(NADS) - Local authorities are facing many concerns and challenges in planning and implementing solutions to preserve and maintain the status quo of the intangible cultural heritage of Cai Rang floating market in the coming time.
When mentioning Can Tho, surely anyone will be introduced to a famous tourist destination, Cai Rang floating market (Cai Rang floating market was recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2016). Operating in the form of a market group around the beginning of the 20th century, on a large river with a length of nearly 1,500m and a width of nearly 200m, convenient for buying and selling, exchanging goods between the provinces of the Mekong Delta at that time when the road traffic system was not yet developed. Taking advantage of the terrain with many canals forming vital roads between Can Tho and provinces such as An Giang, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, etc., local people and merchants from all over flocked here to gather, creating the busiest waterway trading area in the Southwest.
The market has been open since midnight.
We still sink from the middle of the sunset
I hang the Cai Rang Ba Lang tree
I am a merchant of Vam Xang Lake, Can Tho.
(Author Huynh Kim)
The name “Cai Rang” according to scholar Vuong Hong Sen in the book “Southern Voice Dictionary” mentioned that this is the name of the only place starting with the word “Cai” that he knows, the legend begins with the word “cà rang” (Kran) of the Khmer people, the whole sentence is “cà rang Ông Táo”, which means a clay stove made by the Siamese people and then imitated by the Khmer people, then the Vietnamese people in Hau Giang bought it and sold it at the market, the pronunciation was changed over time to Cai Rang. Or in the French book - Le Cisbassac and many other books that have existed for a long time, it is still recorded: “Krêk Karan: Cai Rang canal”. In the past, no one knows since when, the Khmer people in Tri Ton commune specialized in making clay pots and karan, filling the roofs of large boats, then sailing them down the Cai River to dock here to sell, year after year, over time, our people pronounced karan as Cai Rang and it became the place name of this place.
The river civilization in the South developed thanks to countless people who spent their entire lives with many generations on the boat, which was a place for the whole family to live on the water, from infants to children, adults, the elderly, like a garden house with chickens and dogs. Nowadays, as society develops, urbanization and modernization gradually take place, these households have become much smaller, people have a more stable life and are no longer drifting on the river, an image that is easily encountered as before.
Road traffic has been invested in and expanded by the government. Can Tho has now become a large urban area, so many floating market traders have sold their boats and ships and moved to the mainland to trade in the common market because the economic profit has not changed. Visiting Cai Rang market now, you will see bustling small services such as drinks and food to serve tourists, local merchant ships or ships from neighboring provinces as crowded as before, but in reality, it has decreased a lot.
On holidays or normal days, tourists are almost more numerous than traders, the floating market can now mainly maintain and survive thanks to visitors from all over the world, including foreigners. Cai Rang floating market a few decades ago had 500 - 600 boats and ships. Currently, there are only about 350 - 400 boats and ships (According to the Institute of Economics and Society of Can Tho City). Research by experts shows that theoretically, if each year the number of boats and ships continues to decrease by 20 - 30, by 2040 Cai Rang floating market will disappear. Facing many difficulties, challenges, and concerns about the cultural heritage of floating markets, local agencies have now stepped in to plan and implement solutions to preserve the status quo and intervene to arrange and adjust in the coming time.
In addition to the typical elements of the river region, it is the simplicity and generosity of the people here that makes those who have been here want to return, because of the attraction of culture and humanity.
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