đạo; and the patron saint of physicians, Lã Tổ.

HOÀNG DIỆU (1828 -1882)

Hoàng Diệu, born Hoàng Kim Tích in Quảng Nam Province, was blessed to have parents who valued education for their offspring. In 1853, Hoàng Diệu earned a junior doctorate in the Court Examinations. His brothers and sis­ters also placed well in their exams and then worked as professionals in different fields.

Hoàng Diệu’ s first appointment was to the Royal Academy in Huế where he worked as an editor and examiner of court books and documents. Following his father’s death in 1854 and a traditional period of mourning, Diệu served in various administrative posi­tions in Bình Định and Thừa Thiên Province. While in Thừa Thiên, he exhibited the princi­ples and morals that would characterize his career - and eventually cost him his life..

A plot had been hatched to overthrow reigning King Tự Đức. The conspirators were appre­hended, tried, sentenced to death, and duly exe­cuted. Hừang Diệu and some other officials protested the harshness of the punishment. They suggested that the rebellion was not born of treason, but of a misguided patriotism. The plot­ters were frustrated over the King’s negotiations with the French colonials. The king was not pleased. He demoted Diệu and his followers.

By the 1870’s, Diệu had been fully rehabi­litated and appointed to a number of high positions in the Tự Đức government. He was the king’s trusted military envoy, Head of the Board of Censors, First Advisor to the Ministry of the Interior, and, after the devas­tating floods of 1878 in Quảng Nam Province, Special Imperial Envoy for Relief Operations.

By 1880, Hoàng Diệu was serving as Provisional Governor of Hà Ninh in northern Vietnam, an area that included Hà Nội (which had been the capital of Vietnam until Emperor Gia Long relocated it to Huế in 1805). Diệu ruled diligently and put the well being of the people first. Besides prohibiting vice and other social evils, Diệu stipulated that govern­ment officials were not to harass the public they were supposed to be serving. To this day, remnants of this dictum can be read on a stone stele atop the Eastern Gate on Ô Quan Chưởng Street.

By now the French colonials were firmly entrenched in the South and clearly had designs on the North. Governor Diệu, the Governor of Sơn Tây, and other officials pre­pared for the defense of Hà Nội. In 1882, the French attacked. Equipped with better weaponry and schooled in the art of modem warfare, French forces overwhelmed the defense within several days. Hà Nội Citadel fell - and Hoàng Diệu, a man of principle to the end, killed himself rather than suffer the indignity and humiliation of surrender.

In Hà Nội, Hoàng Diệu, called Avenue Victor Hugo during the French era, runs along the western edge of Hà Nội Citadel. The western gate, also known as the gate of the Heavenly Temple (Điện Kính Thiên), was built during the early Nguyễn Dynasty (1802 - 1945). The gate still appears as it did in a photograph taken over a hundred years ago. The only dif­ference is that the small-gauge railroad tracks running between the twin cannons and into the heavenly gates are now gone. At that time, the citadel was a French military cantonment. Today the Vietnamese military is vigorously defending the citadel. Efforts to take a picture of the gate were met with stiff resistance from the gatekeeper.

HOÀNG HOA THÁM (1845 - 1913) ALSO KNOWN AS ĐỀ THÁM

Đề Thám, a Confucian scholar, was the leader of a patriotic uprising towards the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th Centuries. Aligned with the Cần Vương (Serve the King) Movement, this rebellion was most active in Yên Thế District, Bắc Giang province.

Under Đề Thám’s leadership, the Yên Thế Insurrection lasted for some 25 years (1887 ­- 1913). In an effort to suppress the insurrec­tion, the French established a sub-regional military district in Yên Thế that was given extra-judicial powers.

HOÀNG NGỌC PHÁCH (1896 - 1973)

Hoàng  Ngọc  Phách,a teacher, writer, and lit­erary scholar, wrote under the pen name, Song An. In the early 1920’s, he wrote Tố Tâm,  the first romantic novel ever published in Vietnam. It won both popular and critical acclaim, and marked the beginning of modem Vietnamese prose.

 HOÀNG QUỐC VIỆT (1905 -1992)

Hạ Bá Cang developed an interest in revolu­tionary politics early in life and turned it into a career serving his country. In 1925, while a stu­dent at Trường Kỹ Nghệ (technical school) in Hải Phòng, Cang’s interest was sparked when he began participating in the school’s patriotic movement. Upon graduation, he worked as a mechanic in the Hải Phòng shipyards, but stayed active in politics. So strong were his feelings that Cang changed his name to Hoàng Quốc Việt (Hoàng the Vietnamese Nationalist) and went south to help organize the resistance to the French in the Sài Gòn area. In 1930, Việt and other Party stalwarts, Nguyễn Văn Cừ, Lê Duẩn, and Phạm Văn Đồng , were arrested by the French. After his release from prison in 1936, Việt kept the faith and went on to become a leader in the new government. He served as a member of the Politburo, Director of the People’s Supreme Procuracy, President of the Trade Union Federation, and President of the Presidium of the Fatherland Front.

HOÀNG VĂN THỤ (1906 - 1944)

Hoàng Văn Thụ, a member of the Tày ethnic minority, was an early leader of the Indochinese Communist Party who con­tributed greatly to the development of the rev­olutionary forces in Northern Việt Nam.

