Binh Tay Market () is the Central Market of Cho Lon in

District 6 District Six is a place in Cape Town, South Africa. District Six may also refer to: :Government divisions * District 6, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam * District 6 (New York City Council), in the United States * VI District, Turku, in Finland * Dist ...

Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. Local Vietnamese refer to it as ''Chợ Lớn mới'', while local Vietnamese-Chinese refer it as 堤岸 - 新街市 "The New Market of ''Chợ Lớn''", and the Chinese other than those living in Vietnam known it only as 堤岸 (Dī'àn, or literally, "embankment"). "The Old Market" () did exist in Cho Lon, its location is now the site of Cho Lon Post Office in

District 5 District 5, 5 District or 5th District may refer to: Europe * District 5 (Zürich) * District 5, Düsseldorf * V District, Turku * District 5, an electoral district of Malta * District 5, a police district of Malta * Palma-Palmilla, also kno ...

. It was destroyed in a raging fire (exact time unknown) and soon after, "The New Market" was built. Although it was used extensively before the fire, local people rarely mention about this lost market except the elderly, or ones who has lived nearby long enough to know the history of this old market.

Geography

''Binh Tay Market'' is sitting on Thap Muoi Street (Vietnamese: ''Đường Tháp Mười''), a four street-block span connecting Confucius Street (Vietnamese: ''Đường Khổng Tử'' - old French: ''Quai de Gaudot'') to the North, and Hau Giang Street (Vietnamese: ''Đường Hậu Giang'') to the South, on the edge of District 6. It is the largest marketplace before the road leading West to Mien Tay of

, via a very important ground transportation hub named ''Xa Cảng Miền Tây''. Despite many wars over the years, ''Binh Tay Market'' has always been a major business hub not only for the local Vietnamese and Chinese, but also for the Vietnamese farmers trading daily goods coming from all directions of

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...

Little-known history

Bình Tây Market was built, or at least heavily financially supported, by a Chinese businessman named Guo Tan (郭琰) better known as Quách Đàm, (1863–1927), originally hailing from

Chaozhou Chaozhou ( zh, t=潮州), alternatively Chiuchow, Chaochow or Teochew, is a city in the eastern Guangdong province of China. It borders Shantou to the south, Jieyang to the southwest, Meizhou to the northwest, the province of Fujian to the east, ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

. Quách Đàm operated his businesses under the trade name of ''Thông Hiệp'', but he was best known by his nickname "''Handicapped Thông''" among local Chinese. He started out very poor, making a living by recycling garbage and other used material; later, he began to enter into other types of businesses, in which he earned his fortune. There used to be a life-size bronze statue of Thông Hiệp standing right in the center of the Bình Tây Market, surrounded by four bronze lions, and four bronze dragons spitting water into the fountain under in which the statue of Thông was standing. The full size statue of Thông was replaced with a smaller glass altar sometime between 1976 and 1980 for unknown reasons. Nowadays, that statue is located in the Fine Art Museum of Ho Chi Minh city. The four bronze lions and dragons are still standing .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Binh Tay Market Retail markets in Ho Chi Minh City Clock towers in Vietnam