Vietnam's urban cultural divide

A section of Hanoi's ceramic mosaic mural–the longest in the world. Photo courtesy Wikimedia

“I find Hanoi more artisanal. You can sustain a business model by developing a local product in your own way rather than selling out to industrial brands,” said Dan Dockery, co-owner of bar CAMA and restaurant Highway 4. “You could look at the lack of Western chains as conservative and backwards, or you can see it in a more positive way. We have good coffee. Why do we need some low-quality foreign brand that’s three times the price?”

To outsiders, the Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City divide may seem to reflect the structural tension between communism and capitalism, with the southern city’s more developed economy indicating more openness to individual enterprise. But in fact, Vietnam’s tale of two cities — like the age-old differences between Beijing and Shanghai or Kyoto and Tokyo — has more to do with history and culture than with ideology. Hanoians don’t dispute Ho Chi Minh City’s economic success. What they take issue with is the notion that such success is necessary or desirable, or that the forms that success takes make a city attractive. “Saigon feels a bit like Bangkok,” said art dealer Minh Nguyet Bui, whose family has lived in Hanoi for generations. “It’s not real Vietnam.”

“Real” Hanoians like Bui are fiercely proud of the city’s long cultural history. Hanoi has held the reputation of being the country’s “cultural capital” since the 11th century, when aspiring mandarins first studied at the Temple of Literature. Today, the city’s creative community is thriving, particularly when it comes to the arts. Explaining why she decided to stay in Hanoi, Uyen told me: “The creative energy in Hanoi is more intense.”

While Ho Chi Minh City also has a developed arts scene, its polished shows and market-oriented artists contrast sharply with Hanoi’s more experimental brand of creativity. “Saigon people tend to prefer pretty-looking, easy-to-digest art,” said Ho Chi Minh City-based artist Thao Nguyen. “The art in Hanoi can be more critical and conceptual.”
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