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Ouvrages
Hanoi. City of the Rising Dragon.
Maryland, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.,
2002, 187 p.
with G. Boudarel (1926-2003), foreword by William J. Duiker,
translated by Claire Duiker
Hanoi. City of the Rising Dragon.
Maryland, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.,
2002, 187 p.
with G. Boudarel (1926-2003), foreword by William J. Duiker,
translated by Claire Duiker
§ A City which Remembers
Rural City or Urban Village
The
thousand-year-old city was also shaped by its people, who gave it a
soul and a cultural richness that softened the more austere
contributions of the scholarly community. Western travelers in the
17
th century estimated the number of homes in the city at
20,000, which corresponds to a population of around 100,000
inhabitants. By the 19
th century, though, there were no
more than 60,000 people living in Hanoi. This is undoubtedly due to
the transfer of the capital to Hue, which emptied the city of a
substantial part of its population.
The
French loved to repeat that “Hanoi was a big village,” a
remark which actually has some truth to it. There has always been a
constant influx of people from rural areas into the city, the numbers
varying over the centuries according to political, economic, and
social conditions. This steady migration, however, never became an
exodus, since the countryside remained a place of security and refuge
in case of war or social strife. But the city always exercised a
powerful pull on surrounding villages because of its reputation as an
active place of commerce. During the colonial era, the influx of
destitute villagers was so great that the municipality of Hanoi had
to pick them up every month by the hundreds and place them in a
shelter for the homeless at Bach Mai, on the outskirts of town. This
trend continues today as poor peasants arrive daily from the Delta,
exacerbating an already heavy population density. On the outskirts of
the city one still finds many beggars from Thai Binh, a Delta
province that has been overpopulated for centuries.
The
rural population that moved into the city did not, however, abandon
their customs, traditions, or way of life. They brought with them a
whole host of social and spiritual practices from their native
regions which helped them to preserve the past while confronting the
future. Many came to the city accompanied by their families,
sometimes even their whole clan, and sought employment as artisans or
merchants, without ever abandoning their habits of daily village
life. Many have retained the physical mannerisms of their region,
revealing an entire state of mind in a simple gesture. The way some
recent arrivals squat, for example, with their feet planted on low
stools or on a chair at a theater, reveals a certain nonchalance and
carefree attitude towards the future which is characteristic of their
region.
Street Life in Hanoi: the phuong
If the village is the heart of rural life, its urban counterpart is the
phuong—a
word which is usually translated by
“neighborhood” and whose origin dates to the 13
th
century. The
phuong was much more than an administrative zone,
however, as each one included one or more trade associations which
usually came from the same village. They were a kind of
multidimensional space which, like the village, had their own
customs, festivals, cults, spirits, and territory. These
phuong
sprang up and flourished outside of the imperial walls. One of the
more classic examples is old Hanoi itself, bordered to the east by
the Red River, to the south by the southern border of Returned Sword
Lake—the old Petit Lac (small lake) of colonial times, which
used to be much larger than it is now—and to the west by the
fortifications of the Imperial City.
The
growth and development of these working-class neighborhoods in Hanoi
were based mainly on two factors: family ties and professional
skills. Hang Dao Street, for example, known since colonial times as
the Street of Silk, is occupied by silk merchants who sell
merchandise bought in neighboring areas specialized in the making of
silk.
It is the same for many other streets in Hanoi..
The
origin of the
phuong also had a social dimension. In order to
combat isolation and marginalization, immigrants from the countryside
worked together in an effort to constitute an economic and social
force. Without ever severing ties with their native regions, these
neighborhoods served as a kind of relay point between the two worlds.
In this way, immigrants lived a sort of double life: their social
life revolved around the city while their hearts remained in the
countryside. The countryside served as a meeting place for families,
where life was organized according to the rhythm of the major
holidays like Tet (the lunar new year) or the anniversary of an
ancestor’s death. It was also used as a kind of haven, whereby
the scholar who found himself in disagreement with those in power
could always return to his native village in order to avoid
confrontation.
These
city streets are much more than addresses for the people of Hanoi,
they also carry with them traces of the city’s history: like 10
Pho Hang Dao, for example. In 1907 it housed the seat of the
Dong
Kinh Nghia Thuc movement (Tonkin Free School), run by Luong Van
Can and other scholars who were at odds with traditional teaching
methods. Using
quoc ngu
as a new vehicle of instruction, they offered free courses, day and
night, to anyone who wanted to learn about the modern spirit. This
school also served as a cover for anti-French political activities,
and was forced to close its doors by the local authorities after
several months of operation. Like Pho Hang Dao, just about every
street in Hanoi bears witness to elements of the city’s
history.
The Spirit of the Streets
The
names of streets tell us a lot about the past, especially about the
importance of water to the city. Thus we find Hang Be Street (Street
of Rafts), which was situated on a pier, and Hang Buom Street (Street
of Sails), which was devoted to the business of boating sails. Until
the 13
th century there were canoe races on the lakes and
rivers of the city, the likes of which one can still see in Laos,
Cambodia, and Thailand. These boats probably navigated heavy river
traffic up the Red River to old Thang Long, which even then was an
important crossroads for trade and commerce.
