Redefining Public Space in Hanoi: Places, Practices and Meaning - Dissertation for attaining a doctorate in Southeast Asian Studies - submitted to the Faculty of Arts and Humanities University of Passau Sandra Kurfürst April 2011 For Nils Table of Contents TABLE OF FIGURES 7 PREFACE 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 9 1 INTRODUCTION 10 1.1 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 18 2 HANOI’S URBANISM 20 2.1 EARLY STATE FORMATION 20 2.1.1 THE VIETNAMESE RULER: SACRED AND PROFANE AUTHORITY 22 2.2 ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM DURING DYNASTIC RULE 23 2.2.1 VIETNAM’S URBAN SYSTEM 24 2.2.2 SPATIAL ENCLOSURE: THE SACRED AND THE PROFANE 26 2.3 THANG LONG – MEDIATION BETWEEN THE MUNDANE AND THE SACRED 27 2.3.1 CITY AND COUNTRYSIDE 32 2.3.2 URBANISM: LINKAGE BETWEEN OFFICIALDOM AND SACRALITY 35 2.4 LANDSCAPES OF POWER 36 2.4.1 REDEFINING THE URBAN LANDSCAPE 36 2.4.2 REDEFINING LY THAI TO SQUARE 40 3 PUBLIC SPHERES IN VIETNAM 43 3.1 THE PARTY’S LEGITIMACY 43 3.1.1 BUILDING A RULE OF LAW BASED STATE 48 3.2 STATE, MARKET, VOLUNTARY SECTOR 50 3.2.1 CONCLUSION: SCOPE FOR PUBLIC SPHERE DEVELOPMENT 52 3.3 CYBERSPACE: THE DIGITAL PUBLIC SPACE OF THE INTERNET 53 4 THREE DIMENSIONAL MODEL OF PUBLIC SPACE 62 4.1 DIMENSIONS OF PUBLIC SPACE 62 4.1.1 NATIONAL AND LOCAL PUBLIC SPACE 63 4.2 SACRALITY: EMIC PERSPECTIVE OF PUBLIC SPACE 65 4.2.1 SHORT HISTORY OF THE COMMUNAL HOUSE 66 4.2.2 SEMIOTICS OF SACRED SPACE 68 4.2.3 HISTORY AND SEMIOTICS OF NGOC HA COMMUNAL HOUSE 69 4.2.4 DYNAMICS OF FUNCTIONS 72 4.2.5 LINKAGE BETWEEN SACRED AND PUBLIC SPACE 74 4.3 STATE: STAGED PERFORMANCES OF THE OFFICIAL SPHERE 75 4.3.1 HISTORY OF BA DINH SQUARE 76 4.3.2 ROUTINIZATION OF CHARISMA 78 4.3.3 SEMIOTICS OF BA DINH SQUARE 81 5 4.3.4 REDEFINING BA DINH SQUARE 84 4.3.5 LENIN-MONUMENT 88 4.3.6 LINKAGE BETWEEN STATE AND PUBLIC 89 4.3.7 SHIFT IN MODES OF CELEBRATION 90 4.4 PRIVATENESS: PRIVATE AND PUBLIC IN VIETNAM 95 4.4.1 “INTIMISING” PUBLIC SPACE 98 4.5 CONCLUSION: THREE DIMENSIONAL MODEL OF PUBLIC SPACE 99 5 NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN CITIZENS AND STATE 101 5.1 PRIVATE APPROPRIATION OF PUBLIC SPHERES 101 5.1.1 ATTEMPTS AT REGULATION BY THE STATE 103 5.1.2 INFORMALITY AS PART OF LOCALITY 106 5.1.3 CONTESTED VISIONS OF THE CITY 107 5.2 INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE RIGHT-CLAIMS AGAINST THE STATE 110 5.2.1 LAND CLAIMS 110 5.2.2 THE ASSOCIATIONAL EFFECT OF PUBLIC SPACE? 112 5.3 CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE STATE 115 5.3.1 CHARISMA OF THE CENTRE 121 5.4 CONTESTED INSTITUTIONALISATION 122 6 PRIVATISATION OF PUBLIC LIFE 125 6.1 RESEARCH AREA NGOC HA 127 6.1.1 FOUNDATION OF THE 13 FARMS 127 6.1.2 FROM LANG XA TO AN URBAN WARD 128 6.1.3 PUBLIC SPACE IN THE VILLAGE 129 6.2 LOCALITY AND SOCIAL COHESION 132 6.3 THE EMPTYING OF LOCAL PUBLIC SPACE: RETREAT INTO INTIMACY 136 6.3.1 THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE STRANGER 137 6.4 RETREAT FROM SOCIAL AND STATE CONTROL 140 6.4.1 RETREAT INTO VIRTUALITY 143 6.4.2 CONCLUSION 144 7 PRIVATISATION OF PUBLIC SPACE 146 7.1 SYMBOLIC ECONOMY 148 7.1.1 “SOCIALISATION” OF THONG NHAT PARK 149 7.2 ACTION FOR THE CITY: MOBILISING PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION 157 7.2.1 RECONCEPTUALISING PUBLIC SPACE 159 8 CONCLUSION 161 9 REFERENCES 167 6 Table of Figures FIGURE 1: DANCING AT LY THAI TO SQUARE ........................................................................... 42 FIGURE 2: CONNOTATIONS OF THE DINH DURING PRE-COLONIAL TIMES .................................... 68 FIGURE 3: CONG TAM QUAN AND COURTYARD OF NGOC HA COMMUNAL HOUSE ..................... 71 FIGURE 4: ALTERING FUNCTIONS OF THE DINH .......................................................................... 73 FIGURE 5: PARADE ON BAC SON ST. ......................................................................................... 75 FIGURE 6: BA DINH SQUARE, APRIL 30, 2008 ........................................................................... 76 FIGURE 7: FLAG POLE AT BA DINH SQUARE ............................................................................. 81 FIGURE 8: EAST-WEST AXIS OF BA DINH SQUARE .................................................................... 82 FIGURE 9: HO CHI MINH MAUSOLEUM ..................................................................................... 83 FIGURE 10: SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES AT BA DINH SQUARE ..................................................... 86 FIGURE 11: LENIN-MONUMENT ................................................................................................. 88 FIGURE 12: MODIFICATIONS IN BA DINH SQUARE’S FIRST AND SECOND FUNCTIONS ................ 89 FIGURE 13: SHIFTING CONNOTATIONS OF BA DINH SQUARE ..................................................... 90 FIGURE 14: FESTIVALS IN COMMEMORATION OF THE DYNASTIC PAST IN 2008 .......................... 