The Bạch Đằng River (, ), also called Bạch Đằng Giang (from ), ''white
wisteria
''Wisteria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae (Leguminosae). The genus includes four species of woody twining vines that are native to China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, southern Canada, the Eastern United States, and nor ...
river'', is a river in northern
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 ...
, located near
Hạ Long Bay. It flows through
Yên Hưng District of
Quảng Ninh province and the district
Thủy Nguyên of
Haiphong.
It is the best river way to access Hanoi from the south of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, through the
Nam Triệu Mouth, the
Kinh Thầy River, the
Đuống River, and then the
Red River to Hanoi.
Bạch Đằng River battles
The Bạch Đằng River has been the site of three important battles in Vietnamese history:
*
the battle of 938 where
Ngô Quyền defeated an attack by the
Southern Han
Southern Han ( zh , t = 南漢 , p = Nán Hàn , j=Naam4 Hon3; 917–971), officially Han ( zh , t = 漢 , links=no), originally Yue ( zh , c = 越 , links=no), was a dynastic state of China and one of the Ten Kingdoms that existed during the ...
, resulting in Vietnamese independence.
*
the battle of 981 where
Lê Đại Hành defeated the
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
.
*
the battle of 1288, where general
Trần Hưng Đạo employed the tactics used in 938 to drive out the
Mongol invaders.
In each of these three battles, stakes in the Bạch Đằng river were used as defensive obstacles. The first time was in 938, as part of
Ngô Quyền's battle strategy. Archaeologists discovered several of these ancient stakes.
References
Rivers of Thái Bình province
Rivers of Quảng Ninh province
Rivers of Haiphong
Rivers of Vietnam
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