SOUTH VIET NAM The Capital of Discontent
Sleeping beside the River of Perfumes, the Imperial City of Hué in central Viet Nam seems to have no purpose beyond its past. Once, a century ago, the Nguyen princes ruled nearly all of Viet Nam from their proud palaces with their gardens and lagoons in Hué (pronounced whey). Today their palaces are crumbling, and Hué is a subdued and ceremonial city of 105,000 without a newspaper, scarcely a telephone, and little traffic beyond bicycles and canvas-topped cyclo taxis. The only industry is a lime plant employing 50...
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