Saïgon (Hồ Chí Minh city)

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Saïgon  (Hồ Chí Minh city)

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For some Vietnamese, the city will always be Saigon. For others, it is truly Ho Chi Minh City. Whatever name it takes, it will continue to be the economic center for foreign businessmen. It is here that millions of tons of rice and fish from the Mekong Delta are shipped for export. Although renamed in 1975, Saigon continues to maintain its old habits, its vagaries and its paradoxes. The city is always bustling with sleepless nights. It is a common sight on the streets or in large wooden-floored rooms where young girls learn to waltz and tango.

Saigon is still very much alive with its current 10 million inhabitants. Saigon has always had a strong vitality with a wonderful spirit of resourcefulness. The city is still bohemian, adventurous and over-excited. It continues to develop with luxury hotels with thousands of rooms in the middle of poor areas. This is the most populous city in Vietnam with an average population density of more than 4,500 people per square kilometer, even higher than Shanghai (China). It currently has a total area of 2,061 km² and is divided into 19 districts and 5 suburban districts.

Sites to visit

It was once, during the colonial era, the Pearl of the Far East and then the capital of South Vietnam from 1956 to 1975. Today, thanks to the urban development project of the Thủ Thiêm peninsula and the recent incorporation of Thủ Đức district, it has managed to expand its urban area and rapidly increase its population while simultaneously beginning the process of metropolitanization. However, according to Vietnamese researcher Trần Khắc Minh from the University of Quebec in Montreal, this does not prevent a growing fragmentation of the urban fabric and an intensification of inequalities, particularly in access to housing.

From the beginning of our era to the 17th century, Saigon successively belonged to the kingdom of Funan, then Chenla, Champa, and Cambodia. Its name is mentioned for the first time in a Vietnamese source in 1776, recounting the conquest of the city by the Nguyễn lords in 1672. For the Khmers (or Cambodians), Saigon is only a distortion of the name Prei Nokor (forest city) that the Khmers gave to this city. Saigon was a swampy region infested with crocodiles and unhealthy at the end of the 17th century. It was not idyllic for the first Vietnamese settlers to choose Saigon as a land of exile. For this reason, there is always a popular song that the Vietnamese know to testify to the unhealthiness of this region.

Chèo ghe sợ sấu cắn chân
Xuống sông sợ đĩa, lên rừng sợ ma.

Rowing the boat, afraid of crocodiles biting the feet
Going down the river, afraid of leeches, going up the forest, afraid of ghosts.

Despite its flaws, it continues to remain the jugular vein of Vietnam. It is the one that teaches Vietnamese people about market socialism or the Renovation policy started in 1996 to promote industrialization and modernization. It is also the one that offers them a taste of capitalism and the adventure of investing in risky capital.

Like many other cities, Saigon had a long history before being colonized, then Americanized, and finally renamed Hồ Chí Minh City during the events of 1975.

For those interested in this city, its history and its evolution, it is recommended to read the following books:

  • Saigon, le chantier des utopies de Didier Lauras, Editions Autrement, Collections Monde, 1997, no 95 HS.
  • Saigon, 1925-1945 , de la belle Colonie à l’éclosion révolutionnaire de Philippe Franchini, Editions Autrement, Collections Monde, no17, 1992.