Hanoi

History

Prehistory

Vestiges of human habitation from the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic ages can be found in Hanoi. Between 1971 and 1972, archaeologists in Ba Vì and Đông Anh discovered pebbles with traces of carving and processing by human hands that are relics of Sơn Vi Culture, dating from 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. In 1998–1999, the Museum of Vietnamese History (later is National Museum of Vietnamese History) carried out the archaeological studies in the north of Đồng Mô Lake (Sơn Tây, Hanoi), finding relics and objects belonging to the Sơn Vi culture dating back to the Paleolithic age around 20,000 years ago. During the Holocene transgression, the sea level rose and immersed low-lying areas; geological data show the coastline was inundated and was located near Hanoi. Consequently, from about 10,000 to approximately 4,000 years ago, Hanoi in general was completely underwater. It is believed that the region has been continuously inhabited for the last 4,000 years.

Cổ Loa and Nanyue

In around third century BC, a fortified citadel, later named as Cổ Loa, is constructed in what later is Hanoi, and is the first political center of the Vietnamese civilization pre-Sinitic era, with an outer embankment covering 600 hectares. In 179 BC, the area was annexed by Nanyue. Zhao Tuo subsequently incorporated the regions into his Nanyue domain, and left the indigenous chiefs in control of the population. For the first time, the region formed part of a polity headed by a Chinese ruler.

Chinese rule

In 111 BC, the Han dynasty conquered Nanyue and ruled it. Han dynasty organized Nanyue into seven commanderies of the south (Lingnan) and included three in Vietnam alone: Giao Chỉ and Cửu Chân, and a newly established Nhật Nam.

In March of 40 AD, Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị, daughters of an aristocratic family of Lac ethnicity in Mê Linh district (Hanoi), led the locals to rise up in rebellion against the Han. It began at the Red River Delta, and spread south and north from Jiaozhi, stirring up all three Lạc Việt regions and most of Lingnan, gaining the support of about 65 towns and settlements. Trưng sisters then established their court upriver in Mê Linh. In 42 AD, the Han emperor commissioned general Ma Yuan to suppress the uprising with 32,000 men, including 20,000 regulars and 12,000 regional auxiliaries. The rebellion was defeated in the next year as Ma Yuan captured and decapitated Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị, then sent their heads to the Han court in Luoyang.

By the middle of the fifth century, in the center of what later was Hanoi, a fortified settlement was founded by the Chinese Liu Song dynasty as the seat of a new district called Tống Bình (Songping) within Giao Chỉ commandery. The name refers to its pacification by the dynasty. It was elevated to its own commandery at some point between AD 454 and 464. The commandery included the districts of Yihuai (義懷) and Suining (綏寧) in the south of the Red River (later is Từ Liêm and Hoài Đức districts) with a metropolis in what later was inner Hanoi.

By the year 679, the Tang dynasty changed the region's name to Annan (Chinese: 安南; Vietnamese: An Nam; lit. 'pacified south'), with Songping as its capital.

Around 767, Songping's citadel was rebuilt as La Thành (羅城, Luóchéng) by Tang governor Zhang Boyi after he defeated a Javanese raid of the city. The citadel extended from Thu Le to Quan Ngua in what later was Ba Đình district. Over time, in the first half of the ninth century, this fortification was expanded and renamed as Jincheng (Vietnamese: Kim Thành). In 863, Nanzhao and local rebels laid siege of Jincheng and overran local Tang garrisons. In 866, Chinese jiedushi Gao Pian recaptured the city and drove out the Nanzhao and rebels. He renamed the city to Daluocheng (Chinese: 大羅城; Vietnamese: Đại La Thành). He built a wall around the city measuring 6,344 meters, with some sections reaching over eight meters in height. Đại La at the time had approximately 25,000 residents, including foreign communities of Persians, Arabs, Indian, Cham, Javanese, and Nestorian Christians. In 880, the Tang army in Annam mutinied, taking the city of Đại La, and forced the military commissioner Zeng Gun to flee north, ending de facto Chinese control in Northern Vietnam. By tenth century AD, what later was Hanoi was known to the Muslim traders as Luqin.

Capital of Đại Việt (1010–1397, 1428–1802)

In 1010, Lý Thái Tổ, the first ruler of the Lý dynasty, moved the capital of Đại Việt to the site of the Đại La Citadel. Claiming to have seen a dragon ascending the Red River, he renamed the city Thăng Long (昇龍). Thăng Long remained the capital of Đại Việt until 1397, when it was moved to Thanh Hóa, then known as Tây Đô (西都), the "Western Capital". Thăng Long then became Đông Đô (東都), the "Eastern Capital".

