Thereafter, the French administratively divided the country into
the colony Cochin China (in the South) and the protectorates
Annam (central Vietnam) and Tonkin (North
Vietnam). The Vietnamese emperor was allowed to stay in office
and the imperial court still took care of those government matters,
which were of no interest to the French colonial masters. But
over the decades this arrangement undermined the importance of
the imperial court for the Vietnamese state. When on August 24,
1945, the last Nguyen emperor, Bao Dai, resigned, this
was of no practical relevance to the political situation in the
country.
With a population of 350,000 Hué is not a particularly
large city by present-day Vietnamese standards. But it is full
of historical attractions, even though it has suffered
more than any other Vietnamese city during the Vietnam War.
Hué is famous for its rainy weather. The rainy season
last longer than in the Vietnamese average, from May to December,
and even during the so-called dry season it regularly rains.
More information on Hué:
