Who are the Trang An people, and why are they called Trang An?
Trang An people is an old term for those living in the capital, specifically in the Vietnamese context for the people of Thang Long, Hanoi. According to the article "The Character of Trang An People" in Quan Doi Nhan Dan Cuoi Tuan, Trang An was originally the capital of China under the Han dynasty and later became a general noun for a country's capital. So Trang An people simply means capital people, not the name of a particular clan or street.
The term carries an implication of standards. Living in what is considered the political and cultural center of the country, people set their own measure for speech, dress, and conduct toward those around them. That measure was never written down but passed on through household customs, adults' reminders, and neighbors' watchful eyes.
Notably, the folk definition does not tie Trang An to any specific administrative address. It ties to a style. This matters for the rest of this piece: if elegance is a style and not a household registration, then newcomers can still have Trang An character, and people born in Hanoi can still lack it.
What does 'thanh lich' mean according to insiders?
The most cited definition today comes from Hanoi scholar Hoang Dao Thuy (1900-1994) in his book "Elegant Hanoi," published by Education Publishing House in 1996. He wrote: The demeanor of Hanoi people is thanh lich. Thanh means clear, not vulgar, not rough. Lich means courteous, polished, polite.
This split is worth noting because it puts the two halves on equal footing. Thanh concerns cleanliness in speech and expression, free of obscenity and roughness. Lich concerns how one treats others, with courtesy, knowledge, and propriety. A person who is merely clean but boorish is not enough; one who is merely polite but speaks coarsely is also not enough.
Cultural writer Huu Ngoc, also born and raised in Hanoi's Old Quarter, recalled in the same article more concrete observations. He remembered Old Quarter residents under colonial rule dressing simply but tastefully, and if they had to wear patched clothes, following the spirit of "hungry but clean, torn but fragrant"; speaking gently, gracefully, pleasingly; yielding to one another in daily life. He also remembered jars of nuoc voi (herbal tea) left on the sidewalk with clean bowls for passersby to drink freely.
These are descriptions of a bygone era and should be read as insiders' memories, not as a complete account of all of Hanoi at that time.
What does the folk verse 'Even if not fragrant, still jasmine' mean?
"Even if not fragrant, still jasmine; even if not elegant, still a Trang An person" is the folk verse most often cited on this topic. It needs to be read correctly.
The first half uses jasmine as the standard of fragrance. Jasmine is not the most showy flower, but its scent is considered pure and lasting. The second half turns to people. Saying "even if not fragrant, still jasmine" means that even if one does not reach perfection, one is at least in that category, that class.
So the verse is not a claim that anyone from Trang An is automatically elegant. It is a way of taking pride in one's roots while reminding oneself to keep the standard, in the sense that one must live up to the name. Read this way, the verse is more binding than boastful.
It should also be noted: this is an orally transmitted folk verse with no single original text, and interpretations can differ among authors. This article follows the common reading in Hanoi cultural materials, treating the verse as a self-binding standard rather than a declaration of Hanoi superiority over other places.
What do the eating and speaking customs of Trang An people include?
From the records above, several most frequently mentioned traits can be drawn out. Note that these are traits recorded by authors in a specific context, the Old Quarter of 20th-century Hanoi, not a description applying to all Hanoi people in all periods.
| Trait | Specific recorded expression |
|---|---|
| Speech | Gentle, graceful, pleasing to hear, avoiding vulgar and rough words |
| Dress | Simple but tasteful, patched clothes kept clean and neat |
| Dealing with neighbors | Yielding in daily life, rarely loud or quarrelsome |
| When something is offensive | Subtle, discreet feedback, avoiding direct confrontation |
| Toward passersby | Jars of herbal tea and clean bowls left on the sidewalk for guests |
| In business | Keeping one's word, courteous to customers even when they do not buy |
| In the family | Keeping household customs, children judged by whether they keep the ways |
The table above summarizes traits appearing in the two reference sources for this article. It is not a closed list, and other authors may add or emphasize differently.
Why is this elegance tied to Hanoi and not elsewhere?
Several reasons are commonly given. First, Hanoi was a long-standing capital, gathering officials, scholars, skilled craftsmen, and merchants. A place with many classes interacting in a tight space like the Old Quarter develops unspoken rules of conduct to avoid friction.
Second, the Old Quarter is a crowded living space. Small houses, narrow alleys, neighbors wall to wall. Under such conditions, keeping one's voice low, being thoughtful, and being polite to those nearby is not just a nicety but a necessity for living together.
