Go to the Ha Giang stone plateau to see the Mong people play 'lai cat chi'

On National Highway 4C through the Ha Giang stone plateau on an early spring day, Thanh Nien suddenly saw on the bank of the Mien River, passing through Can Ty commune (Quan Ba district, Ha Giang province) a newly opened market with thousands of people, mainly Mong people with colorful clothes, buying, selling, eating, and having fun very busily.

"Lai cat chi" is a cultural feature of the Mong people.

Luu Quang

The most crowded place is on Can Ty 2 bridge with hundreds of people playing something with sugarcane trees taller than their heads. Vang My Su, 32 years old, Mong ethnic, in Lung Tam commune (Quan Ba district) nearby, said this is a sugarcane cutting game, called "lai cat chi" in Mong language. To win, the player must use a knife to mark (cut) the middle point of two notches on the sugarcane of the challenger. If the cut is above or below, the player loses.

“Lai cat chi” probably awakened the ability to observe and calculate of men, so it attracted many Mong men. They stood a few meters away from the sugarcane plants and used strings and bamboo sticks as measuring rods, then squinted to calculate. When they were confident enough, they joined the game.

After each cut, the sugarcane is lowered to the ground, and both sides measure with a rope. If the cut is in the middle, the cutter wins and gets the challenger’s money. If the loser loses, they lose tens of thousands of dong, depending on the agreement. This can be understood as a “fun and rewarding” game.

“It’s very difficult to play, cutting up or down will lose, you will lose money, but many people want to play. It’s the Mong people’s culture, they play during Tet to test each other’s skills, it’s not gambling, the government doesn’t prohibit it,” said Mr. Su.