Lạng Sơn, Vietnam

🇻🇳 Lạng Sơn is a city in far Northern Vietnam, and the capital of Lạng Sơn Province. It is accessible by road and rail from Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, and it is the northernmost point on National Route 1.

History Due to its geography as Vietnam's gateway to China (being located just across from Guangxi), Lạng Sơn (諒山) and its ancient citadel have been in the path of many invasions, and were the site of three French defeats during the colonial era. Occupied by Qing forces during the military buildup that preceded the Sino-French War, the city was occupied by France after the two-week Lạng Sơn Campaign in February 1885. However, the French brigade there conducted a hasty retreat after launching a failed attack at the Battle of Bang Bo into China; the "retreat from Lạng Sơn" became the most controversial aspect of the war and led to the fall of Jules Ferry's ministry. Outnumbered French colonial forces clashed with the Japanese 5th Division in the Battle of Lạng Sơn during the Japanese Vietnam Expedition on 22 September 1940. The French were again compelled to retreat hastily. In 1945 it was again the scene of heavy fighting during the Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina.

After the end of the Pacific War, the French colonial army established a permanent garrison there, which served as the logistics hub for the French border fortresses. It was evacuated in 1950 during Võ Nguyên Giáp's offensive against the French border forts, considered a turning point in the Indochina War. The city was the centre of fighting during the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979, and fell to the Chinese military who briefly occupied it.

Geology The surface rocks in the area are a Permian limestone, overlain by the early Triassic Lang Son Formation, consisting of flyschoid beds with interbedded sandstones, siltstones and clay shales and some felsic volcanics. This place even can experience snow in the coldest moments of winter although Vietnam is basically snow free, it and the whole of Northern Vietnam is in an area of the subtropical climate.

Topography and geology The city has diverse topographical and geological features, including hill, mountainous, half mountainous, coastal plains and coastal sand dunes.

The hilly region is in the west, stretching from north to south (in parts of communes: Dong Son, Thuan Duc) with an average elevation of 12–15 m, with total area of 64.93 km2, 41.7% of the city total area. Residents here live on agriculture, forestry, farming. The soil in this area is poor in nutrition, infertile and subject to continuous erosion due to its slope of 7-10%.

The half hilly region surrounds a plain with an average elevation of 10 m from north-east - north to north-west – south-west and south – south-east. This region covers communes and wards of Bắc Lý, Nam Lý, Nghĩa Ninh, Bắc Nghĩa, Đức Ninh, Đức Ninh Đông, Lộc Ninh and Phú Hải with total area of 62.87 km², or accounts for 40.2% of the city total area. Residents here lives on industrial, handcraft, trading and a small percentage lives on farming. This region is not very fertile, subject to alum. However, thanks to the heavy distribution of rivers and lakes, ponds and pools, it's better for agriculture than the hilly region. The plain with the average of 2.1 m, with little slope, accounting for 0.2% of the city area (5.76 km²). Most of the city's commercial, administrative and main streets concentrate in this narrow regions. Coastal sand dune area is on the east of the city, with an area of 21.98 km², making up 14,3% of the total area.

Historical sites Apart from the war-ravaged Đồng Đăng Border town, which has a rich war history that attracts many visitors, the other historical places of interest in the province are two large limestone caves located a short distance from Lạng Sơn town, and a 16th-century citadel of the Ming dynasty.

The two caves contain Buddhist altars, are well illuminated and are called the Tam Thanh Cave and the Nhi Thanh Cave. The Tam Thanh Cave is very large with three chambers, a water pond, and has a window opening which provides scenic views of vast rice fields outside. The outer chamber of the cave on the right contains the Tam Giao Pagoda (built in 1777) with six shrines. The second chamber of the cave on the left also has shrines. The Ngoc Tuyen River flows through this cave into the mountain, an unusual feature which is described as "a dramatic sight". The Nhi Thanh Cave, about 700 m away from and Tam Thanh Cave, were discovered in the 18th century by Ngô Thin Sy, a military commander at the Lạng Sơn garrison. His poems have been inscribed at the entrance to the cave. A plaque erected near the cave depicts a French resident of Lạng Sơn in full European dress. The Ngoc Tuyen River flows through the cave.

The Ming dynasty citadel, a 16th-century monument located in a desolate area on a rock outcrop, is bounded by the east–west facing walls and can be accessed using the Tam Tinh road from Lạng Sơn city. A series of steps from the roadside lead to the ruins of the citadel.

Economy: Tourist Industry Lạng Sơn city also has ancient walls built in the 18th century.

Economy Lạng Sơn's economy is 80% based on agriculture and forestry. The province has significant mining reserves of bauxite, phosphate and coal. It also has notable reserves of gold, silver and lead. Main crops include rice, which accounted for 40,000 hectares out of a total of 55,000 hectares grown in 1986, and sweet potato, maize and manioc. It is also known for its commodities of tea and yellow tobacco. These crops are generally grown in the valleys of the Bac Son Mountains, Binh Gia Mountains and the Van Quan Mountains and along the rivers plains of the Kỳ Cùng River and the Thuong River. Some of the districts such as Hữu Lũng District have sugar cane plantations and grow oranges and pineapples, others grow tea and plums. Animal husbandry is developed in Lạng Sơn Province; in 1986, 140,000 buffalo and oxen were recorded in the province and 150,000 pigs. The province is also noted for its That Khe duck speciality.

As against the national figure of 273 agriculture, forestry and fishery cooperatives, 15 are agricultural cooperatives and four are fisheries cooperatives. The number of cooperatives is 32 as against 7,592 cooperatives in the country. There are only 26 farms as against the national number of 120699.

The output value of agriculture produce at constant 1994 prices in the province was 1,076.5 billion đồngs against the national value of 156,681.9 billion dongs.

In 2018, Lạng Sơn ranked 51st out of 63 provinces in terms of GDP, ranked 47th in GDP per capita, and ranked 20th in terms of growth.