Hanoi Street Vendors
From: Judith Henchy <judithh@u.washington.edu>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Cc: Alia Malik <amalik@umd.edu>
Date: Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 3:26 PM
Dear VSG,
Please see below some more specific questions raised by a journalism student at the University of Maryland. Tom Miller originally forwarded a general inquiry on this subject. Please send your responses to: amalik@umd.edu
Thanks
Judith
----- Original Message ----- From: "Alia Malik" <amalik@umd.edu>
To: "Judith Henchy" <judithh@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 8:59 PM
Subject: Re: Vietnam Studies Group itinerary
> Here are more specific questions:
> I'm looking for a credible report with statistics, and/or a contact at an organization who can give me basic information about the street vendors: about how many there are, what they mostly sell, what kind of people mostly buy from them, where they mostly come from and other demographic data like that.
> If no one comes to mind, I found a Web site with a lot of statistics from markets4poor.org (a division of the Asian Development Bank) but I can't find any contacts to ask when or how their data were collected...so a contact at the Asian Development Bank would be appreciated.
>
> I also want to find out a lot about the history of street vendors in Vietnam, how the tradition got started and how it compares to other countries, if anyone can speak to that (or knows anyone who could).
>
> I know some of the "36 streets" in Old Hanoi are being sprinkled with Western shops and tourist attractions. I'd like to know if that's true, and if so, more about it -- when it started happening, why, what the reaction has been, etc.
>
> Finally, for a piece about Vietnam's helmet law, I need to know how I can get a hold of research on motorcycle injuries and fatalities over the last few years up to current.
>
> Thanks so much!
>
> Alia Malik
>
--------
From: Erica J. Peters <e-peters-9@alumni.uchicago.edu>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: vsg@u.washington.edu
Cc: Alia Malik <amalik@umd.edu>
Date: Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 9:04 PM
Here are a couple of sources for Alia Malik on the history of street vendors in Vietnam:
* E. Bergès, "Chants et cris de la rue à Saigon," in the weekly magazine _Indochine_ #162, #178, #181 (1944). Extensive excerpts from Bergès are in Maurice Coyaud's _Vi^e.t-Nam: Anthologie, depuis l'aube de la colonisation jusqu'au départ des Français_ (Paris: P.A.F., 1998). These excerpts include the words used by street vendors to advertise their wares, along with a musical notation for each call, and line drawings of street vendors as well.
* Coyaud also refers to another volume entitled _Cris des rues au Vietnam_ (P.A.F., 1980).
* Pierre Huard and Maurice Durand's _Connaissance du Viet-Nam_ (Hanoi: EFEO, 1954) discusses street vendors (and provides line drawings), though not as systematically.
* Docteur Hocquard's _Une campagne au Tonkin_ (edited and wonderfully annotated by Philippe Papin) also has a number of mentions (and drawings) of street vendors, as they made quite an impression on the doctor. (Paris: Arléa, 1999).
Best,
Erica
Erica J. Peters
Culinary Historians of Northern California
Phone: (650) 938-4936
Email: e-peters-9@alumni.uchicago.edu
www.chonc.com
--------
Thuy Tranviet <tdt5@cornell.edu>
date Mar 11, 2008 4:26 PM
subject Re: [Vsg] Hanoi Street Vendors - Thuy Tranviet's documentary film
Dear all,
A few years ago I made a short documentary film on the street vendors in Hanoi. I edited down (15 min) for a screening at Cornell Cinema in the spring of 2006.
Basically, the film looks at the use of streets and sidewalks as a public (and private) space and people who make a living by having various occupations on the sidewalks. The purpose of the film is to give people a glimpse of contemporary Hanoi in the market economy era.
I know this film does not answer Alia Malik's specific questions but in light of this thread I would like to share it with you. If you have any questions please contact me directly.
"Streets and Sidewalks: The (Re)public space of Vietnam"
http://lrc.cornell.edu/asian/courses/vietnamese/sidewalk_film.mov
Thuy Tranviet
Cornell University
tdt5@cornell.edu
On Sat, Mar 1, 2008 at 10:29 AM, Alia Malik
> <amalik@umd.edu> wrote:
>
> Hi Mr. Miller,
>
> My name is Alia Malik and I am an American
> journalism student working on an in-depth article
> about the controversy surrounding street vendors
> in Hanoi. I found your column on the subject and
> was wondering if I could arrange an interview with
> you. I will be in Hanoi and available anytime the
> week of March 17. Please write back and let me
> know if this would be possible.
>
> Thanks!
> -Alia Malik
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2008 11:15:59 -0800
>From: "Tom Miller" <milltom@gmail.com>
>Subject: Re: Hanoi street vendors
>
> dear alia,
>
> actually, i'm in berkeley, california until the
> end of the month, and then will fly to HCM City, and
> plan to be in Hanoi after the first week of april.
> it seems that the authorities have relaxed somewhat
> with respect to the enforcement of the decree. what
> interests me mostly is how the party secretary
> thought he was pleasing foreigners by getting rid of
> street vendors in an attempt to make hanoi look like
> singapore. the whole question of vietnam forgetting
> its roots and rushing into the "modern" world of
> junk food and "progress" by becoming a slave to
> multinational corporations is raised by this
> subject. In contrast, the U.S. is fast coming full
> circle, with movements toward "slow" food, local
> organic consumption (see michael pollan's latest
> book "in defense of food")- something that Vietnam
> already has but is rejecting. I remember my first
> trip to Hanoi in 1986 when the air was clean and
> almost everyone rode bicycles - a perfectly logical
> mode of transportation in a city prone to smog
> inversions and easily accessible by bike since it is
> flat. Fortunately there are Vietnamese who agree,
> and these are the people you should interview. I'm
> helping to start the Vietnam Green Building Council,
> to encourage green, energy efficient living, and
> perhaps its director, Jalel Sager, who is now in
> Hanoi, can put you in touch with members of the
> Vietnamese community who see a need for greater
> balance in Vietnam's rush "to catch up". I'm also
> copying this to my wife, Nhu, for suggestions as to
> people in vietnam you might want to speak with. One
> person you should definitely speak with is Trinh
> Bach, whom I'm copying as well. He is an authority
> on Vietnamese history and art.
>
> Good luck with your article.
>
> sincerely,
>
> tom miller
On Sun, Mar 2, 2008 at 9:05 PM, Alia Malik <amalik@umd.edu> wrote:
Thank you so much for your response! Some of the things you said -- about how the street vendor law is indicative of the changes in Vietnam as a whole -- basically constitute the angle I am trying to take with my article. Do you mind if I quote your e-mail?
When do you leave Berkeley? If you're in the States, I could interview you by phone if you're up for it.
I'm going to send another reply to you and all the people you cc-ed explaining some of the things I am looking for. Thanks so much; this is an immense help!
Enjoy Berkeley! I have an uncle out there. It's a beautiful place.
Tom Miller <milltom@gmail.com>
date Mar 2, 2008 11:02 PM
subject [Vsg] Re: Hanoi street vendors
yes, you can quote from my email and we can do a telephone interview, but the people you need to speak with are the Vietnamese, including the street vendors themselves. one has to be careful, of course, since a free press does not really exist, but perhaps no more controlled than our own "main stream" media. another source of relevant information is the vietnam study group - vietnamese and non-vietnamese scholars who have knowledge on a great many subjects. if you like, you can send an inquiry out to the group at: vsg@u.washington.edu. if you want confidential non-email responses, let them know.
as for an interview, let me know by email when you want to call and i'll try to arrange to have time for your call. i won't be leaving berkeley until the end of march.
in any case, i would love to see a copy of your piece when it is finished.
tom