During those heady days of the Revolution, Thụ found a soulmate in fellow party activist Hoáng Ngân. Equally dedicated to the cause, the two lovers worked hard and advanced steadily. Thu was elected Secretary of the Bắc Kỳ (Northern Region) Party Committee. Ngân became a member of the Standing Committee of the Bắc Kỳ Women’s Liberation Association. By 1941, Thụ was organizing and chairing importance Party conferences. They were together at a meeting being chaired by Thụ when it was raided by the colonial authorities. Both escaped, but Ngân was arrested soon after and imprisoned in Maison Centrale, Hỏa Lò Street, Hà Nội. Two years later, Thụ was also apprehended and sent to Maison Centrale. His stay would be brief, however. On 24 May 1944, he was guillotined by the French.

Ngân was released from prison in March 1945. Faithful to the end, she never married. It is said that she died of malaria on 17 July 1949. Many suspect, however, that the real cause was a broken heart.

HUẾ

Huế Street is named for the imperial city of Hue in Central Vietnam, home of Duy Tan and twelve other Nguyễn Dynasty emperors from 1802 to 1945. Huế, when it was known as Phú Xuân, had also been the capital of the short-lived Tây Sơn Dynasty. Originally, this road was a main transportation link between Thăng Long Citadel and areas to the south. During the French colonial era, a tram line serviced the area. Between 1945 and 1954, Huế Street was named Duy Tan. Street

HÙNG VƯƠNG (HÙNG KINGS)

As legend tells it, Vietnam evolved over the millennia from its origins in the mountains northwest of Hà Nội. There, in today’s Phú Thọ Province, the Hùng kings established a dynasty that ruled for hundreds of years.

Lạc Long Quân and his very fertile wife, Âu Cơ, settled on Nghĩa Lĩnh Mountain where Âu Cơ gave birth to 100 eggs that hatched into 100 sons. The first hatched remained on the mountain and became the first of 18 genera­tions of Hùng rulers. Fifty of his brothers fol­lowed Lạc Long Quân to the seacoast; the other forty-nine followed their mother, Âu Cơ, to the neighboring mountains. Thus, as legend has it, the Việt nation was born.

 HUỲNH THÚC KHÁNG (1876 -1947)

Huỳnh Thúc Kháng was a newspaperman and editor who became active in the Duy Tân (Renovation) Movement against the French in the early 1900’s. Kháng was also the first edi­tor of the Tiếng dân (Voice of the People), a newspaper published in Central Vietnam from 1927 to 1943. As the voice of the people, this newspaper provided a forum for patriotic Vietnamese to protest French rule. Because of his revolutionary activities, Kháng was arrest­ed by the French and imprisoned on Côn Đảo (Poulo Condor Island). While there, he put his literary talents to use. He wrote a book about the prison and prison life that has been pre­served at the Côn Đảo Museum. Following the August 1945 Revolution, Kháng was active in the formation of the new government

 KIM ĐỒNG (1929 -1943)

Nông Văn Dền, a member of the Nùng ethnic minority in Cao Bằng Province, took on the nom de guerre Kim Đồng and took up arms against the French at a tender age. While on a military mission, he was killed in action. Kim Đồng was honored with the title Hero of the People’s Armed Forces after his death

KIM MÃ (GOLDEN HORSE)

Kim Mã, an extension of Nguyễn Thái Học Street, is a major arterial road. Kim Mã and Nguyễn Thái Học run from the heart of Hà Nội to the Cầu Giấy area west of the city. During the French colonial era, this stretch of road was Quốc Lộ Số 11, National Highway Number 11 leading to Sơn Tây.

The name kim mã is another example of the poetry and versatility of the Vietnamese lan­guage. In ordinary Vietnamese, "golden horse" simply reads con ngựa vàng, not much of a name for a street. Kim mã, on the other hand, packs some punch. Like other words mentioned herein, these words were borrowed from the Chinese Han dialect and have become a sophisticated part of the Vietnamese language

 LÃN ÔNG (1721 - 1791)

Lãn Ông Street, 180 meters of traditional apothecaries, herb shops, and herbal medicine stores, is named in honor of the master of Vietnamese herbal medical practice.

Hải Thượng Lãn Ông, named Lê Hữu Trác at birth, was drawn to medicine when he was 20 years old. A poet as well as a physician, Lãn Ông catalogued, in verse, the effects of more than 700 medicinal plants. His Treatise on Medical Knowledge, 66 books divided into 28 volumes, is a compendium of more than medical knowledge though. It also stresses the importance of ethics in the practice of medi­cine, and contains volumes of information about Vietnamese history, literature, and phi­losophy.

During the French colonial era, Lãn Ông Street was named Rue des Phúc Kiến. Its name reflected the make-up of the residents who had migrated there from Fujian Province in China, bringing their herbal medicines with them.

LÊ ĐẠI HÀNH (941 -1005)

In 980 Lê Đại Hành overthrew the leaders of the Đinh Dynasty (968 - 980, founded by Đinh Bộ Lĩnh) and established the early Lê Dynasty. Like the Đinh Dynasty, the Lê Dynasty did not last long. By 1010, it had been replaced by the Lý Dynasty.

 LÊ DUẨN (1907 - 1986)

Lê Duẩn was a founding member of the Indochinese Communist Party. He served as the General Secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party from 1976 until his death in 1986.

In Hà Nội, Lê Duẩn Street is but the latest (and probably the last) of a long succession of name changes. Located near Cửa Nam, the southern entrance to the Thăng Long Citadel, along this byway many artisans produced and sold para­sols for the fair-skinned mandarin class. Soon the street became known as Phố Hàng Lọng (Parasol Products Street). In 1895, the French constructed the railroad terminus on Hàng Lọng and changed its name to Route Mandarine.

The railway terminal was called Hàng Cỏ Station because of the proximity of the station to the area in which grass (co) was sold as fodder for horses.

