210 CROSS CURRFNTS TRANS-CULTURAL ARCHITtCTllKt EDUCATION AND URRANlShl Sighting Saigon LILY H. CHI Cornell University As the mediator between the traveler and an 'other' place, depot for landing and storing petroleum products. and. guidebooks to cities assume the role ol'tuo different 'insid- after steaming slowly up thc river for about four hours. ers'. Written in the language of its readers. the guidebook is. reach the picturesque city of Saigon, called the Pearl of in one sense. the traveler's accomplice. As an invitation to the East, with its steeples. lofty buildings and quais. explore. however. it is also a persuasive medium. con.iuring Like an apparition in the verdant landscape. Saigon anticipateddestinationsandencounters. Guidebookscan thus appears as 'a beautiful and well-laid-oul town' with be revealing both of the agenda and perception assumed for 'shops. buildings. Hotels and villas' that 'bear the their readers. and as urban constructions in their own right. distinct French hall-mark'." These traits are perhaps best observed in a comparative The city's distance. geographical and cultural. dissipates reading of' guidebooks to a single city over time. Variations in this unexpected cosmopolitanism. With a "bustling port" and divergences between them belie their assumed ob.jectiv- that has made her"the commercial capital ofFrench Indochina" ity. giving visibility to what is suppressed or ignored. what ("an important trade centre" to "rival that of Singapore. continuities and coherences favored. Hongkong"), a population that has grown "seven-fold" in Questions of representation. identity, and the role ofarchi- fifty years (8.000 French civilians. over 300 "foreigners". a tecture are particularly loaded in the case of Ho Chi Minh "Chinese element" numbering "over 30.000 souls. and the City. acity that has submitted to more than one name change, Annamese about 60.000"). Saigon's wordly status is plainly undergone several momentous political transfomiations. and evident. owes its physical form to an act of colonialist erasure. In just As in other guides at this time. "Saigon" refers spatially over acentury. the city has played host toa veritable catalogue and conceptually to the "ville franpaise". distinct both from ofniodernity's defining ideological battles: French colonial- the adjacent towns of Tho Lon (Chinese)" and "Cia Dinh ism (c. 1867 1954). Japanese imperialism (c.1940 1945). (Annamese)" and from the cities that had occupied this site Russian socialism if'rom c. 1920). American cold war policy until 1859. The Tour-ists' Guide establishes this temporal ( 1954 1975). and now. millennia1 global economics. This distinction with a brief history of the city. Saigon's environs. paper explores how this complex city was made coherent (and occupied since prehistoric times. was "under the domination" consurnable) by guidebook writers throughout its difficult of Khmer rulers in the glory days of Angkor. Annamese history. What follows is a sampling of such constructions: A settlers arrived from the north in the 17th century. establish- lour of SaigonIHo Chi Minh City as envisioned by diverse ing small colonies on the Dong Nai river and trade with local insiders throughout this century. "aboriginal tribes."The settlement grew into a powerful force in the area. seizing territory from the Cambodians and even- A FRENCH JEWEL tually occupying the "fortress of Saigon" itself in 1674. By One doe5 not simply arrive at the "Pearl of the East". one 1773. this fbrtress had grown into a township with a double earns it through long voyage by sea and river. Saigon's exotic wall fortification. Despite this provision. it "fell bur times to distance in thc early decades of the century was measured in rebel forces.'' After the last of these in 1788. the Annalnese space and lime. The writer of the 1930 Towists' Guide to EmperorNguyen Anh (Gia Long) turned to aFrench mission- Saigoll PIIIIOIII-P~II~~lldA11gko1. takes pain to render the ary named Pigneau de Bhaine and. with his aid. "received setting of' this approach: help" from a French naval expeditionary force. The significance of Pigneau's import to this history is "Ocean going vessels are piloted up the estuary. formed evident in the narrative detail surrounding his burial in the by the Saigon River and the Dong Nai, along numerous Tourists' Guide. Forty thousand griefstricken faithful admir- bends through very flat country. passing Nha Be ... a 4CS.A 2000 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE - HONG KONG. CHINA 24 1 ers attended the funeral of his Most High and Powerful Lord ing the Plaine des Tombeaux. a huge Annamese Necropolis and Prince Pigneau. First Lord of the State. Tutor ofthe Heir . s/he comes to the neighboring city of Cho Lon (Chinese). Apparent. Most Faithful and Excellent. The Emperor him- Founded in 1778 by Chinese settlers who established theni- self. his mother. his