Not far to the east of Hanoi Old Quarter, near Dong Xuan market, Long Bien Bridge spans across the Red river connecting Hanoi central to the other riverside suburb. The bridge was designed and built during the last years of 19th century by the French during their colony period of Hanoi. More than a century ago, Hanoi was a small and quiet city, however it remained capital of the Indochina and the bridge was built as an attempt to connect the rail road for the French’s mining work in the North Vietnam, including coal mine in Halong Bay.
Long Bien means Dragon Bridge as it does look like a dragon spanning over the river however when the bridge was just built its name was Doumer which came after the name of the French Governor in Indochina, Paul Doumer. Later, as of its special ion structure the bridge was given an even a more soundly nickname the Asian Eiffel, same structure, building technique.
During the Vietminh – Franco war before 1954, Hanoi was the head city of the French’s Far East and Long Bien Bridge remained the only bridge connecting Hanoi to the rest of the Northeastern. The middle lane was used for trains going from Hanoi to several other important cities in the North and to all of the main natural resources and the side ones were for cars and local pedestrians. At the end of the Vietminh – Franco war, it was on the same day 10/10/1954 and at same hour, on this bridge, on one the lane the Vietminh’s army was entering the capital city meanwhile on the other side the French army was withdrawing from Hanoi to Hai Phong before journeying down to Saigon as part of the Geneva agreement. Ten years after that day, the Vietnam War became more severe when escalated to the North and Hanoi as the capitals was bombed heavily. Consequently, Long Bien was one of the primal targets to be destroyed by the US air fighters. Many times the bridge was blown up and was rebuilt by the North to keep its transportation system. Until recently, bombs and ammunition left from those war days are still being found right under the spans.
Nowadays, the bridge is not only a witness of Hanoi’s historical turbulence during the twenty century - a throw back in time, it is a great place for sightseeing walk of the river and the scenic views of Hanoi city from the middle span of the Long Bien Bridge.
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