After the August 1945 Revolution, the new authorities restored the original name, Hang LQng, to the street. When the French reestab­lished themselves in Ha Noi two years later, however, they named the street Rue de Lattre de Tassigny. General Tassigny had been Commander-in-Chief of the French Expeditionary Corps (CEF) in Vietnam, His son, Lieutenant Bernard Tassigny, commanded a CEF outpost in Ninh Blnh Province. During the Quang Trung Campaign, Lt. Tassigny was killed in an attack by the Vietnamese Army. Grief­stricken and riddled with cancer, the general returned to France where he died a broken man In 1954, the triumphant Vietnamese govern­ment named the street Nam Bo (South Viet Nam). The current name, Le Duan, was bestowed in the late 1980’s, not long after the General Secretary’s death.

LÊ HỒNG PHONG  (1902 - 1942)

Lê Huy Doãn was a Vietnamese revolutionary leader who took on a nom de guerre that reflected his dedication to the socialist cause. Hồng Phong means "red wind" in the classical Vietnamese language. Together with Phùng Chí Kiên and Hà Huy Tập, Phong organized the Indochinese Communist Party Congress of 1935 and served as a representative at the Congress. Comrade Phong was captured by the French in 1938 and then imprisoned on Côn Đảo (PauloCondor Island) where he died four years later 

In January 1950, the Vietnamese revolutionary /’ leadership honored Comrade Phong by dub­bing a major military operation in northwestern Vietnam the Lê Hồng Phong Operation.

LÊ QUÝ ĐÔN (1726 -1784)

Lê Quý Đôn was a statesman, a scholar, and an encyclopedist. His broad interests encom­passed history, geography, economics, philos­ophy, and ethics. He is best known for his documentation of ancient Vietnamese history.

 During the French era, this street was called Rue Marcel Leger. It was also called Ấu Triệu Street before being named Lê Quý Đôn.

 LÊ THÁI TỔ (1385 -1433)

Commander Lê Lợi, with the assistance of his brilliant tactician Nguyễn Trãi, led a ten-year insurgency against Ming rule (1408 - 1427) in Vietnam. The struggle, known as the Lam Sơn uprising, began in January 1418.

Earlier, in 1416, Lê Lợi, a landholder and landlord from the Lam Sơn region of ’Thanh Hóa Province, had met with 18 others who were contemptuous of Ming rule. They vowed to ovel1hrow the Ming and reestablish a sovereign Vietnam. Other Vietnamese national­ists quickly joined the cause. For years, they fought a limited guerrilla war, but eventually the movement grew and became a full-force threat to Ming hegemony. To counter the spreading insurgency, Ming rulers called for reinforcements from China. In September 1426, Le Lợi and Nguyễn Trãi led three battalions of insurgents deep into occupied territory where they stopped the 50,000 Ming troops sent south as reinforce­ments. Forced to take up defensive positions, the Ming soldiers were besieged by Le Lợi’s forces. By December 1427, the invaders had surrendered; by January of the new year, they had withdrawn from Vietnam. In recognition of his leadership, Le Lợi was crowned King Lê Thái Tổ in 1428. Still king, he died in 1433 and was succeeded by his 11­year-old son, Lê Thái Tông. Nguyễn Trãi stayed on as an advisor to the young king but was eventually held in disfavor. King Tông’s wife, Nguyễn Thi Anh, was especially fond of  litchi and tried to comer the market of this "fruit fit for a king." Trãi objected to her scheme - and apparently let it be known. He was no longer a court favorite..

 When King Lê Thái Tông died at an early age, Anh suspected that Nguyễn Trãi had some­how arranged her husband’s untimely death. Anh ordered that Trãi be executed. Thus, the man who played such a large role in estab­lishing the Le Dynasty also met a very untimely death.

 Originally, Le Thai To Street in Hà Nội was a narrow path that bordered Hoan Kiem Lake. It provided access to several villages and pago­das that were located near the lake. The French built a longer, more durable road there and called the first section Rue Beauchamps, the second Rue Jules Ferry. It was along Rue Beauchamps, in the premises now occupiedby the Golden Hà Nội Hotel, that President Hồ Chí Minh worked out of a safe house days before hostilities with the French broke out on19 December 1946.

 Along his namesake street, next to the beauti­fully restored ANZ Bank, there is a statue of U Thai To. It stands majestically atop a plinth in a tastefully designed vest-pocket park. If memory serves me well, the monument was built by the French in 1896 to honor the emperor. At one point there was a commemo­rative plaque, in French, on the park’s outside fence. During Hà Nội’s makeover in celebration of her 990th birthday, the fence was replaced. Apparently the old plaque clashed with its new surroundings, for it is now nowhere to be found. Ironic indeed - a historic restoration that misplaces an important piece of its history.

LÊ THÁNH TÔNG (1442 - 1497)

Lê Thánh Tông was the fourth of the Lê Dynasty kings (1428 - 1793). His 37-year reign is considered by Vietnamese historians to be the most enlightened of all the feudal regimes.

 In military matters, King Thánh Tông dealt deftly with any external threats to Vietnam’s security. Be it through force or negotiation, he quashed threats from all directions: from the Chinese Qing Dynasty to the north; from the Lao to the west; and from the Champa Kingdom to the south.

In domestic matters, Lê Thánh Tông set a standard to which all leaders should aspire. His court drafted Hồng Đức, a set of pro­gressive laws that treated the masses more justly than before. The King also recognized the value of education to society. He ordered that the names of outstanding graduates be inscribed on stele a at the’ Temple of Literature (Văn Miếu, Hà Nội). This enlightened emperor also recognized indi­vidual talent when he saw it. He commis­sioned Ngo 81 Lien to write a compendium of Vietnamese history.