When the Chinese Ming dynasty invaded and occupied Đại Việt in 1408, they renamed the city as Dongguan (Chinese: 東關; Vietnamese: Đông Quan; lit. 'eastern gate'). In 1428, the Lam Sơn uprising, under the leadership of Lê Lợi, overthrew the Chinese rule. Lê Lợi founded the Lê dynasty and renamed Đông Quan to Đông Kinh (東京), which was the source of Western exonym Tonkin for the whole region of Northern Vietnam. During 17th century, the population of Đông Kinh was estimated by Western diplomats as about 100,000.

Nguyễn dynasty and French colonial period

When the Nguyễn dynasty was established in 1802, Gia Long moved the capital to Huế. Thăng Long was no longer the capital, and its chữ Hán was changed from 昇龍 (lit. 'ascending dragon') to the homophone 昇隆 (lit. 'ascent and prosperity'), to reduce any loyalist sentiment towards the old Lê dynasty. In 1831, the Nguyễn king Minh Mạng renamed it Hà Nội (河內). Hanoi was conquered and occupied by the French military in 1873 and passed to them ten years later. As Hanoi, it was located in the protectorate of Tonkin and became the capital of French Indochina in 1902. Nominally it still belonged to the sovereignty of Vietnam (Nguyễn dynasty) under French protectorate in Tonkin, and since 1888 it had been a French concession and had directly been ruled by the French like Cochinchina.

WWII, First Indochina War, and Vietnam War

French Indochina including Hanoi was occupied by the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces in September 1940, after the Japanese invasion of French Indochina. Japan overthrew the French rule in Hanoi and formed the Empire of Vietnam in March 1945. After the fall of the Empire of Vietnam, it became the capital of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) when Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independence of Vietnam on 2 September 1945. The French returned and reoccupied the city in February 1947. After France recognized Vietnam's nominal and partial independence with the Élysée Accords on 14 June 1949, Hanoi became under the control of the State of Vietnam from 1949 to 1954, a unified associated state within the French Union. This state gained full independence with the Matignon Accords on 4 June 1954. In January 1953, Hanoi held the free municipal elections of the State of Vietnam. After eight years of fighting between the French and DRV forces, Hanoi became the capital of North Vietnam when this territory became a sovereign country and Vietnam became divided at 17th parallel on 21 July 1954. The army of the French Union withdrew to the South that year and the People's Army of Vietnam of the DRV and International Control Commission occupied the city on 10 October the same year under the terms of the 1954 Geneva Conference.

During the Vietnam War between North and South (1955–1975), North Vietnam (including Hanoi) was attacked by the United States and South Vietnamese Air Forces. Following the end of the war with the fall of Saigon in 1975, Hanoi became the capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam when North and South Vietnam were reunited on 2 July 1976.

Socialist Republic

After the Đổi Mới economic policies were approved in 1986, the Communist Party and national and municipal governments hoped to attract international investments for urban development projects in Hanoi. High-rise commercial buildings did not begin to appear until ten years later due to the international investment community being skeptical of the security of their investments in Vietnam. Urban development and rising costs displaced some residential areas in central Hanoi. Following a period of economic stagnation after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Hanoi resumed its economic growth.

On 29 May 2008, it was decided that Hà Tây Province, Vĩnh Phúc Province's Mê Linh District and four communes in Lương Sơn District, Hòa Bình Province be merged into the metropolitan area of Hanoi from 1 August 2008. Hanoi's total area then increased to 334,470 hectares in 29 subdivisions with the new population being 6,232,940.

Public outcry in opposition to the redevelopment of culturally significant areas in Hanoi persuaded the national government to implement a low-rise policy surrounding Hoàn Kiếm Lake. The Ba Đình District is also protected from commercial redevelopment.

Environment

Hanoi sometimes ranks among the "most polluted cities", with days each year when it is the most air-polluted city in the world. According to the 2018 Global Air Quality Report, Hanoi's fine dust concentration was four times higher than the WHO's recommended limit (40.8 μg/m³ compared to the recommended 10 μg/m³). A report by Vietnam's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment stated that Hanoi is the most air-polluted city in the country. The rivers flowing through Hanoi (Nhuệ River, Tô Lịch River, Kim Ngưu River, Lừ River, and Sét River) and some lakes are polluted, as 78% of Hanoi's wastewater is discharged directly into rivers and lakes without treatment. Each of these rivers receives tens of thousands of cubic meters of wastewater daily.

