Hanoi - Changing the name will not make the city a better place

Today, I decided that after I have been writing a lot about other places that I have visited in Asia, Vietnam as well as in Europe. I have just realized that I have not written about the famous must-visit destination around me just several kms from my house.

Well, because I am living in Hanoi, the ancient capital of Vietnam with hundreds of monuments from the past such as temples, Buddhism pagoda, the Hanoi citadel, the towers as well as much other architecture from the colonized period ( when Vietnam was still a part of Indochina under French dominations). So as the first article of the series about Hanoi, I would like to tell your guys that Hanoi was actually not named “ Hanoi” in the past.

The name of the capital

Firstly, I will inform your guys that Hanoi is the new name of this city, this city has many different name before. The name of Hanoi is a brand new name for this ancient city, many times I have wondered why they –the government– did not change the name city back to its original name, or at least choose the better name. Then I realized that the name of Hanoi has been used in many different documents even in pages, in books and other historic data, so as a results, I understood why they did not change the name back.

Of course I did consider while they –the communist government– can change the name of Sai Gon, which used to the capital of the South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, they could not do the same thing with HaNoi.

For the case of Sai Gon, they have chosen the name of the communist leader – Ho Chi Minh to be the new name for the biggest city in Vietnam.

Ok, I think I should come back to focus the name story of Hanoi.

Source

Hanoi ancient citadel.

Well, Hanoi is the ancient or the oldest capital of Vietnam, actually I would say that information is not real, even that is the thing many tourguide will tell you when you visit Vietnam.

I personally believe and understand that information is just kind of misleading propaganda from the communist party to make Hanoi more suitable to be the capital of Vietnam.

If you look at the map of Vietnam, you will see the shape of my country, which is S-Shape, long slender land along the south china sea. It is the fact that in last 2 centuries, the capital of Vietnam is Hue, in the central part of my nation.

Of course, I cannot deny that this land of exotic spiritual masterpieces from before becoming the capital of Dai Viet ( Vietnam) under the Ly dynasty. Before I knew that it was the land of the governorate of the Sui Dynasty (581-618), Tang (618-907) ) of Northern feudalism.

Basically, my Vietnam has been a part of the Chinese Empire in the early of our history, then as my people have rised up to fight against the invaders, we again gained the independence, thus Hanoi, a former citedal built by the invaders became the most important city of Vietnam.

Since its formation up to now, Hanoi has many names. I will divide the names into two categories: Regular and Non-regular, in chronological order as follows:

* Full name

The names are recorded in history books by feudal dynasties, the State of Vietnam formally:

1. The first name - Long Do.

For this first name, it was a very long time ago based on a legend. I am sorry to tell your guys that my Vietnam has just written the historic records from the year of 1000, then due to the war and the burning of books - which is a dangerous policy of China, we have lost most of the historical records. I think that it is a good reason to explain why in Vietnam there are many many legends and folk told stories,

“ because we just do not know the reality so we created legends. “

Legend has it that at Cao Bien who is a general of China, he came to Vietnam to rule this new invaded land of the Chinese Empire,

As an invader, he wanted to limit the uprising of local people, so he decided to built the citadel of a fortress.

However, due to the raining weather of Vietnam, he could not easily built the citedal, then he saw the spirit appears to claim to be Long Do god. Therefore, in history books, Hanoi is called Long Do.

2. The secondnam - Song Ping. – it means the Song Dynasty has annexed this land

First, as I knew the Chinese invaders has a name of Song Ping for another town in the north of Hanoi, I have been in that province once, it was one of the oldest provinces in the history of Vietnam. Then, due to the uprising of local people, they have moved to say in Hanoi as a result the name of Song Ping has been moved to with its people.

3. Great La.

This name I think is not official, it is just the way local people call Hanoi due to the characteristics of this city.

According to the ancient architecture, the capital often has the "Three triangular citadels": In the same is the Forbidden City (the wall of the purple) where the king and the royal family, the middle is the capital and the Dai Thanh.

As Cao Bien general reinforced Dai La Thanh wider and more solid than before. Since then, the city has been called Dai La citadel.

In the move of the King of Ly Thai To wrote in 1010, it was written: "... just as Dai La, the old capital of Cao Vuong (Cao Bien) in the middle of heaven and earth... " I, H, 1993, p. 241).

4. Thang Long – The flying dragon

The legend of Ly king seeing the flying dragon in the new capital, he decided to name it Thang Lon g- Flying Dragon

The statue of Ly Thai Tong, Ly King in Hanoi

http://th-phandinhphung-hochiminh.violet.vn/entry/show/entry_id/4480634

Here is the best name for this capital, I always want it would take this name again.

