COMMENTATOR (COMM): Previously on Life...

ANNA TIBAIJUKA: We started with empires; we came to the nation states, and believe me, through globalisation now, this is the century of cities.

PROFESSOR ED GLAESER: The difficulty with any megacity is providing basic services and attempting to deal with the massive amount of poverty that plagues so many of, of the megacities of the world.

GASPAR RIVERA: The question is: what are our needs? And what are the needs of our people?

THUY LINH (TRANSLATION): In the last few years of her life, my mother always reminded me of my debt to Ngoc Ha village. My mother bound me to that emotional debt because, of her three children, I'm the only daughter who has followed her career in journalism and her love for literature. My mother always told me, "Write something about Ngoc Ha village. You've got to write about the death of the village - the flower village. It's my homeland and also yours." I've written many things so far but none of them about Ngoc Ha village. It's a lifetime debt and I don't know when I will pay it.

FATHER (TRANSLATION): This was my wife's homeland - Linh's mother's homeland. I came here in '54 when the economy was mainly agriculture and Ngoc Ha was a flower-growing village. Each house was separated with a garden surrounded with banana trees and hibiscus. Today houses stand next to one another and people even fight for the separating wall. Today there isn't even a metre of land left. People fight for it and grab it all. Those who had land sold it. Bouts of land fever exploded. People ran after money, selling land and collecting gold.

THUY LINH (TRANSLATION): This piece of land used to belong to my mother's family, including that road we've just passed. There used to be just one family, today there are so many families. I haven't been here for dozens of years, even though I live very nearby. This is the only garden left. This garden belongs to the co-operative and Mr Tuoc's family are contracted to use it and pay tax every year.

FATHER (TRANSLATION): In the old days, over there was a pond where our grandfathers grew lotus and willow trees. And in that lotus pond our grandparents made tea in a very fancy way. At night they opened lotus petals, put tea leaves inside and closed them. At dawn, they got the tea out and it was infused with lotus fragrance. Then they used the dewdrops from the lotus leaves as water for their tea. That's how our grandparents drank tea.

THUY LINH (TRANSLATION): The flower village was almost the only source that provided flowers for Hanoi. The flower trade lasted throughout the 20th century, until the beginning of the '90s when it began to dwindle. If only we could have kept this village as it was in the '60s or '70s it'd be wonderful. I remember in my childhood it was still very beautiful. At the entrance to the village was a kapok tree, a village communal house, a pond and flower gardens on both sides. Houses nestled among flower gardens - unlike today, where they stand next to one another.

My mother's childhood memory of this village must have been a thousand times more wonderful than mine because she was born at the beginning of the century. I can't even begin to image how beautiful this village was then! My grandfather had a big flower garden and my mother used to play music and recite poems with her friends there. I had an uncle who died very young. He used to write poems. He used to pick fallen petals, bury them, cry for them and make poems about them - very romantic! I think this land created that kind of spirit. It must have helped create more elegant people. Ngoc Ha village epitomized the elegance and romance of the Hanoians. Any description of Hanoi would certainly include the 36 streets of the old quarter and the Ngoc Ha flower village. As for the old quarter, there is very little left today. New buildings are mixed with old ones - it's a total architectural mess. As for Ngoc Ha village - there's nothing left.

The end of the flower trade in Ngoc Ha has helped other flower growing villages in the outskirts of Hanoi to flourish. But the village had a history of several centuries and still lives on in people's memories, literature and poetry. There will never be a flower village like Ngoc Ha. It's natural for the new to replace the old. However, things that have existed for a long time have absorbed not just the spirit of heaven and earth but also of humans - their soul and their love. Therefore I think it'll take a very long time for a new flower village to become like Ngoc Ha. People from the country have to come to the city to find work and this has created an overloaded situation. Hanoi's development has been too slow to meet the demands of today. It seems Hanoi wasn't prepared for such a fast pace of life. Hanoi used to be quiet and slow.

PROF VU KHIEU (TRANSLATION): Hanoi today has a lot of problems as it has been urbanised from an agricultural base. Original Hanoians account for only 15-20%. The rest come from other areas, from the countryside and from the war. They have brought with them their rural life style to Hanoi. People raise chickens and pigs as if they were in the countryside. Many French villas are divided and shared by several families and cooking is done in the same room. This is the problem; but it will change as we modernise. But I wonder if the rural life style brought any thing good to the city. Perhaps it makes people look after one another - perhaps it helps combine our traditional values with today's modernisation.

THUY LINH (TRANSLATION): Hanoi lacks greenery. We can't say humans are part of nature any more. Nature has been lost in the city with its skyscrapers, apartment blocks and traffic.

