VietNamNet Bridge – The recent exhibition of ornamental trees and animals held in the Hanoi Museum to celebrate the city’s 1000^th anniversary gathered the most unique and expensive ornamental trees in Vietnam.

This was a rare chance to view the most unique ornamental trees from around Vietnam, which are typically worth millions of US dollars. The visitors could also find out more about their owners, most of them rather eccentric characters.

VietNamNet Bridge’s Kien Trung discovered the story of one of the most famous ornamental tree in Vietnam, called “mam xoi con ga” (which literally means “A tray of steamed glutinous rice and a chicken”).

There are many legends about this ancient sanh tree, which is owned by Nam Thanh, a gold and gemstone trader in the midland city of Viet Tri, Phu Tho province. The tree, worth millions of US dollars, is believe to be the most expensive of its kind in the whole country.

A Google search for “mam xoi con ga” tree,  returns millions of results within several seconds.

Nam Thanh bought the tree from a Hanoi man, by pure chance. That was ten years ago and at that time, he paid the price equivalent to that of a Rolls-Royce (over $300,000).

Once Thanh displayed this masterpiece at an outdoor exhibition, curious people flocked to the street to see the beautiful tree, causing gridlocks in Viet Tri city.

Another time, an ornamental tree fan in HCM City flew all the way from HCM City to Hanoi and then from the Noi Bai Airport caught a cab to go to Viet Tri to see the tree and ask Nam Thanh’s permission to take a photo with it.

Two years ago, a group of Chinese ornamental tree collectors went to Viet Tri especially to admire the “mam xoi con ga” tree.

Several years ago, experts assessed that the tree was worth $4 million. The current price must be much higher.

Nam Thanh said he received numerous phone calls from unknown people asking about his tree.

Why is this tree so unique? Because in the whole Vietnam, there is only one sanh tree like it. Experts said it is a masterpiece, an ornamental tree perfect in every detail.

Thanh said that he paid billions of dong for the tree’s maintenance and transport to  variousexhibitions around the country. Last year he paid thousands of US dollars to make a new basin for the tree.

According to Thanh, “mam xoi con ga” is a simple name but it conveys the aspiration for a comfortable life in Vietnamese style.

Thanh said that it took 20 years just to nurture a root of the tree, which drops from a branch to the basin bed to make the shape of a “chicken neck”.

He also said that he is going to cast a bronze tank to place the tree inside. That will cost him at least 2 billion dong ($100,000).

The tree’s history

Not long ago, the story about the tree’s origin evoked considerable excitement among the Vietnamese community of fans and collectors of ornamental trees. Before 1996, the tree was the asset of the Pham family in Ngo Sai village, from the Sai Son commune in Quoc Oai district, Ha Tay province (now merged into Hanoi).

Nobody noticed this ancient sanh tree growing on the gate of Ngo Sai village. In the early 19^th century, the village elders cut it down from the gate. A man in the Pham family then took it home and planted in a basin, next to a rock-work. The man trimmed its leaves and branches so that it took the shape of a tray with food, as the symbol of his wish for a prosperous life.

After his death, the tree became part of his children’s inheritance. As the tree was a shared property of the Pham family, it was kept in turn by each family for 3-4 months.

Then in August 1996, Mr. Pham Van Tinh became the sole owner of the tree. He sold the tree to a painter named Cuong, a famous ornamental tree collector.

Cuong further explained the name “mam xoi con gai”: “Many people think that this name is very hummon but in fact, its meaning is very deep, as it shows the dream of Vietnamese people in the old days: of having big feast during holiday, a tray of steamed glutinous rice with a boiled chicken to offer for the ancestors and for the family to enjoy.”

Cuong took care of the tree and maintained its shape for eight years, in order to turn it into a piece of art, before selling it to a man named Nguyen Van Quy in Hanoi. Quy then sold the tree to Nam Thanh, the current owner.

But it was long before that that “mam xoi con ga” has become famous.

Besides this tree, Thanh has a dozen of valuable trees, which together are worth hundreds of billion dong (dozens of million US dollars).

Kien Trung