Cầu Giấy (anglicized as Cau Giay) is an urban district of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. It is located roughly to the west of urban Hanoi. Cầu Giấy has a unique urban landscape, with new urban developments interlacing old historical artisan villages. The most well-known of them is a cluster of Dịch Vọng villages (aka Cốm Vòng 'village') with its popular cốm dessert.
With a population of roughly 300,000, Cầu Giấy hosts many administrative and corporate headquarters within the Trung Hoà–Nhân Chính urban area. Cầu Giấy is also considered to be an education hub of Hanoi due to its high concentration of universities and magnet schools. About two-third of Cầu Giấy district's source of income comes from the service sector (mainly from small businesses) and one-third comes from the manufacturing sector. The district contains only a few tourist landmarks such as Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, Hà Temple, and Mai Dịch Cemetery.
Present-day Cầu Giấy district was a rural agricultural area, scattered by a few artisanal villages, and lay within Từ Liêm, a periphery district of Thăng Long city. On 22 November 1996, the area was officially split from Từ Liêm and incorporated into a district, taking its name from a nearby bridge also named Cầu Giấy (). Along with other urban districts of Hanoi, Cầu Giấy experienced very rapid urbanization since the 2000s, causing rapid economic development and intense gentrification in the process. By the 2020s, Cầu Giấy had ran out of construction land.
Etymology The Paper Bridge, Cầu Giấy written in English, was just a small bridge crossing over Tô Lịch River existed for many centuries. The name was taken from papermaking villages nearby the bridge named Thượng Yên Quyết. There is a myth that the gate to Thăng Long named Ô Cầu Giấy (lit. "Cầu Giấy Gate") was situated at that spot before it was destroyed by the French colonists, but historians determined that the gate was probably at a parking lot at Kim Mã street near the Presidential Palace.
History
Monarchal period Present-day Cầu Giấy district was a rural agricultural area and lay within the periphery of Thăng Long. Cầu Giấy was part of Từ Liêm district, under the jurisdiction of Quốc Oai prefecture, Sơn Tây province. The area has several artisanal villages that has existed for centuries. Some families Nghĩa Đô village was known for producing sắc paper, a special type of paper used to write royal edicts, and for being one of the earliest places in Hanoi to weave silk and brocade. Thượng Yên Quyết and Yên Hòa villages were specialized in papermaking. Vòng village has a long-standing tradition of producing cốm and An Phú village in Nghĩa Đô was known for making malt candy. Giàn village in Trung Hòa was renowned around Hanoi for making incense sticks.
In present-day Nghĩa Đô ward, there is a temple dedicated to general Trần Công Tích and a shrine honoring the Lê sisters, who assisted emperor Lê Hoàn in the Song–Đại Cồ Việt war in 981. The Dụ Ân Pagoda was where emperor Lý Công Ẩn, a member of the Lý dynesty, frequently practiced Buddhism.
In the 12th year of Emperor Minh Mạng's reign (1831), the Nguyễn dynasty carried out administrative reforms, dividing the country into 29 provinces. The capital, Thăng Long, became a provincial city, and the area fell under Hoài Đức prefecture in Hà Nội province. The Battle of Cầu Giấy in 1883 was fought near the Paper Bridge. By the end of 1889, it became part of An Hạ canton, Hoàn Long district. In 1915, Hoàn Long district was merged into Hà Đông province, and by 1918, the area was under Hoài Đức prefecture in Hà Đông province. In early 1943, the area separated from Hà Đông and was placed under the special administration of Hà Nội (Hoàn Long special district).
Republic period In mid-1941, Cầu Giấy was chosen by the Viet Minh as a secret base, serving as a key communication hub. By 1945, Cầu Giấy became a strategic location in Hanoi for organizing the August Revolution. On the evening of 15 August 1945, the key revolutionists at Hanoi convened an emergency meeting at Hà Temple. On the evening of 16 August 1945, at a residential house in Dịch Vọng Tiền village, Cầu Giấy, the revolutionists planned to launch the uprising on the morning of 19 August against the colonial government.
After the successful revolution, the revolutionary government again performed administrative reforms. In May 1946, the area became part of the Đại La district on the outskirts of Hà Nội. In 1947, it was placed under District IV, later known as Trấn Tây district. From 1949 to 1954, it belongs to an outskirt rural district. After the liberation of the capital, from 1956, it was part of District VI. In 1961, when Hà Nội expanded its boundaries, the city abolished the urban districts and established four inner-city districts and four suburban districts, with Từ Liêm district being reinstated, incorporating the land of Districts V and VI.
During this time, many universities and academies were founded in the Cầu Giấy area, such as the Hanoi National University of Education in 1951 and Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics in 1949.
Establishment of the district
The modern incarnation of Cầu Giấy district was formulated on 22 November 1996, via the merger of four towns (Cầu Giấy, Nghĩa Đô, Nghĩa Tân, Mai Dịch) and three communes (Dịch Vọng, Yên Hòa, Trung Hòa) within the old Từ Liêm district. All towns and communes were reclassified to wards, and Cầu Giấy town was renamed to Quan Hoa ward. The edict went to effect on 1 September 1997.
Most residents received the district establishment positively, as it is closely related to hopes that new symbolic, infrastructural, and economic improvements. The district's establishment was a decade after Đổi Mới economic reforms was initiated in 1986, when Vietnam was one of the least-developed countries. In 1997, Cầu Giấy district's gross regional domestic product (GRDP) is 120 billion VND (US$10.8 million in that year's exchange rate); two decades later in 2016, Cầu Giấy's GRDP is 206,000 billion VND (US$9050 million in that year's exchange rate), a two orders of magnitude increase. By 2022, 25 years after district establishment, Cầu Giấy no longer has any near-poverty households; near-poverty line is defined as a personal income of less than 2 million VND (US$83.33) per month.
