Mỹ Tho () is a city in the

Tiền Giang province Tiền Giang was a former province in the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam. The province was formed in February 1976, by the merger of Định Tường and Gò Công provinces of former Republic of Vietnam. Tiền Giang has an advanta ...

in the

Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( or simply ), also known as the Western Region () or South-western region (), is the list of regions of Vietnam, region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong, Mekong River River delta, approaches and empties into the sea th ...

region of

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...

. It has a population of approximately 169,000 in 2006 and 220,000 in 2012. It is the regional center of economics, education and technology. The majority

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

is the

Kinh The Vietnamese people (, ) or the Kinh people (), also known as the Viet people or the Viets, are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day northern Vietnam and southern China who speak Vietnamese, the most widely spoken Austroa ...

; minority groups include the Hoa, the

Cham Cham or CHAM may refer to: Ethnicities and languages *Chams, people in Vietnam and Cambodia **Cham language, the language of the Cham people ***Cham script *** Cham (Unicode block), a block of Unicode characters of the Cham script * Cham Albani ...

and the Khmer people. Boat rides on the Mỹ Tho River are popular with tourists, and the city is known for ''

hủ tiếu or is a Vietnamese cuisine, Vietnamese dish eaten in Vietnam as breakfast. It may be served either as a soup () or dry with no broth (). became popular in the 1960s in Southern Vietnam, especially in Saigon. The primary ingredients of this ...

Mỹ Tho'', a type of rice noodles soup.

History

Mỹ Tho was founded in the 1680s by Chinese refugees fleeing China after the fall of remnants of the

Southern Ming The Southern Ming (), also known in historiography as the Later Ming (), officially the Great Ming (), was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and a series of rump states of the Ming dynasty that came into existence following the ...

to the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

in 1683. The city is named after the Mỹ Tho River. In

chữ Hán ( , ) are the Chinese characters that were used to write Literary Chinese in Vietnam, Literary Chinese (; ) and Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese. They were officially used in Vietnam after the Red River Delta region ...

, the name is given as (literally, beautiful tree). Due to its proximity to

Saigon Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

, Mỹ Tho was the traditional gateway to the Mekong Delta. In the 17th century, the city had become one of the biggest commercial hubs in today's Southern Vietnam. In the 1860s, Mỹ Tho, along with Saigon, was a major strategic city during the French colonial campaign towards Vietnam. In 1862, France's

capture of Mỹ Tho The Capture of Mỹ Tho () on 12 April 1861 was an important allied victory in the Cochinchina campaign (1858–62). This campaign, fought between the French and the Spanish on the one side and the Vietnamese on the other, began as a limited puniti ...

is regarded as the conclusion to the establishment of the French colony of

Cochinchina Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; ; ; ; ) is a historical exonym and endonym, exonym for part of Vietnam, depending on the contexts, usually for Southern Vietnam. Sometimes it referred to the whole of Vietnam, but it was commonly used to refer t ...

, a development that inaugurated nearly a century of French colonial dominance in Vietnam. During the colonization period, the economy continued to prosper, attracting more immigrants, mainly from Teochew and Minnan of mainland China. Mỹ Tho City is recognized as a grade II on October 7, 2005.

Administrative divisions

Mỹ Tho is divided to 11 wards (called ''Ward 1 - Ward 10'', and ''Ward Tân Long'') and 6 communes. 6 communes: *Đạo Thạnh *Mỹ Phong *Phước Thạnh *Tân Mỹ Chánh *Thới Sơn *Trung An *Phước Thạnh

Transportation

Mỹ Tho is connected to the rest of the country by National Route 1 and

Tiền River The Tiền River ( 瀧前 or 前江) is the name given to the section of the Mekong’s mainstream in Vietnam. At Phnom Penh Phnom Penh is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Cambodia, most populous city of Cambodia. ...

. Here, people mainly use motorcycles, bicycles, and boats for transportation. Mỹ Tho has the first railway route (about long) in Vietnam which was one of the most modern transport means in the world linking Saigon and Mỹ Tho, put into use in 1885. However, it was destroyed in the 1960s during Vietnam War. By road, Mỹ Tho City is from

Vĩnh Long province Vĩnh Long () is a province located in the Mekong Delta of southwestern Vietnam. Its capital is Vĩnh Long. Its population is 1,046,390 and its area is . Vĩnh Long (spelled 永隆 in the former Hán-Nôm writing system) is a Sino-Vietnamese na ...

, from

Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

, regional center of Southern Vietnam, from

Cần Thơ Cần Thơ () is the List of cities in Vietnam, fourth-largest city in Vietnam, and the largest city along the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam. It is noted for its floating markets, rice paper-making village, and picturesque rural canals. It has ...

, from Châu Đốc, from

Rạch Giá Rạch Giá () is a provincial city and the capital city of Kiên Giang province, Vietnam. It is located on the Eastern coast of the Gulf of Thailand, southwest of Ho Chi Minh City. East of city, it borders Tân Hiệp and Châu Thành town, t ...

, from

Long Xuyên Long Xuyên (), formally named Thủ Đông Xuyên, is the capital city of An Giang province, in the Mekong Delta region of south-western Vietnam. History In 1789, a group of explorers established a small outpost in the Tam Khe canal, naming i ...