Climate

When using the Köppen climate classification, Hanoi is categorized as having a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa) with precipitation like other places in Northern Vietnam. The city experiences the typical climate of Northern Vietnam, with four distinct seasons. Summer, from May to September, is characterized by hot and humid weather with more rainfall, and fewer dry days. Hot, dry conditions caused by westerly winds during summer are rarer. From October to November comprise the fall season, characterized by a decrease in temperature and precipitation, this time in the year mostly are warm and mild. Winters, from December to February, are characterized as being cool by the northeast monsoon, giving Hanoi a dry winter. Spring, from March until the end of April, Hanoi is characterized with some amounts of drizzle and less sunshine due to the activity of the southeast monsoon blowing moisture from the sea inland. and the Vietnam Institute for Building Science and Technology

The region has a positive water balance (i.e. the precipitation exceeds the potential evapotranspiration). Hanoi averages 1,612 millimetres (63.5 in) of rainfall per year, the majority falling from May to October. There are an average of 114 days with rain. The average annual temperature is 23.6 °C (74 °F), with a mean relative humidity of more than 80%. The coldest month has a mean temperature of 16.4 °C (61.5 °F) and the hottest month has a mean temperature of 29.2 °C (84.6 °F). The highest recorded temperature was 42.8 °C (109 °F) in May 1926, while the lowest recorded temperature was 2.7 °C (37 °F) on 12 January 1955. During a January 2016 cold wave, snow was seen to appear on the nearby Ba Vì mountain range, where the temperature fell to 0 °C (32 °F) on 24 January 2016.

Demographics

During the French colonial period, as the capital of French Indochina, Hanoi attracted a number of French, Chinese and Vietnamese from the surrounding areas. In the 1940s the population of the city was 132,145. In 1954, the city had 53 thousand inhabitants, covering an area of 152 km². By 1961, the area of the city had expanded to 584 km², and the population was 91,000 people. In 1978, National Assembly (Vietnam) decided to expand Hanoi for the second time to 2,136 km², with a population of 2.5 million people. By 1991, the area of Hanoi continued to change, decreasing to 924 km² (357 sq mi), and the population was still over 2 million people. Hanoi's population reached 2,672,122 people in 1999. After the expansion in August 2008, Hanoi has a population of 6.233 million and is among the 17 capitals with the largest area in the world. According to the 2009 census, Hanoi's population is 6,451,909 people. As of 1 April 2019, Hanoi had a population of 8,053,663, including 3,991,919 males and 4,061,744 females. There are more than 50 ethnic groups in Hanoi, of which the Viet (Kinh) is the largest; according to official Vietnamese figures (2019 census), accounting for 98.66% of the population, followed by Mường at 0.77% and Tày at 0.24%.

In the Old Quarter, where commerce started hundreds of years ago and consisted mostly of family businesses, some of the street-front stores are owned by merchants and retailers from other provinces. The original owner family may have either rented out the store and moved into the adjoining house or moved out of the neighborhood altogether. The pace of change has escalated after the abandonment of central-planning economic policies and relaxing of the district-based household registrar system.

Economy

According to a ranking by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City will be amongst the fastest-growing cities in the world in terms of GDP growth from 2008 to 2025. In the year 2013, Hanoi contributed 12.6% to GDP, exported 7.5% of total exports, contributed 17% to the national budget and attracted 22% investment capital of Vietnam. The city's nominal GDP reached 451,213 billion VND (US$21.48 billion) in 2013, which made per capita GDP stand at 63.3 million VND (US$3,000). Industrial production in the city has an average annual growth of 19.1% from 1991 to 1995, 15.9% from 1996 to 2000, and 18.7% during 2001–2005.

Agriculture has striven to reform itself, introducing new high-yield plant varieties and livestock, and applying more modern farming techniques.

Infrastructure is being upgraded, with new roads and an improved public transportation system. Hanoi has allowed fast-food chains into the city, such as McDonald's, Lotteria, Pizza Hut, KFC, Popeyes, Domino's Pizza, Jolibee and others. Locals in Hanoi perceive the ability to purchase "fast-food" as an indication of luxury and permanent fixtures. City officials are motivated by food safety concerns and their aspirations for a "modern" city to replace the 67 traditional food markets with 1,000 supermarkets by 2025.

