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Bamboo trees are carried to the market one day before. Photo V.T |
The bamboo market is scheduled to take place in Phu My district’s My Chanh commune once every five days. Different kinds of bamboo trees brought to the market are originated from communes of My Trinh, My Hoa, My Hiep, My Quang, and My Tai.
A unique feature
The bamboo market takes place from the early morning to 9 am, but bamboo trees are often brought to the market from the night before.
44-year-old Duong Thi Thu Tai living in My Chanh Tay commune used an old bicycle to carry three long bamboo trees to the market. She said it was harder to carry them from Phu My town to My Chanh commune because the road was being repaired.
Sau Trinh, a 72-year-old man, has gone to the market since he was five. “It was set up under the French domination,” he said. “My grandfather and father chopped bamboo trees in the garden to sell at the market.”
“Most sellers and buyers had to carry the trees on their shoulders and some carried them by carts,” Trinh added.
In the old day, the bamboo market took place in many places, such as Cau Da, An Xuyen, and Go Me, but it now takes place in An Luong only.
Today people also buy bamboo stumps. A big stump could be sold for 10,000 VND. At the market bamboo trees are put in order. Big and long trees are put in the middle, followed by small and short ones. The stumps are put near the fence.
Names of owners or special signs are often marked on each bamboo trees. Often, a crowded market sees two or three hundreds people and thousands of bamboo trees and stumps are sold on market days.
Some people often come to the market to buy trees as many as possible on the previous day and they sell them on the next day. The purchase, therefore, could take place at night before the market begins.
Nguyen Thi Loan, a “bamboo dealer”, said she could buy and sell about 200-300 trees during a market day.
In the modern society where concrete and steel are more and more popular, bamboo tree still plays an important role. Trinh Len, living in Cat Minh commune, often buys 5-7 trees when a bamboo market opens and uses them to make coracles.
Bamboo is also used to make baskets and its stumps are used for dams. Many people, thus, could earn their living thanks to bamboo trees and the bamboo market is still busy every year.
Trivial stories at the market
When a bamboo tree grows for three years, it could be chopped down and sold. At the bamboo market, many women do all work requiring strength.
To prepare for a market day, for example, Tai and her daughter have to chop down trees and carry them to the market. Selling several bamboo trees also helps her have enough money for the living.
Once, I saw a woman and her daughter carrying 8 bamboo stumps and some trees by a bicycle at twilight. It seemed that they felt exhausted when wheeling the bike. Arriving at the market, she said she needed money for her son to pay the school fee. He always cried when I couldn’t give him money to pay on time.
Her husband fell down from a coconut tree several years ago, so she has to work to feed the whole family.
I also met a 74-year-old man sitting beside five bamboo trees. It took him the whole day to travel 18 km from home to the market. His son is now 30 but he has suffered from schizophrenia. He could depend on some rice fields to earn his living, so he has to sell bamboo trees.
According to the elderly who get familiar with the bamboo market for about 50 years, there hasn’t got any quarrel here since it was set up.
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