Lê Thánh Tông was a scholar in his own right. He founded the Altar of Poetry (Tao Đàn), a literary coterie of 28 scholars contributed many poems and essays to the group. Fittingly, Tao Đàn Park is located on Lê Thánh Tông Street:

Given his scholarly bent, it is most appropriate that one of Hà Nội’s premier universities is also located on Lê Thánh Tông. Built in 1904, National University was the primary source of education for the elite throughout Indochina. The well-to-do from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia (King Sihanouk went there) sent their children here to absorb a first-rate education. The recently renovated Hà Nội Opera House and its well-heeled neighbor, the spanking-new Hà Nội Opera Hotel are also located on this street, where it joins a number of others to form the August 19th Square.  

This half-kilometer-long street was first built atop the earthen dyke that protected Thang Long Citadel from the floodwaters of the Hong River. The French named the street on which they chose to build their opera house Boulevard Bobillot.

 LÊ  VĂN HƯU(1230 ~ 1322)

Without Lê Văn Hưu’s chronicles, much ofVietnam’s history would have been lost. This Vietnamese historian served the Trần Dynastyas an academician. His greatest work was his 30-volume Đại Việt Sử Ký (History of the Great Viet).

LIÊN TRÌ

Liên Trì is another of Hà Nội’s cul-de-sacs (French for "bottom of the bag"). The area in which Liên Trì Street is located was once part of the village of Liên Đường. Within this vil­lage was Liêf Trì Pagoda for which this street is named. The pagoda has since been removed and is now located on nearby Nguyễn Du Street.

LÒ SŨ (COFFIN MAKERS)

The early inhabitants of today’s Lò Sũ Street settled there from a couple of nearby villages. From a village in neighboring Hà Tây Province came carpenters who crafted coffins and other wooden products from lumber acquired from Hàng Thùng Street.

Coffin making was not, however, the only industry established along the street. Black­ smiths from Đa Hội Village (just east of Hà Nội) arrived even earlier than the coffin craftsmen. As was the custom with each of the relocated villages, the Đa Hội trans-plants erected a temple that was dedicated to the founder of Đa Hội blacksmithing. The original temple was built near 32 Lò Sũ Street. The French apparently did not like to be reminded that the Lò Sũ craftsmen were piec­ing together our eternal homes. They called the street Rue Pouyanne.

LONG BIÊN BRIDGE

In 1945, after the August Revolution, Long Biên Bridge was renamed for the small village that stood at the foot of the bridge across the Hồng River from Hà Nội.

Designed by famed French architect Gustave Eiffel, Vietnam’s "horizontal Eiffel Tower" was originally called Pont Doumer. (Paul Doumer was the French Governor-General of Indochina from 1897 to 1902.) As indicated on the steel-plated plaque mounted on one of the bridge’s girders, Pont Doumer, almost two kilometers long, was constructed by the firm of Daydfi & Pille, Paris, between 1899 and 1902.

Decades later, the bridge would bear witness to Vietnamese triumph and French defeat and withdrawal from Vietnam. In August 1945, revolutionary armed forces from the liberated provinces in the north marched across Cầu Long Biên to participate in the liberation of Hà Nội. A decade later, a decade of protracted struggle against French efforts to re-colonize Vietnam, they were on the bridge again. On 10 October 1954, triumphant Vietnamese soldiers, fresh from battlefield victories, were greeted on the bridge by cheering crowds as they crossed into Hà Nội. Months later, there was a more somber scene on the bridge as French troops rendezvoused to begin their withdrawal from Vietnam after 80 years of colonial rule.

Long Biên Bridge also played a prominent role in the American War. Bombed repeatedly because of it strategic value, the bridge was repeatedly repaired using improvised materi­als and replacement spans. The original Eiffelian design was destroyed in places and never restored in the center, thus breaking its continuous zigzag pattern.

LƯƠNG NGỌC QUYẾN (1885 - 1917)

Quyến and his brother, Lương Ngọc Quyến, were members of the Đông Du (Voyage to the East) Movement that was started by Phan Bội Châu in 1905.

In 1919, Quyến organized an armed insurrec­tion against the French colonialists. On 30 August 1917, he and his followers occupied the city of Thái Nguyên and held it for six days. Quyến died there, either from wounds caused by French artillery or, to avoid capture, by his own hand. No doubt his father, Lương Văn Can, was quite proud of his son’s courage and determination.

The western end of Lương Ngọc Quyến, near its intersection with Tạ Hiền, was once the heart of the theatre district in the Old Quarter of Hà Nội.

 LƯƠNG VĂN CAN (1854 -1927)

Mr. Can was a scholar who emerged as a rev­olutionary at the turn of the 20th Century. He was one of the leaders of the Duy Tân (Renovation) resistance movement in the early days of the French conquest of Vietnam. Years later Can was still active. In 1907 he and Nguyễn Quyền founded the Đông Kinh Nghiã Thục (School for a Just Cause) in Hà Nội. This school was designed to teach the masses about Western civilization and tospread the word about the merits of the new Vietnamese script, quốc ngữ (the Vietnamese words you just read are in quốc ngữ) The school was shut down by the French within a year. Eventually Can went into self-exile in Cambodia but returned to Vietnam in the early 1920’s. Can’s sons, Lương Ngọc Quyến and Lương Ngọc Nhiễm, followed their fathers lead and became revolutionaries in their own right.

LÝ NAM ĐẾ (503 - 548)

Lý Nam Đế, whose real name was Lý Bí, was the first person to assume the title of emperor in Vietnam.

