Quang Binh Province
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Provinces of Vietnam |
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| Administration | |
|---|---|
| People's Council Chair | Lương Ngọc Bính |
| People's Committee Chair | Phan Lâm Phương |
| Geography | |
| Capital | Đồng Hới |
| Region | North Central Coast |
| Area | 8,051.8 km² |
| Demographics | |
| Population • Density |
831,600(2004) 103.3/km² |
| Ethnicities | Vietnamese, Bru – Vân Kiều, Chứt, Tày |
| Calling code | 52 |
| ISO 3166-2 | VN-24 |
| Website | www.quangbinh.gov.vn |
Quang Binh (in Vietnamese Quảng Bình pronunciation ) is a province in the North Central Coast of Vietnam. The province is home to the World Heritage Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. There is one deep-water sea port of Hon La; there are two industrial parks here. The province is home to famous Vietnamese persons such as general Vo Nguyen Giap, family of former South Vietnam or Republic of Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem, poet Han Mac Tu, writer Bao Ninh. During the Vietnam War, this province was severely devastated by bombing by US B-52s.
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[edit] Geography
[edit] Land Area
The provincial land area is 8,051.9 km² and divided as follows:
- Inhabited land: 4,145 ha
- Agriculture: 163,546 ha
- Forest: 491,262 ha
- Specific usage: 19,936 ha
- Unused: 2.601 ha
Sand area accounts for 5.9% of the land, and alluvial soil accounts for only 2.8% of the land. The province's east coastline is 116.04 km long and the western borderline with Laos is 201.81 km long. The province owns 486,688 ha of forests, of which 447,837 ha is natural jungle, and 38,854 ha is reforestation (including 17,597 ha of pines).
[edit] Location
Coordinates 16°55’ to 18°05’ North and 105°37’ to 107°00’ East. It borders Hà Tĩnh Province on the north with the Ngang mountain pass as the natural frontier, borders Quảng Trị Province by the south, borders Laos by the west, and faces the South China Sea on the east. The narrowest part from east (seaside) to west (Laotian border) is just 40 km.
[edit] Topography
The provincial topography is characterized by a general slope, higher in the west and lower in the east, with hilly and mountainous areas accounting for 85% of the total area. The Annamite Range is the natural border between Quang Binh Province and Laos with peaks ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 m, the summit of which is peak Phi Co Pi with the height of 2,017 m. In the east of the provice are lower hills and then several narrow plains and river deltas. The seaside sand dunes belt is a natural dam to protect the land from the ocean tides.
[edit] Rivers
There are five rivers in this province, namely: Giang river (this historic river used to be the border cutting Vietnam into two countries during Trinh-Nguyen war), Ron river, Nhat Le River (the confluence of Kien Giang and Long Dai River), Ly Hoa River and Dinh River. Most of the rivers originate in the Truong Son Range and empty into South China Sea. River and stream density is 1.1 km/km². There are 160 natural and man-made lakes with total water deposit of 234.3 million cubic meter of fresh water.
[edit] Sea area
Quảng Bình Province’s sea area includes continential shelf and special economic area up to 20,000 km². Off the sea, there lays Hon La islet, Hòn Gió islet, Hòn Nồm islet, Hòn Cỏ islet, Hòn Chùa islets with the total fishery capacity of 100,000 metric tonnes. Hon La bay is a 4-square-km marine bay with the depth up to 15 m and a surrounding land of 400 ha suitable to develop sea deep-water port and industrial park.
[edit] Climate
There are four separate seasons here: In spring (from February to April), it is warm with slight rains, humid and the temperature around 18 to 25 degrees Celsius. In the summer (from May to July), it is hot, dry with little downpours, the temperature may reach up to 35 to 36 degrees Celsius. In the fall, it is rainy, cool with temperature around 22 to 28 degrees Celsius. In the winter, it's humid, slight rain with temperature about 12 to 16 degrees Celsius. Annual average precipitation is around 2,000-2,300 mm. Heaviest rainy season is from September to November. From April to August is the dry season. The hottest months are June-August.
[edit] Administration devisions
The province is divided into 6 counties (huyện) (or rural districts) and a city . The counties are further divided into 154 communes (xã) and these communes are divided into villages (lang or thon) :
- Dong Hoi (city)
- Bố Trạch County
- Lệ Thủy County
- Minh Hóa Countiy
- Quảng Trạch County
- Quảng Ninh County
- Tuyên Hóa County
[edit] Education
The province is home to Quang Binh University, a newly-established university from the Normal College of Quang Binh. This university has faculties of business administration, normal faculty, informatics faculty. There are several high schools and primary schools in counties. Inhabitants here regards education as family tradition and the most important means to make ends meet and to eliminate poverty.
[edit] Social issues
Compared to other provinces in areas surrounding Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, Quang Binh is the poorer province. Therefore, more and more young and educated here find their ways to the big cities and more industrialized provinces.
[edit] Health Care
In each comme, there is a clinic and there is a hospital in every county, in Dong Hoi city, there are more. Vietnamo-Cuban Hospital donated by Cuba was built in 1980s.