Over three-quarters of the jobs in Hanoi are state-owned. 9% of jobs are provided by collectively owned organizations and 13.3% of jobs are in the private sector. The structure of employment has been changing as state-owned institutions downsize and private enterprises grow. Hanoi has in-migration controls which allow the city to accept only people who add skills to Hanoi's economy. A 2006 census found that 5,600 rural produce vendors exist in Hanoi, with 90% of them coming from surrounding rural areas. These numbers indicate the greater earning potential in urban rather than in rural spaces. The uneducated, rural, and mostly female street vendors are depicted as participants of "microbusiness" and local grassroots economic development by business reports. In July 2008, Hanoi's city government devised a policy to partially ban street vendors and side-walk based commerce on 62 streets due to concerns about public health and "modernizing" the city's image to attract foreigners. Some foreigners believe that the vendors add a traditional and nostalgic aura to the city. The vendors have not able to form effective resistance tactics to the ban and remain embedded in the dominant capitalist framework of Hanoi.

Hanoi is part of the Maritime Silk Road that runs from the Chinese coast through the Strait of Malacca towards the southern tip of India to Mombasa, from there through the Red Sea via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, there to the Upper Adriatic region to the northern Italian hub of Trieste with its rail connections to Central Europe and the North Sea.

On Vietnam's Provincial Competitiveness Index 2023, a key tool for evaluating the business environment in Vietnam's provinces, Hanoi received a score of 67.15. This was an improvement from 2022 in which the province received a score of 66.74. In 2023, the province received its highest scores on the 'Labor Policy' and 'Time Costs' criterion and lowest on 'Access To Land' and 'Proactivity'.

Development

Infrastructure

A development master plan for Hanoi was designed by Ernest Hebrard in 1924, and was partially implemented. The previous relationship between the Soviet Union and Vietnam led to the creation of the first comprehensive plan for Hanoi with the assistance of Soviet planners between 1981 and 1984. It was never realized because it appeared to be incompatible with Hanoi's existing layout.

Two master plans have been created to guide Hanoi's development. The first was the Hanoi Master Plan 1990–2010, approved in April 1992. It was created out of collaboration between planners from Hanoi and the National Institute of Urban and Rural Planning in the Ministry of Construction. The plan's three main objectives were to create housing and a new commercial center in an area known as Nghĩa Đô, expand residential and industrial areas in the Gia Lâm District, and develop the three southern corridors linking Hanoi to Hà Đông and the Thanh Trì District. The result of the land-use pattern was meant to resemble a five cornered star by 2010. In 1998, a revised version of the Hanoi Master plan was approved to be completed in 2020. It addressed the significant increase of population projections within Hanoi. Population densities and high rise buildings in the inner city were planned to be limited to protect the old parts of inner Hanoi. A rail transport system is planned to be built to expand public transport and link the Hanoi to surrounding areas. Projects such as airport upgrading, a golf course, and cultural villages have been approved for development by the government.

In the 1980s, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Vietnamese government had designed a project to develop rural infrastructure. The project focused on improving roads, water supply and sanitation, and educational, health and social facilities because economic development in the communes and rural areas surrounding Hanoi is dependent on the infrastructural links between the rural and urban areas, especially for the sale of rural products. The project aimed to use locally available resources and knowledge such as compressed earth construction techniques for building. It was jointly funded by the UNDP, the Vietnamese government, and resources raised by the local communities and governments. In four communes, the local communities contributed 37% of the total budget. Local labor, community support, and joint funding were decided as necessary for the long-term sustainability of the project.

Civil society

Part of the goals of the Đổi Mới economic reforms was to decentralize governance for purpose of economic improvement. This led to the establishment of the first issue-oriented civic organizations in Hanoi. In the 1990s, Hanoi experienced poverty alleviation as a result of the market reforms and civil society movements. Most of the civic organizations in Hanoi were established after 1995, at a rate slower than in Ho Chi Minh City. Organizations in Hanoi are more "tradition-bound", focused on policy, education, research, professional interests, and appealing to governmental organizations to solve social problems. This marked difference from Ho Chi Minh's civic organizations, which practice more direct intervention to tackle social issues, may be attributed to the different societal identities of North and South Vietnam. Hanoi-based civic organizations use more systematic development and less of a direct intervention approach to deal with issues of rural development, poverty alleviation, and environmental protection. They rely more heavily on full-time staff than volunteers. In Hanoi, 16.7% of civic organizations accept anyone as a registered member and 73.9% claim to have their own budgets, as opposed to 90.9% in Ho Chi Minh City. A majority of the civic organizations in Hanoi find it difficult to work with governmental organizations. Some of the strained relations between non-governmental and governmental organizations results from statism, a bias against non-state organizations on the part of government entities.