After resigning from his mandarin post, Lý Bí led a peasant movement in armed struggle against the Liang (Chinese) occupiers from the north. In 544, he proclaimed himself Ly Emperor of the South (Lý Nam Đế) and named his kingdom Vạn Xuân (Land of Ten Thousand Springs).

 LÝ QUỐC SƯ

During the 12th Century, Buddhist monk Nguyễn Chí Thanh was living the contemp­lative life near the shores of HoànKiếm Lake when he was summoned by the king. King Lý Thân Tông was suffering a debilitating illness for which no cure was known. Thanh was able to cure the King. Out of gratitude, King Tông bestowed the title Lý Quốc Sư: (Master of the Nation) on the monk. The King also provided a comfortable residence for Thanh near Báo Thiên Pagoda (present site of St. Joseph Cathedral). When the monk died, the King ordered that a temple be built on the grounds of his residence. Many restorations later, the ancient temple dedicated to the famous monk can still be found on the street named in his honor.

LÝ THÁI TỔ (974 -1028)

Tổ, named Lý Công Uẩn by the family that adopted him, was crowned King Lý Thái Tổ as a reward for his military exploits. He was the founder and first king of the Lý Dynasty (1010 - 1225). In 1010, King Thái Tổ moved his capital from Hoa Lư in Ninh Bình Province to Đại La Citadel and then changed its name to Thăng Long (Ascending Dragon) (present-day Hà Nội).

When the French arrived in Hà Nội in the 1880’s, they found the area through which Lý Thái Tổ Street now runs to be sparsely-popu­lated swampland. They filled it in, built a road called Boulevard Admiral Courbet, and set about turning the reclaimed land into a garden spot. A spacious park was created and named after French Indochina Governor General Paul Bert. A striking, imposing structure, the Bank of Indochina, was erected across from the park. CourbetPrimary School and a Protestant Church were established in this  area just east of Hoàn Kiếm Lake. All are still there. Only their names have changed.

Of particular historic interest is the Cercle de /’Union Club. There, on 6 March 1946, President Hồ Chí Minh signed a Preliminary Agreement with the French government. France agreed to recognize Vietnam as a free state within the Indochina Federation and the French Union. Under the guise of disarming the defeated Japanese force still in Vietnam, 15,000 French troops replaced China’s Kuomintang Army. Apparently, the Vietnamese leadership began to suspect that French were simply seeking entree back into Vietnam. By December of the same year, the Agreement had broken down and hostilities between the French and Vietnamese had broken out

LÝ THƯỜNG KIỆT (1030 -1105)

Lý Thường Kiệt was a general who served valiantly during the Lý Dynasty, most notably by repulsing two Sung invasions. To sum up General Kiệt’s life so succinctly and leave it at that would be a slight to a man whose life characterizes much of the Vietnamese ideal and whose accomplishments shaped Vietnam’s destiny. 

Ngô Tuấn, son of a mandarin, was born shortly after Lý Thái Tổ founded the Lý Dynasty (1010 - 1225). Tuan lost his father when he was thirteen and his mother five years later. During the time between their deaths, he developed into an exemplary scholar-warrior. Well schooled in the classics and letters of his day, Tuan also excelled in the martial arts, archery, and horseback riding. By the time he was 23 years old, he was serving in the royal guard. Perhaps it was this assignment that prompted him to change his surname to that of the king and become Lý Thường Kiệt.

Kiệt’ s first major victory was a rearguard action. A weakened Champa Kingdom still clung to the remnants of power along the cen­tral coast south of the §¹i ViÖt (Great ViÖt) nation. So weakened had it become, however, that it had surrendered its sovereignty to China’s Sung Dynasty, which was also posing a threat to the north of Đại Việt. In 1069, General Kiệt and King Lý Thánh Tông led some 50,000 troops in a attack on the king­dom and eliminated the threat from the south. Kiệt was promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the entire Đại Việt army.

The threat to the north persisted, however, so Commander-in-Chief Kiệt took the fight to the enemy. He personally led a preemptive strike into Sung territory. On 27 October

1075, Đại Việt forces launched a surprise attack on the Sung citadel in southern China. After 42 days of fighting, Commander Kiệt withdrew his forces back to Đại Việt. He had confounded the Sung and thus bought time to prepare for their inevitable invasion.

Upon returning home, Lý Thường Kiệt com­posed a poem that has been an inspiration for generations of Vietnamese patriots - and should have been taken to heart by more than a couple foreign powers. The last two stanzas of Nam Quốc Sơn Hà (Mountains and Rivers of Vietnam) read as follows: 

How is it then that you strangers dare to invade our land?

Your armies, without pity, will be annihilated.

In 1077, the Sung invaded §¹i ViÖt. Commander Kiệt and his army turned back 100,000 invaders who were advancing along the Cầu River northwest of Thăng Long.  

MÃ MÂY (RATTAN AND VOTIVE PAPER)

Unlike any other street in the Old Quarter of Hà Nội that derives its name from a trade or occupation, Ma May Street is a composite: it combines two industries.

Its northern end was home to rattan weavers and was thus originally called Phố Hàng Mây (Rattan Products). The southern section of the street was occupied by craftsmen who fash­ioned various votive products (hàng mã) out of paper, an industry that may have given rise later to gravestone carving on nearby Hàng Mắm Street. When the French arrived, they simply merged the two names and referred to the, entire street as Ma May.

The French also had another name for the street. They called it Rue des Pavillons Noirs

(Street of the Black Flag Troops). The Black Flags were a guerrilla group that stymied the French as they were establishing a foothold in Vietnam. Twice, first in 1873 and again in 1883, Black Flag guerrillas ambushed French forces that were advancing on Hà Nội Citadel. During each assault the French commander was killed; their graves are said to still be in the Cầu Giấy area.