[edit] Economy
The provincial GDP per capita is one of the lowest of Vietnam (around US$ 400, compared to Vietnam's average GDP per capita of US$ 700). Industries base on mainly construction material production (ciment, tiles, building rock, brick) thanks to its abundance in limestone and white clay deposits. The province has two industrial parks, one in Dong Hoi city and the other in Hon La bay. Sea food processing, bio-fertilizer and aluminum production are also important to this provincial economy. Over 80% of the population live on agricultural production. In recent years, tourism has been emerged as the significant contribution to Quang Binh largely thanks to Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park (World Heritage site) and several white fine sand beaches. Trade conducted with Laos through Cha Lo gate by National Road 12. In 2005, this province's export value is just 30 million US$ or 1% of Vietnam's export revenue.
[edit] Landscapes and attractions
- Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park.
- Da Nhay and Ly Hoa Beaches, Nhat Le Beach.
- Bang Spa.
- Ho Chi Minh Trail battlefield.
[edit] Transportation
There are two parallel national roads cross the province: The National Road 1A (runs from Lang Son Province to Ca Mau Province along the coastline of the country) and Truong Son National Road (runs from North-Western part of Vietnam to Ca Mau along the mountainous part, nearly coinciding Ho Chi Minh Trail). The Road 12 connects this province with Savannakhet Province of Laos. The Hanoi-Saigon Railway crosses Quang Binh Province in the hill area with Dong Hoi Railway Station as a main station. Dong Hoi Airport is under construction in Dong Hoi city and due to be opened at the end of 2006 with scheduled flights to and from Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat International Airport and Ha Noi's Noi Bai International Airport upon completion.
[edit] Demographics
There are 24 ethnic groups live here, predominantly Kinh race, Vân Kiều race and Chứt race. Other minorities are in very small quantity with 100 persons each. All of 23 minority ethnic groups live in mountainous areas. The provincial population is unevenly distributed, with more than 90% live in around 10% of the provincial land while just 10% live in 90% mountainous and sand areas. 88.5% inhabitants lives in rural areas, 11.5% lives in urban areas. Labour force accounted for 47.08% of the population (380,306) in 2000. 72% labour works in rural sectors (agriculture and syvicuture), 10.9% works in urban area (industrial, service and commercial sectors). There are 10,720 university graduates and postgraduates (4,676 college graduates and 6042 university graduates) in 2000. Of the blue-colar workers, only 35,000 have passed appropriate training courses.
[edit] History
Under Hung kings, when Van Lang nation founded Văn Lang tribal coalition, Quảng Bình belonged to Việt Thường group. Under Lê Trung Hưng, this province was named Tiên Bình. The central and the south Vietnam (from Ngang mount pass to Binh Thuan Province was long Champa Kingdom. The wars between Champa kingdom and Dai Viet before then had happened very regularly, most of the wars logded by Champa kingdom who was then stronger than Dai Viet (Viet the great). Quang Binh was a conflicted territory between Champa and Dai Viet in hundreds of years and became Đại Việt's territory in 1306 after the political marriage of the Trần Dynasty princess Huyen Tran, to Champa king, Jaya Sinhavarman III (Vietnamese: Chế Mân). Princess Huyen Trần was king Trần Nhân Tông's daughter and king Trần Anh Tông's younger sister. Political matches made to acquire land was a traditional practice by Champa kings. Thanks to this marriage, Đại Việt acquired lands (as dowry) of what is now Quảng Bình province, Quảng Trị Province, and Thừa Thiên–Huế Province (then known respectively as Chau O and Chau Ri or Chau Ly). During Trinh-Nguyen family war in 17th century, Gianh River in Quang Binh Province was made the frontier between Dang Trong (South Vietnam) and Dang Ngoai (North Vietnam). Dong Hoi city was built as a fortress to protect Nguyen's family Dang Trong from Dang Ngoai's attacks. In 1604 the provincial name was changed to Quảng Bình. Lord Nguyễn Phúc Khoát divided Quảng Bình into 3 counties (dinh): dinh Bố Chính (formely dinh Ngói), dinh Mười (or dinh Lưu Đồn), and dinh Quảng Bình (or dinh Trạm). The province was established in 1831, with the part of phủ Quảng Ninh, then added phủ Quảng Trạch. Under French colony (French Indochina, Quang Binh was situated in Annam of French Indochina and Dong Hoi airbase in Quang Binh was used by French army to attack Viet Minh in north-central Vietnam and Laotian Pathet army in north and south Laos. In 1954, the Geneva Accord was signed by France and Vietnam and invilved parties. According to which, Vietnam is temporarily divided into 2 part with Parallel 17 as frontier. The North Vietnam was under communist control while the South Vietnam was in anti-communist and French collaborators control and a universal election would be held in 1956 to unify the country. However, in the South, Ngo Dinh Diem held a referendum and founded pro-American the Republic of Vietnam. Quang Binh belonged to the North Vietnam, just 50 km north of Seventeenth parallel. During Vietnam War, Quang Binh was the most severely destroyed province by US B 52 bombardments due to its location near to Seventeenth parallel and the important part of Ho Chi Minh Trail. In 1976 Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên Province were merged into Bình Trị Thiên Province, in 1990 Binh Tri Thien Province was split into three provinces as they were before.
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