HUE VIETNAM

CRAWLING FROM THE WRECKAGE 

The CItadel, Hue

There are no visible scars remaining from the torturous history of Hue, at least in the new city on the south side of the Perfume River. The central Vietnamese city of Hue was the capital of the country until 1945 and on the north side of the Perfume is the Citadel with thick walls surrounded by moats fed by the river. Within the fortress’ massive walls are the Imperial Palace and within that is the Purple Forbidden City where only the ruling emperors resided.

Because of the propaganda value of capturing this historically important city a coordinated surprise attack by the North Vietnamese (NVA) and Viet Cong (VC) now called the Tet Offensive led to fierce urban fighting on both sides of the river.

South of the Perfume River, Hue was leveled in the fighting but has since been rebuilt. The southern portion of Hue is now an urban landscape of hotels, restaurants, coffee shops and bars that has a youthful vibrancy and over our two days in Hue as part of our three-week tour of Vietnam we walked streets closed off for pedestrian traffic for raucous pub crawls, had Salt Coffee and joined countless other Vietnamese getting in an early morning jaunt along the river before the day heated up.

pockmarked walls, the Citadel

The Citadel today is a very popular tourist draw for locals and foreigners. Chinese nationals like to come to Hue in period dress because the Forbidden City was fashioned after the Forbidden City in Beijing and tours of the complex offer views of a world that once was prominent in Vietnamese culture. 

The Citadel is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but it was decimated during the Tet Offensive. Though there was an effort by the Americans to avoid targeting historical buildings in the Citadel, as the month-long battle progressed and casualties mounted, more and more buildings in this massive complex were shelled. Of the 160 significant buildings in the Citadel, only 10 survived the battle.

Gaining its UNESCO designation in 1993, the complex is being rebuilt, though some of the walls are still pockmarked by bullets.  We had a sobering tour of the Citadel and the Imperial City, especially when we passed a meager monument commemorating the victims of the Hue massacre.  

THIEN MU PAGODA

Inside the Imperial City, Hue

The tallest pagoda in Vietnam survived the war without damage. About 5km from the Citadel on a hill on the north bank of the Perfume River, the Thien Mu Pagoda towers 7 stories. First erected in the early 1600s one can stroll the grounds and lovely gardens and read about Thien Mu’s history.

There is also a sobering display of the automobile that transported the Buddhist Monk Thich Quang Duc to his death by self-immolation in Saigon. He and others who followed him later were protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the Catholic South Vietnamese government of Ngo Dinh Diem. Discrimination against Buddhists by the government led to a massacre of 9 Buddhists in 1963 and Duc’s ultimate protest. Photographs of his suicide stunned the world and later that year a U.S. led coup toppled the Diem government.

Yeah, you can’t ignore the history of Vietnam. Reminders are everywhere of the carnage that the country suffered for decades under the French and subsequent wars. The past is there, but throughout our trip to Vietnam we could see how the relieved Vietnamese are crawling out of the detritus of their history.

Thanks for reading.

Love, Janet and greg

© 2024 by Gregory Dunaj