Front facade of the Dong Xuan Market

If you want to shop and at the same time peeping into the corridors of history, then Dong Xuan Market in Hanoiis the place for you. This large multi- storied market sells anythingand everything. From fresh foods to home appliances, you will have itall here. But, what is more fascinating about this market is itshistorical significance which you still can experience if you visitthis place. It witnessed fierce battle between the Vietnameseresistance units and the French. Dong Xuan Market is also a historicalplace where there was a combat of soldiers of “Quyết tử quân”(“Deciding to die”) against the French attack to the heroic zone I, inFebruary 1947. Being the biggest market and locating in the downtown,Dong Xuan Market is a crowded and bustling exchanging, tracsaction,business place of the capital.

Itwas built in 1889, in the basis of combination and removal of twomarkets, Cau Dong and Bach Ma on the shore of To River. It waspositioned in area of Dong Xuan Ward with 5 vault-like roofs, steelframes; each frame is 52m long, 19m high supplying area for hundreds ofgoods.

Typical characteristics

Unlikeother Hanoi night markets selling agricultural products in Long Bienand Quang Ba, Dong Xuan Market has been mainly created for tourists.With its eleven stalls, the brightly-lit food zone is the mostanimated, serving late night guests until early morning. There arenumerous kinds of goods and products selling in the market. The crowdedand dense situation of Dong Xuan Market was highly praised in many oldfolk song of Hanoi. This large three-story market to the north ofHanoi's Old Quarter offers a varied cornucopia of goods of all sorts.Hundreds of stalls, with thousands of workers, trade extremely freshproduce, dried foods, household goods, appliances and more. The markethas an interesting history. It saw fierce fighting between Vietnameseresistance units and the French. Later, in 1994, the market wasdestroyed in a fire that resulted in the death of five people and theloss of an estimated USD4.5 million in stock.

Rivernetworks formed the economic hub of Hanoi by providing a system ofwaterways which fed the city and markets. Located at the confluence ofthe To Lich and Red Rivers, the Dong Xuan Market was once one of thebusiest urban areas in Southeast Asia.

Ylang-ylang Garden in Dong Xuan Market

Youmight have your curiosity and appetite titillated as you try to choosefrom a wide selection of exotic Hanoi dishes: fried frog or fish meatpastes, rice and duck meat soup, fried rice, tiet canh (duck blooduncooked, only if you have a brave heart and strong stomach!), ricevermicelli and beef cooked in the south Vietnamese style and even justbeefsteak and bread. Here you can find real Hanoi food, as favored bytrue-blue Hanoians. The dishes might cost a little more than elsewherebut, you have to taste it to believe it, they are truly delicious, suchas a steamy hot dish of pho cuon  (beef wrapped in long wispy strips ofrice vermicelli, served with aromatic herbs and spicy sweet-sour fishsauce).

In artifact shops onDong Xuan Street you will find traditional Dong Ho drawings, Bat Trangceramics. Binh Da embroideries and laces, and sand paintings, the newcraze of Hanoi’s young people. For a modest sum, you can choose one ofthose ‘raw’ pictures with different designs and patterns.

The trend...

Likeother markets such as Sapa’s Cho Tinh, Nam Dinh’s Cho Vieng, Lang Son’sCho Ky Lua and Can Tho’s Cho Tay Do, Dong Xuan Market has been set upto meet the needs of locals and tourists. With the advantage of havinglong history of culture, traditions and being located in the communityof ancient quarter of Hanoi, Dong Xuan Market is one of attractivetourist destinations of the capital and is the only one of Hanoi’ smany efforts to develop tourism and attract international visitors.

Toadvertise the image of Dong Xuan Market, creating favorable conditionsfor citizens to sell and buy products (consumer products andhandicrafts), Dong Xuan JSC is now organizing to exploit tours at themarket. Currently, Dong Xuan travel is now establishing tours toexploit potentials of tourism of the market to develop the tourism ofculture, research for development of tourist products. From 2010 onwards, the company will build up Dong Xuan Market to archive thestandards of tourist destination of the city; research development ofservices and accommodations of visitors.

How to get to Dong Xuan Market