City guide · Hội An 会安

Hội An

An old port lit by lanterns: the Japanese Bridge, Chinese assembly halls and yellow houses

Photo: Steffen Schmitz · CC BY-SA 4.0

Hội An is a small old town in central Vietnam that was once one of the busiest trading ports in Southeast Asia. Its yellow houses, the covered bridge built by the Japanese, and the assembly halls of Fujian and Cantonese merchants all survive; at night the lanterns light up and wishing lanterns float on the Thu Bồn River.

History

How the city came to be

From the 15th to the 19th century Hội An was an important trading port in Southeast Asia. In the 17th century many Chinese and Japanese merchants settled here, and in the late 16th century the Japanese community built the covered bridge linking the two quarters. More than a thousand old buildings survive in the town today. In 1999 Hội An Ancient Town became a World Heritage Site as 'a well-preserved Southeast Asian trading port'.

15th–19th centuryAn important international trading port in Southeast Asia
Late 16th centuryThe Japanese community built the covered (Japanese) bridge
1653A small temple was added to the bridge
1999Hội An Ancient Town became a World Heritage Site

Stories

Stories of the city

Legend · Hội An cao lầu

Only water from the Bá Lễ well will do

A local legend in Hội An says the lye water for cao lầu noodles must be leached from the ash of certain plants on the nearby Chàm Islands, and the water for soaking the rice and cooking the noodles must come from Hội An's ancient Bá Lễ well. So true cao lầu can only be made in Hội An.

Legend · Japanese Covered Bridge (Lai Viễn Kiều)

The bridge temple that pins down the giant catfish

Japanese folklore says a giant catfish (Namazu) lives underground and causes earthquakes whenever it thrashes. In 1653 Hội An's Japanese residents added a small temple to the covered bridge, said to be meant to pacify this catfish. The temple is guarded by a pair of monkey statues and a pair of dog statues — in Japanese folk tales, the monkey god and the dog god are the very deities who can subdue the giant catfish.

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