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Name: Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh (often referred to as Saigon by residents)
Former Name: Saigon (Vietnamese: Sài Gòn)
Meaning: Named after Hồ Chí Minh
Founded Year: 1698
Region: Southeast
Time Zone: UTC +7
Area: 2,095km²
Population: 6,117,251 (As of October 1, 2004)
Density: 2,920/km²
Ethnicities: Kinh, Hoa
Calling Code: +848
ISO 3166-2 Code: VN-65



Source: Wikipedia

Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city in Vietnam, located near the delta of the Mekong River. Under the name Prey Nokor (Khmer: ), it was the main port of Cambodia, before being conquered by the Vietnamese in the 16th century. Formerly under the name Saigon, it was the capital of the French colony of Cochinchina, and later of the former state of South Vietnam from 1954 to 1975. The city center is situated on the Saigon River, 60 km far from the South China Sea. Ho Chi Minh City is located at 10°45'' North, 106°40'' East (10.75, 106.667), 1,760 km south of Hanoi. It borders Tay Ninh and Binh Duong Provinces to the north, Dong Nai and Ba Ria - Vung Tau Provinces to the east, Long An Province to the west and East Sea to the south with the coast of 20 km - length.
History
Hồ Chí Minh City began as a small fishing village known as Prey Nokor. The area that the city now occupies was originally swampland, and was inhabited by Khmer people for centuries before the arrival of the Vietnamese. It grew to become a trading post and the main port of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
In 1623, King Chey Chettha II of Cambodia (1618-1628) allowed Vietnamese refugees fleeing the Trinh-Nguyen civil war in Vietnam to settle in the area of Prey Nokor, and to set up a custom house at Prey Nokor. Increasing waves of Vietnamese settlers, which the weakened Cambodian kingdom could not impede, slowly vietnamized the area. In time, Prey Nokor became known as Saigon.
In 1698, Nguyen Huu Canh, a Vietnamese noble, was sent by the Nguyen rulers of Huế to establish Vietnamese administrative structures in the area, thus detaching the area from Cambodia, which was not strong enough to intervene. He is often cre***ed with the expansion of Saigon into a significant settlement.
Conquered by France in 1859, the city was influenced by the French during their colonial occupation of Vietnam, and a number of classical western-style prominent buildings in the city reflect this. So that Saigon was called '' the Pearl of the Far East" (Hon ngoc Vien Dong) or "Paris in the Orient" (Paris Phuong Dong).
In 1954, the French were defeated by the Communist ********* in the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, and withdrew from Vietnam. Rather than recognise the Communists as the new government, however, they gave their backing to a government established by Emperor Bảo Đại. Bảo Đại had set up Saigon as his capital in 1950. At that time Saigon and the city of Cholon (primarily Vietnamese Chinese) next to were combined into one administrative unit, called the Capital of Saigon (Đô Thành Sài Gòn in Vietnamese). When Vietnam was officially partitioned into North Vietnam (the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (the Republic of Vietnam), the southern government, led by President Ngô Đình Diệm, retained Saigon as its capital.
At the conclusion of the Vietnam War, on April 30, 1975, the city came under the control of the North Vietnamese Army and its allies. In the U.S. this event is commonly called the "Fall of Saigon," while in Vietnam it is called the "Liberation of Saigon."
In 1976, upon establishment of the unified communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the city of Saigon (including Cholon), the province of Giadinh and 2 suburban districts of two other nearby provinces were combined to create Ho Chi Minh City in honour of the late communist leader Hồ Chí Minh. Ho Chi Minh City covers an area of 809 sq mi/2,095 sq km, extending up to Cu Chi 20 km far from the Cambodian border and down to Can Gio on the East Sea coast. The distance from the northernmost point (Phu My Hung Commune, Cu Chi District) to the southernmost one (Long Hoa Commune, Can Gio District) is 120 km, and from the easternmost point (Long Binh Ward, District Nine) to the westernmost one (Binh Chanh Commune, Binh Chanh District) is 46 km. The former name Saigon is still widely used by many Vietnamese, especially in informal contexts. Generally, the term Saigon refers only to the urban districts of Ho Chi Minh City. The word "Saigon" can also be found on shop signs all over the country, even in Hanoi. In terms like "Saigon Fashion" or "Saigon Style" the word "Saigon" is employed to connote chicness and modernity.
Today, the city''s core is still adorned with wide elegant boulevards and historic French colonial buildings. The most prominent structures in the city center are Reunification Hall (Dinh Thống Nhất), City Hall (tru so UBND TPHCM), Municipal Theater (Nha hat Thanh pho), HCMC Post Office (Buu dien TPHCM), Revolutionary Museum (Bao tang Cach mang), State Bank Office (Ngan hang Nha nuoc), HCMC People''s Court (Toa an Nhan dan) and Notre Dame Cathedral (Nhà thờ Đức Bà).
Hồ Chí Minh City is home to a well-established ethnic Chinese population. Cholon, now known as District Five, serves as its Chinatown.

