Hà Tây province

Hà Tây was a former province of Vietnam, in the Red River Delta, now part of Hanoi. The province was first created in 1967 and was dissolved in 1976 when it was merged with Hòa Bình Province into Ha Son Binh Province. On August 12, 1991, the province was dissolved and both Hà Tây and Hòa Bình reverted into separate provinces. On May 29, 2008 the decision was made to subsume Hà Tây into the city of Hanoi. The merger took place on August 1, 2008. The name of the province was a name blending of two former provinces, Hà Đông and Sơn Tây.

Geography
Hà Tây province was located in the Red River Delta bordering Hanoi municipality, Hưng Yên, Hà Nam, Hòa Bình, and Phú Thọ provinces. The Việt account for 99% of the province's population; the remaining population is of the Mường and Dao ethnic groups.

The subtropical monsoon climate is divided into three geographic microclimates: the plains, with a hot and humid climate dominated by marine winds; the foothills, with a continental climate affected by western winds; and the montane centering on the peaks of Ba Vì, with a cool climate and an average temperature of 18 °C.

Famous sites include Hương Temple, Tây Phương Temple, and hundreds of caves, which were used as homes. Most festivals and activities in Hà Tây take place during the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd months after Tết. The most famous are the pilgrimage to Hương Pagoda, along with the Thầy Temple and Tây Phương Temple Festivals

Hà Tây province is situated to the southwest of the entrance to the capital city of Hanoi. Consequently, all the tourist attractions in the province are approximately 50 km from the center of Hanoi, making them easily accessible by land.

Administrative divisions
Before being merged into Hanoi City on August 1, 2008, Hà Tây was subdivided into 14 district-level sub-divisions:


 * 12 districts:
 * Ba Vì
 * Chương Mỹ
 * Đan Phượng
 * Hoài Đức
 * Mỹ Đức
 * Phú Xuyên
 * Phúc Thọ
 * Quốc Oai
 * Thạch Thất
 * Thanh Oai
 * Thường Tín
 * Ứng Hòa
 * 2 provincial cities:
 * Hà Đông (former capital, and currently an urban district within Hanoi)
 * Sơn Tây (currently a district-level town within Hanoi)

At the time, those were further subdivided into 22 commune-level towns (or townlets), 405 communes, and 26 wards.

Festivals
In Hà Tây, it is worthy to mention festival tour first because it lasts all the year round. All the festivals bear typical characteristics of traditional festivals of North delta (Red River) which show the religious belief or respect of the inhabitants for different gods and heroes. Each festival can be considered as a living museum containing culture, traditions of the nation to be represented by different ceremonies such as statue-bathing, fish-catching, etc. or by folk games as wrestling, water puppet, Chèo Singing, Dô Singing, cooking contests, etc.

Some festivals in Hà Tây province are well known in Vietnam and the world of which Hương (Perfume) Temple is the most noteworthy because it is the longest and most interesting, attracting about half a million visitors every year. Next attention should be paid to Dô Singing Festival in Quốc Oai district which is only organised once in the every 36 years; Chèo Tàu Boat Singing Festival being performed once in every 30 years; Other famous festivals are Thầy Temple festival, Kite-flying festival in Bá Giang - Đan Phượng, Tây Phương Temple festival, Dâu Temple festival, Và Temple festival, Hát Môn Temple festival.

Culture, history and religion
Hà Tây province was a very old land, having long history, which leads to the appearance of 2,388 cultural, historical, and religious relics of which 12 relics are famous and being classified by Ministry of Culture and Information as especially important. These are:


 * Thầy Temple being closely linked to a famous monk Từ Đạo Hạnh
 * Bối Khê Temple, Trăm Gian Temple being belonging to a hero called Nguyễn Bình An
 * Tây Phương Temple – cultural essence of Tây Sơn regime time
 * Mía Temple, which has the most Buddhist statues in Vietnam (287)
 * Đậu Temple is unique in the sense that it has two real (corpse) statues of two monks; several renowned communal houses such as Tây Đằng, Chu Quyến, Đại Phú, Hoa Xá.