Thanh Dong (old name of Hai Duong city) formerly had such famous industry and trade streets as Hang Bac, Hang Dong, Hang Giay, Hang Long, Khach, Ben Be, Dong Thi, etc.
There are now six shops trading in gold and silver jewelry on Xuan Dai street (formerly Hang Bac street)
Over so many years, old industries and trades of many streets have fallen into oblivion. Only Hang Bac, Khach, and Hang Giay streets of the old days still retain some vestiges of ancient industries and trades.
From silver processing to gold trading
Hang Bac street (specializing in silver sale) is now Xuan Dai one in Tran Hung Dao ward. Compared with the very first days of the street’s formation, the trade has changed a lot. From silver processing, gold trading has become the main industry there. There are, presently, six shops trading in gold and silver jewelry on the street.
We entered Phuong Thanh shop of Vu Luu Phuong‘s family at 13 Xuan Dai street. Many of his family’s generations have preserved their ancestors’ traditional industry and trade. Despite his age of 76, Phuong still remembered exactly the industry of gold and silver processing and trading when being asked.
Phuong said his native land is Dong Xam village in Hong Thai commune, Kien Xuong district (Thai Binh), with a well-known industry of silver processing. Vietnamese people in the past often used such silverware as necklaces, placque (a kind of musical instrument) , key chain or chatelaines, tea-sets, etc.
In around the 1940s, his grandfather moved to Hang Bac street in Thanh Dong to follow up the trade. In the old days, silversmiths sat on pavements with silver processing tools being bellows, anvils, hammers, etc. Silver was melted with “than ta” (charcoal) instead of blowlamps as in the present day.
Initially, silversmiths worked as self-hired laborers to make profit. Later, with accumulated capital, some of them switched to gold and silver trading and gradually formed the jewelry shops of Hop Thanh, Duc Thanh, Cong Thanh, Phu Thanh, Hiep Thanh, etc. The shop of Phuong’s family was named Phuong Thanh which has been kept ever since.
Phuong had started to work at the Hai Duong Town Youth Union since 1961, so he stopped processing gold and silver and only restored the traditional trade in 1991 after retirement. Phuong has transmitted his enthusiasm and sophisticated techniques of making the jewelry to his three sons, Vu Quang Hien, Vu Quang Vinh and Vu Quang Huy. Currently, Hien and Vinh‘s families are succeeding their father as jewelers.
Traditional industry maintaining
Quan Van Vinh, owner of Cong Phat Long drugstore, is really interested in preserving the traditional profession of prescribing Chinese traditional medicine
From Xuan Dai street, we walked a short distance to Bac Kinh street, previously named Khach. This was once a crowded residential area of the Chinese Vietnamese people with a famous industry of prescription and sale of Chinese traditional medicinal based herbal. Formerly, most households living in Khach street were sellers of this type of medicine.
Nowadays, many houses on Bac Kinh street still retain ancient architecture. Chinese Vietnamese people’s houses are usually very deep with the street-facing part used for trading and the extended rear used for storage and production. There remain three households engaged in the prescription of this type of medicine in Bac Kinh street, the most famous of which is Cong Phat Long store.
Passing a narrow alley, we went up to the second floor of the house. As soon as reaching there, we smelt a fragrance of the specific type of medicine. Different items were put neatly in each drawer or box.
“Our forefathers moved here from China to do business, and we are their 4th generation. My father is physician Quan Ba Hung. He has five children, but only I follow his job of prescribing Chinese traditional medicine,” said Vinh.
Averagely, Vinh daily sells 30 dosages prescribed to customers within Hai Duong province and from some other provinces and cities. “I have a daughter and a son. I am transmitting my knowledge and experience to them as my successors,” Vinh confided.
There were also several other industry and trade streets in ancient Thanh Dong, such as Hang Dong (specializing in bronze making, now Dong Xuan street), Hang Long (specializing in parasol making, now Tuy Hoa street), Ben Be (specializing in bamboo and wood raft sale, now Tam Giang street), and Dong Thi (specializing in candy sale, now the beginning of Quang Trung street). After many ups and downs, the old industries and trades of these streets have so far hardly been preserved.
MINH ANH
Đăng ký: VietNam News
