Bao Vinh Ancient Town

About this audio guide

This guide to Bao Vinh ancient town in Hue traces the rise and long fade of what was once central Vietnam's busiest river port, home to a community of Chinese Minh Huong merchants who traded silk, porcelain, and ivory for two centuries. It follows what happened after French forces took the nearby Citadel in eighteen eighty-five, and how a new royal market four years later pulled the river trade away for good. Along the way you will meet the artisans, from card-makers to blacksmiths, still keeping their vanishing crafts on this one street.