The Hương (Perfume) River is the green lung that helps Hue regulate the temperature
High density of rivers and green trees
Notwithstanding its small area of only over 71 km2, Hue City has the high density of rivers and trees. Hue City is surrounded with many large and small rivers such as the rivers of Huong, An Cuu, Ke Van, Dong Ba, Bach Yen, Nhu Y ...
Hue is dubbed the "city of green trees". According to statistics, Hue has an area of green parks and streets bordered with green trees up to over 750 hectares out of a total of 7,100 hectares of public land area, reaching 18.5 m2 per person (excluding greenery in the residential gardens, nursery land, office trees, green trees in the system of relics and landscape forests). This shows how big the greening of Hue City is.
Many tourists to Hue sensed, "Ho Chi Minh City or other places in the country this summer is scorching because those places have few green trees and mostly high-rise buildings, so the greenhouse effect is huge. However, on arriving in Hue, we find the atmosphere quite different and cool because Hue is surrounded by many rivers and green trees. It is the green lung that helps Hue to regulate its temperature well.”
As for Hue people, they sensed this very well. While the outdoor temperature in other places peaks above 40 degrees Celsius, Hue remains 35 - 37 degrees C.
Mr. Hoang Trong Thoi (aged 91) in Thuy Bieu said, “It is too hot, but fortunately Hue has a lot of green trees, so the weather grows mild. In fact, at an old age, I probably can't stand living in other places over 40 degrees C.”
Hue City gets increasingly cool and green
Over the past few years, Hue has been gradually planting new trees and replacing the green trees that are less effective in coverage and less developed. Especially the project of planting street trees in the period of 2012 – 2017 planted more than 18,000 green trees for increasing and replacing the unplanned trees.
Hue has implemented a comprehensive project to improve the city water environment in order to prevent flooding and pollution of rivers and streams. This shows that Hue is fully aware of the greenery system as well as the living environment in its urban development.
Especially, for over 3 months now, Thua Thien Hue has heatedly launched the "Green Sunday" for mobilizing all forces from cadres, civil servants, officials and workers to people everywhere in the province in general and Hue City in particular to strongly respond to the Green Sunday with the insiders’ heart. They went to the streets to pick up trash, clean up the environment in rivers, ponds, streams, plant more flowers and green trees in the treeless places, creating an environmental landscape.
Mr. Nguyen Truong, in An Dong Ward, said, “Never has the spread of the Green Sunday to every resident been so great. For more than three months now, the provincial forces have collaborated with the local authorities in massively cleaning up every street corner, planting new trees and growing beautiful flower lines. My family also responded to it very positively. Accordingly, the Green Sunday has created a strong spread in the community of residents; everyone is aware of preserving the environment, focusing on planting green trees, flowers on the road, in their yards and gardens.”
A lot of Hue City residents commented, “Hue City will become greener and greener if the City’s authorities continue to study and plant more trees on the sparsely-planted routes, for example, Hung Vuong Route (the section from the Central Culture House to Big C Hue), Ly Thuong Kiet, Le Quy Don and To Huu streets ... Special attention should also be given to cleaning up the rivers such as An Cuu and Bach Yen, Nhu Y ... If the “Green Sunday” is carried out in a synchronous and methodical way, Hue City will be far cleaner and brighter. "
Story and photo: Trong Hoang