Phú Thọ Province

The province's name is derived from the Sino-Vietnamese word: 富壽.

The history of the area is traced to the early third millennium BC during the Hong Bang period. Hence, the province was part of the first Vietnamese state known as Xich Quy. The Vietnamese rulers of this period are now collectively known as the Hùng kings. Later, the capital was moved to Phong Châu, which is taken as evidence of the historicity of the province. There are many festivals in the province linked to this historical lineage.[3] Beginning in the third century BC during the Thuc dynasty, the Hùng Temple complex, located on Nghĩa Lĩnh mountain, was laid ground to dedicate to the Hùng kings who are credited with building the nation.

In December 1999, Nguyễn Thị Thủy, the leader of an unregistered Protestant house church in the province, was sentenced to one year in prison for "interfering with an officer doing his duty", which caused some religious controversy in the province.[4]

The area of the province is 3,528.1 square kilometres (1,362.2 sq mi), lying between 20°55 to 21°43 North latitude and 104°48 to 105°27 East longitude. Located in northern Vietnam, it is situated at the head of a triangular formation of the Red River Delta in the northern mountainous region. It is delimited by the provinces of Tuyên Quang and Yên Bài in the north, Sơn La and Hòa Bình in the west, Hà Tây to the south, and Hà Giang and Vĩnh Phúc to the east. These provinces are connected to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Phú Thọ province, due to its strategic location, is often called the "West Gate of Hanoi". Its location is at the confluence of two large rivers namely, the Red and Da Rivers; this province links the northern provinces of the Red River delta with the country's mountainous provinces and also the two Chinese provinces of Guangxi and Yunnan.[1]

Water resources

Lô River

Three large rivers flow through the province: the Red, Lô and Da rivers, which ensure a plentiful source of water serving daily life as well as industrial purposes.[1] The total length of these three river systems is 200 km through the province and the area drained is 5,000 square kilometres (1,900 sq mi). The annual surface water resources in the province in its river systems has been assessed as 42,000,000,000 cubic meters.[1]

The Xuân Sơn National Park was established on February 2002. It is located approximately 80 km from Việt Trì City. The park covers an area of 15,048 hectares (37,180 acres), with more than 11,000 hectares (27,000 acres) of natural forests and 1,396 hectares (3,450 acres) of limestone-mountain forests.[5] The park is biologically rich with some 465 species of upper plants and 282 species of fauna, including 23 species of amphibians, 30 species of reptiles, 168 species of birds and 61 species of mammals.[5] Rarer species, such as Tibetan bears, white pheasants, gray gibbons, and cobras are common in the park.[5] The highest points of the park are Mount Voi (1,387m), Mount Ten (1,244m) and Mount Cẩn (1,144m).[5] There are extensive grottoes and caves[6] running 7–8  km inside these mountains; they contain large populations of bats.

Phú Thọ is subdivided into 13 district-level sub-divisions:

• 11 districts:

• 1 district-level town:
  • Phú Thọ
• 1 provincial city:
  • Việt Trì (capital)

They are further subdivided into 11 commune-level towns (or townlets), 248 communes, and 18 wards.

Men of Phú Thọ Province

The province has one town municipality, ten rural districts, five precincts, nine district-level towns and 181 communes.[9]

According to the General Statistics Office of the Government of Vietnam, the population of Phú Thọ Province as of 2008 was 1,364,700 with a density of 387 persons per square kilometre over a total land area of 3,528.1 square kilometres (1,362.2 sq mi). It is one of the least populated provinces in the northern midlands and mountain areas of Vietnam.[10] The male population at this time was 660,200[11] with females accounting for 704,500.[12] The rural population was 1,146,700 against an urban population of 218,000 (about 20% of the rural population).[13][14] The average population density is 3,706 per km² except Việt Trì City, where it is 21,042 per km².

Ethnic Vietnamese (Kinh), Mường, Dao and Sán Chay are the dominant ethnic groups which live in the province. The Dao build their houses in the traditional style, built either on stilts, level with the ground or half on stilts and the other half beaten with earth. Du village, located within the Xuân Sơn National Park, contains an overwhelming majority of this ethnic group is a tourist attraction.[6]

The provincial capital of Việt Trì

Phú Thọ is one of the poorest areas of Vietnam; the poorest households earn below $6 (USD) per person per month.[15] As of 1997, the provincial economy was roughly evenly split at 33% of the workforce working in agriculture, industry and in services respectively. In the period during 1990-1995, the annual increase rate in income 72%. The city of Việt Trì (population 181,123 (2009)) is the headquarters of many companies and groups active in the province and contains many of the industrial firms and service industries.[1]

