INTRODUCING THE IMPERIAL CITY IN HUE

The Imperial City in Hue.

Questions that Choi had in his head while we were walking through this palace.

What is the history of this place?
Who lived in it?
What is the importance of it?

Like most of Choi’s travels, no advance research was done to understand what the fuck he was looking at.

He likes to do this research after the fact. Yes I know, this is dumb. I will try to not rely on life boss as much and do some pre-read in the future.

History of Imperial City in Hue

Hue was decided to be the capital of Vietnam when Gia Long with the backing of China recognized himself as the emperor of Vietnam. Construction of the palace began in 1804, in which the palace would face south east towards the Huong River. Makes sense, I would love my house to be facing the water too.

In 1947 this area was devastated by the French as part of a counter attack seige. Everything mostly was burned down to the ground. Damn, so what the hell was I looking at then?

The palace was further damaged when Viet Cong and US troops occupied various areas of the capital. You can actually see bullet holes on some of the walls. Mmmm. I didn’t see any though.

After the war, only sites of the palace remained (originally had 160). Shit, that’s a lot of buildings being burnt down.

Comparing to China’s Forbidden City

Every time I visit a palace I always compare it to China, because it’s simply so grand.

This time was no different.

And to give you the honest truth, this palace was not as impressive as the China one. But if we have to remember this palace has gone through a lot of wars, and a lot of bombs. So yeah, can’t really blame it.

Still, the palace was quite beautiful and I enjoyed snapping up some photos of it.