Lưu Vĩnh Phúc, legendary commander of the Black Flag guerrillas, used the north end of Mã Mây and adjacent Hàng Buồm as his sanctuary and base of operations. Farther down is a house that was built during Phúc’s time. It stands out from the others. Restored, renovated, and refurbished, beautified and gentrified to the point that it now no longer resembles the way it ever looked,. it can be seen at 87 Mã Mây.

MẠC ĐĂNG DUNG (1483 -1541)

Dung founded the M¹c Dynasty. Its reign, 1527 to 1592, was short-lived by Vietnamese standards.

MAI HẮC ĐẾ (8th CENTURY)

Mai Thúc Loan was a poor commoner who led his people in their stand against the exces­sive demands of the Tang (Chinese) Dynasty. The feudal Chinese had demanded that their Vietnamese subjects pay tribute by supplying the Chinese royalty with the sumptuous litchi fruit that was grown in the South. Loan object­ed and found that he had a following. Mai Thúc Loan went on to become King Mai Hắc Đế.

NGÕ GẠCH (BRICK ALLEY)

As with other byways in the Old Quarter, Brick Alley is so named because of the pri­mary industry that located there. Brick Alley is, however, newer than surrounding streets because it was built where the Tô Lịch River once flowed. Possibly, the brick makers even used the clay from its former riverbanks to make their bricks. In any event, when the Hồng (Red) River shifted course, leaving the Old Quarter even farther inland, brick mak­ing on Ngõ Gạch was no longer a viable enterprise.

Of other historic interest on Ngõ Gạch is the Thanh Hà Temple, first built in 1818. Ironically, this temple belonged to the denizens of a street a few blocks away.

Villagers from Thanh Hà settled north of the Tô Lịch River and immediately erected a temple to honor their hometown hero, Trần Lựu. The temple was first located adjacent to the eastern gateway to the Old Quarter. When the gateway expanded, leaving no room for the temple, the transplanted vil­lagers changed the temple’s location, but not its name.

NGÔ QUYỀN (899 - 944)

Ngô Quyền, a native of Đường Lâm Village (near Sơn Tây Township, Hà Tây Province), is renowned in Vietnamese history for vanquish­ing the Chinese from Vietnam and reclaiming Vietnamese sovereignty.

For a thousand years, Vietnam had been sub­ject to Chinese rule. When the Tang Dynasty collapsed in the 10th Century, Vietnamese patriots took advantage of the power vacuum in China and revolted. During the struggle, Ngô Quyền, an official in charge of Ái Châu (Thanh Hoa Province) emerged as the top mil­itary leader Chinese forces, now under the South Han Dynasty, resisted the Vietnamese rebellion. Reinforcements were sent south to bolster the occupation army. During a significant encounter with the rebels on the Bạch Đằng River, Chinese troops ships were ingeniously lured into battle, trapped, and destroyed. Ngô Quyền ordered his troops to make and drive large, wooden, steel-tipped stakes into the river bed. At high tide when the troop ships went upriver, they passed over the stakes undamaged; when they retreated at low tide they were impaled on the stakes and defeated by Ngô Quyền’s army.

In 939, Ngô Quyền proclaimed himself emper­or of a sovereign Vietnam. He ruled until his death five years later. A millenium later, in 1945, a street in Hà Nội named in his honor would be featured in another Vietnamese struggle for sovereignty. On 19 August 1945, immediately after the end of World War II, an immense crowd formed in the square in front of Hà Nội’s Opera House to hear their leaders call for the overthrow of Japanese rule in Vietnam. The crowd dis­bursed and scattered throughout the city taking over different government offices. At noon, revolutionary soldiers advanced on the Tonkin (Bắc Bộ) Palace located on Ngô Quyền Street. They occupied it and transformed the stately building into working offices for their leaders.

On 26 August, Hồ Chí Minh presided over-the first meeting of the Vietnamese Provisional Government there. Today the building that was home to the newly-formed government is the Government Guest House.

Across from the Government Guest House is another stately abode, the Sofitel Metropole Hotel. Constructed between 1899 and the mid­1901, and first named the Grand Hotel Metropole Palace, this hotel is the oldest in Ha Noi. It also has the distinction of being the venue for the fIrst showing of a film in Vietnam (1916). From 1960 until 1992, it was known as the Thống Nhất (Reunification) Hotel.

NGÔ SĨ LIÊN

Ngô Sĩ Liên was a renowned scholar who served the regime of the enlightened emperor, Lê Thánh Tông (1460 - 1497), with distinction. At the behest of King Thánh Tông, Liên wrote a compendium of Vietnam’s history, Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn thư (Complete Edition of the Great Việt History).

NGUYỄN BỈNH KHIÊM (1491 -1585)

Khiêm was a scholar and a poet who wrote during the Mạc Dynasty era. Assuming the pen name, White Cloud (Bạch Vân in classi­cal Vietnamese), he wrote two collections of poems that have withstood the test of time. The French called his street Rue Rene Daurelle.

The Institute of Traditional Medicine is located on Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm Street. Around the comer, on Tuệ Tĩnh Street, you can follow your nose to a number of herbal pharmacy shops.

NGUYỄN CAO (1828 -1887)

Nguyen Cao was a scholar whose patriotism led him to oppose French rule in Vietnam. From 1883 to 1886, Cao engaged in various anti-French activities. Captured by the French, he was executed in 1887.  

