2 Dong Trieu Ceramics #1 The shop of Mr Thuan and Ms Hai. All the stuff displayed on the footpath is Chinese. They are rich, by local standards. He's thinking of spending $20,000 on a van. His sister, Ms Hien, is one of the two biggest traders in town. It seems the family businesses are both independent and not independent. Ms Hien, for example, paid for her new premises by mortgaging 3 houses belonging to her brothers and sisters.
3 Dong Trieu Ceramics #2 This is Ms Loan in front of her shop. She rents this permanent structure on the footpath (presumably from the local authority). Actually her products are spread out along the path for about 50 metres and every night at 5.30 she must carry them all, including the large, heavy pots back to her lock-up. We went back the next day, but she wasn't around though all her stuff was laid out. It seems that all the shop keepers provide security for each other. And if a customer turns up while the person is out, a neighbour will do her selling for her and hand over the money later.
4 Dong Trieu Ceramics #3 Inside a typical Dong Trieu workshop. Painting the design (note use of singular noun here) is women's work. The producers sell the large pots for $3.50 a pair and the smaller ones are $1.50 for a set of three. Add another $0.33 for the profit margin of a local trader like Ms Loan.
5 Dong Trieu Ceramics #4 The producers sell most of their output to middlemen who come from Hanoi and other big towns. But many of them live quite a distance from the main road down narrow alleys. They therefore have to hire cyclists to transport their goods and supplies to and from the delivery vans up on the main road. I would guess each bicycle load is about 40-50 kg. The cost of a bicycle trip is about 15-20 cents, which means that it adds substantially to the costs borne by the producers and squeezes their profits even further. The giant 'tea pots' in the picture are actually used for traditional medicine.
6 Bong Sen (lotus flower)
7
8
9
10 Hang Dao 2/02
11 Hang Non 2/02
12 The cumquat market in Phan Dinh Phung a few days before Tet 2002.
13 Kim Lan ceramics village
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23 The next group of photos are from January 2003
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47 The next photos are from January 2005
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65 Hanoi, late September 2005
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156 Nguyen Tan Dung, 12-1-05. He became Prime Minister in April 2006.
157 Opera House, Jan 2003
158 The upper storey of Hoa Lo (Hanoi Hilton) taken from the Melia Hotel in January 2005.
