Hòa Hưng, Ho Chi Minh City

Under French rule

Under French rule, what was once the hamlet (or village) of Hòa Hưng was said to have partly encompassed the territories of both modern-day Hòa Hưng and Diên Hồng ward.

Prior to 1975

During the onset of the Tet Offensive, an unorganized mass burial of hundreds of armymen, majority of whom were part of the National Liberation Front, had occurred on 12 February 1968 at the Chí Hòa - Chợ Quán Cemetery (modern-day Lê Thị Riêng Cultural Park). Excavation efforts, however, weren't underway until the 21st century.

The outline of modern-day Hòa Hưng ward apparently resembles that of the former Chí Hòa ward of District 10, which had been established as part of District 10's four new wards in 1969 (prior to its dissolution in 1976).^{[citation needed]}

Post-1975

On 14 February 1987, under Resolution 33-HĐBT, various adjustments were made to District 10's constituent wards, three of which included:

• The renaming of Ward 21 and Ward 20 to form Ward 12 and Ward 14, respectively.
• The merging of the former Ward 24 with a portion of the former Ward 23 to form "Ward 13".
• The merging of the former Ward 25 with the remaining portion of the former Ward 23 to form "Ward 15".

On 16 June 2025, the National Assembly Standing Committee issued Resolution No. 1685/NQ-UBTVQH15 on the rearrangement of commune-level administrative units of Ho Chi Minh City in 2025. Under Article 1, Clause 27 (which was set to take effect on the 1st of July, 2025), the entirety of wards 12 & 13, along with a portion of Ward 14 in the former District 10, were merged to form the newly-established "Hòa Hưng ward".

In May 2026, the Ho Chi Minh City Military Command [vi] stated they had retrieved sufficient information from witness accounts on the mass burials which had taken place in 1968. Following efforts to verify and confirm the location of said burials, search efforts would officially commence on the 6th of July at the Lê Thị Riêng Cultural Park.

On 24 July, another burial site, located 100 meters from where excavations first took place, was discovered at the park. By the 17th of August, a total of 358 martyrs (of which 201 were buried alongside various relics discovered. By the 22nd of August, that number had risen to 445. As of the 25th of September, 2026, there have been a total of 665 discovered martyrs.

Administrative divisions

Hòa Hưng is currently divided into 26 neighborhoods (khu phố), numbered from '1' to '26', across a total of 23,269 officially-recognized households (2026).^{[citation needed]}

Commerce

Hoà Hưng’s commercial scene plays a pivotal role in the ward’s economy and culture, ranging from tourism (e.g. medical tourism) to food and entertainment.^{[citation needed]} Moreover, they are prevalent — although not exclusively found — among Hoà Hưng’s two existing "specialized commercial streets".

Commercial streets/areas (Tuyến phố chuyên doanh)

There currently exists two commercial streets in modern-day Hòa Hưng: the "District 10 Health Street" (Phố sức khỏe Quận 10) on Sư Vạn Hạnh St. and the "Construction Materials Street" (Phố chuyên doanh vật liệu xây dựng) on Thành Thái and Tô Hiến Thành St; both of which were established in mid-2023 to aid in economic and commercial development.

The "District 10 Health Street" (Phố sức khỏe Quận 10) is an officially-designated, 2,800 meter-long "health street", spanning across the entire segment of Sư Vạn Hạnh St. situated in modern-day Hòa Hưng ward (from the intersection at Ba Tháng Hai Street to Tô Hiến Thành Street). The health street originally came about in July 2023 alongside other state-funded projects aimed at "the development of medical tourism and ways of combining it with other local services such as entertainment, shopping, and tourist accommodations".

Hence, despite being a health street on paper, the area still offers various other commercial services, notably in places such as Vạn Hạnh Mall.^{[citation needed]}

On the other hand, the "Construction Materials Street" (Phố chuyên doanh vật liệu xây dựng) sits on Thành Thái and Tô Hiến Thành St; an overwhelming majority of which is part of modern-day Hòa Hưng. It was established following a period of income slowdown in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, in an attempt to "effectively manage" and restore the development of businesses in the area. Immediately after the street's grand opening in April 2023, there was reported to have been from 147 to 150 businesses, specializing in manufactured goods as well as raw materials.

Markets

Aside from commercial streets and unofficial street markets, the ward harbors two traditional indoor markets; more specifically Hòa Hưng Market and Chí Hòa Market. Both specialize in a plethora of commodities.^{[citation needed]}

Among the two, Hòa Hưng Market stands out as the largest and oldest-surviving indoor market in the area. Founded in the early 1960s, the market would undergo various renovations three decades into its existence, including expansions to the market's total area. A gradual decline in sales has raised concerns regarding the market's future livelihood.

The GO! Miền Đông Market (formerly the Big C Miền Đông Market) is a hypermarket which specializes in a variety of general goods and services.^{[citation needed]} One of the many GO! locations in Vietnam, the market is owned by Central Retail, a public subsidiary of the Thai conglomerate Central Group.