94 FIGURE 16: THREE-DIMENSIONAL MODEL OF PUBLIC SPACE .................................................... 100 FIGURE 17: ERECTION OF RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS AT 42 NHA CHUNG ........................................ 116 FIGURE 18: PUBLIC PARK AT 42 NHA CHUNG .......................................................................... 119 FIGURE 19: ANCIENT VILLAGE GATE IN DAI YEN ..................................................................... 129 FIGURE 20: COURT OF DAI YEN COMMUNAL HOUSE .............................................................. 131 FIGURE 21: DELEGATION OF NGOC HA VILLAGE AT LE MAT FESTIVAL .................................. 133 FIGURE 22: CANAL IN NGOC HA ............................................................................................. 139 FIGURE 23: PLAYGROUND IN THONG NHAT PARK ................................................................... 151 FIGURE 24: FREQUENCY OF THE APPLICATION OF LOI ICH IN RELATION TO… .......................... 154 FIGURE 25: FREQUENCY OF THE APPLICATION OF PHUC LOI IN RELATION TO… ....................... 155 7 Preface “It’s the same story all over the Middle East. In Libya’s capital city of Tripoli, people express their aspirations and face bloody reprisals in Tripoli’s Green Square and Mar- tyr’s Square. In Bahrain, they boldly march in Pearl Square in the capital city of Mana- ma. In Yemen, protests have taken place in public spaces near the university in Sanaa, which students renamed Tahrir Square. Kept out of the central Revolution Square in Tehran by the repressive government, Iranian dissidents gather in Valiasr Square and Vanak Sqaure [sic]” (Walljasper 2011). In times where the “abstraction of space” is a common theme of scholarly works, the recent developments in the Middle East once again allude to the relevance of physical public space as a forum for dialogue and social interaction between citizens. Since the early beginnings of the Greek agora in the Western hemisphere, the ideal of public space has incorporated free accessibility while offering an arena for discussions about the common good. In light of the increasing use of information and communication technologies worldwide, it is crucial to consider physical and digital public space in relation to each other. The Internet’s digital space allows communication and social interaction within a non- physical environment, thereby generating new forms of publicity and privacy. Yet, what at first glance appears to be untraceable and unlinked to any physical location, still remains bound to physical space as the means of communication such as mobile phones and comput- ers are identifiable and traceable. The interconnectedness of the concrete and the virtual be- comes even more apparent with respect to social mobilisation and the articulation of citizens’ interests. Peoples’ gatherings in the national public spaces of Cairo, Sanaa or Bahrain have, for the most part, been organised in digital space. Information on the time and venue for the protests was spread through social networks, e-mails, text messages, etc. However, the actual demonstration used as a means to voice people’s opinion and to be heard by governments needs to take place in the physical public space of the city, to be visibly seen and to encourage participation. “The influence of the new digital commons in democratic uprisings from Tunisia to Egypt to Bahrain has been chronicled at length in news reports from the Middle East, with Facebook, Twitter and other social media winning praise as dictator-busters. But the importance of a much older form of commons in these revolts has earned scant attention—the public spaces where citizens rally to voice their discontent, show their power and ultimately articulate a new vision for their homelands” (Walljasper 2011). “Whatever course history will follows [sic], the momentous changes in North Africa remind us that our world is shaped by its cities. The poorer and less democratic parts of the planet have become increasingly urban and that makes change, full of hope and fear, inevitable. That recent uprisings have been assisted by electronic technologies like Facebook and Twitter only reinforces the point that technological change is making cities more, not less, important. Cities aren’t just places of economic productivity and cultural innovation. For millennia, they have also been the epicenters of dramatic political upheaval” (Glaeser 2011). 8 Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank Rüdiger Korff for his continuous support and motivation. He encouraged my interest in research on urbanism right at the early beginnings of my studies on Southeast Asia. His work on Bangkok inspired me to conduct my own research about Hanoi. I am grateful for his critical comments, constant motivation, and for giving me the opportunity to participate in the constitution of the research focus “urbanism” in