A tea hill in Phú Thọ

In agriculture, tea is important to the economy and is the main industrial crop.[15] In the mid-19th century, the established the tea industry in Vietnam, particularly in Phú Thọ province and they had established three research stations to promote tea plantations 33,000 acres (13,000 ha) which were cultivated in Vietnam. Until 1945, during World War II, the tea gardens were deserted, and post-World War II development of the tea industry restarted with assistance from other tea producing countries. The Vietnamese established a Tea Development Incorporation.[16] The total planted area was estimated at 8,400 hectares (21,000 acres) in 2001, (7,200 hectares (18,000 acres) in 1997), around 9% of the cultivated area of the province. The province has an annual production of 31,000 tons of fresh tea (7,000 tonnes of dry tea), although between 1998 and 2001 there was an annual rise of 8% due to the increase in area and yield. As of 2002, the annual production was estimated at 100,000 tons of dry tea, tea consumption stood at 20,000 tonnes a year and 80,000 tons were exported. Over 15,000 families in the province are involved in tea production.[15]

Agriculture in the commune of Phú Khê, Cẩm Khê District

The French agency Agence Française de Développement (AFD) are active in the province and have financed a tea production development program for villages in eight of the province's districts and aims contribute to the economic development of rural populations and improve their living conditions. Under AFD investment (8.5 million euro grant from France), some 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of new plantations will be created and existing plantations will be improved in yields and efficiency. 3000 families were expected to benefit from this project. The project has also facilitated improvements in infrastructure in some 115 km of existing routes.[15][16]

The Vietnamese government had a development strategy for the 2001–10, aiming to improve the output and income of the provincial economy, aiming to double its GDP, increase exports fourfold and strengthen the socialist market economy. Some of the relevant economics statistics related the agriculture and industries sectors are given below. As against the national figure of 273 Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery cooperatives there are 100 cooperatives, of which 96 are agricultural cooperatives and three are fisheries cooperatives.[17] The number of cooperatives is 100 as against 7592 cooperatives in the country.[18] There are only 192 farms (last reported in 2002) as against the national number of 120,699.[19]

The output value of agriculture produce at constant 1994 prices in the province was 1686.6 billion đồngs against the national value of 156,681.9 billion dongs.[20] The province produced 280,300 tonnes of cereals as against the national production of 421.3 million tonnes.[21]

The per capita production of cereals in the district was 308.7 kilograms (681 lb) as against the national figure of 501.8 kilograms (1,106 lb) in 2007.[22] The province is also known for its grapefruit, palm oil, rice and cassava; freshwater fish are caught in the Red River. In 2007, the industrial output of the province was 11705.1 billion dongs against the national output of 1.47 million billion dongs.[23]

Đầm Ao Châu, Hạ Hòa

Đền Hùng is a national historical location where the Vietnamese give their respects to Hung kings because of their contributions to the country 4000 years ago.

Education and training system is well established in the province. Hung Vuong University, Continuous Education Centers of the province and at all districts, Transformatic and Language Center, and other colleges and vocational schools are the institutions which contribute richly to the educational standards of the province. They help in generating the required well-trained and skilled workers.[1] There are 542 schools (8,779 classes) with a total of 304,326 pupils, and four high schools totalling 30,221 pupils. There are three colleges and one pre-university.

Transport and communications

The province is very well connected by roads, rail, air and water transport systems that connect with all regions in Vietnam, which has facilitated its economic growth.[1]

Roads

The town of Hạ Hòa

The important road system consist of the National Highway No. 2, Yunnan–Kunming express highway route that runs from China's Yunnan province through the Tuyên Quang and Phú Thọ provinces to Nội Bài International Airport; it continues as National Highway No. 5 to Haiphong and National Highway No. 18 links to the port of Cái Lân in Quảng Ninh province. National Highway 32A, which runs from Hanoi traverses through Phú Thọ and terminates in Hòa Bình. National Highway 32C, also from Hanoi, passes through Phú Thọ to Yên Bài, eventually entering Laos. The Tran-Asian road and the Hồ Chí Minh trail also pass through the province.[1]

Railway

A Trans-Asia railway line runs from Yunnan to Hanoi and goes through Lào Cai and Phú Thọ provinces. This is connected with the Hanoi-Haiphong and Hanoi-Hồ Chí Minh City railways. The railway connects to the two industrial zones of Thủy Vân and Bạch Hạ.[1]

Water transport

Việt Trì City is an important river port. It is at the confluence of the three major rivers that flow from China through this province in Vietnam. This waterway, as the main water transport route in the province, has a total length of 235 kilometres (146 mi). Việt Trì's river port is one of largest river ports in Vietnam and has an annual capacity of 1 million tonnes.[1]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Phu Tho.

• Official website of the government of Phú Thọ