Political and Administrative System

City center of Hồ Chí Minh City
Municipal theatreHồ Chí Minh City is a municipality that exists at the same level as Vietnam''s provinces. As such, it has a similar political structure to provinces, with a People''s Council and a People''s Committee being the principal local governmental entities. Thus, the People''s Council Chairman is the top government official while the People''s Committee Chairman is the top executive of the city, instead of a mayor like many other great cities in the world. Because the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has led all political-economic-social activities of the country, the highest-ranking leader of the city is really the CPV HCMC Committee Secretary.
From December 2003 until now, the municipality has been divided into twenty-four administrative divisions. Five of these {Area: 1,601 sq km} are designated as suburban districts ("Huyện" in Vietnamese), covering the urbanizing - farmland around the city which is included in the municipality''s official boundaries. These districts are named Nhà Bè, Cần Giờ, Hóc Môn, Củ Chi, and Bình Chánh. The remaining nineteen divisions (Area: 494 sq km} are found in the city itself. Only seven of these nineteen inner districts ("Quận" in Vietnamese) have names (Tân Bình, Bình Thạnh, Phú Nhuận, Thủ Dức, Bình Tân, Tân Phú and Gò Vấp) - the remainder are simply numbered from one to twelve. Each inner district is sub - divided into many wards ("Phường" in Vietnamese), while a suburban district usually consists of many communes and townships ("Xã" and "Thị trấn" in Vietnamese). Presently, Ho Chi Minh City has 254 wards, 58 communes and 5 townships.

City center of HCMC

Municipal theatre
Source: Wikipedia

Demographics
The population of Hồ Chí Minh City, as of October 1, 2004 Census, was 6,117,251 (Of which 19 inner districts had 5,140,412 residents and 5 suburban districts had 976,839 inhabitants) and in the middle of 2005 was estimated about 6.3 million, equivalent to 7.6% total population of Vietnam; making it the highest population-concentrated city in the country. As an administrative unit, its population is also the largest at the province level. Because of being the largest economic and financial hub of Vietnam, HCMC has attracted more and more immigrants from other Vietnam''s provinces in the recent years; therefore, its population is growing rapidly. From 1999 - 2004, the city population averagely increases around 200,000 per year.
Ethnically, the majority of the population are ethnic Vietnamese (Kinh) about 87%, ethnic Chinese (Hoa) 11% and other minorities (Khmer, Cham, Nung, Ede...) 2%. The inhabitants of Ho Chi Minh City are usually known as "Saigonese" in English, "Saigonnais" in French or "dân Sài Gòn" in Vietnamese.
The Kinh speak Vietnamese with their respective regional accents: Southern (about 50%), Northern (30%) and Central Vietnam (20%). While the Hoa speak the Canton, Chaozhou, Fujian, Hainan and Hakka dialects of Chinese, only a few speak standard Mandarin Chinese. A varying degree of English is spoken especially in the tourism and commerce sectors where dealing with foreign nationals is a necessity, so English has become a de facto second language for some Saigonese.
According to some researchers the religious breakup in HCMC is as follows: Buđdhism (all sects) 50%, Roman Catholic 12%, Protestant 2%, others (Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, Islam...) 2%, and no religion or unknown 34%.