SINGER: "...'Cause I need to know - I need to know! I need to know. Tell me, baby that 'cause I need to know!"

THUY LINH (TRANSLATION): In modern life people like to have their own corner where they can be away from material pleasure, from the noise of the streets in order to find themselves or to have some moments for their spiritual life. And I can't find any corner in Hanoi now. In the old days, life was stagnant and sluggish. It was impossible to be creative and there was also starvation and poverty. Therefore economic reforms had to be made. No one wants to return to the old days but the pressure of today's life is awful. And people have to pay dearly for today's abundance - sometime even with their own happiness. I often think like this. People today don't even have time for reflection. I can't imagine how people will live in the 21st century. They may get what they wish for, may have great material success but I think people will be very lonely. I don't like the Western model. For example, they say in the next few years you'll be able to live in one room with every convenience - press a button and everything will appear in front of your eyes. You won't even need to have human contact; you won't need to go to the office. I'm frightened of such a life - I couldn't bear it. If we humans don't need one another, don't need contact, we're not living a human life.

FATHER (TRANSLATION): I'd like to introduce a vice-chairman of the traditional poetry club and very enthusiastic to our club. And I'd also like to introduce poet Duong Tuyet Lan who has published two volumes and who is the daughter of the poet Duong Khue.

THUY LINH (TRANSLATION): I wonder if people are now thinking of preserving what little is left of the old Hanoi. For example, in my village the tomb of Mr Hoang Phuc Trung who established this Ngoc Ha area was demolished to make way for a new hotel. The vestige and memory of a man who served Ngoc Ha has been wiped out, so how can we educate our children about the history of the land they are living in? I think Vietnamese youth today know more about Chinese history than Vietnamese history. We shouldn't blame them - the fault lies with the older generation. We don't know how to educate them, how to bring history to them. My niece is an example. Her grandfather has written about the history of Ngoc Ha but she doesn't care about it. She doesn't read it, doesn't know about Ngoc Ha's history or what Hanoi is like.

NIECE (TRANSLATION): I like maths, physics and chemistry best. Generally speaking I don't like social subjects because I'm better with natural sciences.

THUY LINH (TRANSLATION): Don't you have just a little inspiration for literature and history?

NIECE (TRANSLATION): Literature - yes. But not history.

THUY LINH (TRANSLATION V/O): Granddad likes history and knows a lot about history. So did your grandma.

NIECE (TRANSLATION): And my brother.

THUY LINH (TRANSLATION): Yes, your brother as well. Do you know that granddad has written about the history of Ngoc Ha? Have you read it?

NIECE (TRANSLATION): Not yet.

THUY LINH (TRANSLATION): Your grandma was born in Ngoc Ha. Your father was born in Ngoc Ha. Your brother and you were born in Ngoc Ha. Do you know anything about Ngoc Ha village?

NIECE (TRANSLATION): Yes but very little.

THUY LINH (TRANSLATION): How little? Tell me.

NIECE (TRANSLATION): I don't know...

THUY LINH (TRANSLATION): Tell me how much you know about Ngoc Ha village. So will young people love Hanoi enough to bring better things to it when they're armed with such little knowledge and understanding of the place they are living in? Will they think of preserving Hanoi's identity? That is a concern, a worry as we look to the future and rely on the young generation. When is Hanoi most beautiful?

CHAU (TRANSLATION): In winter.

THUY LINH (TRANSLATION): But during the day, when is it most beautiful?

CHAU (TRANSLATION): Midnight - like this.

THUY LINH (TRANSLATION): Hanoians have always enjoyed going out at night. Our grandfathers used to go to a cabaret till one or two o'clock in the morning. Then they had chicken soup or strolled around before they went home. I've never imagined Hanoi as a woman. People always compare Hanoi with a girl but I think of it as a man. That man could wear an elegant suit, a handkerchief in his pocket, a felt hat on his head when it's neither rainy nor sunny, carry a walking stick. It means he has a lot of unnecessary things but without them, it wouldn't be him.

CHAU (TRANSLATION): He's so old fashioned!

THUY LINH (TRANSLATION): To me, there's only one Ngoc Ha and one Hanoi. That Hanoi, that Ngoc Ha can't be defined in space or time but can only be felt by love and in the heart. I believe if the Hanoian spirit still lives on in some people, Hanoi will be preserved and will survive.

COMM: If you'd like to discuss the issues in this programme, why not join our current online debate on the Lifeonline website. This week's topic will be on how cityies can play a major role in a sustainable future and what's stopping them.

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