Cho Lon (Lon Market) - Vietnam's Chinatown

Cho Lon is located at Tran Hung Dao Street, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City. 
 

In 1788, a group of Chinese from Pho and My Tho Islands came to Ben Nghe River Dike and founded a market which developed into the existent Cholon Market, offering a wide array of products. This is Vietnam’s Chinatown market. It is an attractive site for visitors to observe that lively atmosphere. 

It remains home to more than 500,000 people, many of whom are of Chinese origin. The area and its side-streets and markets provide an interesting glimpse of Sino-Vietnamese life, as the Vietnamese Chinese strive to retain there cultural traditions and language. In addition to temples, traditional apothecaries, fortune tellers and the like, some excellent Chinese food is available in Cho Lon.

A visit to Ho Chi Minh City’s Cho Lon Market reveals the city at its most vibrant, colourful and fun.

This mighty market seems to go on for miles, crammed with every possible kind of fruit, vegetable, nut, fish, meat, cigarette, beer and so on. There are cloth shops with every type of silk in every colour and numerous types of cotton, wool and even tweed!

Fabric shopping in Ho Chi Minh City is a serious treat. Give yourself at least an afternoon, if not an entire day, so you can take your time, stop for cold drinks and snacks regularly and avoid becoming hot and bothered!
The variety of goods here is positively astounding and will give you uncanny glimpses into modern Vietnamese life. Friendly bargaining should save you 20% to 40%, but don’t take it too seriously - Vietnamese people very rarely get angry in public and they feel extremely embarrassed if you do.

Different name is Binh Tay Market. 

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Cholon is the name of the Chinese district of Ho Chi Minh City (the former Saigon), the largest such Chinatown district in Vietnam. It lies on the West bank of the Saigon River, having Binh Tay Market as its central market. Cholon spans across, and consists of, Districts 5 & 6 of Ho Chi Minh City

The Vietnamese name Cholon literally means "big" (lớn) "market" (chợ). The Chinese name (and original name) of Cholon is 堤岸 (pronounced Tai-Ngon in Cantonese and Dī 'àn in Mandarin), which means "embankment" (French: quais). The Vietnamese reading of the Chinese name is Đê Ngạn, but this is rarely used. Vietnamese speakers exclusively use the name Chợ Lớn, while Chinese speakers (both inside Vietnam and in China) are the only users of the latter.





In 1778, the Hoa (Chinese minority of Vietnam) living in Bien Hoa had to take refuge in what is now Cholon because they were retaliated against by the Tay Son forces for their support of the Nguyen lords. In 1782, they were again massacred by the Tay Son and had to rebuild. They built high embankments against the flows of the river, and called their new settlement Tai-Ngon (meaning "embankment" in Cantonese).




Incorporated in 1879 as a city 11 km from Saigon, it had expanded and became coterminous with Saigon by the 1930s. On April 27, 1931, the two cities were merged to form Saigon-Cholon by the French colonial government. By 1956, the name Cholon was dropped from the city name and the city was known primarily as Saigon.

During the Vietnam War, soldiers and deserters from the United States Army maintained a thriving black market at Cholon, trading in various American and especially U.S Army-issue items.

Today, Cholon especially attracts many Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese tourists. The place is also nown as a scenario of Marguerite Duras's autobiographical novel The Lover (1984), where the young French girl makes love for the first time with her Chinese lover.

Source: chithanh119 blog, jericomendez blog