Every city has its own landmarks. The best part of the soul of a city, however, must be formed by its inhabitants.
Some years ago, an American intern at our editorial office asked Saigon Stories what we thought about the city we are living in. As a common sense, anybody is expected to love their home town or birthplace. But what makes we hold deep affection for our hometown also relates to other things in addition to the birthplace.
Saigon-HCM City celebrated its tricentennial in 1998. Three hundred years before that date, Nguyen Huu Canh (1650-1700), a high-ranking mandarin under the auspices of Lord Nguyen Phuc Chu, made an inspection trip to the south in 1698 to assert the Lord’s sovereignty over this region. Ever since, the city has earned its prestige due to its openness to the new. In other words, early in the making, Saigon has been a place of convergence where people from every corner of the country meet, do business and settle to build their home.
Saigon-HCM City is still unrivalled in Vietnam as far as population is concerned, even compared with the newly expanded Hanoi which has now outranked the second city in respect of surface area. But the soul of a city requires other elements beside grandeur and large population. Others—such as culture, architecture, living quality and the quality (conduct and education) of the inhabitants—really count as well.
A city cannot exist in human mind without some certain landmarks. In the case of New York, it is the Empire State Building. Imagine Paris without the Eiffel Tower, or Kuala Lumpur lacking the Petronas Twin Towers. In Vietnam, Hanoi’s closest association is arguably the Sword Lake.
Look at these metropolitan symbols and you will see that they are not necessarily the biggest or latest or state-of-the-art structures. Well, the Petronas Towers may be among the highest or costliest buildings in Malaysia, but the Eiffel Tower is not on the same scale in Paris. Likewise, among the dozens of lakes dotting Hanoi, the 12-hectare Sword Lake looks so modest versus the West Lake whose water surface is 500 hectares and the roads circling around it are 17km in length. But the vast West Lake simply cannot compete with its tiny counterpart in the rivalry for a single symbol of Vietnam’s capital. Again, this reality shows that the soul representing a city requires more than simply being big or populous.
How about Saigon?
In February last year, HCM City authorities announced the lists of 100 things most exciting to tourists. Among the best picks ranging from best shopping places and most exciting sightseeing tours to best souvenirs and top nightlife destinations, Ben Thanh Market emerged as one of the top choices of both domestic and expatriate travelers. It is by no means the biggest in town. But when you ask a Saigonese about which market they think can symbolize their city, in most of the cases, rest assured that Ben Thanh is the first name coming to their mind. The reasons for the choice involve history, culture and the deep attachment of Saigonese to the market which has accumulated for centuries.
You can list other landmarks of Saigon—the Notre Dame Cathedral, the HCM City General Post Office, Nha Rong Wharf (Ho Chi Minh Museum) and the Reunification Palace, to name just a few. Concerning architecture, Saigon has more to offer. If you want to see a private house, it is the former residence of the late billionaire Hui Bon Hoa, now the HCM City Fine Art Museum, in District 1. How about educational institutions? Any of Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Le Quy Don and Le Hong Phong high schools in districts 3 and 5 would be the answer.
Many would argue that the soul of a city should also embrace the way local inhabitants preserve historic or cultural sites. If we take this into account, Givral Café and Xuan Thu Bookstore on Dong Khoi Street in District 1, which used to register their places in Saigon’s history, should be restored to keep the soul of Saigon.
Three years ago, during a three-day visit to HCM City, Erwin Oliva, an on-line journalist from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, told Saigon Stories that downtown Saigon was like the center of a province in the Philippines. Oliva was right at the time because he might have compared Saigon’s center with the edifice-clad Makati City in Manila. But the Filipino journalist may change his mind if on his return to Saigon he visits Phu My Hung new urban area in District 7 which can be comparable to the best residential complex in the Philippines.
The best part of the soul of a city, however, must be its inhabitants. In other words, it is the lifestyle of city dwellers that matters. In this regard, Saigon has much room to improve. Violations of traffic rules are rampant, litter is almost ubiquitous, threats and acts of violence on the streets are daily stories. Meanwhile, air and noise pollution is becoming unbearable. These are the dark side of Saigon.
Regrettably, that dark side of the “Saigonse soul” has been worse over the years. Even in the “Model Urban Area,” a title given by the Ministry of Construction to Phu My Hung, disregard of traffic rules and litter are not rare.
But there is no reason for overpessimism. Life is always a mixture of the bad and the good, and life becomes better as soon as the good side prevails over the bad one.
