Many Vietnamese are familiar with the saying "One should first visit Thang Long and then Pho Hien".

From the 17^th to the 18^th centuries, Pho Hien was a bustling commercial port with boats coming from China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, UK and France. But Pho Hien slowly gave up its position as a commercial port to Hai Phong.

However, today Pho Hien still possesses a whole architectural complex of 60 historical remains, 100 engraved stelae as well as many temples and pagodas such as Xich Dang Temple of Literature, Chuong Pagoda, Hien Pagoda, etc.

The nhan long (cage-longan, the name comes from the technique of covering the longans with cages to protect them from the birds) is a speciality of Pho Hien, which is famous in the whole country. The sweet cage-longans, with a thick pulp and a thin peel, used to be offered to kings only.