Cho Lon, close and strange

Book Once Upon a Time in Cho Lon - Photo: HO LAM

Each page of the book vividly depicts the bustling Cho Lon space, the intricate alleys, street vendors, restaurants with fragrant, distinctive flavors, and the entire community that has created the cultural soul of this place.

Cho Lon, attractive urban area

For Pham Cong Luan, Cho Lon has always been an attractive urban area, both familiar and strange:

"The signs have both Vietnamese and Chinese characters. The roads are not too crowded, and pedestrians are not as busy as in downtown Saigon.

Walking around Nguyen Trai and Tran Hung Dao streets... every so often, there will be a meeting hall, pagoda or temple appearing.

Some streets still have many tall trees. Restaurants are crowded, lots of noise...".

The intimate and close stories of Cho Lon residents show that Vietnamese and Chinese people inherently have many similarities, living together in this city, and have shared many things about their homeland and neighborhood.

In the book, the author points out the cultural differences of different Chinese groups such as Cantonese, Teochew, Fujian, Hainanese, and Hakka, thereby helping readers have a more comprehensive view of Cho Lon culture.

A place where Vietnamese and Chinese cultures intersect

In addition, Pham Cong Luan was also lucky to find clues about the "crouching tiger, hidden dragon" characters of the past in Cho Lon, who were community activists, spending a lot of money to build hospitals, schools, and parks; scholars writing books to popularize Vietnamese culture for Chinese people to read; or painters, artisans, chefs, martial artists... who persevered every day to preserve traditional Chinese identity.

Pham Cong Luan skillfully pointed out the similarities and differences in the cultures of the Vietnamese and Chinese communities and emphasized mutual respect and learning.

Journalist Pham Cong Luan signs autographs for readers - Photo: FBNV

In the chapter Floating Words, he thinks that saying "fat" is better than calling someone fat or plump, "shiny" sounds better than bright.

No Vietnamese word can replace the words for dishes such as phá lấu, hà mẫu, hoàng thanh, xi quach... because they have been incorporated into Vietnamese, into the spoken language of Southern Vietnamese people. When mentioning these words, no one thinks they are speaking Chinese, according to Phạm Công Luận.

Cho Lon cuisine is filled with memories

Cho Lon cuisine is an indispensable part of the cultural picture of this land. Pham Cong Luan's book also devotes many articles to introducing the typical and unique dishes of Cho Lon.

From popular street foods such as fried dough, chive cakes, sweet soup... to sophisticated, sophisticated dishes in luxurious restaurants such as Ai Hue De Nhat Tuu Lau restaurant, Bach Hi restaurant. All are described by the author in a detailed, attractive, and interesting way.

"Many people think that Chinese people only use soy sauce, but in fact, Chinese people still use fish sauce, but Chinese fish sauce does not use lemon and is diluted, the smell is only faint. The dish of chive cake is served with fish sauce, not soy sauce" - Pham Cong Luan wrote about Chinese fish sauce.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/cho-lon-gan-gui-va-xa-la-20250519092624652.htm