Phố Hàng Gai
Silk-trading street whose name still means hemp, once home to rope makers serving an old citadel.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Phố Hàng Gai in Hanoi's Old Quarter starts with a puzzle: every shop today sells silk, yet the street's own name means Hemp Street. It traces the road's centuries as Thang Long's rope-making quarter, supplying boatmen and the imperial citadel under the Le Dynasty, through French rule and a quiet, undocumented shift from hemp to printing presses to silk in the 1800s. Look for number 85, tucked behind an old banyan tree, for a small communal house still honoring two guardian spirits of the old citadel.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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