In terms of the name Thang Long, we often explain that: Thang is flying up, Thang Long means flying dragon. Actually, there are many ways of writing and explaining the word "promoted" in Han Dynasty.

With the first writing, the word "elevation" means "go higher up, " next to its first meaning is the same, a measure of capacity (from literature: chung ").

Second writing: There is a Japanese letter on the letter "Thang" which means "sunrise" and also means "go up high", like the word "Thang" in the first writing.

Let’s see the historical data. Well as I have said after 1000 years of Chinese domination, finally, Vietnamese people had gained independence due to the weakness of the China – Song Dynasty.

At first, our ancestors chose the mountainous area in Ninh Binh Province to build the capital, which is due to the threat that the Chinese invaders would come back.

However, after several decades, the mountains capital is not suitable for its citizens, I have in NInh Binh for 3 times, it was beautiful, fanstatic, but just imagine that you have a big giant city surrounded by mountains, which is not good for the economy, even in the raining season, it would cause a lot of damage to the palaces as well.

Hence, The Ly King became to the throne, you know what.

“ He wanted to build a new capital, he wanted to make a bigger nation”

As a result, he chose the previous fortress or citadel of the invaders to make it become the capital of Vietnam.

Thang Long, the new capital of Ly Cong Uan, is recorded in the Vietnam dynasty, with the word "Đăng" in Japanese, and therefore contains two meanings: "Dragon fly", and "Dragon (flew) in the face. the sky is high ".

Naming the name of Thang Long with the above writing, while recording the fact that King Ly Thai To found the dragon appeared on the land was chosen as the new capital city, and the power and magic of the dragon, very close to Vietnamese people, still considered themselves "Fairy Dragon".

It is noteworthy that the popular Chinese dictionaries such as Tuong, Tu Hai (it is not clear the next period is not different), not recorded from Thang Long in both forms of writing letters. The word "Thang" is the word "Thang" in the first written form, with the word "Thang Long", which is the common word and is taught as "Thang". "Flying dragon". Thus, can see the name of Thang Long with the old history written as a place entirely Vietnamese-made.

5. The last name – HaNoi – The city between rivers.

It is a very interesting story, I have told you before, in the last 2 centuries, Hanoi was not the capital of Vietnam,

As a new dynasty, Nguyen Dynasty has raised to the throne. As they are from the south Vietnam, they decide to make the new capital in the central of Vietnam, at this time, Vietnam has a shape of S, which is very long from the north to the south, as a result very difficult to control.

5. 1 Perhaps due to the edging location, Barcelona could not be the capital of Spain?

This case is quite similar with Madrid as the capital of Spain, I know that there are two biggest cities in Spain, but Barcelona could not be the capital of Spain, perhaps because Barcelona was in the edge of Spain.

I think that the capital in the centre of the nation is the best choice if you take Russia for example, due to the location of Moscow which was in the West of Russia, there is a huge difference between the West Russia and the East Russia.

So if the capital is in the center of the country, it is always better.

As Nguyen King made the new capital, the name of Thang Long – flying dragon seems to be not suitable for a normal city ( because at that time, we got a new capital of Hue)

So as The Red River is the main river of the city, flowing into Hanoi in Ba Vi district and out of the city in the Phu Xuyen district bordering Hung Yen and then down to Nam Dinh, the city has many associated with Thang Long. since the Tran Dynasty. The Red River flows through Hanoi, which accounts for about one third of the length of this river in Vietnam.

The king created a new name for the ancient capital which was no longer the capital of the nation – Hanoi – The city between Rivers.

Hanoi is also a special city with many lagoons and traces of ancient rivers. In the inner city, West Lake has the largest lake, plays an important role in the urban scene, today is surrounded by many hotels, villas.

6. Chaning the name will not make the city better!

Hanoi nowdays - the city between rivers.. Photo source: http://kenh14.vn/xa-hoi/chum-anh-co-mot-ha-noi-tuyet-dep-nhin-tu-tren-cao-20160115011449809.chn

By the way, though I love the ancient name of Hanoi which is Thang lOng – Flying Dragon, It seemed impossible at the moment as It would be expensive and costly to change the name from Hanoi back to ThangLong. The government in that case will have to change everything from the data on every single books to the diplomat problems.

Moreover I also believe that the name is not the best thing to make a city better or more attractive, it is undeniable that Hanoi now has many serious problems with traffic jams, low-quality air, pollution as well as social evils.

As a result, I do agree that the city could not be more beautiful by changing its name, the only thing makes it better is to improve its problems.

I hope that in the future, I will see my city better air quality, better public transporation system and

NO more traffic jams, please!

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