PLACES
PLACE · QUARTERThe Chinese QuarterSixteenth century · to nowChinese merchants reached Hội An on the monsoon and meant to leave on the monsoon, which is why the town called them người Tàu, the people who came by boat. Then some of them stayed, and the state had to invent a status to put them in.PLACE · ANCIENT TOWNThe Japanese Covered BridgeJapanese merchants paid for it, Vietnamese carpenters built it, a Chinese village kept it, and a Nguyễn lord gave it a name. After eight dismantlings, the part of the four-hundred-year-old bridge that is close to intact is the foundation.PLACE · RIVERThe Thu Bồn RiverSince the plain existed · to nowAbout 20 km³ of water reaches the sea down the Thu Bồn each year, more than any other river in central Vietnam, and 80 to 90 per cent of it arrives between September and December. The old town of Hội An stands on a sand ridge that the same river built.