Economy
Ho Chi Minh City has been the most important economic center of Vietnam. The city concentrates many big enterprises of the country in industry (especially high-tech, electronic, building material, agroproduct - processing and light industries), in construction, commerce and service as well as in finance and banking. In 2005, the city''s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimated USD 11.6 billion (GDP per capita about USD 1,850) up 12.2% to 2004, accounting for 20% GDP of Vietnam. GDP calculating Parity Purchasing Power method (PPP) attained USD 56 billion, GDP (PPP) per capita about USD 8,900 approximately 3.5 times higher than the country''s average one. The city''s Industrial Product Value was USD 5.6 billion, equivalent to 30% of the whole nation while Export - Import Turnover through HCMC ports took USD 29 billion, 40% of the whole nation. Ho Chi Minh City has also contributed the lion''s share about 30% to national budget''s revenue annually.
Source: Wikipedia

Education
Higher-education in Ho Chi Minh City has ratherly developed, the city is a great educational center of Vietnam, concentrating about 50 unversities and colleges with total over 300,000 students such as: HCMC National University with 35,000 students, the most important university in the Southern Region, consists of 4 main member schools: HCMC University of Natural Sciences (formerly Saigon College of Sciences), HCMC University of Social Sciences and Humanities (formerly Saigon College of Letters), HCMC University of Polytechnic (formerly Phutho National Institute of Technology) and newly- established HCMC International University. HCMC University of Economics has the greastest students in the country, over 50,000. Some other important higher-education establishments include: HCMC University of Pedagogy, HCMC University of Medicine and Pharmacy, HCMC University of Agriculture and Forestry, HCMC University of Law, HCMC University of Technical Education, HCMC University of Banking, HCMC University of Transport, HCMC University of Industry, HCMC Open University, HCMC University of Sports and Physical Education, HCMC University of Fine Art, HCMC University of Culture and HCMC Conservatory of Music. The HCMC RMIT University with about 2,000 students, the unique foreign-invested higher-education unit in Vietnam at the present, was founded in 2003 by the Royal Melbourne Technology Institute (RMIT) of Australia.

Source: wikipedia

Transportation
Tan Son Nhat International Airport is located 4 mi/7 km north of the center (District 1) of Hồ Chí Minh City (Saigon).Taxi and bus services are available for travel from and to the airport and within the city. Because of the rapidly growing air - passengers and the almost - in the city center location of Tan Son Nhat Airport, the Vietnamese Government has prepared to build a new great international airport near Long Thanh Township, Dong Nai Province about 31 mi/50 km in the northeast. After completion, this new airport may become the largest one in Southeast Asia. While most of the city''s taxis are metered and usually in good con***ion, not many drivers can speak English well (although some older drivers may speak French). Some drivers refuse to use their meters in order to obtain a higher fare. In July 2000, reports emerged that armed men were stopping taxis in Hồ Chí Minh City and robbing passengers. There have not been any recent reports of such criminal activity. Visitors should not use motorcycle taxis (xe ôm) or three-wheeled cycle rickshaws (xích lô) as they leave passengers vulnerable.

Street packed with motorbikes
Hồ Chí Minh City''s transportation system is in poor con***ion, and many of its streets are riddled with potholes. This is especially true in the city''s numerous back streets and alleyways, which are sometimes little more than dirt paths. Recently, due to cheap import of motocycles from China, the number of motocycles have increased tremendously,packing the city''s artery streets and making traffic congestion the frequent scene. Visitors should consider the city''s streets dangerous due to motorists'' general disregard for pedestrians and the constant presence of thousands of motorbikes on the roads. In general most people follow traffic rules and enforcement of traffic law is increasing. However drivers can still be seen driving the wrong way on a one way street or ignoring red lights. Visitors should note that they must obtain a Vietnamese driver''s license should they wish to drive in Vietnam as an International Driver''s License is not accepted.
Vietnam Airlines is the national carrier of Vietnam. The airline currently operates a modern fleet of Western-built aircraft, but suffered several fatal mishaps prior to phasing out its aging Russian-built fleet. The airline has experienced numerous hijackings, all but one of which occurred during Vietnam''s civil war (In VN, called The American War). The most recent occurred in 1992, and did not result in any injuries.