However, rapid urbanization also bring severe negative effects to the district. Intense gentrification threatened the artisanal craft of historical villages. Most coverage about this problem in Cầu Giấy surrounds the Vòng villages that produce cốm, a dessert made from sweet glutinous rice and staple of Hanoi cuisine. Before the establishment of Cầu Giấy, most families have a small plot of farmland. Urbanization meant that the rice now needs to be sourced from surrounding provinces and compare to other urban occupations making cốm is unprofitable, leaving many to stop practicing the craft. The craft remains threatened as fewer than ten families are still practicing the craft and cốm making is not under government cultural protection programs. By 2013, there was only one woman practicing Nghĩa Đô village's sắc papermaking craft. These endangerment stories are similar to other artisanal villages around Hanoi.
Many acres of residential land in Cầu Giấy are planned to be replaced by public infrastructures and residential areas, but inconsistency between the development plans, map of the area and actual position of residential houses created a "forced eviction chaos". In one case, the government mistakenly issued a construction permit to a woman's family despite the land being part of a planned development project. Some of these newly residential areas remained unoccupied due to the government's overestimation of real estate demand, and a few greenfield lands remain abandoned for decades due to bureaucracy and corruption. Real estate speculation is rampant in Cầu Giấy; when a plan to rebuild the deteriorating Nghĩa Tân residential area was announced, land price surged to 50 million VND (2080 USD) per square meter. For reference, this is close to the price range of a brand new apartment in the district.
There have been some slight changes to the district's boundary since its founding. On 5 January 2005, Quan Hoa and Dịch Vọng ward's border was adjusted to form the new Dịch Vọng Hậu ward. On 1 January 2021, the border of Nghĩa Tân and Mai Dịch wards was expanded, annexing parts of nearby Bắc Từ Liêm and Nam Từ Liêm district.
Geography Cầu Giấy district situates roughly to the west of urban Hanoi. The district is bordered by Ba Đình and Đống Đa districts to the east, with the Tô Lịch River as the boundary. It is adjacent to Nam Từ Liêm district to the west, Thanh Xuân district to the south, and Tây Hồ and Bắc Từ Liêm districts to the north. In 2025, the district has an area of .
Like Hanoi, under the Köppen climate classification Cầu Giấy district has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa). There is significant air pollution in Cầu Giấy like other urban districts of Hanoi. A study by Vietnam National University in 2022 determined that most of the air pollution in Cầu Giấy is caused by particulates. Nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide in the air are also present in significant amount.
Administrative divisions In 2005, Cầu Giấy district was divided into eight wards (phường) with names loosely inspired from historical villages in the area (see citations and links at ):
Dịch Vọng encompasses Dịch Vọng Tiền and Dịch Vọng Trung villages. Dịch Vọng Hậu encompasses Dịch Vọng Hậu village. Mai Dịch encompasses Mai Dịch and Dịch Vọng Sở villages. Nghĩa Đô encompasses Bái Ân and Nghĩa Đô villages. Nghĩa Tân encompasses Tân village from the ex-town of Nghĩa Đô and a few neighbourhoods from to the Cổ Nhuế wards and village in Bắc Từ Liêm district. Quan Hoa encompasses Thượng Yên Quyết village. Trung Hòa encompasses Trung Kính Hạ, Trung Kính Thượng and Hoà Mục villages. Yên Hòa encompasses Hạ Yên Quyết and Thượng Yên Quyết villages.
On 15th June 2025, Cầu Giấy district has officially operated its new administrative system within the process of restructuring and reducing ward-level administrative units to 3 wards.
Nghĩa Đô encompasses Bái Ân, Nghĩa Đô, Tân, Cổ Nhuế Hoàng, Thượng Yên Quyết villages and a part of the ex-village of Dịch Vọng Sở (ex-ward Mai Dịch) Cầu Giấy encompasses Dịch Vọng Tiền, Dịch Vọng Trung, Dịch Vọng Hậu, Dịch Vọng Sở villages and a few neighbourhoods from the ex-wards of Quan Hoa, Mỹ Đình 1 and Mỹ Đình 2. Yên Hòa encompasses Hạ Yên Quyết, Trung Kính, Hòa Mục villages, a part of Cầu Giấy new urban area (ex-ward of Mễ Trì) including Landmark 72 tower and a part of Trung Hòa-Nhân Chính quarter.
Historical villages
Before Cầu Giấy area was urbanized, the area was a large patch of farmland plotted by lakes and dotted by artisanal villages. These villages in one form or another has existed for many centuries. The wooden and straw houses in the villages by the late 20th century were gradually transformed into modern tube houses and house footprint maximization turned the former dirt ground into a maze of concrete alleyways.
Most villages in Cầu Giấy have a specialized craft, a Nôm and a Hanzi name; the Nôm name is likely to be simpler and the original name of the village. For the list of artisanal villages below, the Hanzi name is placed first and the Nôm name is placed in brackets:
Dịch Vọng Tiền (probably originally "Tiền Trang") is now in Cầu Giấy ward. The village has four hamlets named Duệ, Tăng, Miễu, Vỹ. Vỹ is the most recent hamlet established around a century ago by villagers at Duệ hamlet. Dịch Vọng Trung (probably originally "Trung Trang") is now in Cầu Giấy ward. The village has three hamlets named Hà, Thọ, Tháp. The village also has the large (literally "temple of Hà hamlet") that existed before the late 17th century.