Hang Bac

In the tight row of houses, between display windows of rings and bracelets, Kim Ngan Communal House has survived in buildings numbers forty-two and forty-four. The community met there, and its shrine was located there; inside, Hien Vien is revered, whom the artisans consider the progenitor of skilled crafts. Founders, jewelers, and money changers who broke large silver ingots into small pieces worked nearby, so a customer could find both the metal and the work done with it in one row. The street’s name still preserves the memory of silver, and the shops continue to sell jewelry.

In the second half of the fifteenth century, the court official Luu Xuan Tin was tasked with setting up the casting of silver ingots in the capital. They served as money, so the court needed artisans who could be trusted with the weight and quality of the metal. Tin came from Chau Khe Village and recruited workers from among his fellow villagers. According to the tradition of the craft community, the foundry was set up on the site of what is now house number fifty-eight on Hang Bac Street.

The artisans arrived with their families and settled beside the workshop. Gradually, people from all five village communities of Chau Khe Village came to live here. They lived on the court commission: casting ingots, making gold and silver vessels, and then jewelry. The move proved permanent. Their fellow villagers built two communal houses on the street—urban counterparts of those they had left in the village. One disappeared; the other survives in houses numbers forty-two and forty-four. This is Kim Ngan Communal House, both a meeting place and a shrine. It venerates the mythical Hien Vien, whom the artisans consider the progenitor of all skilled crafts.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the court of the Nguyen dynasty moved the state foundry to the new capital of Hue. The artisans of Chau Khe Village lost the commission for which their ancestors had come here. Most did not leave with it. They began making candlesticks, vessels, bracelets, rings, and stone settings for private customers. Jewelers from Dinh Cong Village and Dong Xam Village then joined them.

This brought three trades together. Some artisans continued to cast silver, others made jewelry, and still others exchanged whole ingots for smaller pieces. It was convenient for customers to find them in one row, and for the artisans to live beside their fellow villagers, the communal house, and a permanent market. The street was named Hang Bac—“Silver Row.”

The foundry that tradition places at house number fifty-eight no longer exists. Kim Ngan Communal House remains in houses numbers forty-two and forty-four, and jewelry shops still operate between these addresses. The street sign still bears the product of the first court commission—silver.