A Living Cultural Treasure

9:52:13 PM | 2/16/2008

Among the ancient streets beginning with “Hang”, Hang Dao, Hang Ngang and Hang Duong Streets have long been known as Hanoi ’s remarkable points for their bustling atmosphere. Nowadays, pedestrian streets and the night market give new vitality to this cultural treasure.

Ancient streets, beauty of tradition and modernity

Hang

Dao Street

has been recognized in history since the 15^th century, with inhabitants specializing in cloth dying. There is an old folk song saying that the silk of Hang Dao lures people’s souls. The name of the street stems from the fact that residents in Hang Dao dyed cloth pink.

More than 152 metres long, Hang Ngang runs between Hang Dao and Hang Duong. Old books say there were two gates at the ends of the street. The gates were opened during daytime and closed at night. The name of the street, Hang Ngang, arose from this fact. In the very early days of the street, residents were not completely native Vietnamese. The majority of them were Chinese or Vietnamese of Chinese origin. Perhaps this is the reason the street was named Quang Dong under the French colony. “ Hanoi old stories” (printed in 1986) states, “

Hang Ngang Street

has two different faces. The part next to Hang Duong is crowded while the part next to Hang Dao is clear and vast.”

All mentioned above belongs to the past. Nowadays, it is different. Hang Ngang and Hang Dao streets are commercial centres for wholesaling and retailing fashionable clothes as well as other commodities including gold, silver, precious stones, clocks and watches.

Hang

Duong Street

is famous for sugared/salted dry fruits of all types. Gia Loi and Hong Lam stores are two typical examples. When Tet comes, Hanoians rush to these stores, queuing in long lines to buy their products for consumption or gift-giving. Among Hang Ngang, Hang Dao and Hang Duong, according to Hanoi researchers Hang Duong (‘Duong’ means ‘sugar’) is the most successful in maintaining the features of the old street, with a great number of stores trading products with high proportion of sugar, such as jams, cakes and sugared dry fruits.

A new space of culture

The three streets are characterized by narrow architecture and long tube houses, and has had a new cultural feature since the establishment of walking street, between 19:00 and 24:00 at weekends.

The night market stretches from

Hang Dao Street

to Dong Xuan Market. The market is full of commodities, ranging from household commodities, clothes, bags, souvenirs to artistic pictures and food, attracting thousands of people, especially on the nights of folk song performance.

Hanoians and residents from nearby areas go to the night market for shopping or just to enjoy the flow of people and the lively atmosphere. The kids are excited to be out with their families, riding on daddies’ shoulders, grasping mothers’ hands among the crowds or sitting in stores selling sandy pictures or statues, making pictures and painting statues. On weekends, romantic scenes of couples can be caught when they are hand in hand, shopping for lovely couple commodities or taking photographs. There are lots of tourists and foreigners here. They can easily find typical souvenirs of at usually reasonable prices.

Foods are present everywhere, including drilled polk, ‘banh beo’ (beo cake), grilled sausages, Donner Kebap and sweet cakes. At the end of the night market, next to Dong Xuan market, there is a cuisine area with many types of food such as hot pot, grilled foods and hot glutinous rice. Along the night market, street-side stores are also open, a cultural feature of Hanoi .

Go to the night market once, and you are sure to want to visit there again!

Anh Tuan