The Perfume River is a river that crosses the city of Huế, in the central Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

ese province of Thừa Thiên Huế

Thua Thien-Hue Province

Thừa Thiên-Huế is a province in the North Central Coast of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quang Tri Provice to the north and Da Nang City to the south, Laos to the west and the South China Sea to the east. The province has 128 km of coastline, 22,000 ha of...

.

Etymology

In the autumn, flowers from orchards upriver from Huế

Hue

Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...

 fall into the water, giving the river a perfume-like aroma.

Source and flow

The Perfume River has two sources, both of which begin in the Dãy Trường Sơn

Annamite Range

The Annamite Range or the Annamese Mountains is a mountain range of eastern Indochina, which extends approximately through Laos, Vietnam, and a small area in northeast Cambodia. It is known in Vietnamese as Dãy Trường Sơn, in Lao as Xai Phou Luang , and in French as the Chaîne Annamitique...

 mountain range and meet at Bang Lang Fork. The Ta Trach (Left Tributary) originates in the Truong Dong mountains and flows northwest towards Bang Lang Fork. The shorter Huu Trach (Right Tributary) flows past the Tuan ferry landing towards Bang Lang Fork.

The river then flows in south-north direction past the temples of Hon Chen and Ngoc Tran and then turns north-west, meandering through the Nguyet Bieu and Luong Quan plains. Continuing on, the Huong River then flows to the north-east to Huế

Hue

Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...

 city, only an echo of Truong Son

Trường Sơn

Trường Sơn is a commune and village in Lục Nam District, Bac Giang Province, in northeastern Vietnam.-References:...

 mountain, and passes the resting place of Nguyen emperors. The river of green water continues its itinerary, passing Hen Islet and various villages, crossing the Sinh junction, which is known as the capital of ancient Chau Hoa

Châu Hóa

Châu Hóa is a commune and village in Tuyên Hóa District, Quang Binh Province, in Vietnam....

, before emptying into the Tam Giang

Tam Giang

Tam Giang is a commune and village in Năm Căn District, Ca Mau Province, in Vietnam....

 Lagoon.

From Bang Lang to Thuan An estuary, the Perfume River is 30 km long and runs very slowly (as the river level is not much above sea level). The Perfume River darkens as it winds along the foot of Ngoc Tran Mountain - home of the Jade Cup Temple - where there is a very deep abyss.

The river snakes through the villages of Kim Long, Nguyet Bieu, Vy Da, Dong Ba, Gia Hoi, the Dinh market, Nam Pho, Bao Vinh, and through Huế.

Life around the river

The locals who live beside the river in Huế

Hue

Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...

 are often very poor and wash their clothes and bathe in the water. Also, they earn money by dredging the river bed for sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...

. This sand is collected and then sold to cement

Cement

In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...

 manufacturers for a tiny price.

Surrounding area

The 105m Ngu Binh Mountain

Ngu Binh

Ngu Binh is a mountain in the Vietnamese city of Huế.The annals "Dai Nam Nhat Thong Chi" by the History Department of the Nguyễn Dynasty wrote about Ngu Binh Mountain as follows: "In the northeast of Huong Thuy emerges an even surface serving as a screen, a first bar in front of the citadel. It...

 has a striking and symmetric figure. On both sides of the Even Mount (Bang Son) are 2 small mounts called Ta Bat Son (Left Mount) and Huu Bat Son (Right Mount). After observing that Bang Son resembled a screen, the Nguyễn Dynasty decided to build up Huế which became known as their "Forbidden Purple City." Emperor Gia Long

Gia Long

Emperor Gia Long , born Nguyễn Phúc Ánh , was an emperor of Vietnam...

 approved the design of geomancers which chose this mount as a front altar of the imposing and solid defending wall system, and renamed it Ngu Binh.

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