Many years ago it was easy to recognize Mong villages and hamlets with traditional earthen houses, but now, many households have replaced earthen houses with modern architecture; the unique features in the traditional houses of the Mong people are gradually fading away.
Ms. Trang Thi Sang still lives in a traditional earthen house. She said that this house is 60 years old, and the new house next door is 50 years old. Although the two houses have been built for a long time and the earthen walls are cracked, Ms. Sang is always proud of the house that has been with her family for several generations. “In the past, not only my family, but most households in Sin Chai village built houses with rammed earth walls to live in. Building a house on the ground took a lot of time, but it did not cost much money because the land was available and the villagers helped each other. Along with the house, there was also a kitchen and a buffalo pen with rammed earth walls. Living in a house on the ground was very warm in winter and cool in summer. However, now in the village, only my family and a few households still live in houses on the ground, the villagers have switched to building houses with bricks.”
Mr. Thao A Cho shared, “My family built this house more than 40 years ago. At that time, to build the house, many villagers came to help. My family slaughtered 5 pigs to invite the villagers. However, the house had been built for a long time, the pillars and beams were all broken, the yin-yang tiled roof was also leaking, so I demolished the earthen house to build a new one. I feel very sorry, but in the village, almost all the villagers have built houses, so I have to build too.”
Ms. Giang Thi Sua confided: “I was born and raised in a Mong village. In the past, Mong people in the village lived in mud houses, but now there are very few mud houses left. I feel regretful, because if there are no more mud houses in the future, it means that a part of the Mong ethnic identity will be lost. I hope that the villagers will preserve the mud houses so that future generations will know the traditional house identity of the ethnic group.”
With the determination to preserve the value of local cultural identity, Sin Cheng commune promotes raising people’s awareness in preserving cultural identity, associated with developing community tourism; using capital from the national target program, supporting people to preserve traditional house architecture.
Coming to Sin Cheng commune, people who are passionate about the ethnic cultural identity feel many emotions in their hearts. Looking at the changing village with many newly built, spacious and modern houses, we are happy with the joy of the people here about a new life. But we also worry and reflect that when the material living conditions are improved, the traditional identity and unique features of the ethnic group gradually change. If there is no effective solution, in the near future, the traditional earthen houses of the Mong people here will only exist in photos and documentary films. The next generation of Mong people here will no longer recognize their own village with the traditional earthen houses as their ancestors used to live.
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