Quảng Ngãi is a province in the South Central Coast region of Vietnam, on the coast of South China Sea. It is located 883 km south of Hanoi and 838 km north of Hồ Chí Minh City. The ancient Sa Huỳnh culture inhabited what is now Quảng Ngãi. Remains of it were found in Sa Huỳnh, Đức Phổ district. Within Champa, the region that is now Quảng Ngãi was less significant than Quang Nam Province and Vijaya. There are only a few Cham remains in the province. The area became part of Vietnam along with Vijaya (Bình Định province) in 1471. In the early 19th century the Long Wall of Quảng Ngãi was constructed in the province. It improved security among the Vietnamese and H're people and facilitated trade. Quảng Ngãi province was one of the first provinces in central Vietnam (together with Quảng Trị) to organize self defense units in March 1945. The Ba Tơ Guerrilla Unit mobilized tens of thousands of peasants. It was known as an NLF (Vietcong) stronghold during the Vietnam War and was the site of the infamous Binh Hoa massacre (1966), the Dien Nien-Phuoc Binh Massacre (1966) and the My Lai Massacre (1968), as well as Operations Malheur I and Malheur II and Operation Quyet Thang 202. Quang Ngai was known to be a Viet Cong stronghold during the war, and the site of numerous ambushes and attacks against ARVN and American troops, particularly at night. The province produced famous war literature on both sides of the conflict: The now-famous wartime diary of NLF medic Đặng Thùy Trâm was written here, and from an American perspective, Quảng Ngãi province is the major setting of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. Quảng Ngãi City is a secondary industrial center of the South Central Coast with processing of agricultural products and production of some paper and machinery. Other products include beer (38.3 million litres in 2007), textiles (5577 pieces), bricks (303 million), chemical fertilizer (24kt), and hand farming tools (352,000 pieces). Furniture is produced in Quảng Ngãi as a major export product, accounting for 11.475 million US$ in 2007. Industrial GDP has more than tripled between 2000 and 2007, growing by an average yearly rate of 18.64%. This was the second highest growth rate in the South Central Coast after Bình Thuận Province. Industry has grown even faster since then, due in large part to the Dung Quat Economic Zone. The Dung Quat refinery, Vietnam's first oil refinery, started production in February 2009. In the same year, industrial gross output increased by 144.7% and the share of industry in the province's GDP surged from 36.2% in 2008 to 46.3% in 2009. This share is higher than that of other provinces in the region and even slightly higher than that of Đà Nẵng. The province's prospects for industry may also be changing outside Dung Quat Economic Zone. Vinatex bought Đại Cát Tường, a formerly bankrupt textile manufacturer, in 2011 and plans to expand its production in Quảng Ngãi significantly. Quảng Ngãi's industry was dominated by the state sector (mostly centrally managed companies) until 2005, after which most of the state industry was (officially) privatized. The state sector's share decreased from 2/3 in 2000 to around 1/8 in 2007, while there was also a restructuring within the state sector from central state to locally managed state enterprises. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quang_Ngai_Province

• published: 23 Jun 2012
• views: 222