Ha Giang Yen Minh Faggots

Group of women in yard wearing black and red clothes with bundles of wood.

Women, from the nearby villages, gather each morning in the town of Yên Minh (the district capital) to sell wood for cooking fires In the town of Yên Minh, in Hà Giang Province, northern Vietnam, there is a brisk market for firewood as many domestic kitchens use wood for cooking. Women bring immaculately tied bundles of wood here each morning. These women are the main focus of this page together with some photos from just outside the market where other sales make use of the activity. The central section of the page has photos of the women seeing themselves on camera for the first time. I hope their delight is conveyed in some photos which badly lack quality but may suggest the pleasure being felt. Women among faggots.

The extraordinarily neatly tied faggots range from kindling to virtual logs Women sitting on beam.

Mostly there are no sales - social life is the reward, but the women are not as... Four men at low table by rough tarpaulins.

...economically inactive as their male counterparts who sit just outside the market drinking tea and smoking Two men one looking at camera with hand on others shoulder.

Two men one looking at camera with hand on others shoulder.

Other men watch, or watch the photographer Woman sitting by faggot, another standing.

There are some half a million Dao people in Vietnam, they came to the country from China about 700 years ago and many, as in this case, still live near the Chinese border. Ethnically they are related to the H'mong people Two women sitting looking either way.

The word is pronounced nearer to the sound of 'Zao'. The various sub-groups include: Money Dao (adorned with coins), white Dao and long tunic-ed Dao - from their clothes. The women in these photos are Red Dao Portrait of woman looking down.

Time between sales Woman leaning over and looking at camera back.

One woman looking at camera back another looking at me.

One woman looking at camera back another at me.

Here, Hân is showing a group of women photos he has taken of them.
Few of these women had seen instant photographs of themselves. Man showing back of camera to two women.

Man showing back of camera to two women.

When life is so laborious... Three women carrying bundles of wood walking out into street.

Lugging the unsold faggots away Woman smiling delightfully.

...diversions are most welcome Three women carrying bundles of wood walking down the street.

Presumably they are taken back to the village to be returned
to the market the next day Two men looking at jewellery in woman's hand.

Jewellery being examined for sale Horse being led down street.

Horses are employed here, an unusual sight in Vietnam Woman with large head cloth examining fabric.

Local women's costume demands textiles Woman looking at vegetables in front of sellers on ground.

And everywhere vegetables dominate markets Woman in long blue overshirt looking at vegetables.

Woman in long blue overshirt arranging vegetables.

These woman have neither the fancy textiles nor the red and black of women seen higher up this page, but the long tunic probably indicates that both the buyer and the seller of the vegetables, belong to another Dao sub-group the Dao Aó dài (long shirt Dao). This small street market is attended by three groups whose ethnic identities are underlined by their strikingly different costumes.

Trailers... Four women discussing a schene of wool.

The next Picture Posting page is to take you out from sales within a town to a countryside market. Bas relief of lion attacking a bull.

The next page of the Mosaic Section is to be headed 'Beautiful Amorality'.
Or go to the of the Mosaic Section. Monitors can keep the layout, which phones may need to discombobulate.

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Hà Giang - Yên Minh Faggot Sales Page five of the Hà Giang Collection

Hà Giang - Yên Minh Faggot Sales
Page five of the Hà Giang Collection