Landmarks

While some relics have not survived through wars and time, the city still has other cultural and historic monuments. The French took control in 1888 and modeled the city's architecture to their tastes, lending an aesthetic to the city's heritage. The city hosts more cultural sites than any other city in Vietnam, and has more than 1,000 years of history; that of several hundred years had been preserved.

Old Quarter

The Old Quarter, near Hoàn Kiếm Lake, maintains most of the original street layout and some of the architecture of older Hanoi. At the beginning of the 20th century Hanoi consisted of the "36 streets", the citadel, and some of the newer French buildings south of Hoàn Kiếm lake, most of which later are part of Hoàn Kiếm district. Each street had merchants and households specializing in a particular trade, such as silk, jewelry or bamboo. The street names reflect these specializations, while some of them remain exclusively in their original commerce.

The city's more than six decades of French colonization, and centuries of sociocultural influence from China, have influenced the designs of the old houses in Hanoi. The Franco-Chinese or hybrid architectural styles can be reflected in the front of a house in the co-existence of French-styled columns, Confucian scrolls, the Taoist yin-yang sign, and the Buddhist lotus sculpture.

Imperial sites

Imperial sites are mostly in Ba Đình District and a bit of Đống Đa District. They are juxtaposed with French colonial architecture (villas, administrative buildings and tree-lined boulevards). Some prominent edifices from feudal time include the Temple of Literature (Văn Miếu), site of the oldest university in Vietnam which was started in 1010, the One Pillar Pagoda (Chùa Một Cột) which was built based on the dream of king Lý Thái Tông (1028–1054) in 1049, and the Flag Tower of Hanoi (Cột cờ Hà Nội). In 2004, a part of the 900-year-old Hanoi Citadel was discovered in central Hanoi, near the site of Ba Đình Square.

Colonial sites

Hanoi was the capital and the administrative center for French Indochina for most of the colonial period (from 1902 to 1945). The French colonial architectural style became dominant, and examples remained: tree-lined boulevards (such as Phan Dinh Phung street, Hoang Dieu street and Tran Phu street) and villas, mansions, and government buildings. Some colonial structures are an eclectic mixture of French and Vietnamese architectural styles, such as the National Museum of Vietnamese History, the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts and the old Indochina Medical College. Gouveneur-Général Paul Doumer (1898–1902) played a role in colonial Hanoi's urban planning.

Tourism

According to Mastercard's 2019 report, Hanoi is Vietnam's most visited city (15th in Asia Pacific), with 4.8 million overnight international visitors in 2018. Hanoi is sometimes dubbed the "Paris of the East" for its French influences.

South of Hoàn Kiếm's "French Quarter" has French colonial landmarks, including the Hanoi Opera House, the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi hotel, the National Museum of Vietnamese History (formerly the École française d'Extrême-Orient), and the St. Joseph's Cathedral. Most of the French-Colonial buildings in Hoan Kiem are later used as foreign embassies. Northwest of the historic center, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology opened in 1997, and consists of two exhibition halls and an Architecture Garden. Since 2014, Hanoi has been voted in the world's top ten destinations by TripAdvisor. It ranked eighth in 2014, fourth in 2015 and eighth in 2016.

Education

After the Communist Party of Vietnam took control of Hanoi in 1954, new universities were built, including the Hanoi University of Science and Technology. ULIS (University of Languages and International Studies) was rated as "one of the top universities in south-east Asia for languages and language studies at the undergraduate level". Other universities that are not part of Vietnam National University or Hanoi University include Hanoi School for Public Health, Hanoi School of Agriculture, Electric Power University and University of Transport and Communications. It is estimated that 62% of the scientists in Vietnam are living and working in Hanoi. The majority of universities in Hanoi are public, while in years a number of private universities have begun operation. Thăng Long University was founded in 1988 by Vietnamese mathematics professors in Hanoi and France.

