Yên Bái province

Province of Vietnam

Yên Bái is a province located in Tây Bắc, the northern part of northern central Vietnam. It shares borders with six provinces which are Hà Giang province, Lào Cai province, Lai Châu province, Sơn La province, Phú Thọ province, and Tuyên Quang province. The province covers an area of about

Forestry and farming are the main economic stays of the province. Thác Bà Lake is a natural asset of the country along with its Thác Bà Hydroelectric Plant. Dong Cuong Festival is an important festival of the province.

The area was occupied in ancient times, given the favourable communications along the Hong and Chay Rivers. Several archaeological digs in the province have unearthed ancient temples and other sites. Stone tools have been excavated in Mù Cang Chải District. Vietnam had gradually become a French colony between 1859 and 1883. Initially, military resistance to French rule came through the Cần Vương movement led by Tôn Thất Thuyết and Phan Đình Phùng, which sought to install the boy Emperor Hàm Nghi at the head of an independent nation. However, with the death of Phùng in 1895, military opposition effectively ended. The only other notable incidents after this came in 1917 was the Thái Nguyên rebellion. The lack of militant activity changed in the late 1920s with the formation of the VNQDĐ, or Vietnamese Nationalist Party. The VNQDĐ attempted clandestine activities to undermine French rule, which resulted in French scrutiny of their activities. This led to their leadership group taking the risk of staging a large scale military attack in the Red River Delta in Northern Vietnam. It was only on 10 February 1931 that VNQDĐ could, in collaboration with civilian supporters, launch the Yên Bái mutiny, an uprising of Vietnamese soldiers in the French colonial army. Thus, Yên Bái was the first of the battles during the First Indochina War. Yên Bái and Thái Nguyên were key military posts of the Việt Minh, which were supplied with arms from China to fight the French during this War. On 9 February 1930 part of the 4th Regiment of Tonkinese Rifles stationed at Yên Bái mutinied against their French officers but were suppressed by loyal troops from the same unit. The attack was the largest disturbance against the colonisation of Vietnam since the Cần Vương monarchist movement of the late 19th century. The aim of the revolt was to inspire a wider uprising among the general populace in an attempt to overthrow the colonial regime and establish independence. The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (VNQDĐ, the Vietnamese Nationalist Party) had previously attempted to engage in clandestine activities to undermine French rule, but increasing French scrutiny on their activities led to their leadership group taking the risk of staging a large scale military attack in the Red River Delta in northern Vietnam. This incident led to widespread disturbances against French rule across northeastern Vietnam during 1930–31. In the "Yen Bai Uprising of 1930" against the French colonial rule, many French army officers were killed. To putdown the uprising, the French resorted to aerial bombardment and even napalm bombs were used. The rebellion was put down ruthlessly by the French within a day; many Vietnamese soldiers and 12 VNQDĐ leaders were executed. Following this repressive action by the French, there were frequent anti colonialist strikes and riots throughout the country, which were all put down ruthlessly. This resulted in breaking the backbone of the VNQDD and the Communist Party in North Vietnam for a considerable period. The topography is steep, rising from east to west and from south to north. The average elevation is about above sea level and can be divided into two regions: low lying regions on the left bank of the Red River basin and the high right bank of the Red River and in the plateau between the Red River and Đà River there are many mountains. Besides the two main rivers, the Red and the Đà, the province has about 200 canals, small streams and large lakes and swamps. Thác Bà Lake is situated in the province, an artificial lake which has an area of and 1,331 islands and hills. It has a capacity of 3 to 3.9 billion cubic meters of water and its original intention was to run the Thác Bà hydroelectric plant, one of the first large hydropower projects in Vietnam. The water in the lake is blue and clear, and reflects the surrounding green forests. The thousands of hills and islands have many caves, including Hum, Cau Cuoi and Bach Xa. A Thác Bà Temple is located in the lake area. The main biomes of the province are rainforest, subtropical and temperate mountainous zones. It experiences a tropical monsoon season. The conservation area Mu Cang Chai Species / Habitat Conservation Area (MCC SHCA) was established in 2004 to protect the endangered mountain wildlife in Cang Chai district on the border of Lào Cai province. The mean temperature in the province at elevations above 1500m is about 20 °C (68 °F) and drops to 0 °C (32 °F) with frost and snow in some parts. December–January are winter months when the climate is dry. Frequent drizzle is experienced during late winter months; this type of rain has earned Yên Bái the epithet "drizzle centre of the country". April to December are summer months and the rainy period. The mean temperature is stable for the district as a whole and is in the range of 18 °C (64 °F) to 28 °C (82 °F).

Many archaeological findings have been unearthed in the provinces in places, which date human settlement between hoary 8000 years to the recent 2000 years; these have been preserved in the Archaeological Museum in Yên Bái City. The archaeological antiquaries found are; a large cylindrical jar in Dao Thinh Commune depicting scene of human cohabitation, a skeleton of an ancient Viet and another bronze jar containing the remnants of a six year old girl in Hum Cave in Luc Yen. The per capita production of cereals in 2008 was 289 kg. Yên Bái is home to 281 cooperatives, which are considered an effective way of generating employment to thousands of workers. These cooperatives are engaged in fields such as agricultural services, industrial services, construction, commerce, transportation, People's Credit Funds and health care. Cooperatives services include the production of black tea (manufacturing and processing), farm and forestry, fertilizers, transportation, electric supply in rural areas, and so forth. A survey of the economic situation in Yên Bái carried out in 2006 indicated that living standards had increased substantially. For the period 1990 to 2004, Gross domestic product (GDP) tripled with an average increase of 7.5% per year. Poverty index decreased from 58% in 1993 to 16% in 2006 (as per General Statistics Office, 2006). However, underemployment, unstable income, inadequate childcare, limited access to health, child labour, social issues related to old people and social evils, gender inequality needed to addressed.

The Chay River, the second largest tributary of the Lo River, which in turn joins the Mekong River, rises from the Tay Con Linh mountain range (in Vietnam) at a height of After flowing towards the west, it flows further southeast in the middle and lower reaches, at which point it joins the Lô River at Đoan Hùng. The basin is delimited by high mountain ranges—in the north by ranges of to in height, on the west by the Con Voi mountain range and on the east and south east by the Tay Con Linh range. The width of the river is wide in its upper reaches and "tapers to an elongated shape in the middle and lower reaches". The basin has an area of 6500 km (1620 km in China) with 60% area below an elevation of 400 m (average elevation of the basin is 858 m). The annual rainfall in the basin varies from 1,500 mm to 3,000 mm with rains concentrated (75–85%) during May to October. Water from the Chay River that flows through the Yên Bái district has been tapped for hydropower generation, irrigation water supply in the downstream area, aquaculture and river navigation.