. Mỹ Tho and

Bến Tre Bến Tre () is the provincial capital of Bến Tre Province, in the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam. Located southwest of Ho Chi Minh City, the city covers an area of 65.75 km2 (25.39 sq mi) and has a population of 124,499 at ...

are connected by Rạch Miễu Bridge. By river, there are many short boat trips to various islands,

, and floating markets in the surrounding areas. It also has overnight long boats to Châu Đốc and

Climate

Tourism

Vĩnh Tràng Temple, Cao Dai Temple, Dong Tam Snake Farm. There are four islands in the Tien River between Mỹ Tho and Bến Tre: Dragon (Con Rong), Tortoise (Con Qui), Phoenix (Con Phung) and Unicorn (Con Lan) Islands. The

is considered to be the "rice basket of Vietnam", contributing more than half of the nation's rice production. Mỹ Tho is well known as floating markets, where people sell and buy things on the river, as well as Ben Tam Ngua and Mỹ Thuận market.

Education

Mỹ Tho was the first town in southern Vietnam to have a high school. The

Collège In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...

de Mỹ Tho, opened in March 1879, is now called Nguyễn Đình Chiểu High School. It was one of the first schools Vietnam had, and even now is still known for its education quality among Southern schools. Later, another school called "School for Gifted Students of Tien Giang" opened in Mỹ Tho city. Though the total area is very limited compared to other schools in the province, the quality of education there is usually considered one of the best. The curriculum they use is modified so that students usually learn more of their core subjects than in other schools. For instance, students from a Math class do all the required materials like any other classes, but more of Chemistry, Biology, and Physics because they are in the Natural Science block, and a lot more of Math. Preparation for national exams and entrance examination to the university are prioritized there. Schools in Mỹ Tho are named after famous Vietnamese writers, poets, and national heroes such as Nguyễn Trãi, Thu Khoa Huan is also known as Nguyen Huu Huan, Xuân Diệu, Lê Ngọc Hân, Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, Trần Hưng Đạo. Tiền Giang College which was promoted to Tiền Giang University in 2005 is also located at Mỹ Tho.

Economy

Today the economy of Mỹ Tho is mainly based on tourism, fishing, and agricultural products such as

coconuts The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

bananas A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – berry (botany), botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa (genus), Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called pla ...

, and

longan ''Dimocarpus longan'', commonly known as the longan () and dragon's eye, is a tropical tree species that produces edible fruit. It is one of the better-known tropical members of the soapberry family Sapindaceae, to which the lychee and rambu ...

s. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the French

Vichy government Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...

interned foreign nationals in Mỹ Tho. In May 1945, the Japanese seized control of the camps fearing an allied attack. Foreign nationals were confined throughout the war. As the regional capital, Mỹ Tho is the main market dealing in all the produce from the region as well as fish and other seafood from Mỹ Tho's large ocean-going fishing fleet. The very large and exuberant market is one of South Vietnam's biggest sources for

dried fish Fresh fish rapidly deteriorates unless some way can be found to preserve it. Drying (food), Drying is a method of food preservation that works by removing water from the food, which inhibits the growth of microorganisms. Open air drying using sun ...

and other dried seafood products such as Kho Muc ( dried squid). At night the market is dedicated to the dealing and sorting of Mekong River fish, particularly

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

for Hồ Chí Minh City's wholesale markets. Produce, especially fruit and vegetables, is delivered by boat directly to markets. It is a popular starting point for tourists to take a boat trip on the Mekong River. Mỹ Tho was the subject of "The Lesson", a chapter in a memoir by Tobias Wolff, '' In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War'', describing the events of the 1968

Tet Offensive The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. The Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) launched a surprise attack on 30 January 1968 against the forces of ...

there. In 2010, there are total 17 markets located in wards and commune in Mỹ Tho.

Neighbouring cities

*West and North: Chợ Gạo District *East: Châu Thành District, Tiền Giang *South:

and

Bến Tre province Bến Tre was a former province of Vietnam. It is one of the country's southern provinces, and is situated in the Mekong Delta. It is also famous for its coconuts and the Coconut Religion nationwide. Disconnected from the mainland, the province ...

Notable people

* Nguyễn Thị Thập - Chairman of the Women's Federation of Vietnam (''Hội liên hiệp phụ nữ Việt Nam'') from 1956 to 1974 * General

Nguyễn Khánh Nguyễn Khánh (}; 8 November 192711 January 2013) was a South Vietnamese military dictator and Army of the Republic of Vietnam general who served in various capacities as head of state and prime minister of South Vietnam while at the head o ...

- former Prime Minister, General, and Ambassador of South Vietnam * General Nguyễn Hữu Hạnh - served in the

Army of the Republic of Vietnam The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; ) composed the ground forces of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. Its predecessor was the ground forc ...

* Madame Thiệu, the last serving First Lady of

from 1967 to 1975 and wife of the President of South Vietnam

Nguyễn Văn Thiệu Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (; 5 April 1923 – 29 September 2001) was a South Vietnam, South Vietnamese military officer and politician who was the Leaders of South Vietnam, president of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975. He was a general in the Repub ...

* Trần Anh Hùng – film director and screenwriter

Gallery

My Tho-House on Bank of Mekong 2002.jpg, House on Bank of Mekong My Tho.JPG, The downtown of Mỹ Tho Waterfront - My Tho - Vietnam.JPG, The center of Mỹ Tho with Nguyen Huu Huan statue Image:My Tho2.JPG, The waterfront houses in Mỹ Tho Waterfront - My Tho - Vietnam - 02.JPG, The waterfront shops. My Tho-Rach Mieu Ferry 2002.jpg, Rach Mieu Ferry in 2002, now expired.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:My Tho Cities in Vietnam Districts of Tiền Giang province Populated places in Tiền Giang province Populated places on the Mekong River Provincial capitals in Vietnam