Ho Chi Minh City Book Street: Waiting for a separate mechanism for cultural space

For nearly 10 years, despite many difficult times, Ho Chi Minh City Book Street has maintained a pioneering role in the book street model nationwide, in terms of revenue, number of events and visitors. However, recently, the number of visitors here has suddenly decreased sharply, and the main reason comes from factors outside the book street.

Many difficulties

During its operation, Ho Chi Minh City Book Street has repeatedly experienced a decline in the number of visitors due to factors related to professional activities. Thanks to timely adjustments, the number of visitors to the book street has recovered and increased. However, this decline is beyond the capacity of Ho Chi Minh City Book Street Company Limited (the unit assigned to manage the book street) and is considered to pose a serious threat to the operation of this place.

The reason started when the parking lot on the sidewalk of Hai Ba Trung Street (from the beginning of the Book Street to Nguyen Du Street), which was previously used to serve readers and tourists coming to Ho Chi Minh City Book Street, was forced to stop operating because the owner of the frontage of this area expanded its business. This led to the fact that Ho Chi Minh City Book Street no longer has a parking area dedicated to readers.

Although we have temporarily solved this problem by instructing readers to park their vehicles in nearby parking lots, because this is a central area, parking lots are often overloaded and rarely accept vehicles from outside. Some parking lots of shopping centers are quite far away, which is very inconvenient for readers.

The consequences of this situation are very clear, according to Mr. Le Hoang, Director of Ho Chi Minh City Book Street Company Limited, the number of visitors to the book street after August 1, when the parking lot stopped operating, has decreased sharply. Cultural activities such as book launches, author and work exchanges, exhibitions, etc., the number of visitors is less than half of what it was before.

“We have submitted a report to the People's Committee of Saigon Ward, hoping to be considered for permission for Ho Chi Minh City Book Street to organize a new parking lot on the sidewalk of Hai Ba Trung Street, the location extending from the corner of Hai Ba Trung Street - Le Duan Street to the beginning of the book street - currently the wall of agency T41”, said Mr. Le Hoang.

Children's playground at Ho Chi Minh City Book Street may have to stop operating

Not only the parking problem, the activities inside the Ho Chi Minh City Book Street are also significantly affected when the Ho Chi Minh City Post Office (the unit with premises adjacent to the book street) is advertising for rent the area facing the book street. If the post office project comes into operation, a series of typical spaces of the Ho Chi Minh City Book Street such as Stage Area B, Free Foreign Language Reading Space, Area introducing the list of books supporting teaching and learning in schools and especially the Children's Play Area will face the possibility of having to stop operating.

Stories from Vung Tau Book Street

Until now, many people still express regret when Vung Tau Book Street had to stop operating in 2023 after 5 years of piloting. Objectively, Vung Tau Book Street has many factors to develop such as the location is considered the most beautiful compared to all book streets in the country; has the participation of leading publishing units; has a stable source of customers...

However, Vung Tau Book Street was forced to stop operating after 5 years because the enterprise was the investor and the book street project was not on the list of investment incentives, so it was forced to pay land rent. Because the legal mechanism is unclear, there are no preferential policies for enterprises investing in the cultural field, so the attraction and reinvestment of units is limited.

Photo book launch program of photographer Nguyen A at Ho Chi Minh City Book Street

The problem of Ho Chi Minh City Book Street is not the loss of parking space or the impact on the operating space. Because if the book street is considered a purely economic unit, then that is normal. But the book street is an important cultural space in a civilized, modern city, contributing to the community in developing people's knowledge, developing and spreading the reading culture.

Dr. Quach Thu Nguyet, former Director of Tre Publishing House - former Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Book Street Company Limited, expressed: "In my opinion, there needs to be a specific mechanism for the Ho Chi Minh City Book Street model in particular and the book street in the country in general, such as recognizing the book street as a public cultural space, a part of urban cultural infrastructure equivalent to parks, squares, theaters..., from which we can have the right responses to the function and value of a cultural model that is contributing to improving the community's knowledge."

In its first year of operation, Ho Chi Minh City Book Street was recognized as one of the city's 10 outstanding events. In 2024, Ho Chi Minh City Book Street was recognized as one of the 50 attractive tourist destinations of Ho Chi Minh City and 13 provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta. This place also often hosts major events of the city in particular and the country in general such as the Tet Book Festival, Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day, etc.

HO SON

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/duong-sach-tphcm-cho-co-che-rieng-cho-khong-gian-van-hoa-post809207.html