Haiphong

/huy"fong"/, n.

a seaport in N Vietnam, near the Gulf of Tonkin. 1,190,900.

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Seaport city (pop., 1992 est.: 783,133), northern Vietnam.

Lying on the Red River delta, off the Gulf of Tonkin, it is the nation's third largest city and serves as the port of the capital, Hanoi, 60 mi (97 km) to the west. Established in 1874, it developed commercially as a port and as the terminus of a railway. It became a leading industrial centre, and after 1954 many new plants were built there with aid given by Soviet-bloc countries and by China. It sustained heavy damage from U.S. bombing during the Vietnam War but was subsequently rebuilt.

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▪ Vietnam

      city, northern Vietnam. It lies on the northeastern edge of the Red River delta, beside a distributary of the Thai Binh River, 10 miles (16 km) from the Gulf of Tonkin. It is the outport of the capital, Hanoi, 37 miles (60 km) west, and is the country's third largest city. Haiphong became a seaport in 1874, and through the French colonial period it developed commercially as a port and as the southeastern terminus of the railway coming through K'un-ming (in southwestern China), Lao Cai, and Hanoi. It became a leading industrial centre powered by coal from the mines across the Gulf of Tonkin at Quang Ninh. After 1954, many new industrial plants were built in the city with aid given by Soviet-bloc countries and by China. Haiphong sustained heavy damage from U.S. bombing raids in the early 1970s but was subsequently rebuilt. Pop. (2004 est.) 591,100.

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