The book Co Mot Thoi O Cho Lon by Pham Cong Luan is a slice of life in the Cho Lon area, formed after many years of the author visiting, searching for documents and recording the memories of some residents who used to live or are living here.
Book cover Once Upon a Time in Cho Lon
Once Upon a Time in Cho Lon was released on the occasion of the Lunar New Year of At Ty 2025, published by Phuong Nam Book Company. The work contains memories of many generations of Chinese immigrants or people born in this place, who used to farm mustard or work as a roofer (Chinese people representing trading companies to deal with customers), used to produce plastic pots or aluminum basins, used to be passionate about gambling in Dai The Gioi or liked to play the fish rain game on Nhi Thien Duong bridge... The stories show that Asians inherently have many similarities, Vietnamese and Chinese people living together in this city have been sharing many things about their homeland, people, and neighborhood relationships.
The book has a lot of information about Cho Lon, an area that includes District 5, District 6, District 11 and part of District 8. This is a land of people from all over the world, mostly Chinese, doing business prosperously, bustling with a life full of collisions, containing many talents in many fields.
The author was fortunate to find clues about the famous figures of the past in Cho Lon, who were community activists, spending a lot of money to build hospitals, schools, parks, etc.; scholars who wrote books to popularize Vietnamese culture for the Chinese to read, or painters, artisans, chefs, martial artists, etc. who persevered in preserving traditional identity every day. All of them, over time, naturally blended into the flow of Vietnamese life, enriching life on the diverse and affectionate land of Saigon - Gia Dinh.
Journalist and writer Pham Cong Luan is the author of many famous and reprinted books such as If I Know a Hundred Years is Limited, The Ways to Childhood, The Little Boy of That Son ... Not only is he outstanding in the genre of essays, he is also a veteran writer, possessing an abundant amount of works, bringing readers many valuable monographs and memoirs such as Saigon - Life Stories of the Streets (5 volumes), Saigon - The Style of the Old Spring Newspaper, Saigon - Looking Back at a Hundred Years...
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hoi-uc-cua-pham-cong-luan-qua-co-mot-thoi-o-cho-lon-185250119224725669.htm
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