The ancient village of Duong Lam in Son Tay town, Hanoi was recognized as a national monument in 2005.
But in fact, only Mong Phu hamlet (one of the five hamlets in Duong Lam commune)
is the ancient village because this is the only place that still retains the basic features of the ancient Vietnamese villages.

The living standards of local people are increasing but their houses are being degraded. Many families with 7 to 10
people are living in the houses of merely 30-50 m2 because they are banned from expanding their houses.
The irrationality has led dozens of households to sign in a petition to return the title of "ancient village" to the authorities. 

In 2010, Mrs. Ha Thi Khanh’s family (in Mong Phu hamlet) built a two-story house on 70 m2 to serve seven people.
However, the local government forced the family to break the second floor because according to
provisions, houses in the ancient village of Duong Lam must be less than 6 meters high.

Not having enough money to roof her house with tiles, Mrs. La Thi Tinh used an iron roof.
The local government asked the family to roof the house by tiles. And this is the odd result.

The house is very small so the 6th-grade son has to sleep with his mum.

Recently, Mrs. Oanh’s family built this iron roof for heat resistance. The local authorities asked the family to lower the roof.
The family was also punished by the local government through cutting power and water supply in 2.5 months.

Located in the central Mong Phu hamlet, the new house of Mrs. Phan Thi Le was asked to remove the second
floor when it was nearly completed. This is one of the reasons that many people
in the village signed the application to return the title of national relic.

Because another house which was built several years ago near Le’s house was not asked to break the second floor.

The second floor of Mrs. Khanh’s house was demolished while only 50 meters from it, a two-story house of Mr. Ha Van Manh
is still there without being demolished.

Mr. Kieu Anh Tuan lives in a house that was built in 1976, which is not an ancient house, but he has not been permitted to
repair his house. "In the old village but not all houses are old. There are a few houses that
are rated as ancient houses but I and they still have to stay in cramped conditions like this," said Anh Tuan.

Just 30 meters from Anh Tuan’s house is new two-story houses. This upsets him and the villagers more and more.

Also because of the construction ban, 90 kids have to share a classroom of less than 60 m2 in the Duong Lam kindergarten.

Vietnamnet