NGUYỄN CÔNG HOAN (1903 -1977)

Nguyễn Công Hoan, a man of letters, was born in Hưng Yên where he was raised and completed graduate studies in pedagogy. In the 1920’s, he developed a distinctive style of writing that was evident in his short stories. During the struggle against the French in the 1940’s and 1950’s, Hoan lent his literary skills as a writer and reporter to the cause.

Đống rác cũ (The Dump) and Bước đường cùng (The Impasse) are two of this writer’s better known works.

NGUYỄN ĐÌNH CHIỂU (1822 - 1888)

Chiểu’s university studies were cut short when his mother died and he returned home to Gia Định Province. There he began teaching and writing. When the French occupied Gia Định, however, Chiểu joined Trương Công Định in the struggle against the colonialists. Chiểu’s writings became exhortations against French hegemony and calls for his compatri­ots not to cooperate with the French forces of occupation. Some of Chiểu’s most poignant writing was evoked when he heard of Trương Định’s death on 19 August 1864. Grief-strick­en, he composed 12 odes and wrote the funeral oration for this fallen hero.

NGUYỄN DU (1765 -1820)

Nguyễn Du is considered to be Vietnam’s greatest poet. Two of his classics, Tales of Kiều and Prayer to Wandering Souls, are known to virtually all Vietnamese. Truyện Kiều is a long narrative poem that chroni­cles the sufferings and privations of a young lady who was forced into prostitution. Much more than the story of a young life gone astray, literary critics view this classic as Du’s condemnation of feudal Vietnamese society.

 NGUYỄN HỮU HUÂN (1834 - 1875)

Nguyễn Hữu Huân was born in the southern province of Tiền Giang. Active in resisting the invasion of the French forces in the Mê Kông Delta, Huân was eventually captured by the invaders. Knowing his fate, Huân committed suicide on the execution grounds that had been set up especially for him.

NGUYỄN KHĂC NHU

Nguyễn Khắc Nhu was a leader of the Vietnam Nationalist Party (Quốc Dân Đảng). Despite it efforts, the Nationalist Party failed in its brief struggle against the French for Vietnamese independence. A compatriot of  Nguyễn Thái Học, Nhu shared his friend’s fate. Both were captured and died in prison. Nhu took his own life; Học was put to the guillotine.

NGUYỄN KHUYẾN (1825 -1909)

Nguyễn Khuyến, who wrote under the pen name Quế Sơn, was also known as Yên Đổ, the name of his home village in Hà Nam Province.

Raised in a mandarin family, Khuyến was a poet and a scholar of the first rank. He scored "first scholar laureate" on three levels of the feudal examinations - and he did it at three different times.

While serving the Nguyễn Dynasty at the Huế Court, he lost faith in royal authority and sub­sequently resigned his position. He returned to Yên Đổ and refused to cooperate with the French colonial authorities.

NGUYỄN QUANG BÍCH (1832 -1890)

Nguyễn Quang Bích was a poet and a patriot. For over 10 years, he served as one of the leaders of the royalist Cần Vương (Serve the King) Movement against the French in north­ern Vietnam.

NGUYỄN QUYỀN (1870 -1942)

Nguyễn Quyền, a native of Hà Bắc Province, was a civil servant before turning into a revolutionary. At 37 years of age, he resigned his post as rector of a secondary school in Lạng Sơn, moved to Hà Nội, and helped Lương Văn Can establish the School for the Just Cause (Đông Kinh Nghĩa Thục).

Undeterred when the French closed down the school nine months after its founding, Quyền continued his revolutionary activities under the guise of being a merchant. Once his cover was blown, he was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death. His death sentence was commuted to life in prison. He languished on Can Dao (Poulo Condor Island) until 1941. Paroled when he was 71 years old, Quyen died in Bến Tre a year later.

NGUYỄN SIÊU (1799 -1872)

Nguyễn Văn Siêu served as a court official and statesman before retiring and devoting his life to more scholarly pursuits. After excelling in his court examinations, Siêu became a Provincial Chief Justice for the Nguyen Dynasty. He served in a number of different provinces before being appointed Ambassador to China.

In 1854, Siêu retired and returned to Hà Nội where he devoted the rest of his life to teaching and writing books on a wide range of topics. Chief Justice Siêu was also very active in civic affairs. During the restoration of the Ngoc SonTemple on Hoàn Kiếm Lake in 1864, he added an area in which the great general, Trần Hưng Đạo. could be honored and worshipped. Siêu also ordered that the "Pen" Tower be erected near the front gate. The tower’s real name is Độc Tôn, but it is better known as the Pen Tower because atop it stands a pen, beneath which is inscribed Written in the Heavens.

Siêu’s former home still stands on the street named in his honor. Originally much larger and wider than the surrounding "tube" houses, over the years it has been subdivided into a number of smaller units. You can still get a good idea of the former grandeur of his residence. You must aim high, though. Look to the second story on the even-numbered side of the street (mid teens). Unlike most of the other streets in Ha Nội’s Old Town, Nguyễn Siêu Street is obviously not named after a trade. This is because Nguyễn Siêu was the "new kid on the block." This street sits where the To Lich River once flowed. It was constructed and connected to existing streets after the To Lich, a tributary of the Hong River, was filled in.

During the street-to-street, house-to-house fighting between the Hà Nội Militia and returning French forces in early 1947, Nguyễn Siêu Street served as, a safe haven for the militia. Later it became the militia’s final rendezvous point. On l7 February, under the cover of darkness, the militia regrouped at the eastern end of the street and began their strategic retreat across the Hong River.

NGUYỄN THÁI HỌC (1901 -1930)

Nguyễn Thái Học, a political activist and scholar who embraced and absorbed Western civilization, was one of the founders of the Vietnam Nationalist Party (Quốc Dân Đảng ­25 December 1927). In retribution for the role he played in the 1930 Yên Bái uprising, Hoc and twelve other revolutionary leaders were guillotined at Maison Central, a few hundred meters from the street that bears his name.

