Rural market, a community tourist attraction in Thua Thien Hue

Every two years during the Hue Festival, a rural market is held at Thanh Thuy Chanh Village, also known as Thanh Toan Village, in Thua Thien Hue Province. The market is one of the local community tourist attractions.
The north and the south of Thanh Toan tile-roofed bridge is the venue of the “Rural market on festive days” program featuring competitions on Bai Choi singing, making cakes, cooking rice noodles, making conical hats, and modeling clay. Joyful traditional junk races are also held on this occasion.
Fishing towers along the two banks of Nhu Y River, water bikes, and bailers on the Thanh Toan tile-roofed bridge contribute to the hustle and bustle of the rural market.
Nguyen Dang Loi, a visitor said, “The rural market during festive days is where you can see the characteristics of the Vietnamese countryside. A visit to Thanh Toan farming museum and rural market leaves me with unforgettable memories of the 2018 Hue festival. The program has been expanded and become more widespread.”
Food is a key attraction at Thanh Toan rural market. In addition to traditional cakes and sweet soups, there are dishes more typical of Hue City like Vy Da mussel rice, Thuy Thanh baked potato, and Thuy Duong rice noodles cooked with snake-head fish. The dishes are displayed on narrow bamboo beds where customers can sit on bamboo stools to enjoy both the food and the simplicity of the rural market. The sellers wear white, black, or Monk’s brown loose-fitting blouses, loose trousers, and palm-leaf conical hats to suit the image of rural Viet Nam.
Nguyen Mau Hoa, Deputy Chairman of Thuy Thanh Commune People’s Committee, said “The rural market festival mainly reproduces the atmosphere of the old days, with folk games, the locals’ daily activities, including the chanty for rice husking, rice grinding, Bai Choi singing, and traditional sports games such as a boat race and duck catching.
As the activities have been organized by villagers, locals are seen as the main players. Since 2002, all the activities ranging from trading to demonstrations of rice husking and grinding and other entertainment programs have all been undertaken by the villagers.”
Thanh Toan rural market meets on the fifteenth day of a lunar month. Thuy Thanh Village has developed a plan to ask for recognition of the rural market as a community tourism brand. The local administration has upgraded Thanh Toan tile-roofed bridge, dredged Nhu Y River, and leveled the center of the market area to make it more convenient for visitors. The locals have cleaned village lanes and alleys to attract visitors from near and far.