Mã Mây Street

May 18, 2010 10:10 AM GMT+7

VGP - At one time this street was divided into two streets: Hàng Mây (south) selling rattan and Hàng Mã (north) selling paper votive objects for burning: paper money, paper suits of clothes, hats, even life-sized rattan and straw animals, used for religious offerings.

Mã Mây Street in the past (L) and present (R)

At the end of the 19th century, the French set up a Customs Office — then just outside the East Gate, Quan Chưởng — a Court and Prison at Nos. 19 and 33 respectively. Now a lacquer shop and a travel agent, the two orche-painted buildings are just recognizable. Under the French, the Vietnamese called Hàng Mã, Black Flag Street, as this organization had its headquarters here. The Black Flags were a secret Chinese society, a roving anti-colonial military unit from South China, led by Liu Yongfu, who had fled to Việt Nam when the Manchus took over Yunnan. When the French were first attempting to gain control of Việt Nam in the 1880s, the Black Flags joined the Vietnamese in resisting. The French called them pavilions noir, “black pirates”.

The Hà Nội Ancient Quarter Management Department has already completed renovation of the old building at No. 47 Hàng Mã – and installed a granny.

No. 87 Mã Mây, the former residence of a Chinese merchant, has been beautifully restored by the city of Toulouse and is open as a museum. Pass the dark wooden stools and tea table, past the calligraphy, lacquer boxes and ceramics on sale to an open courtyard with a hammock and caged birds to the former kitchen. Upstairs at the front is the beautifully carved family altar, a carp scroll on the left, a peacock on the right. The pretty young guide sys the altar is a century old (the lacquer statues along the wall are also for sale). An open courtyard separates the altar room from “the women’s workroom”. I note the carved eaves beneath the tiled roofs and the carved wooden doors that can be closed in winter. The bedroom beyond holds beautiful inlaid mother-of-pearl cabinets.