Hanoi has been the site of the capital of Vietnam for very nearly a thousand years. It had been used by Chinese colonists because of its location on a flat plain watered by the Hong (Red) River which made its agricultural land fertile and enabled the region to be a rice bowl for the whole country. Many clan-families resided in the area and sought prestige and control of resources. Once the Chinese had finally been expelled, the first Vietnamese emperor, Ly Thai To, chose it as the capital of Vietnam in 1010. The city itself was subsequently called Dong Kinh, which was subsequently mispronounced by European explorers and colonists who decided to call the whole region Tonkin.
Hanoi was the centre for the highest cultural expressions of the Vietnamese people, many of which have been destroyed by American bombing and civil war. However, it remains the home of the Temple of the Trung Sisters, the Temple of Literature and the Co Loa fortress, among others. An extraordinary bridge crosses the Hong River, built by Russian expertise and assistance and linking city with its new airport. Since independence was achieved in 1976, Hanoi has grown into its role as the capital of a modern country. Under the Communist system, it became the centre of production and distribution of manufacturing and agricultural production. Now, with a capitalist economic system co-existing with a monolithic political system, Hanoi is also increasingly a centre for foreign inward investment and the opening of new commercial enterprises. In the 1990s, it was Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) which was the principal host for investment, given its longer association with capitalism, its European links and its pleasant lifestyle. Hanoi was then considered to be the political centre of the country where it was necessary to open a representative office but which was still something of a hardship posting. Those days have gone.
Hanoi now is a bustling modern city with numerous new hotel and retail projects coming on line – although there is still a long way to go before it can attain world-class status in this respect. Nevertheless, the coffee house culture of conversation and meeting people is very conducive to pleasant living and the climate offers the attractions of several distinct seasons. There remain shortages of high-quality accommodation and office space and this acts as a constraint for attracting foreign investment. It also means that existing facilities, by the law of supply and demand, have become extremely expensive. There are plans to more than double the existing amount of office and hotel space over the next five years, which is starting to make some officials think that the pace of change will be too rapid to accommodate without problems.
