Living in Saigon is being a Saigonese. That is a short, straightforward and quite “generous” definition of the people in the largest city in Vietnam. However, when it comes to “Hanoi people”, that definition is entangled with many factors: How many years have you been here? How many generations? In the old town or the suburbs? Are your father and mother both Hanoians?
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| Traditional Ao Dai performance at the walking street around Hoan Kiem Lake. |
After the liberation of the capital on October 10, 1954, there were about 200,000 people with household registration in Hanoi. Now, I don't know how many that number is. I only know that according to data from an article in August 2023, after many expansions, Hanoi has up to 8.5 million people.
Perhaps because the land has expanded but the population is still dense, a part of the capital's population has strict definitions like that. It is also because they want to protect the sophistication and elegance that people often pass on to each other about the "original" people of Trang An. That is why, the vegetable sellers of Lang village pass on to each other the folk song: " Brother, help me buy a pair of cheap and durable bamboo poles/Borrow a polite person to carry them to the capital ".
Preserving the humanistic and unique values of a land is the right thing to do. However, we sometimes forget the historical flow of this land. The cultural quintessence of Thang Long - Hanoi is the confluence of many regions. The headquarters are located here, so talented people gather. Nguyen Trai is from Nhi Khe (old Ha Tay), Le Quy Don is from Thai Binh, Ho Xuan Huong is originally from Nghe An. Then the Ly Dynasty is from Bac Ninh, the Tran Dynasty is from Nam Dinh, the Later Le Dynasty is from Thanh Hoa... (Since our country regained independence after more than 1000 years of Chinese domination, no king has been from Thang Long). All are the quintessence of the capital, contributing to the diverse cultural achievements of Thang Long - Hanoi.
Not only kings and famous people, many famous professions in the capital were brought by people from other places. Hanoi Pho (supposedly) was created by Nam Dinh people. The famous ham of Uoc Le village, Ha Tay. Com cake of Hai Duong people. Although not born in the capital, the famous professions, famous gifts... that created the 36 streets had to go through the assessment and acceptance of Hanoi people to be famous and spread throughout the country.
Don’t forget the popular name of Hanoi as “market place” – a term used by people from other places who come here to trade. This shows that the vitality of this land is created by people from all over the world.
To put it simply, Hanoians are people from all over the country and the good thing about this place is that there is absolutely no localism. People from all over the country come to the capital, bringing with them the quintessence of their hometown's professions to earn a living. They treat each other with courtesy and elegance... to exist in harmony and develop here. The elegance and sophistication that we often look back to in the past to admire, comes from those people from all over the country.
So what is a Hanoian? That concept has remained unchanged in the flow of history. Everyone, whether born and raised in this land or coming here to make a living, if they are attached to Hanoi, is already a Hanoian. On the contrary, Hanoian culture is always changing flexibly. It is always tolerant, open to receive and filter the quintessence of labor and good values that people bring here.
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