Various decoration objects are offered at the market.

In the heart of the Old Quarter in downtown Hanoi, one can find a traditionalflower market which will stay open till the last day of the lunar year(January 24).

The Hang Luoc Flower Market is located on Hang Luoc, Hang Khoai, Hang Ruoi, HangMa and Phung Hung streets in Hoan Kiem district.

The market takes place every day between 8am and 10pm, offering bonsai kumquatplants, fresh flowers, fake antiques and various other decorations.

Foreigners are interested in bonsai and paintings displayed at the site.

Handmade products of traditionalhandicraft villages, folk paintings and folk toys are also exhibited alongPhung Hung street together with folk music and calligraphy.

Themarket introduces the heritage values of the Old Quarter and surroundingareas to domestic and foreign visitors.

The traditional flower market hasbeen held in the area for the past century.

In the past, farmers from nearby Ngoc Ha,Nghi Tam, Nhat Tan and Quang Ba villages would take their bonsai trees andflowers to sell at the market, which only gathers once a year from the 15th tothe last day of the 12th lunar month.

Hanoians visit the market not only for shopping but also to enjoy spring atmosphere when the lunar new year approaches.

Only in 1947, when Hanoi was fighting against the French, did the marketnot gather. Even during the anti-US war, the market still gathered aheadof Tet (Lunar New Year) as a custom of Hanoians.

Since 2018, beside the traditional flower market, Hoan Kiem district authoritieshave hosted other festive activities on Phung Hung street, which hosts dozensof murals on the stone walls of the railway viaduct drawn by Vietnamese and Republicof Korean painters at the end of 2018, creating a cultural space for thecommunity.

The market is a reason for people to take a walk round the area.

The viaduct starts from the Phung Hung-Tran Phu crossroads and runs to Long BienTrain Station, passing through Phung Hung and Gam Cau streets. The viaduct ispart of the historic Long Bien Bridge, built from 1899-1902 by French architects.

The cultural space is part of a pedestrian zone planned to be set up along PhungHung street, which will offer various services for tourists.

Further from the city centre, Quang An flower market on Au Co street has beenfilled with peach blossoms, ochna and kumquat bonsai for nearly a month now.Flowers and bonsai trees planted from the nearby Nhat Tan Flower Village areavailable here.

On the outskirts of the city, flower villages are busy for Tet aswell.

People buy valuable "that thon" peach blossoms bonsai, which is an ancient peach blossoms genre with bright red flowers, in Nhat Tan Flower Village.

Tay Tuu ward, formerly known as Dam village, in Bac Tu Liem district, 20kmto the west of Hanoi’s centre, provides fresh flowers to Hanoi and neighbouringareas.

Chrysanthemum harvested in Tay Tuu Ward is ready to be sold around the city.

A farmer cares her violet flower in Tay Tuu Ward.

This timeof year is the biggest harvesting season for locals in Tay Tuu, where some 200ha of flowerplanting area hosts various kinds of flowers, mostly lily, chrysanthemumand roses./.VNA