The Hương River (; ) is a river that crosses the city of

Huế Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...

, in the central

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 ...

. In the autumn, flowers from orchards upriver from Huế fall into the water, giving the river a perfume-like aroma, hence the sobriquet.

Source and flow

The Hương River has two sources; both begin in the Dãy Trường Sơn mountain range and meet at Bằng Lãng Fork. The Tả Trạch (left tributary) originates in the Trường Đồng mountains and flows northwest towards the fork. The river then flows along south–north direction past the temples of Hòn Chén and Ngọc Trản, then flows north-west, meandering through the Nguyệt Biều and Luong Quan plains. Continuing on, the Sông Hương (Hương River) flows to the northeast to

and passes the resting place of the Nguyễn emperors. The river continues, passing Hen islet and various villages, crossing the Sinh junction (capital of ancient

Châu Hóa Châu Hóa is a commune (xã) and village in Tuyên Hóa District, Quảng Bình Province, in Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an are ...

) before emptying into the Tam Giang lagoon. From Bằng Lãng to the Thuan An estuary, the river is 30 km long and runs very slowly (as the river level is not much above sea level). The river darkens as it winds along the foot of Ngọc Trản mountain, where there is a deep abyss. Hương River basin has the highest rainfall in Vietnam.

Surrounding area

The 105 m

Mount Ngự Bình Ngự Bình () is a mountain in the Vietnamese city of Huế. It is also called the "Royal Screen". History The annals Đại Nam Nhất Thống Chí by the History Department of the Nguyễn dynasty wrote about Ngu Binh Mountain as follows: ...

is strikingly symmetrical. On both sides of the Bang Son (Even Mount) are two small mounts, Ta Bat Son (left mount) and Huu Bat Son (right mount). After observing that Bang Son resembled a screen, the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (, chữ Nôm: 茹阮, chữ Hán: 朝阮) was the last List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until French protectorate in 1883 ...

decided to build up Huế, which became known as their " Forbidden Purple City". Emperor

Gia Long Gia Long (Chữ Hán, Chữ hán: 嘉隆) ( (''Hanoi, North''), (''Ho Chi Minh City, South''); 8 February 1762 – 3 February 1820), born Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (阮福暎) or Nguyễn Ánh (阮暎), was the founding emperor of the Nguyễn dynas ...

approved the design of

geomancer Geomancy, a compound of Greek roots denoting "earth divination", was originally used to mean methods of divination that interpret geographic features, markings on the ground, or the patterns formed by soil, rocks, or sand. Its definition has ex ...

s, which chose this mount as a front altar of the imposing and solid defending wall system, and renamed it Ngự Bình.

References

External links

{{coord, 16, 33, N, 107, 38, E, display=title, region:VN_type:river_source:GNS-enwiki Rivers of Huế Rivers of Vietnam