Third, this is a place with a long-developed trading tradition. The article "The Cultural Undercurrent of Trang An" in Nhan Dan recounts a story researcher Giang Quan told about Hang Dao Street before 1954: customers flipped through fabrics again and again, made the shop owner climb a ladder to bring cloth down to look many times, then left without buying anything. The shop owner still bowed and invited the customer to try another shop, saying if the goods were better and cheaper, buy there, otherwise please come back. The article calls this courtesy and decency the business brand of Hanoi people.
In the same article, a story about a family selling ceramics and worship items on To Tich Street shows another side of that ethos. When the son proposed promoting online and transacting digitally, the owner replied that doing so would make them no different from other families, and that customers being able to buy certain high-end items only at this exact address was their strength. The article comments that old Hanoi people showed their class through culture, not through display.
What is debatable about this understanding?
At least two points need clarification to avoid absolutism.
First is who counts as a Hanoi person. The Nhan Dan article raises the issue directly: Hanoi is a settlement land, so the title of Hanoi person is not easily agreed upon. The crudest measure is counting generations living in Hanoi, usually three or four. A subtler measure is assessing the Trang An quality, which the article says does not necessarily depend on time but largely on how deeply one has absorbed the values. In other words, some Thang Long cultural figures were not born in Hanoi.
Second is decline. The same article notes that after 1954, when residents from other provinces and regions moved in, old quarter houses were subdivided for newcomers, and friction in daily life was inevitable. The article also cites figures: in 1954 Hanoi had 53,000 residents, now more than seven million, mostly from mechanical growth. The author calls this phenomenon "reverse osmosis" and sees it as an existing risk to Trang An culture.
Here one must be careful with wording. Rapid population growth through migration is a fact. Attributing cultural decline to migrants is an interpretation, and this interpretation may not be shared by everyone. This article notes both: some worry as the article's author does, and there is also basis to see that long-term cross-fertilization has shaped Hanoi's cultural face through the ages.
Which parts of the elegant ethos survive today?
This is hard to answer definitively, since no measurement exists for this kind of value. Some observations from the reference sources can be offered.
On the loss side, the Nhan Dan article notes that old Hanoi people tend to withdraw and live discreetly when living space is subdivided and many newcomers arrive. The author also comments that values are still transmitted but within a narrow scope, and some cases inevitably get swept along by new lifestyles.
On the surviving side, the article notes some contemporary expressions. The city government has issued Codes of Conduct for officials and public employees and Codes of Conduct in Public Places. On social media, young people set up forums to rediscover and preserve Trang An conduct. Stories about family conduct, about Hanoi's trees, street corners, and rooftops are written and shared.
The Quan Doi Nhan Dan Cuoi Tuan article offers a different, forward-looking view. The author argues that in modern life, where people frequently relocate for work, if someone cultivates themselves to become an elegant person, they already carry Trang An character without owning any piece of land or apartment in Hanoi.
These two views are not contradictory. The first looks from the community and urban space side, worrying that old ways are fading. The second looks from the individual side, holding that the ethos can be kept anywhere as long as one is willing to cultivate it. What they share is that neither treats elegance as something automatically gained by being born in the right place.
So how much of the folk verse still holds true?
If the verse is read to mean that anyone from Trang An is automatically elegant, that reading no longer fits a city of over seven million people in constant flux. Neither reference source asserts that.
If the verse is read to mean that Trang An people have a standard to live up to, and keeping that standard is precious, that reading still stands. It shifts from a privilege tied to origin to a standard tied to behavior.
The second reading has a practical consequence worth noting: it excludes no one. People born in Hanoi can still be reminded if they speak coarsely, and people from elsewhere can still be recognized if they conduct themselves thoughtfully. This is perhaps the most living part of the folk verse today.
Summary
Elegant Trang An people is a cultural concept, not a biological trait or administrative privilege. Its content, as recorded in Hanoi materials, revolves around clear speech, courteous treatment, thoughtfulness toward others, and keeping one's word in business. The folk verse "Even if not fragrant, still jasmine; even if not elegant, still a Trang An person" should be read as self-reminder rather than boast. Contemporary sources note the ethos has faded considerably compared to the intact Old Quarter era, but it survives as small practices, forums, codes of conduct, and more importantly as a standard anyone can choose to follow.
