The local language has a saying "Sell with friends, sell with wards", but in the midst of the whirlwind of the market economy, when old values are fading away, traditional professions have few friends left, and there are wards left. Among the 36 glorious streets of Hanoi at one time, perhaps Lan Ong is a rare place where almost the entire street still does business in the same traditional product. The hundred-year-old Eastern medicine profession on this street is being passed down to the next generations.
Ms. Bui Thi Han (born in 1992) is currently selling Bac drugs at 36 Lan Ong Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi. Initially, the store belonged to her husband's family, and now the pharmaceutical profession has been passed down to the third generation. Currently, Ms. Han and her husband are taking over the project together.
Ms. Han and her husband both study Traditional Medicine. The family does not care about passing on the profession to their son, now their daughter, and daughter-in-law.
My mother-in-law is always willing to instruct and teach special family remedies, from traditional medicine to private secrets, as long as the children are passionate and really want to learn, she said.
This house on Lan Ong street has been with her family for decades, and the number of customers is stable. Many regular customers from the generation of Ms. Han's parents-in-law and children later also came to visit and get medicine.
She added that not only regular customers from many years but also customers from other provinces or even foreign tourists come to her because of "the good news from afar".
In her husband's family business, Ms. Han has always enthusiastically supported the next generation. The pharmacy also has "brokers" who are studying at traditional medicine schools coming to learn a trade or learn a trade for a while to gain more experience, opening their own North drug business in other localities.
Although the store's revenue is not as much as Western medicine, Ms. Han and her husband believe that "if they live to the fullest, this job will still help them have a good life and comfortable expenses".
To follow this profession, doctors need to take exams to schools that train doctors, pharmacists, and traditional medicine doctors. Then, it is necessary to be meticulous and patient in the learning process, because there are hundreds, thousands of different prescriptions that doctors have to prescribe to ensure the health of users.
In modern life, the North medicine still has a place. Bac Medicine is popular because there are some diseases that Traditional Medicine will treat better, such as emphysema. Each disease is diagnosed and treated well, and will achieve very high efficiency, said Ms. Han.
Visitors to Lan Ong Street today can learn about traditional Chinese medicine, experience catching mach, boiling medicine... In addition, don't miss the opportunity to visit Phuc Kien Quan Association, a relic located at house number 40. The restaurant association was built around 1917, associated with the spiritual life of the overseas Chinese community of Phuc Kien who settled in Hanoi's Old Quarter.
Lan Ong Street was originally called Phuc Kien, because it was home to a large concentration of Chinese people from Phuc Kien province. They brought the Northern medicine to start a business and live in harmony with the local residents. Over time, Phuc Kien street became a street specializing in the sale of Chinese medicine and Chinese medicine, traditional medicine, brought by the people of Da Nguu village (Tan Tien commune, Van Giang district, Hung Yen province).
In 1949, Phuc Kien Street was renamed Lan Ong - the name of famous physician Hai Thuong Lan Ong, who was honored as the founder of Dong Nam Pharmacy. After 1979, when Chinese families returned home one by one, the remaining families continued to do business in Southeast medicine - a traditional medicine of the Vietnamese people until today.
