Houses of hundreds of years old in the ancient village of Cu Da in Thanh Oai district, Hanoi, are being destroyed by villagers. Why?

Boasting an archway, brick roads and many houses dating back hundreds of years, Cu Da village was a perfect example of an ancient Vietnam village.

The village is located on the bank of the Nhue River, about 35 km southeast of Hanoi. The river was once busy with ships and boats carrying goods, including rice, salt, cotton and fabric to surrounding towns and business centers, such as Pho Hien (now Hung Yen province) and Ha Dong.

Cu Da village is famous for having hundreds of ancient houses built in different stages, with the oldest constructed during the Le dynasty some 300 years ago. Apart from ancient wood houses, Cu Da villagers are proud of the many European-style villas which were built in the 1920s, when the village had access to electricity.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Cu Da was a very busy place for traders to do business all day and night. As a result, Cu Da village’s economy developed rapidly and the living standard of villagers improved considerably compared to other regions. Cu Da villagers moved to all regions in the country to do business and settle down there.

Some people who were better off had come back to the home village and brought along with them the cultural characters from the city. Houses with the western architectural style mixed with traditional art were built.

These were communal houses built under the French-style so that villagers could gather together and make decisions on things of common concern.

Each house was numbered like in a big city. Cu Da is among a few Vietnamese villages whose houses were numbered. This has made it so unique, rarely seen in any village in the northern delta area. It is estimated that Cu Da has over 400 houses, which are numbered. Only legal houses are numbered.

The most remarkable relics in Cu Da are 50 French-style villas. These are two-storey villas with balcony, archway, enamel tile-paved pillars, porcelain-paved walls and so on. Tiles to pave and decorate houses were all made in France in 1910 – 1920 and imported to Vietnam. Architectural patterns and designs of these houses remain, showing the harmony between eastern and western architecture in the early years of the 20th century.

Not only bearing European-style architecture, Cu Da is also imbued with traditional values of a riverside village in the northern delta area. These were ancient Vietnamese houses and houses of worship built one century ago. These iron wood houses with delicate carvings still stand there to the test of time. The most remarkable house is the ancient house of Trinh The Sung, built in 1874 under the Tu Duc’s reign. The house features the typical architectural art of the Nguyen Dynasty, as it was made entirely from timber with sophisticated patterns on its doors.

Such unique relics on a flourishing development period of Cu Da riverside ancient village have made it a ‘must’ tourist destination, attracting an increasing number of visitors and researchers in and outside the country.

The villagers used to specialize in weaving and trading fabric, but many of them have now turned to making soy sauce and vermicelli. These new occupations, together with an increasing population, are reasons behind the growing demand for land in the village. As a result, many local people have completely destroyed their ancient houses or French-style villas in order to build production establishments or modern houses.

Mrs. Hong, who sells ice tea in Ba Gang alley, said that since the early 2011, over 20 old houses in her alley have been broken down to build new houses.

In other alleys like An Lac, Hieu Nghia, Xom Chua 1, Quang Trung, Dong Nhan Cat, Con Coc, etc. many old houses have also demolished to build modern houses.

Cu Da village has become a construction site, where tricycles carrying construction materials operate very busily.

At this moment, there are a hundred of groups of builders are working at Cu Da Village.

Mr. Nguyen Van Th, the owner of an old house in Dinh hamlet, told VietNamNet that his house was an ancient house with five rooms. It was used for three generations in his family. However, he recently demolished it to build a new house.

“It is pity! But the house was very cramped for my three-generation family. Moreover, all villagers rebuild their houses…” he said. Th is building a four-storey on the ground of the previous ancient house.

According to local officials, the “movement” to demolish old houses in Cu Da began since the lunar New Year 2011, when villagers received compensation for their fields, which were revoked to serve a new residential area development project. Many families received billions of VND of compensation, which is enough to build new houses.

Local officials said that they could not prevent locals from rebuilding their houses to expand their living space.

“We can’t intervene in their construction because building houses in the rural don’t need construction licenses. I guess that hundreds of new houses have been and are being built in Cu Da,” said Vu Thanh Ngoc, Chairman of Cu Khe commune.

Ngoc said 70 out of 400 houses in Cu Da are listed as ancient houses. However, the real number is much less.

“Though Cu Da is an ancient village and a tourist attraction, but we don’t have any project to preserve the village. Last year, Saigontourist made a survey and they wanted to add Cu Da village to their tour network. That’s the only project so far,” Ngoc added.

Cu Da today:

Kien Trung