Education levels are higher within the city of Hanoi in comparison to the suburban areas outside the city. About 33.8% of the labor force in the city has completed secondary school in contrast to 19.4% in the suburbs. 21% of the labor force in the city has completed tertiary education in contrast to 4.1% in the suburbs.

Transportation

Hanoi has 1,370 streets and roads with the total length of over 2,300 km (1,429 mi); 573 bridges, of which 483 small to middle bridges, 13 light overpasses for vehicles, 70 pedestrian overpasses and seven main bridges (Chương Dương, Vĩnh Tuy, Thanh Trì, Nhật Tân, Đông Trù, Thăng Long, and Phùng); 115 tunnels, including nine main tunnels, 39 pedestrian tunnels and 67 underpass. In total, the proportion of land for traffic in the city as of 2021 is 10.3%. The city has 63 km (39 mi) of inland waterways, which include Yến stream, Hai stream, Cà Lồ and Đáy river.

Hanoi is the origin or departure point for Vietnam Railways train routes in the country with 6 national railway lines passing through the city with a total length of 162 km (101 mi). The Reunification Express (tàu Thống Nhất) runs from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City from Hanoi station (formerly Hang Co station), with stops at cities and provinces along the line. Trains depart Hanoi for Hai Phong and other northern cities. The Reunification Express line was established during the French colonial rule and was completed over a period from 1899 to 1936. The Reunification Express between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City covers a distance of 1,726 km (1,072 mi) and takes approximately 33 hours.

In decades, motorbikes have overtaken bicycles as the main form of transportation. The increasing number of cars is the main cause of gridlocks, as roads and infrastructure in older parts of Hanoi were not designed to accommodate them. On 4 July 2017, the Hanoi government voted to ban motorbikes entirely by 2030 to reduce pollution, congestion, and encourage the expansion and use of public transport. The number of vehicles registered in Hanoi as of July 2022 is over 7.6 million, including more than 1 million cars, over 6.4 million motorcycles of and 179,000 electric motorbikes. This figure does not include vehicles of the armed forces, diplomatic missions and other localities' vehicles operating in Hanoi.

People on their own or traveling in a pair who wish to make a fast trip around Hanoi to avoid traffic jams or to travel at an irregular time or by way of an irregular route may use "xe ôm" (literally, "hug bike"). Motorbikes can be rented from agents within the Old Quarter of Hanoi.

There are two metro lines in Hanoi, as part of the master plan for the future Hanoi Metro system. Line 2A opened on 6 November 2021, while Line 3 began operations on 8 August 2024.

Sports

There are gymnasiums and stadiums throughout the city of Hanoi, including Mỹ Đình National Stadium (Lê Đức Thọ Boulevard), Quần Ngựa Sports Palace (Văn Cao Avenue), Hanoi Aquatics Sports Complex, Hanoi Indoor Games Gymnasium, Hàng Đẫy Stadium, Hà Đông Stadium and Thanh Trì Stadium. The third Asian Indoor Games were held in Hanoi in 2009. The others are Hai Bà Trưng Gymnasium, Trịnh Hoài Đức Gymnasium, Vạn Bảo Sports Complex. Some of these venues held events at the 2003 and 2021 SEA Games, both hosted in Hanoi.

On 6 November 2018, it was announced that in 2020, Hanoi would become the host of the first FIA Formula 1 Vietnamese Grand Prix on a street circuit on the outskirts of the city. The race was initially postponed and later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the inaugural edition of the event postponed to 2021. The Grand Prix was removed from the 2021 calendar because of the arrest of Hanoi People's Committee chairman Nguyễn Đức Chung on corruption charges unrelated to the Grand Prix. As a result, the race was permanently cancelled.

UNESCO recognition

On 16 July 1999, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) presented the title "City for Peace" to Hanoi because the city met the following criteria: exemplary action against exclusion and in support of the dialogue between communities, exemplary urban action, exemplary environmental action, exemplary action to promote culture, exemplary action in the field of education and especially civic education.

Twin towns – sister cities

Hanoi is twinned with:

• Phnom Penh, Cambodia
• Jakarta, Indonesia
• Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan
• Astana, Kazakhstan
• Seoul, South Korea
• Warsaw, Poland
• Moscow, Russia
• Victoria, Seychelles
• Bangkok, Thailand
• Beijing, China
• Hangzhou, China
• Ankara, Turkey
• Minsk, Belarus
• Palermo, Italy
• Pretoria, South Africa