Hanoi Retains Its Traditional Charms

Despite rapid changes, Hanoi retains its traditional charms.

- Kristy Alpert

To the untrained eye, Hanoi appears to move at a slower pace than its neighboring Asian capital cities. People spend mornings practicing tai chi around the many calm lakes of the city while man-powered rickshaws share the roadways peaceably with motorbikes. Locals walk to work along roads filled with street vendors who pride themselves on making every dish entirely from scratch. Despite the appearance of calm and joie de vivre, this former French colony is actually one of the fastest-growing cities in Asia … and it’s about to get even faster.

In 2020 Hanoi will become home to the Hanoi Motor Sport Circuit, a track that will host the Vietnam Grand Prix, the country’s first-ever Formula 1 race and the first new event to be added to the F1 calendar since Liberty Media took over the company at the beginning of 2017. Formula 1, the elite class of single-seat auto racing sanctioned by the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, features speeds of more than 200 mph. The Vietnamese Grand Prix will join an exclusive calendar that includes Monaco, Singapore and Azerbaijan. The event will surely bring increased international exposure to this already booming capital city.

Experiencing substantial economic growth over the past few decades, Hanoi grew nearly 7 percent in the first quarter of 2019 alone, according to the city’s Department of Planning and Investment. The city has been on an upward cycle of growth since 1996, when the country normalized relations with the United States by joining the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Although Vietnam remains a one-party state ruled by the Communist Party of Vietnam, the country’s emphasis on international relations and central planning gave rise to a profitable market-based economic system while decreasing the number of state-owned businesses.