Vietnam Travel Guide - Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City - Vietnam''s ''Paris''!
Formerly known as Saigon, prior to Reunification in 1975, the home of many residents who can say they were born in Saigon but live in Ho Chi Minh City. A population of 12 million people owns approximately 3 million motorcycles which create a special atmosphere in this bustling, noisy, industrious city in the South of the country.
Ho Chi Minh City is divided into sixteen districts (24 now as I remember: 1-12, Bình Tân, Tân Bình, Gò Vấp, Nhà Bè, Củ Chi, Phú Nhuận, Bình Thạnh, Bình Chánh, Thủ Đức, Tân Phú, Hóc Môn, Cần Giờ) but most of the shops, restaurants, tourist sights and services are centrally located in Districts 1, 2 and 3, all within walking distance of the Pham Ngu Lao area where most hotels and booking agencies are located and where travelers tend to congregate.
The major tourist sights in Ho Chi Minh City include Reunification Palace, the Parliament building of the former South Vietnamese Government which has been maintained as it was when the Government fell to the victorious Liberation Army in 1975. This year, 2005, Vietnam is celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Liberation. Serious visitors should not miss the War Museum at 27 Vo Van Tan Street which is a sobering, even distressing, reminder of the horrors of the American War.

On a much lighter note, in the heart of HCMC, don''t miss a visit to the General Post Office on Cong Xa Pari Street. Even if you don''t want to post a letter or postcard, take time to sit in the fan-cooled grand hall and soak up the atmosphere.
Just across the square is Notre Dame Cathedral, an exact copy of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was built by the French in 1877-1880 using stained glass windows imported from Chartres and bricks from Marseilles. You can visit at anytime and attend mass if you desire. Masses are held in Vietnamese and English. However, many places close for lunch, so try to go either in the morning or afternoon and avoid midday.

The Opera House (sometimes called the Municipal Theatre) is an elegant, colonial building where performances by world renowned and local artists are regular and very inexpensive. You can go to the ballet for as little as US$6-12, the latter being for the best seats in the house.
The centre of HCMC is amazingly tranquil compared to the bustling outer suburbs and the sophisticated shops, restaurants and hotels, combined with the delightfully wide, tree-lined streets and colonial architecture, make HCMC one of the most beautiful in South East Asia and one of the easiest to find your way around.
Shopping in HCMC is a highlight for many tourists, particularly along Le Loi, Dong Khoi and Nguyen Hue Streets and the centrally located Ben Thanh Market, where you will find a variety of opportunities *****it all budgets. Beautifully embroidered silk fabrics are made into elegant clothes, bags and shoes which are displayed in shop windows which would not be out of place in the most elegant shopping streets of Paris. Another specialty of the city''s shops is beautiful laquerware which can be purchased inexpensively and the stores will arrange air freight to anywhere in the world although, if you have time, air mail from the Post Office in Hai Ba Trung St (behind the GPO) is very efficient and much expensive.
HCMC is an ideal base for Mekong Delta Tours (ranging from 1 to 3 days in duration) and a must see are the world-famous Cu Chi Tunnels!
Source: http://www.arikah.net
Được FJX sửa chữa / chuyển vào 09:36 ngày 01/02/2006

Some pix:

Pham Ngu Lao area

Reunification Palace

War Crimes Museum

General Post Office

Notre Dame Cathedral

Opera House (Municipal Theatre)

Cu Chi Tunnels
Source: searching images from Google
Được FJX sửa chữa / chuyển vào 09:30 ngày 01/02/2006

Thanks FJX for sharing. Let me add one point as some of you may not know what Sài Gòn means. Sài Gòn is Hán-Việt word (Chinese-Vietnamese). Sài= củi, gòn= cây gòn, so Sài Gòn means the area of Củi gòn. Originally, the former name of Sài Gòn is Prey Kor (back to my memory) means Rừng gòn or Prey Nokor ( some still argue on this name). And somehow the name Sài Gòn relates to its old name. So next time please don''t say ''Sài thành'', it sounds funny (the city of firewood, not a nice name)