Small alley, small street, old village is still there...
Although the street names are given in full, when referring to the area on the left side of the Han River Bridge ( Da Nang City) on the east bank, people are still more familiar with the name of the An Tan and An Don fishing villages in An Hai Bac Ward, Son Tra District than the block or residential area... And strangely, although only a few dozen meters away from the fireworks display and the row of high-rise buildings on Tran Hung Dao Street, the two villages still retain their old features, intact with the village structure according to the long-standing traditional culture. The villages still have communal houses, banyan trees, wells...
Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa's family house is imbued with the tradition of ancient coastal village residents.
The whirlwind of urbanization in Da Nang has almost forgotten these two villages, so that today inside there are still small alleys, small streets, winding roads, high and low, looking very beautiful. More interestingly, although having spontaneous architecture, both An Tan and An Don still have many houses bearing the strong features of ancient coastal residents, built from dozens to hundreds of years ago. It is not difficult to come across ancient houses that used to be the residence of four generations under the same roof, now used as ancestral houses.
The house of Ms. Le Thi Quoc (50 years old, living at K10/21 Nguyen The Loc street, An Tan village) is elegantly cared for, from the old yellow lime color of the fence to the dark yin-yang tiled roof. Stepping inside, the main altar in the middle is imbued with ancient character with Chinese parallel sentences, the style of worship arrangement is like the ancient houses often seen in the countryside. "This house was built by my great-grandfather 100 years ago. My grandfather, father and now I live here to take care of the incense. Because I am a woman, I follow the profession of selling fish at Han market, but in previous generations, the family were experienced fishermen... In this neighborhood, there are still many houses like this and they use them as places of worship", Ms. Quoc shared.
Although somewhat younger, the house of Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa (51 years old, residing at 257/16 Tran Hung Dao, An Don village) still has the old features of the 70s of the last century. From his grandfather's generation, his father's generation to his generation, the house has only undergone a few repairs. From his house, looking diagonally to the left about a few dozen meters is a large banyan tree, where people still take advantage of the shade to sell water, a little food, food... like the old scene in the countryside. Next to the banyan tree is the temple of the sacred Ba Than Ha Xu of the coastal residents for generations. In An Tan village, there is also a communal house and a hamlet temple concentrated right next to Nguyen The Loc street.
The 100-year-old house of Ms. Le Thi Quoc's family still retains its old features.
Dream of "Living Museum"
Six years ago, photographer My Dung (member of the Vietnam Association of Photographers) after five years of fieldwork, surveying, and researching the architecture, infrastructure, and intangible heritage of the two coastal villages of An Tan and An Don, proposed the idea of "Bringing community art into living spaces - Preserving the ancient coastal villages of Da Nang" at the quadrangle of Tran Hung Dao - Nguyen The Loc - Ngo Quyen - An Don (about 5.2 hectares). The main viewpoint is to maintain the status quo, absolutely not to demolish old architectures nor build new structures.
Artist My Dung also proposed designing a master plan, renovating and naming alleys to facilitate traffic; investing in street lights, ensuring environmental sanitation and drainage; creating fine art for each house, road, fence, alley and applying installation art... "Having traveled from the coastal villages of Quang Ninh to Ca Mau to make a photo book, I realized that in addition to preserving the tangible architectural values, the intangible cultural heritage such as worship, sacrifices, praying for fish... are still practiced by the people in their original form. Although people today no longer follow the sea, the family tradition and the salty spirit in each person are still there. They will be the ones to both preserve and promote the values of these two ancient coastal villages", Artist My Dung commented.
The vestiges of An Hai ancient citadel contribute to enriching the history of the two villages.
However, according to the artist, the residential area has not been renovated for a long time, so it is currently shabby, the people's living standards are not high, even there is a disarray compared to civilized life, so it is necessary to have proper training for people to do community tourism. The project that he cherishes the biggest goal is to contribute to preserving the culture of the old Da Nang fishing village, diversifying the city's tourism products. From there, improve and raise the living standards of the people from selling souvenirs, dried seafood, art products, cuisine , homestay services...
People support the project
Since 2017, Mr. My Dung's idea has been highly appreciated by the then Standing Vice Chairman of the Da Nang City People's Committee, Mr. Dang Viet Dung. Mr. Dung assigned the Son Tra District People's Committee to coordinate with the author and relevant functional departments to design the idea and conduct a survey to determine the identity and lifestyle of the people in the two fishing villages to have a development orientation. However, up to now, this idea has not been implemented. Mr. Hoang Son Tra, Chairman of the Son Tra District People's Committee, said that he is reviewing the proposed proposal.
"I hope the project will be implemented so that foreign visitors can come to us because this coastal city has memories and a soul. The fishing villages of An Tan and An Don still exist there with their old beauty and people with a strong coastal character. In other words, I want to turn the two villages into a "living museum" with people living their daily lives, simple but different in the eyes of tourists," said NSNA My Dung. With a not-too-large budget, he is willing to work with the local government to seek socialized investment sources.
Mr. Huynh Dinh Quoc Thien, Director of Da Nang Museum, also supports the idea of turning An Tan and An Don into a living museum to preserve and promote the values of these two ancient fishing villages. The area of the two fishing villages has the Ba Than Ha Xu Temple (a cultural and historical relic at the city level) located in an area believed to be near the location of An Hai citadel. This citadel, along with Dien Hai citadel, are considered two important defensive positions of the Nguyen Dynasty army during the resistance war against the French in Da Nang. Along with the historical factor and the existing values of the two ancient fishing villages, this area, if renovated for preservation, will become an attractive destination for tourists. "The most important issue is to create a cultural heritage space to have a basis for promotion," Mr. Thien emphasized.
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