Hanoi is home to plastic welders who help repair parts of cars, motorbikes and many home appliances.

A group of welders work on Tran Phu Street of Ha Noi. They fix nicks in motorbike plastic covers, plastic trays of refrigerators and the tops of washing machines.

Cao Minh, a middle-age man, whom I met sitting on the sidewalk of Tran Phu Street, anxiously looks at his motorbike’s shield.

“It was broken yesterday when my bike collided with another one on the street,” he told me.

Minh sat there along with some other clients, and waited for his bike’s shield to be mended by a welder working on the sidewalk, with an oil stove and some simple tools.

Tran Phu, Phu Doan, Nguyen Cong Tru, Ngo Thi Nham and Chua Boc streets in Ha Noi are home to plastic welders, who repair plastic parts of motorbikes and other home appliances.

Each welder has an oil stove, and a dozen of thin iron rods with pointed heads, which are always baked on the stove along with a myriad of old, different-coloured plastic pieces.

Now and then, a motorbike rider stops and asks the welder to help repair a broken plastic part on his bike.

Though the weather is hot, the welder patiently presses his burning-hot, iron rod on each split of the plastic part.

The job has been operating for several decades as an official trade in the city. It has existed and was developed in tandem with people’s increasing living standards.

Nguyen Van Hanh, 50, of Nguyen Cong Tru Street, is a welder with more than 20 years of experiences at the job. Hanh says that in the early 1980s, Ha Noi residents began to use second-hand Japanese motorbikes.

“At first and even now, people are unable to avoid collisions, which easily broke the bike’s shield or other plastic parts,” he says.

“The job was separate from motorbike repair shops, and became an independent trade.”

Initially, only a few men did this job. They operated at a T-junction at Nguyen Cong Tru Street, close to Hue city Street.

Then the job spread to other streets, due to the residents’ increasing demand.

At that time, many Hanoians were dealers or worked in the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries. They brought home many home appliances such as electric fans, refrigerators, televisions and cassette players that were both new and second-hand products.

Therefore, the welders also began welding plastic details on home appliances, such as electric fans, electric rice cookers, refrigerators, televisions and cassette players.

“That was when our job was strongly developed,” welder Hanh recalls.

“Even many poor people asked us to weld their broken plastic sandals or cans,” he says.

During these years, due to their financial status, many Hanoian families preferred to use second-hand Japanese refrigerators and washing machines, with Ly Nam De Street becoming the centre for the sales of these products.

Hanh says motorbike, refrigerator and washing machine traders often brought their broken products to the welders for repairs.

I remember that I had to bring my motorbikes to the welders on Tran Phu Street several times to fix the bikes’ shields.

The welders were able to fix nicks on the motorbike’s plastic covers, plastic trays of refrigerators and the tops of washing machines, so they looked good as new. Buyers were hardly able to recognise the welded places.

Products that the customers brought to the welders varied, but they were mostly motorbike’s plastic shields and mudguards.

Collection

With such simple tools and an oil stove always burning, the artisans skillfully fix broken parts and plastic covers of motobikes and cars.

Each welder had a collection of old plastic shields that were used as materials to weld products with.

Nguyen Van Thai, a welder in Phu Doan Street, explains that manufacturers use different kinds of plastic to make their products, which necessitates having different shields in stock.

Thai says is it not so easy for people to find a desired welder.

“A skilful welder has to consider how the welded points should fit precisely with the small detailed part within the product. The welded place must be durable and solid.”

“Not all welders can make a perfect welded point. The most important aspect of this job is to work with melting pieces of plastic. We have to consider how to paste a burning piece of plastic in order to fill the broken point, while making sure that the redundant plastic does not spill out and the hole does not enlarge. If the welder is careless, the welded place will be broken again after a few weeks.”

Welder Pham Van Lam says the heyday of the job was in early 1990s.

“The way we learned the job was: the elder taught the skills to the younger welder. We even formed a ‘market of welders’ near the petrol station on Nguyen Cong Tru Street.”

But today, as people’s living standards have raised and products are bountiful, the number of welders has decreased.

Explaining this, Lam says “Today, products are available, and people prefer to buy new appliances rather than repairing old ones.

“Also, shops now do not import second-hand products. The transport of these products has also improved, and broken parts can be quickly replaced with new components.”

Many welders now have had to change their job, as some work at workshops making plastic products, while others opened garages to repair motorbikes and cars. The job’s heyday has now passed.

“One day in the future, the city dwellers will only know about this job from stories told by aged motorbike mechanics or from old photos of Ha Noi’s streets. The job served as a witness for the period of time when Hanoians struggled to overcome difficulties in order to develop their lives,” says Cao Minh, as he waited for his shield to be repaired.

VietNamNet/VNS