Hà Tĩnh Province

Hà Tĩnh Province Tỉnh Hà Tĩnh
Province
Location of Hà Tĩnh within Vietnam
Coordinates: 18°20′N 105°54′E / 18.333°N 105.900°ECoordinates: 18°20′N 105°54′E / 18.333°N 105.900°E
Country	Vietnam
Region	North Central Coast
Capital	Hà Tĩnh
Government
• People's Council Chair	Nguyễn Thanh Bình
• People's Committee Chair	Lê Văn Chất
Area[1]
• Total	5,997.8 km^2 (2,315.8 sq mi)
Population (2014)[1]
• Total	1,255,300
• Density	210/km^2 (540/sq mi)
Demographics
• Ethnicities	Vietnamese, Thai, Chứt, Mường
Time zone	ICT (UTC+7)
Calling code	39
ISO 3166 code	VN-23
Website	www.hatinh.gov.vn

Hà Tĩnh ( listen) is a province on the North Central Coast of Vietnam. Together with neighbouring Nghệ An Province the two provinces are together called "Nghệ Tĩnh", and the locals are known for speaking Vietnamese with a very noticeable accent.^[2][3]

Geography

Hà Tĩnh Province is located in the northern part of central Vietnam, about 340 km (211 miles) south of Hanoi, facing Nghệ An Province to the north, Quảng Bình Province to the south, Laos to the west, and the Eastern Sea to the east.

Administrative divisions

Hà Tĩnh is subdivided into 13 district-level sub-divisions:

• 10 districts:

• • Cẩm Xuyên
  • Can Lộc
  • Đức Thọ
  • Hương Khê
  • Hương Sơn
  • Kỳ Anh
  • Lộc Hà
  • Nghi Xuân
  • Thạch Hà
  • Vũ Quang

• 2 district-level towns:

• • Hồng Lĩnh
  • Kỳ Anh (newly created as of 2015)

• 1 provincial city:
  • Hà Tĩnh (capital)

They are further subdivided into 12 commune-level towns (or townlets), 235 communes, and 15 wards.

Tourism and Notables

Hà Tĩnh has many touristic locations of historical and cultural interest. It is home to national figures such as Le Huu Trac, Nguyễn Du (the author of the epic poem Kim Van Kieu), Nguyễn Công Trứ, Phan Đình Phùng, Trần Phú, Ngô Đức Kế, Nguyen Phan Chanh, Hoang Ngoc Phach, Xuân Diệu, Huy Cận, Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Nguyễn Khắc Viện, Lê Văn Thiêm, Diem Phung Thi and Nguyen Do. Notable scenic areas include La River, Vũ Môn Falls, Vũ Quang Garden, Kẻ Gỗ Lake, Sơn Kim hot springs, Đèo Ngang pass, Hương Tích Pagoda, and beautiful beaches at Thiên Cầm, Ðèo Con, Xuân Thành, Chân Tiên...Most of them are along the Highway 1A and 8.

Transport

Hà Tĩnh has 130 km (82 miles) of Highway 1A stretching from Ben Thuy Bridge (Vinh City) to Deo Ngang Pass linking Hà Tĩnh and Quảng Bình. Ho Chi Minh Route is the second most important of the province. Besides, Hà Tĩnh enjoys Road 8 which runs from Hong Linh town to Laos and Viet-Lao highway from Vung Ang Harbour (Kỳ Anh District) to Laos. In 2007, a railway link to Laos was proposed from Hà Tĩnh province.

Economy

Hà Tĩnh is among the poorest provinces of Vietnam with a GDP in 2008 of US$420 per person. The poverty can be attributed to the harsh natural conditions with severe coldness in winter and extreme heat in summer, floods and storms every autumn and unfavorable soil and natural resources. A badly-operated district and provincial government is also a hurdle to prosperity. Agriculture, forestry and fishery takes up 35.5 percent of total GDP and the province's GDP accounts for 0.7 percent of Vietnam's GDP. Hà Tĩnh takes slow steps in economic reforms though better signs in recent time are incentive. Vung Ang harbour with some plants, factories and thermal power station is becoming the most active economic hub. Vietnam Steel operates an iron mine in Thach Khe District,^[4] with reserves of 544 million tonnes of iron one of the largest mines in southeast Asia.^[5] A US$10 billion iron and steel plant is being built in Vung Ang.^[6] (see Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation.) The steel plant is part of an industrial park, which is estimated to cost more than US$20 billion. When finished in 2020, the industrial park will have a port, a 2,100-MW power plant and a steel plant with six blast furnaces.^[7] In 2016, the Formosa Steel plant released deadly heavy metals and other toxins into the river, killing millions of fish and endangering the lives of millions of humans through subsequent poisoning.

History

In Sino-Vietnamese characters, the province's name is written as 河靜, meaning "river quiet". Beginning in 1930 Hà Tĩnh, along with Nghệ An and Quảng Ngãi, was one of the early grounds for the Vietnamese rural Soviet movement and protests.^[8][9]

References

1. Statistical Handbook of Vietnam 2014 Archived July 6, 2015, at the Wayback Machine., General Statistics Office Of Vietnam
2. Thê ́Anh Nguyêñ, Alain Forest Guerre et paix en Asie du Sud-Est Page 110 1998 " ... the regional way of speaking in the southern part of Thanh Nghệ, the so-called Nghệ Tĩnh (Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh) dialect, ..."
3. Jonathan D. London Education in Vietnam 2011 Page 186 "A teacher from Hà Tĩnh Province acknowledged this issue, quipping that his distinctive and “heavy” Hà Tĩnh accent would be tough even for most Việt teachers, let alone students."
4. Geological Survey (U.S.), Minerals Yearbook: Area Reports: International 2008: Asia and the Pacific, pp. 22-12, 26-9.
5. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/Home/Vung-Ang-economic-zone-grows-into-national-industrial-centre/20137/36939.vnplus
6. http://www.vir.com.vn/news/en/province/vung-ang-ez-attracts-79-projects-worth-$16-billion.html
7. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/15/us-vietnam-china-riots-casualties-idUSBREA4E03Y20140515
8. Patricia M. Pelley Postcolonial Vietnam: New Histories of the National Past 2002 Page 196 "In September 1930, the first Vietnamese soviet (in the village of vi:Võ Liệt) was formed, and soon it encompassed the three provinces of Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, and Quảng Ngãi. By this point, a number of Vietnamese students were already attending ..."
9. Nguyen Công LuanNationalist in the Viet Nam Wars: Memoirs of a Victim Turned Soldier 2011 "... "Soviet" style that led farmers from several villages in Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh provinces to stage mass protests for months after May 1930"

External links

• Hà Tĩnh province People's Committee
• Poverty alleviation in Hà Tĩnh Province, Vietnam: A public archive of development project documents

Template:Vietnam