Hanoi’s Old Quarter is a ‘characteristic’ place with narrow, degraded living spaces

With an area of ​​only 2.1m wide and 70m deep, the house at 75 Thuoc Bac street (Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi) is one of the houses with the collective living space of many single and independent households. strange in Hanoi capital.

The facade of the house at 75 Thuoc Bac street. This narrow and deep house is located at 75 Thuoc Bac street, in the middle of Hanoi Old Quarter with 4 households living together. In addition to the facade, the place owned by Ms. Vu Thi Diem – 76 years old is leased as a metal shop. From the perspective of a visitor coming to visit, the address 75 Thuoc Bac seems to be an alley with many closed families, only using the alley as a common passageway. But when entering, quite a few people will be surprised because the living space is “not closed” in the literal sense of the households here. At first, everyone thought this was a common alley. Ms. Diem – a little-known person who has won the Kovalevskaya award with the coating of the 500kV power poles said: “This is just the way from house to house, the families in the alley are mostly elderly people, so most of the families in the alley are elderly. living together does not block the alley because the width is too narrow, only 2.1m, if the alley is divided, there is no room for the bed. She also explained, the lifestyle of households here from the past to now have been used to living together, there is nothing inconvenient as many people think. Ms. Vu Thi Diem explained her “non-closed” alley. In the past, the house was 2.95m wide according to the papers, but during the French period, the wall was quite thick, more than 35cm on each side, not including bricks, but later covered, so now the house is only 7 tiles wide, about 2.1m wide. Households living from eating, sleeping are not closed. This house in turn goes to another house, from the bed, the kitchen, … can pass when the other house is sleeping or eating. Ms. Diem said that she and other households here are used to sleeping or eating with family members passing by because they have lived here for many years. Previously, the house 75 Thuoc Bac had 9 households, but now there are only 4 households living on a single floor without a second floor. Mrs. Diem is the outermost household, so she keeps the key and is in charge of checking the door every morning and evening. House No. 75 Thuoc Bac was formerly the Cu Hien woolen weaving factory from the French period of Mrs. Vu Thi Diem’s ​​family. During the Revolutionary period, the house was chiseled to Hang Bo street and close to Hang Can street. Later, it was filled in, but the house is still 70m deep. Of all the households here, only Mrs. Diem’s ​​house has a second floor, keeping almost intact traces of an old house. Wooden stairs from the early twentieth century. The altar is still preserved intact from the altar, the door frame to the floor tiles. Wooden wall and Tho crossword from before 1945 of Mrs. Diem’s ​​house. “I keep almost everything from the time my father moved here before 1945, but now the second floor is just for storage and worship, but I still sleep and live on the first floor to take care of the house and lock the door” – Mrs. Good omen. Although every household has a key to the outside door, she still carefully checks the door until she goes to bed at night. “While sleeping, it is normal for people to pass by, the houses here are not related but live very well. Before, they used to eat together, but now it’s stopped because each person eats for an hour.” – she added happily. Where Mrs. Diem slept and read books. She also told a story that in the past, when she was doing research in chemistry, she knew many foreign experts and invited them to her house to play, they asked jokingly: Do you sleep in the alley? Why not enter the house, who sleeps in this aisle? The kitchen, toilet and laundry of Mrs. Diem’s ​​house have an open skylight. The Hanoi Old Quarter area has a fairly high population density with many households living in a narrow and non-closed space, but nonetheless for many people here, especially the elderly here since birth and Keeping the old house full of memories of a bygone era is really: “The land has turned into the soul!”. All difficulties in life seem to disappear and sometimes, according to Mrs. Diem: “I’m very happy!”.