Some markets around Hanoi are special places where innumerable artifacts and recollections bring the past to life. One such place is the fascinating flea market tucked away in a narrow alley off Hoang Hoa Tham Street in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh District.
Nicked glazed bowls, crooked aluminum spoons and rusty iron fans – things that are usually just thrown away are much sought after here. But this is not a junk shop. It’s a place where you can relive your very own ‘once upon a time’ and is known as ‘the market days of memory’.
Visitors to Hanoi’s flea market can find an array of antiques that tell stories of bygone eras, making it a must-visit destination for those seeking a glimpse into the city’s rich history.
The little alleyway at 456 Hoang Hoa Tham in Hanoi gets somewhat livelier than usual on Saturday mornings. From the stairs leading up to a garden it’s easy to notice the crowd and the hustle and bustle. Men make up the majority of shoppers, either looking at different items, chatting with others, asking questions to the vendor or looking for bargains.
There are some 30 stalls with thousands of different items for sale, such as ceramic pots, oil lamps, telephones, charcoal irons, watches, pendulum clocks, glasses, and suitcases. Although they are all different, they have one thing in common: they are old and from the past. “Most of them have no practical value but they have historical or cultural value,” said Minh Duc, one of the customers.
With a small room in his home where he piles up old stuff, Duc said that he visited the market almost every week seeking “new” old things to add to his collection. He looked at a clock and then realized it was a scale with a nice tribal design. He guessed it might be from the early 20th century and would be a “pretty new member” of his house.
Like Duc, everyone who comes here has their own story. One newcomer to the market, Thanh Duong, was looking for pictures of old Hanoi. Having moved from Hanoi to HCMC 20 years ago, he misses the city of his birth “When I visit Hanoi, I don’t feel the same as when I lived here,” he said. “A lot of things have changed and the city is different, so I think that having pictures of the old Hanoi at home can comfort my nostalgia.”
Many people also come to the market to relive the past, looking for things that might help them recall cherished memories. Hong Quan, a war veteran and regular at the market, has collected many items used by the army during wartime, such as water canteens, backpacks, belts, and hats. “Look at this,” he said, showing me a threadbare, ugly scarf. “I can easily find a better scarf somewhere else, but this one’s been handmade from parachute material. Things like this remind me of an unforgettable time of my life and give me a sense of pride.”
“Some people ask why we are passionately looking back to a past, when we were poor and needy, when the country is developing all the time,” said Quoc Khanh, who organizes the market.
“We don’t live in the past but we don’t forget it either. It is a part of us and we respect it. I think that if we don’t respect the past we can’t have a good future.” Khanh, who is also chairman of the Hanoi Calligraphy Club, brings together people who respect the past at the weekly market. “We also want to rediscover an older Hanoi, a Hanoi inside Hanoi, which is different from the noisy and bustling Hanoi of today and one that lives in our hearts,” he said.
Our conversation was then interrupted by a strange sound coming from the next table. It seemed to emanate from something resembling an unusual pendulum. The man who was trying to make a sound with it told me that it was a wooden bell, a very popular percussion instrument used for centuries by a herald to call for villagers to gather together to hear news and events. The man, a young architect, said that he was interested in antiques and history. Every time he comes to the market he not only finds such items but also hears the interesting historical or cultural stories behind them, like this wooden bell.
The bell came from the countryside in the north, as do many other things in the market, according to the vendor, Xuan Hoa. Unlike people in big cities, who usually discard old things, many in the countryside keep them even if they no longer use them. “They have inherited our ancestor’s tendency to hoard useless stuff, which makes my job a lot easier,” he joked. As well as antiques, he has also found some things that neither he nor his customers have ever laid their eyes on before. “Sometimes finding them is just luck,” he said.
By Jin Nguyen
