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It was only when the French debarked in highland Tonkin in the late 1880s that Sa Pa, (the "sandy place"), as the French called it, began to appear on the national map. In the following decade, the future site of Sa Pa town started to see military parties as well as missionaries from the Societe des Missions Etrangeres de Paris (MEP) visit.

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Most of the ethnic minority people work their land on sloping terraces since the vast majority of the land is mountainous.

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