Hội An Old Town

Hoi An Old Town (Vietnamese: Phố cổ Hội An) is a heritage site and ancient trading post located in Hoi An, which served as an important trading post for foreign traders to Vietnam from the 15th until the 19th century, the status of which is still partly maintained by the newer city today.^[1] The old town contains a network of buildings and structures, consisting of 1360 ancient and unique monuments & heritage sites, including 1068 preserved houses^[2] and the Japanese Bridge.^[1] This old town is currently listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site, having been listed as one starting from December 12, 1999.^[3]

Hoi An Ancient Town
Native name Phố cổ Hội An (Vietnamese)
A longboat in front of the ancient city's houses, 2017
Interactive map of Hoi An Ancient Town
Location	Hoi An, Vietnam
Coordinates	15°53′0″N 108°20′0″E
Area	30 hectares (74 acres)
Formed	16th century
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Designated	4 December 1999
Reference no.	948

History

Hoi An is located on a patch of land, located downstream of the Thu Bồn river, some 28 km south of what would eventually become the city of Da Nang.^[4] This patch of land was initially part of the Sa Huỳnh culture, and eventually was claimed by the Kingdom of Champa from the beginning of the 2nd century.^[4][5] Under Cham rule, this region was transformed into one of the kingdom's key and essential foreign trading ports for goods and services,^[4] once serving as a stop and trading post on the maritime Silk Road.^[6]

Starting from around the end of the 15th century, the area started to receive an influx of Vietnamese residents, allowing the area to fall into the control of the Vietnamese Nguyễn clan. Later, by the start of the 17th century, the town would start to experience a steady flow of Chinese and Japanese residents arriving to the town in order to immigrate and trade,^[6] which helped to create a series of diverse neighborhoods and streets inside the old town itself.^[5] This level of immigration caused the port and city of Hoi An to experience extreme economic growth, becoming one of the busiest trading posts in Southeast Asia, a status of which it would hold for the next couple of centuries.^[4]

However, during the 19th century, the port of Hoi An started to slowly stagnate and decline, in order to make way for the newer city of Da Nang to develop its sea and trading posts.^[5] However, the stagnation and decline of the old trading posts' activities has also led to the entire old port town itself being remarkably preserved over the centuries, mainly due to its stagnation and abandonment, along with the lack of economic incentives in the town.^[1]

Architecture

Hoi An's old town contains a lot of unique architectural traits, each of which was contributed in part by each of the civilizations that have settled here over its history.^[7]

Under Champa rule, the town gained its ports and docks, along with various structures and old wells that were left behind by the kingdom, including Trảng Sỏi 1, an archeological site.^[4] Those historical artifacts have managed to survive until today.^[4]

However, the most defining features of the town's architectural traits generally comes from the influx of immigrants that the old trading post has managed to receive from the start of the 17th century, mainly due to its status as a major trading post in the region at the time.^[4] One of the types of immigrants that have managed to settle here over its history as a trading post are the Chinese, who built a total of five assembly halls around the old port city itself, of which one was used as a central assembly hall.^[8] Those halls were built in accordance with the traditional Chinese architectural styles, with the harmony, balancing, and aesthetical components being especially considered while building.^[8] The Japanese immigrants has also significantly contributed to the architecture of this city as well, of which the most notable of their structures is a 10-metre long wooden bridge constructed at the start of the 17th century, named the Japanese bridge (cầu Nhật Bản)^[9][1]. The French colonization of the old port town in the 19th century also brought with it some extremely significant changes to the town's architecture, the most notable of which were the construction of French-style townhouses on the town's streets.^[10]

Over the various stages of its history, however, the old town was still able to maintain its original street plan, which had been developed as the town turned into a major trading post.^[1] This street plan, along with the town's various historical structures, present a traditional townscape typical of 17th- and 18th-century towns, of which is remarkably and intactly preserved.^[1]

Preservation

Due to the old port town's economic stagnation and declination since the start of the 19th century, the town has not suffered from new development or the replacement of old materials with newer ones.^[1] In 1985, the town was classified by the government as a National Cultural Heritage Site; and subsequently as a Special National Cultural Heritage Site in 2009.^[1] The entire town is owned by the Vietnamese government,^[1] which has taken some major steps in order to effectively preserve the town, including the establishment of a 280-hectare buffer zone;^[11] along with the organization of various cultural activities,^[12] aiming to attract attention to the cultural heritage of this area.

Due to its cultural and historical importance, the old port town was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on December 12, 1999.^[3]

Gallery

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  A typical streetscene in the old town, at night
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  Typical shops and streetscape in Hoi An's Old Town, in daylight
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  The old city's famous wooden bridge, built by the Japanese
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  A typical alleyway in Hoi An's Old Town
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  One of the many Chinese-built temples in Hoi An's Old Town