History and culture in Hanoi

We got the chance to educate ourselves a little about Vietnam during our time in Hanoi. On our wanderings through the city, we made our way to the Imperial Citadel - the old administrative centre of the city - which is quite close to the site of the current People's Assembly. It required skirting the Ministry of  Defence complex, and along the way we discovered that you can't walk along the street out the front of the 3 metre, barbed wire-topped wall, being unceremoniously ordered to cross the (busy, 4 lane) road by two guards at the entrance. There is little left of the original complex, as after the French took over, they repurposed the area as a barracks and administrative centre of their own. However, there is a bunch of restoration works in progress, and the display of a huge number of artefacts uncovered during archeological excavations, including pottery and decorative pieces that were 1000 years old and more. Only two of the old city gates remain, one of which still has damage from French cannonballs - left there to intimidate the population once the French took over.

Across the road is the ancient Forbidden City, which is a huge archeological dig, and the source of many of the treasures on display at the Citadel complex. It was fascinating to walk through, with nice interpretation of the finds and some attempts to show the size and complexity of the architecture that existed. It put James in mind of his visit, some years ago, to the Terracotta Warrior site in Xi'an, China, although it is not really quite on the same scale - and there aren't rows of fired clay soldiers to be found there. But the chance to walk through a "live" archeological dig feels pretty special, especially when it is has such significance for the people of Vietnam.

The Ethnology Museum was high on Gillian's list of places to visit, and required some research on how to navigate the bus system in Hanoi. We were the only foreigners on the bus we caught, and the conductor was not best pleased when we only had big banknotes to pay for the very cheap fare. That ended up in a free ride, which made us feel bad... The museum itself was fascinating, highlighting the diverse cultural and ethnic groups across the country, with detailed descriptions of origins, culture and the areas in which they are found. The government recognises 54 separate groups and (naturally, given the location) they come from a wide array of origins. There were a bunch of displays showing craftwork, tools and clothing, as well as several buildings built in the different styles of various ethnic groups. The differences were all fascinating. It was particularly interesting (and funny, in a juvenile sort of way) to see a traditional burial site surrounded by fertility symbology and carvings. Plus there was a pretty nice restaurant there for a late lunch once we were done...

During our stay in Hanoi, we also got to experience various different public music performances, especially through the Old Quarter as we wandered around in the evenings. These ranges from traditional opera (James was not impressed), to traditional music, to more modern music performed on a mix of traditional and other (think electric guitar) instruments. We even struck a public parade of police marching bands from countries around the region. It was interesting to note the sign announcing the "Campuchea" band - a name we hadn't heard for many years, but perhaps less uncommon in Vietnam than you would expect. 

And finally, we were able to see yet another difference in the practice of religion. Religion appears less prominent in everyday life in Vietnam, with (we guess) Buddhist temples tending to be smaller and more hidden to casual observation. The main sign of them on the street is the presence of shops selling ornaments and prayer sheets, often accompanied by a small (hot) fire, burning the prayers on the street (a common element of Buddhist practice). There are some exceptions - two we visited were the Confucian temple we visited in the lake on the edge of the Old Quarter (which was, until recently,  home to a unique species of turtle), and the Temple of Literature (also Confucian), which preserves the names (and grades!) of all the scholars passing the public service exams from 1076 to 1779.