Brief history

Hoi An is a small town on the coast of South China Sea in central Vietnam. It is located in the Quang Nam province and is home to approximately 88,000 inhabitants. It’s a largest harbor in South East Asia in First Century with name Lam Ap Pho (Champa City). Hoi An is about 30km to the South of Da Nang. This is a town facing towards the sea, reflected in the Thu Bon river, which flows to the Doi or Dai estuary. Here is an ancient port town. It was one of the Southeast Asia’s major international ports during the 17^th, 18^th, 19^th centuries. Hoi An was an important port of call for Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese and other trading vessels.The port town was founded in the 15^th and 16^th centuries.
During the thriving period (in the 16^th an 17^th centuries), the town was called Hai Pho (Seaside Town). In this period, Hoi An is commerce centre of Dang Trong and Dai Viet. Hai Pho was a divided town, because across the "Japanese Bridge" used to be the Japanese settlement.
The town is known to the French and Spanish as Faifo; the name is thought to be the result of a mess-communication between a local habitant and a Spanish trader around the 17th century. The trader asked whether the place was Pho and received the answer "Phai! Pho." ("Yes! Pho.").Since the 2nd century B.C, this region was in the area of the Sa Huynh culture. It is important port town of Champa. After the 19^th century, economic activities declined because of many interior and exteriorinfluences.

Highlights

Nowadays, Hoi An is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites (designated in 1999), destination of many tourists. Come here, visitors can easily see the similarity between Hoi An, Hanoi and Hue in their architecture which has been part influenced by Japanese and Chinese styles. However, the similarities do not take away from the uniqueness of the architecture of Hoi An. On entering the old part of the town, visitors will find narrow streets to each other with stepped gables.
Hoi An is famous by about 50 pagodas, including the Trieu Chau and Phuc Kien pagoda. The architecture of them evoke the high expertise, the love of nature, the desire for a harmonious social life of the previous generations.
The Bridge pagoda (Chua Cau) is a unique covered structure built by the Japanese, the only known covered bridge with a Buddhist pagoda attached to one side.