Hoc was unrepentant and resolute to the end. Shortly before they took his head but not his honor, he said,

"Tôi làm nghề cách mạng, nghề giết quân xâm lược"

"I work as a revolutionary; my profession is to kill the occupying army"

During the French colonial era in Hà Nội, Nguyễn Thái Học Street was named Rue Duvillier, but the locals called the section clos­est to downtown Hàng Đẫy. From 1945 to 1950, this street was named Phan Chu Trinh.

NGUYỄN THỊ MINH KHAI (1910 -1941)

Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai was a member of the Indochinese Communist Party during its formative years. In 1930, she was elected to be the first chairwoman of the Vietnam Anti­Imperialist Women’s Association. Later, she served as the Secretary of the Sài Gòn - Chợ Lớn Party Committee.

Minh Khai was one of the leaders of the Nam Kỳ (Southern Region) Insurrection against French rule that broke out in Gia Định Province in November 1940. She, along with other revo­lutionary leaders, was betrayed, apprehended, and executed by the French in 1941.

NGUYỄN THIỆN THUẬT (1844 -1926)

Nguyễn Thiện Thuật was a Vietnamese general who abandoned a promising career with the Nguyễn Dynasty Court Nghi, Thuật joined insurgents who were trying to expel the French from Vietnam. when it surrendered its sovereignty to the French in 1883. A few years later, in response to a call from King Hàm

When the insurrection failed, Thuật went to China where he sought support from other exiled Vietnamese patriots. He died there in 1926.

Nguyễn Thiện Thuật Street has gone through a couple of name changes since it was but a pathway behind the Đồng Xuân Market. First called Bắc Qua by the locals, probably because one could pass through (qua) this way to go north (bắc), the French named it Rue Lepage. Vietnam’s first football team took root along Rue Lepage. The pitch used by the Lepage Football Club became a battleground during the French reoccupation of Hà Nội in 1947. French troops moved into the Old Quarter via the Long Biên Bridge and attempted to oust the Hà Nội Militia from its stronghold in Đồng Xuân Market. First blasted by land mines laid by the militia, they were then ambushed on the Lepage football pitch where they suffered heavy losses.

NGUYỄN THƯỢNG HIỀN (1868 - 1925)

Though less known that many of his compatriots, the itinerant Hiền led a life that bridged the fast flowing currents of modern Vietnamese history.

A native of Hà Tây Province, Hiền was born of the manor. His mandarin parents provided him with the best of educations and he applied himself well in school. He graduated with honors after taking the 1883 court examinations in Huế. Everything was right but his tim­ing. The French were advancing on Hue and the Imperial Palace via the Thuận An Estuary. They took the area after a day of fighting ­and Hiền’s test results were never posted. Undeterred - and persistent - he resumed his studies, took another examination, and graduated third in his class three years later.’

Initially Hiền refused to serve a court that had been defeated by, and then kowtowed to, the French colonials. He lived the life of a recluse in Thanh Hóa Province. Eventually the Nguyễn Court persuaded Hiền to return to civil service. He served as Director of Provincial Education in Ninh Bình, Hà Nam, and Nam Định Provinces.

Patriotism (and perhaps wanderlust) beaconed, however. Hiền resigned his position and travelled to China and JapanChina until he died in 1925. In Hà Nội, Nguyễn Thượng Hiền Street was called Rue Mongrand during French colonial rule. Of particular historic interest is a humble abode located there. Prior to the August 1945 Revolution, when Japanese Imperial Forces were still occupying Vietnam, this address was used as a safe house for Vietnamese revolu­tionaries. Poet, painter, and musical composer Văn Cao was one of the covert activists. Following the end of the French War in 1954, Cao returned to the place that had provided so much inspiration during the struggle for inde­pendence. Working just a stone’s throw from Khâm Thiên’s "Red.Light District," Cao could hear and bear witness to the oppressed and downtrodden making do with what they had, be, it their bodies, their wits, or their cunning. In a small upstairs room at 45 Nguyen Thượng Hiền, Văn Cao composed the Vietnamese National Anthem that is sung today. where he met acclaimed Vietnamese scholar Phan Bội Châu. Inspired by Châu’s patriotism, Hiền became one of the leaders of the League for the Reconquest of Vietnam (Viet Nam Quang Phục Hội) and organized military action against French outposts along the Chinese ­ Vietnamese border. More a scholar than a fighter, Hiền’s military career was short-lived. He retired and retreated to a more contempla­tive life. He lived in a pagoda in

NGUYỀN TRÃI (1380 - 1442)

Nguyễn Trãi was a statesman and poet who wrote under the nom de plume Ức Trai. Nguyễn Trãi is best known, however, as the military strategist who assisted Lê Lợi in driving the Ming out of Vietnam between 1407 and 1427. From these experiences he drew the inspiration to write Bình Ngô Đại Cáo, Proclamation of Victory over the Minh Invaders.Upon the death of Lê Lợi (King Lê Thái Tổ), Nguyễn Trãi continued to advise the fledgling Le Dynasty. Le Thai Tong, Lê Lợi’s son, succeeded his father at an early age and need­ed all the help could get. Tong’s wife, Nguyễn Thi Anh, however, viewed Trãi as being meddlesome. Trãi had opposed het efforts to comer the litchi (fruit) market. Upon Tông’s sudden death at an early age, Anh accused Nguyễn Trãi of somehow arranging the King’s untimely demise and ordered that he be executed.

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