Religion

Buddhism and Catholicism are the two predominant religions in Hòa Hưng.^{[citation needed]}

The "Việt Nam Quốc Tự" (Chữ Hán: 越南國寺; lit. 'Vietnam National Pagoda') is a 63-metre, 13-storey Mahayana Buddhist pagoda, located just opposite Vườn Lài on Ba Tháng Hai Street.

The tallest pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City, Việt Nam Quốc Tự serves as one of the city's central religious sites; known for housing the headquarters of the Ho Chi Minh City Standing Management Board of the Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha as well as the sacred heart relic of Venerable Thích Quảng Đức.

List of places of worship

Name	Address
Việt Nam Quốc Tự (越南國寺)	244 Ba Tháng Hai
Bửu Đà Pagoda	419/11 Cách Mạng Tháng Tám
Hòa Hưng Church	104 Tô Hiến Thành
Đồng Tiến Church	54 Thành Thái
Đình Chí Hòa [vi]	Alley 475 Cách Mạng Tháng Tám

Arts

Notable people

• Võ Trường Toản [vi] (1709 - 1792), scholar and renowned teacher of 18th-century Gia Định, known in the area for establishing and teaching at a school at Đình Chí Hòa [vi], communal house of the former hamlet / village of Hòa Hưng.

Parks

The Lê Thị Riêng Cultural Park is a 9 ha (22.2-acre) park surrounded by streets: Cách Mạng Tháng Tám to the north, Trường Sơn to the east/southeast, and Bắc Hải to the west/northwest. South-east of the park, there consists of 3 tennis courts and 2 swimming pools, which are under the management of their two, respective clubs: the Lê Thị Riêng Park Tennis Club^{[citation needed]} and the Lê Thị Riêng Swimming Club (as part of the "Nhân Thư Sports Centre").

The artificial lake in the heart of the area acts as a recreational fishing spot. Within the park's east and northeast sections is the smaller, Thỏ Trắng Amusement Park (Thiên đường Giải trí Thỏ Trắng; lit. 'White Rabbit entertainment paradise'), a private amusement park owned by a joint stock company of the same name. At the heart of the amusement park is a recreation center (among many operated by leisure company Jump Arena), famous for its trampolines and other sports activities offered.

Others

Other recreational places include the Nguyễn Tri Phương Swimming Pool and CITIGYM on Thành Thái St.

Infrastructure

Hòa Hưng houses the headquarters of the Ho Chi Minh City Military Command [vi] on 291 Cách Mạng Tháng Tám Street; a defense unit of the 7th Military Region of the People's Army of Vietnam serving Ho Chi Minh City. Several buildings are located within the complex, such as the Ho Chi Minh City Armed Forces Traditional House.

The Chí Hòa Prison began its construction by the French in 1943 as a replacement for the Saigon Grand Prison [vi] (Maison Centrale de Saigon). The Japanese would briefly take control of the project during its short-lived administration of French Indochina, before, not having finalized constructions prior to their surrender following WWII, returning it to the French, who successfully completed the prison on the 3rd of March, 1953.

During French rule, the prison was used to incarcerate political prisoners, more specifically those opposed to French colonization; whereas, during the Vietnam War, prisoners comprised members of the NLF (Viet Cong).

The prison currently serves as a detention facility for suspects accused of crimes based in Ho Chi Minh City and is now administered by the Ho Chi Minh City Police [vi].

Healthcare facilities

Universities (Đại học)

High schools (Trung học phổ thông / THPT), escalator schools offering high school education

Secondary schools (Trung học cơ sở / THCS)

The following list does not include escalator schools which offer high school education.

Primary schools (Trường tiểu học)

Other institutions

The District 10 Children's House (Nhà Thiếu nhi Quận 10) is a young pioneer palace located on Bắc Hải St., near its intersection with Thành Thái St. With a total area of 7000m², the building was inaugurated on the 1st of June, 2014 (coinciding with that year's Children's Day celebrations) and currently offers various extracurricular classes.

The building’s fourth floor also serves as headquarters of the Hoàng Thái Thanh Drama Theater [vi], a private theater company founded in 2010 and, for the first four years of its existence, initially based at the Ho Chi Minh City Children’s House (located in Xuân Hoà ward).

Roads

Major roads include: Cách Mạng Tháng Tám [vi] to the northeast (along its border with Nhiêu Lộc), Ba Tháng Hai to the south (along its border with Vườn Lài), Thành Thái to the west (along its border with Diên Hồng), alongside Tô Hiến Thành and Sự Vạn Hạnh.

Public transportation

The following Ho Chi Minh City Metro stations serve Hòa Hưng:

• L204 Hòa Hưng (under construction)
• L205 Lê Thị Riêng (under construction)

The following bus routes [vi] serve Hòa Hưng:

• : to Bus Depot No. 1 (Phan Văn Trị St., An Nhơn ward) via Ba Tháng Hai St.
• : to Miền Tây station (lit. 'Western station'; An Phú Đông ward) via Ba Tháng Hai St.
• : to Ngã Tư Ga station (An Lạc ward) via streets: Thành Thái, Tam Đảo, Đồng Nai, Trường Sơn, and Cách Mạng Tháng Tám.