Binh Tay Market ( vi, italic=yes, Chợ Bình Tây) is the Central Market of

Cho Lon Cho or CHO may refer to: People * Chief Happiness Officer Surnames * Cho (Korean surname), one romanization of the common Korean surname * Zhuo (), romanized Cho in Wade–Giles, Chinese surname * Cho, a Minnan romanization of the Chinese sur ...

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 * Distri ...

Ho Chi Minh City , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. 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

, 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 known a ...

. 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 ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

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 (), 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, and the Sou ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

. 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

External links

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