Hoi An Story

Performance by Cambodian artists at an event in Hoi An. (Photo TL)

On a journey that took up all 365 days of 2023, C.Elliott visited many cities in countries such as Qatar, New Zealand, Japan, Chile, Korea, Thailand, Cambodia, Australia, Vietnam and Antarctica. Experiencing the ancient city of Hoi An in May 2023, on the Elliott Confidential page, the traveler shared: “I spent a long weekend in Hoi An, central Vietnam and I am still impressed by the natural beauty of this place, with lush green mountains and picturesque beaches. Hoi An is an ancient city with many temples and pagodas with a rich history and influenced by different cultures, including China, Japan and Western countries. Visitors here should not miss the experience of going to the market and going to the Thu Bon River at sunset, when boats float down with colorful lanterns...”. Notably, according to the readers of this magazine, Hoi An ranked third, just behind two cities in Mexico. Travel and Leisure commented: “Hoi An is known as a small gem. If you like shopping, you can easily order. For those who love cuisine , Hoi An has many good chefs who can satisfy your dining preferences. A great thing is that the old town limits traffic, so people can walk on the streets to the shops and markets. The city has a beautiful atmosphere, located right next to a river”. From the report of Travel and Leisure, I remember the journalist Same Weuter's note about Hoi An in the world's leading travel magazine Conde Nast Traveler a few years ago: "Tourists love the colorful houses and ancient mansions, they give them the feeling of walking in a movie...". In 2023, Hoi An was also listed by a magazine from Hong Kong (China) as one of the 9 great destinations. The reason for choosing Hoi An, according to this magazine, is that the destination is very suitable for the needs of visitors, from sightseeing, shopping to relaxation, sunbathing on the beach... Coming to Hoi An for the first time, traveler Christopher Elliott was surprised, but we are not surprised by the surveys, feelings, and good reviews of international friends about Hoi An. Because Hoi An is an impressive name that has been saved in the memory of those who are passionate about experience and discovery. This ancient town has partly met the needs of tourists. That value was created by the people of Hoi An with a famous tourism brand, but first of all, the history of the town, which was an international trading port hundreds of years ago and has been kept in a fairly intact state, is an irresistible attraction... Back to history. Our ancestors chose the land with a beautiful shape by the Dai Chiem estuary as a place to welcome foreign winds into the tropical land on the ocean shore early on. More than five centuries ago, Hoi An was the busiest trading port in Dang Trong. Asian and European merchant ships came and went busily, and trading services were bustling on the "silk road" of the trans-Asian sea route. In 1535, Captain Antonie de Farie of the Portuguese ship Albuquenque visited this coastal area and saw: “A walled city with nearly 10,000 houses, 40 large sailing ships, two or three piers and around 2,000 sailing ships of various sizes”. Antonie de Farie was not the first Western merchant to come to Hoi An to buy bird’s nests, agarwood, silk, silk, wood, cinnamon, sugar... and to exchange porcelain, silver bars, saltpeter, sulfur, lead, zinc, felt... Before that, the Dutch had a trade agreement with Lord Nguyen through Hoi An port. France and England also set up offices and opened trading posts to manage foreign trade activities at this seaport. The most obvious mark at Hoi An port is that of Chinese and Japanese merchants. Christoforo Borri, a Jesuit missionary from Milan, Italy, arrived at Hoi An port in 1618 and wrote in his book “The Land of Dang Trong in 1621”: “Lord Nguyen allowed the Chinese and Japanese to build houses in proportion to their population to build a city. This city was called Faifo and it was quite large. We can say there were two cities, one of China, one of Japan. They lived separately, appointed their own rulers and followed the customs of each country”. That was the result of the open policy that Lord Nguyen applied at Hoi An port. That past created Hoi An - a land of integration, exchange and cultural assimilation that was extremely unique in a country that had gone through a long history under the feudal regime with a typical “closed-door” policy. That is true. The image of Hoi An today still clearly bears the mark of a time when Eastern and Western cultures met. It can be seen in this city today that there are still traces of the Portuguese, British, French, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese... through the presence of architectural works, cultural colors, craft villages and also the influence on the behavior and lifestyle of residents. In a few square kilometers of the old town, we can see countless images of ports, bridges, communal houses, pagodas, churches, assembly halls, tombs, streets, and cultural relics of Vietnam, Cham, China, Japan and Western countries. Explorers will be immersed in countless emotional states, both strange and familiar, when going up and down the old town. Facing the old town is opening up your soul to dialogue with the multidimensional expressions of ancient and modern cultures, East and West. Coming to Hoi An, visitors can hold on to humane moments from the past. Along with that is the vivid image of the city's residents actively welcoming the new breeze with modern and open lines. The chance encounter from history has helped Hoi An integrate very naturally. Therefore, "Hoi An, the older it gets, the more valuable it is." That was the spontaneous remark of a colleague after he described his deep thoughts about the mossy walls with the characteristic nostalgic color of the old town... I have been to and experienced Hoi An countless times and have noted many strange things about this place. During the peak tourist seasons, if you come to this city, you will feel like it is in another world, with a typical image being the high density of foreign tourists on the streets every day. Guests and hosts interact in a friendly relationship. Guests actively and naturally participate in cultural and civic activities of the locals. Many guests have come and returned many times. Some people could not resist their love for the city on the banks of the Hoai River, so they stayed and became residents of the city. I had the honor of meeting a French painter, an Italian businessman and a Korean musician who are living and working here. They used to be tourists but have now become Hoi An residents when they attend monthly neighborhood meetings and join their neighbors in the annual New Year's Eve ceremony. They came and stayed to enjoy the interesting emotions of the ancient town. That’s how attractive Hoi An is… It is worth noting that for a long time, Hoi An people have recognized the value of their homeland - a world-renowned heritage city. They also accept the integration process naturally as history has created it for centuries. Unlike some other places, international tourists to Hoi An rarely encounter culture shocks and the locals also treat visitors with natural harmony.

