One more city of ghosts in Hue

      This is not the famous city for the dead in An Bang village, Phu Vang district, Thua Thien-Hue province, but a new one in Hai Nhuan village, Phong Dien district, also in Thua Thien-Hue.
This “city” is located amid a sandy area and it stretches for 2km, with hundreds of colourful free-style tombs.
In the past, only kings and mandarins built tombs for themselves, but in Hai Nhuan, big tombs are mushrooming. Tan, a local builder, said: “I’m busy all year round. People build more tombs than houses.”
Local people not only build tombs for the dead, but also for the living. A villager named Hai said: “Some tombs are built several times. If anyone in the village builds a bigger and nicer tomb, others will try to build even bigger and more beautiful tombs. Building tombs has become a movement.”
In this cemetery, there are tombs worth dozens of thousands of US dollars which look like tombs of royal members. Some tombs have cameras for security. Some tombs have guards and some shine at night with hundreds of coloured lights.
The local people live on the sea. Besides some villas are small and poor houses. The school and health station are very old and outdated. Where is the money for the expensive tombs?
“My village depends on the sea. The money for building tombs comes from the sea,” said Mrs. Ha in Hai Nhuan village.
In this cemetery, there are tombs worth dozens of thousands of US dollars which look like tombs of royal members. Some tombs have cameras for security. Some tombs have guards and some shine at night with hundreds of coloured lights.
The local people live on the sea. Besides some villas are small and poor houses. The school and health station are very old and outdated. Where is the money for the expensive tombs?
“My village depends on the sea. The money for building tombs comes from the sea,” said Mrs. Ha in Hai Nhuan village.
Actually, some money for building tombs comes from overseas Vietnamese relatives, but the main source is in fact from fish.
Not only the rich build tombs, the poor also try to build tombs. All villagers are trying to build a city of ghosts, with houses worth dozens of thousands USD for the dead, while the living live in poor houses.
The house for the next incarnation of Mrs. Ha and her husband in the city of ghosts is 450sq.m, priced around 1 billion dong (nearly $60,000). This house is quite different from their current house, which is only 60sq.m, worth around 150 million dong ($8,800).