The Lake of the Restored Sword
922.8 sq.km - population: about 2.700.000
- City proper (4 districts: Hoan-Kiem, Hai-Ba-Trung, Dong-Da, Ba-Dinh) + 11 suburban districts.
1. The old quarter:
- In the 15th century, the "City with 36 guilds and streets" was the embryo of present - day Hanoi's Old Quarter with narrow streets bearing evocative names (Silk St, Sugar St, Vermicelli St, Votive Objects St, etc...) The Dong-Xuan market intruduces you to tropical fruits, flowers and vegetables, and such hand-icrafts as basketwork, ceramics, etc...
2. The Lake of the Restored Sword (Ho Hoan-Kiem):
- Legend has it that one day, after victory over the Chinese Ming invaders, when King Le-Thai-To was boating on the lake, a golden tortoise came up out of the water to take back the sacred sword that had been given to him by the god to save the homeland (15th C.) - Noteworthy: The-Huc Sunrise Bridge, Tower of the Pen Brush, Portico of the Ink - Slab, Ngoc-Son (Jade Hill) temple built in the 19th C., on an islet: dedicated to General Tran-Hung-Dao, 13th C., who defeated the Mongols in the 13th C., Van-Xuong (God of Literature) and La-To (Patron Saint of Physicians).
3. The West Lake (Ho Tay): 833 hectares.
- According to a legend, this place was formerly a forest - covered mountain on which lived a fox spirit with 9 tails. The monster was later drowned under huge waves unleashed by a dragon god and a lake was born.
- According to another legend, the Vietnamese Buddist monk Khong Lo (XIth. C.) was rewarded with a vast amount of bronze by the Emperor of China for his outstanding services; with this bronze, he had an enormous bell cast. The sound of the bell carried so far that a Golden Buffalo Calf, believing this to be the voice of its mother, rushed down from the North. It trampled the ground so hard that a lake appeared under its hoofs.
4. The Truc-Back Lake (Truc-Bach: white silk of the Ivory Bamboo Village)
- The Trinh Lords (18th C.) built on its shore a Summer Palace turned later into a reformatory for offending royal concubines. The latter were put to work and weaved a fine silk called Truc-Bach.
5. The Lenin Park:
- It was reclaimed from swamps. One year after the liberation of Hanoi (1955) the population started voluntary work for its building.
6. The One Pillar Pagoda (Mot-Cot Pagoda):
- Built in 1049 in the shape of a lotus. According to a legend, King Ly-Thai-To, who had no male offspring, once saw in a dream the Goddess Quan-Am sitting on a lotus and handing him a boy. He later married a peasant girl he had met by chance and a son was born to them. Therefore he had the pagoda built.
(to be continued)
(A Handbook for the English Language Translator - Hữu Ngọc et al.)
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