Cua Dai Beach, Hoi An (Quang Nam).

For Hoi An, tourists are not just passersby but benefactors, both the government and the people here perceive this. Guests are always welcomed with all their hearts, not in the "eat for a living" style often seen in many other places. In doing tourism in Hoi An, the people are the main subjects. Their interests are not contradictory but organically linked with the common interests; pride in their homeland goes hand in hand with an increasingly improved life, so the people are the main subjects in protecting the brand of their country. A new success, in 2023, Hoi An is one of the next two representatives of Vietnam (at the same time as Da Lat city), officially recognized by UNESCO as a member of the Global Creative Cities Network in the field of Crafts and Folk Arts. This is a fair recognition. In this ancient town, there are currently five craft villages with nearly 50 traditional occupations being preserved and developed along with the colorful artistic values that the local people preserve and dedicate to the public such as singing, street dancing, folk singing, folk songs-bai choi, teaching of tuong singing, art galleries, exhibitions and art programs such as Hoi An Memories live performance, Old Town Night, Heritage Journey... The city currently has up to 658 small businesses and 1,710 households operating in the field of handicrafts and folk arts. It is estimated that there are about 4,000 direct workers with an income of 3,500-4,000 USD per year from these fields.

Becoming an official member of the UNESCO Global Creative Network is an extremely important event, contributing to the goal of enhancing the position and brand of Hoi An, contributing to promoting the image of the country, people of Vietnam and Hoi An-Quang Nam to friends around the world. Mr. Nguyen Van Son, Chairman of Hoi An City People's Committee

The titles and recognitions have and will contribute to encouraging and motivating Hoi An to forever be an attractive destination, a place that always attracts tourists because of the values that have been built up. All past and present efforts of Hoi An are aimed at the best preservation of the ancient urban architectural complex, landscape, environment, craft villages, beaches, tangible and intangible cultural values; these are the foundations for developing the tourism service industry imbued with local cultural identity. The decisive factor is to ensure the development environment and welfare for the people, the owners of the brand. If the people give up their awareness and responsibility, and show signs of pragmatism and negativity in business, all efforts of the government will be very difficult to succeed...