Ancient Hue rises from Vietnam war ruins

Ancient Hue rises from Vietnam war ruins

By Adrian Edwards

HUE, Vietnam (Reuter): Two decades after the Vietnam War
reduced vast areas of Hue's imperial city to a rubble-strewn mess
on the country's central coast, conservationists are eying grand
plans for the city's future.

"We can do it," says Thai Cong Nguyen, director of the Hue
Monuments Conservation center. "Already we have results. Hue has
been recognized as not just a national treasure, but a treasure
for all mankind."

Nguyen was referring to detailed plans for the restoration of
Hue's imperial palace and surrounding monuments, collectively
recognized by UNESCO in 1993 as a world heritage site.

Work on restoring the various historic monuments strewn across
this relaxed city of trees, colonial villas and riverside cafes
began about five years ago.

Today, Nguyen says, conservationists are intent on returning
Hue's imperial city to the same pristine state in which its
ultra-Confucianist 19th century rulers had it maintained.

"Don't step over there," he says as we walk across the grassy
palace grounds beneath a blazing mid-afternoon sun. "They still
haven't cleared all the landmines."

There's a noticeable difference in today's Vietnam in
attitudes towards culture from the country's often painful past.

In the years following the April 1975 end of the Vietnam War
the political will and the economic capability to restore Hue --
seen by a newly unified communist Vietnam as a testament to
feudalism were absent.

In addition, the Nguyen Kings, who first established the
imperial grounds at Hue in 1802, were deemed responsible for
having allowed their country to be handed over to French
colonialists -- tantamount to treachery.

But such sweeping unease over the country's cultural heritage
is gradually changing in 1990s Vietnam. Government campaigns have
begun encouraging people in recent years to celebrate Buddhist
festivals and other cultural traditions once banned.

Although some folk festivals appeared after the victory over
the French in 1954, they were halted again a few years later when
Vietnam's communist leaders launched a brutal land reform
program. Such things were seen as "reactionary".

Today, however, Hanoi's leadership is placing increasing
emphasis on high-profile campaigns aimed at tapping the patriotic
vein by shoring up traditional Vietnamese values.

"The thinking in Vietnam is changing towards being more
objective and more active," says Nguyen. "The Nguyen dynasty
kings left their heritage at Hue to Vietnam. And that's good."

Good news it may indeed be for Hue, but as so often in Vietnam
there are dangerous gaps in the woodwork between policy resolve
and the country's ability to implement.

In this case it's a question of finding the necessary cash.
So far, Hue has received some US$700,000 in international support
from countries including Japan, Britain, France and Thailand as
well as from international organizations such as UNESCO towards a
project expected to cost at least $4 million.

But, say officials, not all the promised funds have arrived.
In coming weeks, the French firm Rhone Poulenc plans to launch a
program in Hue aimed at ridding several of the imperial city's
historic monuments of one of their greatest post-war threats --
termites.

"It's not like in Europe here," says Nguyen. "There you have
only two or three termite species. Here we have the tropical
climate to contend with and more than 100 termite species."

But despite the difficulties and the ravages of theft and
climate, Hue's massively impressive imperial city is once again
taking shape.

Restoration of a number of temples and buildings in the main
citadel area has already produced results. A 1991 UNESCO project
using Japanese funds to restore the city's massive southern gate
began the process of repair.

Vietnam's open-door policy introduced in the late 1980s is
also helping by drawing increasing numbers of foreign tourists.
Local officials in Hue say 140,000 foreigners visited last year
in addition to 170,000 domestic tourists.

But, says Nguyen, it's still not enough.

"The Vietnamese government has also given us $2 million over a
five year period," he says. "It's big, but for Hue it's not
sufficient."