Thua Thien Hue Province at a Glance

Geographical location: Thua Thien Hue is located in the middle of Vietnam, halfway between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city, bordering Quang Tri to the North, Da Nang city to the South, Laos to the West and the East Sea to the East. The province has 8 districts and a city (Hue) with 150 communes and wards.

 

Terrain: The area stretches 127 km in length with an average width of 60 km, high mountains in the West descending to lowlands and the coast in the East.

 

Mountainous land bordering Laos and Da Nang makes up 70 percent of the natural area, with mountain peaks of 800 – 1,000 metres including the famous Bach Ma and Hai Van Mountains. The midland is 500 metres above the sea level.

 

Climate: The province lies in the tropical monsoon region and is affected by both the Northern and Southern climates of Vietnam.

 

The rainy season is from August to November with rainfall of 2,500-2,700 mm. The dry season lasts from March to July. The average temperature in Hue is 24 degree Celsius with 2,000 hours of sunshine a year and average humidity of 84 percent. Storms hit the province beginning in June, especially in September and October.

 

Land: The total area is 505,398 hectares with some 10 kinds of soil: alluvial, red, yellow and sand. 59,710 hectares are under industrial crop cultivation (11.8 percent) and 44,879 hectares of agricultural crops, grassland for animal husbandry, and 26,183 hectares of water surface for aquaculture.

 

Forestry: In 2002, the province had 234,954 hectares of forest, with 177,660 hectares of natural forest and 57,395 hectares of planted forest. The timber deposit is 17.3 million cubic metres. 125,000 hectares (25 percent) is fallow land for forest development in the coming years.

 

Minerals: The province has over 100 mineral deposits including limestone, granite, kaolin, coal, clay and mineral water. The limestone deposit is over 1,000 million tonnes (Long Tho mine 14 million, Phong Xuan 200 million, Van Xa 230 million, Nam Dong 500 million). Phu Loc has big deposits of black and grey granite. AS Luoi has some 40 million tones of kaolin. Sand of 98.4 per cent SiO2 and deposit of 15 million tonnes is in many parts of the province. Over 2 million tonnes of titanium are found in Quang Dien, Phu Vang, Phu Loc. Meanwhile mineral water resources are found in Phong Dien, Phu Vang.

Tourism: Several kinds of tourism can be developed in Thua Thien Hue: culture, ecology, sea, mountain, resort, sport. The province is famous for Huong River, Ngu Mountain, Hai Van mountain pass, Bach Ma mountain, An Thuan sea port, Lang Co beach, Canh Duong coast and Tam Giang lake.

Hue ancient royal capital is a cultural centre of Vietnam with many antiquities and monuments recognized by UNESCO. It also has hundreds of pagodas and temples of traditional architecture together with the intangible heritage of religious, folk and court festivals. It is also famous for garden villas in Vi Da, Kim Long, Gia Hoi and Bao Vinh. The province is well-known for Cham culture, historical relics and resistance bases in Duong Hoa, Hoa My, A Luoi and Ho Chi Minh Trail.

 

Economic advantages: Industry is the driving force of socio-economic development. The province can develop industry with advantages in natural and human resources for high technology and modern development.

 

Meanwhile aquaculture is the spearhead sector, with offshore fishing and high-value seafood export.