These days, the sun over Vạn Kiếp pours down like fire. Across the site, the fine dust rising from the broken bricks thickens in the harsh light into hanging streaks of brightness, veiling the old belongings left behind and the shadows of the excavators still at work.
Vạn Kiếp means “ten thousand lifetimes”. In May 2026, the houses on this street by the Red River came down to make way for the Trần Hưng Đạo Bridge, which will link the old centre of Hanoi with Long Biên across the river.
“The noise never stops, and the dust gets into everything. We have lived here sixty, seventy years. These are memories we will never forget.”
