Bach Long Vi Island is located in the Gulf of Tonkin about 110km off coast, and put under the administration of Hai Phong city with an area of about 2.5 km2 at high tide and about 04 km2 at low tide. The island is home to one of the eight largest fishing grounds in the Gulf of Tonkin, and holds a strategic importance in terms of national defence and security as well as marine economic development. It is the “frontline border" on the Northeastern Sea of the country.
In terms of topography, the island is a high hill, surrounded by beaches of about 1.3 km long, and shaped by wave grinding rocks. There are two main seasons on the island: the rainy season and the dry season. Biodiversity in the waters of the island consist of more than 1,500 species of organisms, including about 1,090 species of marine life, 367 species of terrestrial plants, 45 species of birds, hermaphrodites and reptiles, many of which are of high economic value.
Bach Long Vi Island was formerly known as Vo Thuy, Hai Bao, and Phu Chau Thuy. It was inhabited only until the early of the 20th Century when fresh water was found. At first, it was just a shelter for fishermen operating in the Northeast Sea. In 1920, after fresh water was found, people of Quang Yen district went to settle down on the island. They mainly lived on breeding, farming and fishing. In 1937, King Bao Dai sent his troops here to set up a guard post and assigned the island chief. On January 16, 1957, the Vietnam’s Government issued Decree No. 49/TTg defining Bach Long Vi Island as an island commune directly under Hai Phong city, marking its development in the new period.
On December 9, 1992, the Government issued Decree No. 15/ND-CP on the establishment of Bach Long Vi island district directly under Hai Phong city. After this Decree, 62 young volunteers and some fishermen of Hai Phong came to live and work on the island. On July 27, 1994, the Prime Minister signed Decision No. 379/TTg approving the overall technical and economic argument to build Bach Long Vi island district into a district-level administrative unit - the basis for Bach Long Vi's comprehensive socio-economic development and solid defence and security consolidation. According to Resolution No. 32-NQ/TW, dated August 5, 2003 and Conclusion No. 72-KL/TW, dated October 10, 2013 of the Party Central Committee “On the construction and development of Hai Phong city in the period of industrialisation and modernisation of the country", Bach Long Vi Island has been identified as the centre of fisheries logistics and search and rescue in the northern region.
With its location and strategic importance, over the past time, Bach Long Vi has received much attention and investments from the central government and Hai Phong city, that contributes to changing the landscape of the island with increasingly developed socio-economy, modernised and synchronous infrastructure, improved living standards of the people, and firmly strengthened national defence and security, worthy of being a "frontier hedge" on the northeastern sea, and a major fishery logistics service centre of the country.
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