Friendship Gate (Huu Nghi Quan)

The "Friendship Gate" (Huu Nghi) border checkpoint on the Vietnamese-Chinese border in Lang Son Province — a historic gateway on the ancient route from Vietnam into China. The pass through the mountains between Dong Dang and the Chinese town of Pingxiang has been known since the Han dynasty and was considered one of the main frontier posts of old China; in 1428 it was named Tran Nam Quan — "the pass that pacifies the south". For centuries embassies from the Vietnamese courts to the court in Beijing and trade caravans passed through this gate, and in 1885, during the Sino-French War, fighting between French and Qing troops unfolded at the post. The present name took hold in two stages: in 1953 the post was renamed Muc Nam Quan, and in 1965 Huu Nghi, the "Friendship Gate". Today it is the main road crossing on the border, the end point of the country's first highway, about seventeen kilometres from the town of Lang Son. This is a working international road crossing into China, not a museum: you cannot walk up to the gate itself without crossing the border, and visitors look at it from a distance. The checkpoint is about seventeen kilometres from the town of Lang Son, which is served by trains and buses from Hanoi. A Chinese visa is needed to cross.

On the map