Train from Hanoi to Hue — We ride the overnight train from Hanoi arriving early morning in Hue. Our first class accommodations are clean and comfortable (if not roomy) in a new sleeper car. The tracks are jolting, but the train is fast and gets us in right on time. I love sleeping on a train, but my sleep-deprived compartment companions don’t share my enthusiasm.
Hue: A Little History — After a period in the 17th and 18th centuries wracked by civil war, Nguyen Anh declared himself Emperor Gia Long in 1802 and brought unity to Vietnam, thus launching the Nguyen Dynasty – with its new capital in Hue.
The Emperor started the construction of the Imperial City in 1804 and it was finished in 1833. The Vietnam Empire during this period was strong and expansionist. But in 1847, France attacked Da Nang in an effort to protect Catholic missionaries from suppression under Emperor Thieu Tri. The French seized Saigon in 1859 and in 1872 signed a treaty with Emperor Tu Duc making Vietnam a protectorate of France.
After that, the Nguyen Dynasty continued as a puppet regime through the French colonization until the end of World War II when Ho Chi Minh declared independence for Vietnam with Hanoi as the capital.
The Imperial City — The city of Hue is located on the banks of the Song Hoang (Perfume River) just below its junction with the Song Nhung. The centerpiece of Hue (and its star attraction) is the Citadel — a vast moated and walled enclosure that surrounds the Imperial Enclosure, modeled after the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Like a great Russian doll, it is a city within a city within a city. The outermost square is the Citadel, a fortress whose exterior walls and moat surround the Imperial City and blocks of surrounding cityscape. The Imperial City is ringed by another moat and set of walls – within which lies the Forbidden Purple City, the actual home of the Emperor and his immediate family and closest advisors, and is off limits to everyone else. To round out this seemingly imprenetrable fortress, the entire citadel complex sits within a much larger square of canals surrounding the old city of Hue. Hue’s new city rises up on the opposite bank of the Perfume River.
In its heyday, the Imperial City contained 147 separate buildings surrounded by exquisite gardens. Many of the buildings outside the Forbidden Purple City were administrative offices for the Empire. The Nguyen Dynasty followed a Chinese model with a rigid hierarchy of civil and military officials flowing down from the Emperor. Only the top five in each category (civil and military) were allowed within the Forbidden Purple City.
The Citadel was heavily damaged first by the French during the conflict with the Viet Minh in 1947 and later in the month-long fighting and bombing following the Tet Offensive that destroyed much of Hue in January 1968. Today, after substantial restoration, only 20 buildings and some of the gardens remain – just enough to get a sense of the grandeur that was once the Imperial Enclosure.
Thien Mu Pagoda — We stop at the Thien Mu temple to witness the monks’ evening prayers. At the entrance is a spectacular, seven-tiered tower constructed by Emperor Thieu Tri in 1844. On the grounds are a great bell donated to the temple in 1710 and recognized as a national treasure in 2013.
Tomb of Emperor Tu Duc – Emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty were buried in elaborate temple and tomb complexes set in locations along the Perfume River south of the Imperial City. Tu Duc designed his own temple, determining its location between the river and a mountain with feng shui, and used it before his death. The complex was constructed in 1864 using forced labor. A portion of it was destroyed in intense fighting during the Battle of Hue in the Vietnam War. The tombs for the Emperor and Queen were cleverly hidden in a hill behind the temple complex and have never been located.
New Hue — Across the Perfume River is the new part of Hue, with a Le Loi Boulevard running parallel to the River and a beautiful Park and promenade along the river’s edge. Le Loi Boulevard – the equivalent of “Main Street” in Vietnamese cities – is named after a national hero Le Loi who led a popular uprising in the 15th century that reversed a Chinese invasion, and who then became Emperor Le Thai To, the first of the powerful Le Dynasty.
At night, the boulevard, the park, and the bridge across the river to the old city are lit up with colored lights and a show that changes colors on the bridge.
Boulevard Le Loi at night.