Vietnam - The Royal Cities of Asia

The Book

The Nguyen Emperors of Vietnam built Hue, their imperial city, in the likeness of the Forbidden City on Beijing. Here, in a bygone era before French colonialism and the disastrous wars of the 20th century, Vietnamese kings and scholars held court by the banks of the celebrated Perfume River in a society where Confucian values held sway. Much time was also spent constructing elaborate tombs to the south and west of the city, where the Nguyen rulers were laid to rest after their deaths. The city - certainly the most lovely in Vietnam, if not all Southeast Asia - was badly damaged during the fighting at the time of the Tet Offensive in 1968. Today, declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations, it is gradually being restored as a resurgent Vietnam rediscovers its imperial past.

The Author

Andrew Forbes graduated in Chinese Studies from the University of Leeds before going on to complete an MA in Islamic Studies and a Ph.D in Central Asian History. Widely travelled in Indochina, he knows Hue and Hanoi intimately, and has undertaken historical research on Vietnam at libraries in the United Kingdom, France and North America. Dr Forbes has written on Vietnam for The Asian Wall Street Journal, The Nation and Bangkok Post amongst other regional publications.