From
the 19
th century until the Sino-Vietnamese conflict in
1979, the Street of Sails was especially known for its Chinese
restaurants which had set up there in the 17
th century.
Chinese residents were also grouped in the old Phuc Kien Street,
named for their home province of Fujian. It is now called Lan Ong
Street, after an 18
th century pharmacist who specialized
in traditional medicine, and shares with nearby Thuoc Bac Street
(Street of Chinese Medicine) the specialty of traditional medicines.
With the outbreak of hostilities at the Vietnamese border, the
Chinese community of Hanoi was taken hostage and its people were
forced to pack their bags and move out.
The
Street of Sails is famous for an edifice that is older than the city
itself, Bach Ma Temple (Temple of the White Horse), which dates back
to the 9
th century. According to legend, when Ly Cong Uan,
founder of the Ly dynasty, transferred the capital from Hoa Lu to
Thang Long, he decided to build a fortress for their protection; but
the fortress periodically collapsed. The young monarch called for a
solemn ceremony to invoke protector-spirits who could help him in his
enterprise. A white horse then emerged from the temple, made one
circle around the fortress, and returned inside. The emperor
understood the message and ordered the fortifications to be erected
along the tracks left by the spirit-animal, and the temple thereupon
remained standing. To show his thanks, he elevated the horse to the
rank of protector-spirit of the capital.
The
Temple of the White Horse also had a second function, serving as the
eastern gate of the city. Abandoned and left in ruins for decades as
part of the fight against superstition, the temple has recently been
renovated and given back to the people of the neighborhood who are
once again bringing it back to life.
Hang
Trong Street (Street of Drums, renamed Avenue Jules Ferry by the
colonists) presents a different case, where the shopkeeper was also
the artisan. The street was once inhabited by three guilds: the drum
makers from Hai Hung province fifty kilometers [31 miles] to the east
of Hanoi; the parasol makers from the village of Dao Xa, in Ha Tay
province, some thirty kilometers [19 miles] to the south of the
capital; and the printers and designers of popular engravings, from
Ha Bac province, which borders Hanoi on the northeast.
Today all of these guilds have moved elsewhere, thereby altering the
appearance of the neighborhood. In 1954,
Nhan dan [The
People], the official organ of the Communist Party, set up its seat
in this neighborhood along Returned Sword Lake. Nowadays one must go
to the village of Dong Ho, still in the province of Ha Bac, to find
the engravers and printers, one of the rare places which has
preserved this tradition. At the approach of Tet, their market comes
alive with traditional engravings marking the beginning of
festivities in vivid colors.
Other
streets have kept their names from days gone by. There is Hang Bac,
or Street of Silver (renamed Street of the Money-changers by the
French), which contained three separate guilds (for casting coins,
money changers, and gold and silver smiths), all from neighboring
provinces. The first group built a temple there to venerate the
founder of their profession, but ceased their activities in the 19
th
century after the transfer of the capital to Hue. The second guild
continued its operations during the colonial era, while the third
erected a temple in a neighboring street in homage to the founder of
their trade.
Hang
Gai (Street of Hemp) has a slightly more complex history. In olden
times, local artisans made and sold rope made of braided hemp. Later,
engraving and printing workshops were set up there in the 19
th
century. It was here that the imperial viceroy lived, across from the
residence of the French Résident Supérieur, the seat of
the new colonial power. As for Hang Chieu (Street of Mats), the
French renamed it in honor of the merchant and arms dealer Jean
Dupuis—instigator of the colonial conquest of the North—who
had opened a shop there in 1872. Hang Non (Street of Hats) was marked
by another memory, that of the “Red” labor union which
held its first congress there in 1929 at the house at number 15.
Revolutionary memories also enliven Hang Ruoi (Street of the Beetle
Grub)—so named because every year in the ninth lunar month a
market was held to sell this popular delicacy. In 1930, the house at
number 4 on this street harbored the office of the newly-founded
Central Committee of the Communist Party.
Other
streets of old Hanoi had less political destinies. Hang Than (Street
of Coal) was originally a pier where limestone was delivered to ovens
set up all along the river, then it became a coal market. Then there
is Hang Giay (Street of Paper), where shopkeepers sold paper that
they had bought from the artisans who lived in the village of Buoi,
situated at the extreme western edge of West Lake. At the beginning
of the colonial era, the street housed many
Maisons des
Chanteuses,
before they were moved to the outskirts of town during the 1920s.
Curiously,
today there is no street in Hanoi called the Street of Rice.
Previously, the commerce dealing with this important grain took place
either in the central market, where the consumers usually dealt
directly with the producers, or on the docks along the river. During
colonial times there was a Street of Rice (Hang Gao), which passed in
front of the market of Dong Xuan. The street eventually took the name
of the market after independence and following the collectivization
of the agricultural sector which brought about the disappearance of
the rice trade.
People
often speak of the “Thirty-six Neighborhoods of Hanoi,”
an expression which has been in use since the 15
th century
and which underscores the importance of the
phuong in Hanoi’s
history. Each of these neighborhoods has been shaped by history, by
the complex forces of immigration, trade, and political changes. The
expression took on even greater popularity in the 1940s after the
writer Thach Lam used it as a title for one of his stories.
Notes
