Hồng Hà ə̤wŋ˨˩:ha̤ː˨˩is a

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

Hà Nội Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

the capital city in the

Red River Delta The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta () is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in Northern Vietnam. ''Hồng'' (紅) is a Sino-Vietnamese word for "red" or "crimson". T ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

History

Its name Hồng Hà (紅河) is originally the name of the Red River in Vietnamese.

Middle Ages

The modern site of Hồng Hà Ward was first known around the fifth century AD with a small site called as Long Uyên (龍淵, "dragon pond"). However, when the Đường Dynasty was established in 618, it was renamed Long Biên (龍編) to avoid the

real name A legal name is the name that identifies a person for legal, administrative and other official purposes. A person's legal birth name generally is the name of the person that was given for the purpose of registration of the birth and which then ...

of Emperor Cao Tổ. During the following centuries, it played a very important role as a natural barrier to protect

Đông Kinh Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

the capital citadel from the North side.

20th century

When the Government of French Indochina began the project for improvement of the urban area in

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

, the natural lands on both banks of the Red River were hardly noticed, except for the construction of the

Long Biên Bridge Long Biên Bridge () is a historic cantilever bridge across the Red River that connects two districts, Hoàn Kiếm and Long Biên of the city of Hanoi, Vietnam. It was originally called ''Paul Doumer Bridge''. History During French regim ...

in 1902. Because of this, the area has attracted many waves of migrants from poor villages in the whole Ton-Kin after each drought or crop failure. In general, about the early XX century, there were only three notable sites :

, Nhật Tân peach village, Yên Phụ Power Plant. In addition, at the foot of

, there was also a wasteland emerging in the middle of the Red River called Phúc Xá Wharf. However, this site was only used by some residents to grow vegetables or anchor small boats to avoid storms. During the two months of the early 1947,

and Phúc Xá Wharf were the sites of fierce clashes between the

French Far East Expeditionary Corps The French Far East Expeditionary Corps (, CEFEO) was a colonial expeditionary force of the French Union Army that was initially formed in French Indochina in 1945 during the Pacific War. The CEFEO later fought and lost in the First Indochina Wa ...

units and

Việt Minh The Việt Minh (, ) is the common and abbreviated name of the League for Independence of Vietnam ( or , ; ), which was a communist-led national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Vi ...

's guard forces, and eventually continued to witness the silent retreat of thousands of resistance fighters. Soon after, the

French soldiers French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), a ...

retaliated by massacring most of the residents of Tứ Tổng commune, especially the adult males. When the

Government of Vietnam The Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (; less formally the Vietnamese Government or the Government of Vietnam, ) is the Cabinet (government), cabinet and the central Executive (government), executive arm of the Politics of Vietn ...

began to implement the perestroyka-style policy, this area was often considered by modern

press Press may refer to: Media * Publisher * News media * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press TV, an Iranian television network Newspapers United States * ''The Press'', a former name of ''The Press-Enterprise'', Riverside, California ...

to have entered a dark page in history due to many evils, which arose from the

market mechanism In economics, the market mechanism is a mechanism by which the use of money exchanged by buyers and sellers with an open and understood system of value and time trade-offs in a market tends to optimize distribution of goods and services in at ...

. Vietnamese society in the 1990s was often shaken by cases involving human lives or

opium Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...

drug trafficking in huge quantities coming from the place commonly known as "Long Biên bridge foot".

21st century

Until the early 2000s the community life in this area had a bit of a boost by two national

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

s, both of which came from Nhật Tân village: peach trees and dog meat. However, for a long time, many attempts by the Hanoi City People's Committee to renovate this area have almost completely failed due to corruption. That is why people often call this place "military zone", an old term referring to the

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

gangster A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''Organized crime, mob'' and the suffix ''wikt:-ster, -st ...

s. On April 19, 2025, in response to the '' Plan to Arrange and Merge Administrative Units'' by the

, the Hanoi City People's Committee convened a conference to solicit opinions from the people and members of local administrative agencies to issue a Resolution on the new commune-ward level

administrative unit Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...

system. The conference agreed on new ward-level administrative unit called Hồng Hà Ward (phường Hồng Hà), which would include all the scattered residential areas on the outer ring of the Red River dike, that is, its territory would lie almost entirely on a stretch of the river from

Nhật Tân Bridge The Nhật Tân Bridge (or ''Vietnam–Japan Friendship Bridge'') is a cable-stayed bridge crossing the Red River in Hanoi, inaugurated on 4 January 2015. It forms part of a new six-lane highway linking Hanoi and Noi Bai International Airport. ...

to Vĩnh Tuy Bridge. That feature makes it naturally the ward with the largest area in the Hanoi Capital Area, while its population is the smallest. This unprecedented annexation included the population and natural area of small parts of five former urban districts Ba Đình, Hai Bà Trưng, Hoàn Kiếm, Long Biên, Tây Hồ. Specifically : *Big parts of Bạch Đằng, Thanh Lương (Hai Bà Trưng district) and Nhật Tân, Tứ Liên, Yên Phụ (Tây Hồ district). *Small parts of Bồ Đề, Ngọc Thụy (Long Biên district) and Phú Thượng, Quảng An (Tây Hồ district).

Culture

The establishment of Hồng Hà Ward basically restored the administrative functions of former Tứ Tổng Commune,Tứ Tổng của Thăng Long – Hà Nội xưa
/ref> which has long contained many cultural and historical values of Hanoi the capital city. Following the tradition of the old village since 1947 and preserved through many changes in administrative boundaries, every spring, the Tứ Tổng residents always hold a ceremony to pay tribute to the Hồng Hà Partisan Company

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

s and common people, whom were massacred by the

French army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

in the battle of Hanoi.

History

Middle Ages

20th century

21st century

Culture

See also

Notes and references

Notes

References

Further reading

Bibliography

External links