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Bai choi, a distinctive folk game at the rural market of the Tiled-roof Bridge. Photo: Nguyen Quan
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Unlike urban markets, rural markets are simple and unpretentious, with plain, rustic speech. Most of the goods sold are homegrown - grown and raised in local households, or caught by the villagers themselves. Going to a rural market, one mostly meets familiar faces from the village and nearby hamlets, friendly and warm, so arguments rarely break out.
A rural market is not always limited to a single village. Still, it serves as a gathering and trading place for several nearby villages. Therefore, markets are usually located at convenient transport junctions: a wide stretch of land in a central village, a river landing, or a crossroads linking hamlets and communes. These markets share a common trait - they open very early in the morning, sometimes as early as 4 or 5 a.m., and close by around 9 or 10 a.m. Produce, meat, and fish come from many different villages, rich and varied. Regular market-goers can often tell which village a product came from just by looking at it.
Rural markets also have an interesting feature: certain local specialty goods can only be found at that particular market. In Hue, if you want the freshest tea leaves and the sweetest Burmese grapes, head to Truoi market. For the best and cheapest rabbitfish rice pancakes, go to An Truyen market. For the finest dong-leaf-wrapped rice cake, make your way to Huong Can market. An old Hue folk verse goes something like this: “Ru em em théc cho muồi/Để mẹ đi chợ mua vôi ăn trầu/Mua vôi chợ Quán chợ Cầu/Mua cau Nam Phổ mua trầu chợ Dinh/Chợ Dinh bán áo con trai/ Triều Sơn bán nón, Mậu Tài bán kim” (A mother sings her child to sleep so she can go buy betel lime, buying lime at Quan market and Cau market, areca nut at Nam Pho, and betel leaves at Dinh market; Dinh market sells boys’ clothing, Trieu Son market sells conical hats, and Mau Tai market sells needles). This shows that rural markets in Hue once carried the character of traditional craft villages in each area - a cultural thread that helped shape the identity of the land.
Today, although a few modern touches have been added, most rural markets in Hue still retain their typical simple, warm-hearted character. They hold countless beautiful memories of neighbor bonds and the flavors of home-grown food.
Perhaps this is why the ‘Rural market festival’ at Cầu Ngói Thanh Toàn (Thanh Toan tiled-roof bridge) is always so eagerly anticipated. First held in 2012, it has since been organized periodically during Hue Festivals, Hue Traditional Craft Festivals, and other seasonal tourism events. Each time, the Rural Market Festival at Thanh Toan tiled-roof bridge draws bustling crowds of visitors. Besides gathering produce and ‘authentically rural’ goods, the event also features many distinctive folk games for visitors to experience, such as catching ducks on the river, boat racing, blindfolded pig-catching on land, and blindfolded jar-smashing. In particular, the game of bai choi stands out as a unique feature of the tiled-roof market - deeply traditional and folk in character, considered the most engaging, enduring, and popular game among participants.
The Rural Market Festival at Thanh Toan tiled-roof bridge has been refined year after year and now extends into the evening; in recent years, the night market has become the time most visitors choose to come and experience it.
This year, a similar event, the Huong An Rural Market, was also held in late April, on a smaller scale, but it likewise delighted many visitors.
All this shows that rural market culture still holds great value in life today.