Haiphong is the third-largest city in Vietnam and is the principal port city of the Red River Delta. The municipality has an area of 1,526.52 km2 (589.39 sq mi), consisting of 8 urban districts and 7 rural districts. Two of the rural districts cover islands in the South China Sea: Bạch Long Vĩ and Cát Hải. It has a population of 2,359,000 in 2021. The city's economy has strength in manufacturing, as evident by large industrial parks and numerous smaller traditional handicraft villages. Historically, Haiphong is the first place in Vietnam and Mainland Southeast Asia to get electricity.
Image: Hải Phòng City
Image: Statue of Madam Lê Chân in Haiphong City (1)
Image: Chùa Vẽ Terminal, Port of Hải Phòng
Image: Khu du lịch Đồ Sơn, Đồ Sơn, Hải Phòng, Vietnam panoramio
Vietnamese is an Austroasiatic language spoken primarily in Vietnam where it is the national and official language. Vietnamese is spoken natively by around 85 million people,
several times as many as the rest of the Austroasiatic family combined. It is the native language of the Vietnamese (Kinh) people, as well as a second or first language for other ethnic groups in Vietnam.
An Nam quốc dịch ngữ 安南國譯語 recorded the pronunciations of 15th century Vietnamese, such as for 天 (sky) - 雷 /luei/ representing blời (Modern Vietnamese: trời).
In the bilingual dictionary Nhật dụng thường đàm (1851), Chinese characters (chữ Nho) are explained in chữ Nôm.
Jean-Louis Taberd's dictionary Dictionarium anamitico-latinum (1838) represents Vietnamese (then Annamese) words in the Latin alphabet and chữ Nôm.
A sign at the Hỏa Lò Prison museum in Hanoi lists rules for visitors in both Vietnamese and English.