sister. his Queen and concubines. his selves here as Rice Merchants. present day Cho Lon is a future children. all the ladies-in-waiting and Court Officials gave rival to Saigon with its beautiful and modern buildings. vent to their deep sorrow. shedding copious tears. This Except for a faceless crowd on the Ruc Catinat. some Hindu narrative ofdebt to the great prelate by the Annamcse people Temples and Buddhist Pagodas Worth Visiting . and canals occupies afull page of a two page history. The rest of the story and waterways literally crowded with steam launches. barges follows quickly: From 1800 onwards the country prospered and sampans of all cliniensions. there is no sight in the until later in 1833 a rebellion broke out when it was ravaged Tourists' Guide of those other 90.000 souls that populated pre by conllicting forces. It was not until 1859 that the French. World War I1 Saigon. The only sighting of local peoples together with a handful of Spanish volunteers. had to inter- occurs well beyond the city in the mountain forests of Dalat. vene in order to restore peace under the French flag. ' A delightful hill station blessed with invigorating climate and Saigon's history thus begins with Pigneau de Bhaine. four hotels. Dalat offers rest from the heat and trials of a Evident in the triumph of peace and order over rebelliousness journey through Indochina. A French new town built for this and instability. this history is only temporarily interrupted purpose. it is also the point of departure for big game hunting after his death. The French flag over Saigon. called upon to and issues permits for shooting parties in the surrounding restore peacc. is testament of its continuity. The Saigon that highlands. On these same heights. the visitor may encounter the visitor looks upon in the Tourists' Guide confirms this a tribe of aborigines called " Moi " by the natives who live in identity. Touring the city by rickshaw. the visitor traverses the the forests and travel or hunt in whole family groups attired in Boulevards Charner, Bonnard. and Norrodom. encountering Nature's garb carrying with them their household chattels. the Halles Centrales, the Jardin de la Ville. the palaces of the Their "proximity" to naturc is hard to miss: they are said to Governor General and the Governor of Cochinchina. the Law travel great distances in a single day's march. and negotiate Courts and Roman Catholic Cathedral. the beautiful gardens precipitous slopes at an incredible pace. In contrast to the along tlic waterway called Avalanche with its Elephant's Park urban sights of Saigon. their little hamlets or clusters of huts and Lotus Pond. the Muse Blanchard de la Brosse. the and miniature villages are generally found on the highest Mcssagcries Fluvialcs. the H o tels Majestic and de la Rotonde peaks and resemble a mountain eagle's nest at a distance. with the delightful little open air restaurant and bar nearby. Ville moderne. Port de Guen-e Saigon. capital of a hundred and. passing by the Bandstand and the Mairie. finishes with faces is how a 1952 French guidebook. written in collabora- a stroll on the crowded avenue of the Rue Catinat. lined on tion with Air France. introduces the city.' both sides with art and curio. lace and silk shops. Reflecting perhaps a new approach to the city. Saigon Assurances of the familiar abound in these images. punc- reveals itself not by degrees from the water. but all at once. tuated only by languid scenes of limpid heat and lush shade ( kaleidoscopically. This new cosmopolitanism is visually From the middle of June to the end of October the rains cool manifest in the text itself. a patchwork of French and slightly the atmosphere and every tree. garden and lawn is green edited English. Vietnamese. and Chinese versions. The wa- again ... ). As aFrench guide of 1914 put it: Saigon. capital of terfront. nonetheless. remains foundational to the definition Cochinchina, justifies the surname Pearl of the Far Orient of Saigon as the nwst important comniercial port in Indochina with its numerous edifices and beautiful order. with the ... and aportofwar. with its Arsenal. The visitor turns quickly neatness of its grand arterials and magnificent shades . and from the harbour. however. to a reassuring sight: 8 @ W with the seductiveness and picturesqueness of the different Coquettish and very much French. the city breathes easily quartersof thecity. The city's appeal is rendered not in images under the great trees of her avenues and in the freshness of her of" local color" but with ornate Beaux Arts monuments and numerous public gardens. The opulence of her monuments urbane boulevards. Saigon's exoticism lies not in its differ- retlect the prosperity of the city. Saigon's continuous history ence. but in its paradoxical familiarity: A recognizable so- as a French capital is confirmed in signs of ongoing refine- phistication achieved in remoteness.