Thái Bình Province

Thái Bình Province Tỉnh Thái Bình
Province
Keo pagoda, Thái Bình, Vietnam
Nickname(s): Great Peace
Location of Thái Bình within Vietnam
Coordinates: 20°30′N 106°20′E / 20.500°N 106.333°E / 20.500; 106.333Coordinates: 20°30′N 106°20′E / 20.500°N 106.333°E / 20.500; 106.333
Country	Vietnam
Region	Red River Delta
Capital	Thái Bình
Government
• People's Council Chair	Nguyễn Hạnh Phúc
• People's Committee Chair	Phạm Văn Sinh
Area
• Total	1,542 km2 (595 sq mi)
Population (2009)
• Total	1,780,954
• Density	1,200/km2 (3,000/sq mi)
Demographics
• Ethnicities	Vietnamese
Time zone	ICT (UTC+7)
Calling code	36
ISO 3166 code	VN-20
Website	www.thaibinh.gov.vn

Thái Bình ( listen) is a coastal eastern province in the Red River Delta region of northern Vietnam. Its name is Sino-Vietnamese for "great peace." It is about 18 km from Nam Định, 70 km from Haiphong, and 110 km from Hanoi.

Thái Bình is subdivided into 8 district-level sub-divisions:

They are further subdivided into 9 commune-level towns (or townlets), 267 communes, and 10 wards.

Although situated in the centre of the Red River Delta, in the past, Thái Bình was considered an island bounded by three larger rivers, and is the only province never to have been merged or separated. This position gives the people of Thái Bình a quite distinct culture. Thái Bình is the homeland of hát chèo opera (in Khuốc village, Phong Châu commune, Đông Hưng District) and Water puppetry (in Nguyên Xá commune, Đông Hưng District ). Thái Bình people are noted for their practical and clever character.

Thái Bình is the homeland of the most prolific and famous Vietnamese savant in the Middle Ages: Lê Quý Đôn. Trần Thủ Độ, the founder of the Trần Dynasty, was born in Hưng Hà District. Bùi Viện, the founder of Haiphong city, was a famous reformer in the 19th century. He was the first Vietnamese known to have visited the United States and also served as ambassador to the United States under the Nguyễn Dynasty.