The Perfume River

The clean and fresh water of the Perfume River flashes back in my mind now and then and this makes me to wishing that I could fly back to meet the River. For me the Perfume River is the most beautiful thing in Hue City and I expressed this thought in the following lines.

Hue City has many quarters
In the well-known Citadel
The streets are lined with “Mu U” trees
But, most beautiful thing in Hue City
It is the Perfume River
When clouds knot with evening smoke
Stirring the visitors’ hearts
The Perfume River flows
Carries the moon in its water
Far away
I have always missed you
My Perfume River

I was lucky to live near to the Perfume River during the early years of my life, from 1954 to 1966. Through opportunities and chances, I found out that the Perfume River changes with time in a year as well as with places along its course.

The Perfume River at Different Times

The Perfume River has the habit to change with time in a year. From December to February, when it is cold and rains drizzles day after day in Hue City, the River’s water is frigid. The space between the sky and the River is disappearing. During these winter months, the drizzles add to the bitterness and the cold. Sitting on the River’s bank in late winter afternoons, one would feel the chilly winds touch the marrow of his bone. On a branch of the fig tree (cây sung or Ficus racemosa) a group of magpies with black feather, yellow feet look at their images in the lazily running River and twitter a sad song.

Starting in March, it would rain less and less in Hue City, while the sun shines in the sky more frequently to warm up the earth. The water of the Perfume River would become warmer and clearer. In early morning, a blanket of fog descended on the River’s surface, blurring the dividing lines between its banks and its surface as well as those between its surface and the sky. When sun rises, the fog would gradually disappear to show the sleepy face of the River.

In April, the higher temperature of spring season begins to promote the re-growth of plants, trees, especially the grasses on the tombs in Thua Thien Province. People would then busy visiting the tombs of their loved ones and cleaning the weeds and repairing the damages and the water of the Perfume River becomes clearer and warmer. In moonlit evenings of late April and early May, the River would be as beautiful and full as a maiden at her blossoming years. Across the western branch of the River and on the sandy strand at the end of the Hen Islands, glutinous maize plants bear new cobs and spread their sweet smell over the surface of the River.

It would gradually grow warmer and warmer in May and gradually, it would turn from warm to real hot with the western winds from Laos that carries the heat after passing the bare hills and mountains in the Truong Son Chain. The hot summer air and the sunshine make one’s skin bloated, swollen and darkened. People in Hue City would hide under shades of trees or go to rivers, lakes, or sea. The flame trees on both banks of the Perfume River and along the main avenues of Hue City bear bunches and bunches of red flowers. The water of the Perfume River becomes clearer and has a greenish color that reflects the steaming red flame flowers under the bright sun.

In the hot summer days of the 1950s and 1960s, the Perfume River was the swimming ground for young boys, especially after a game of soccer. Diving into the heart of the River in a summer afternoon, one would see the green-river grasses that grow at its bottom waving and a group of small fish were chewing and spewing out the grains of white sand. The water in the lower part of the Perfume River would become salty in late May and early June because of the intrusion of water from the sea. In some afternoons of those days, a fisherman on the Perfume River would return with prize catches such as the precious marine-water gudgeon and silver-grunt, which make the meals tasty and good.

Towards the end of June, rain would suddenly drop from passing clouds to the Perfume River’s surface and then rain would stop without any warning. Then the tropical showers come and become more violent and intense as time advances toward July. The River is normally calm and peaceful in June, but sometimes, it may turn turbulent and rowdy. The combination of high humidity and stifling heat make it unbearable in Hue City and the Perfume River would be busy in late June and early July. Day and night, people went to the River to bathe, to sit on its banks or to ride in boats in order to get the cool air from its water. Young children would bathe two to three times in a day. They enjoyed swimming and playing in the cool, fresh and clear water of the Perfume River. Then the rain would become more regular and lasted longer but less violent bringing down the temperature and providing freshness in the atmosphere. But occasionally there would be heavy rains that last several days.

The Perfume River was neither large nor deep so that heavy and continuous rains would cause the River to rapidly swell up and overflow its banks. People in Hue City says - Water jumps over the River’s banks in July. The River’s flow would run very fast and its water became more turbid, carrying in it the alluvial soils from the hills and mountains in the Truong Son Chain, branches of fallen trees, grasses and other items. Between August and November every year, rain and tropical storms would cause about a dozen of floods in Hue City. The Perfume River would be lively during the Full Moon Festival in the middle of September when the sky is clear in the evening and the moon is fullest. In those nights, while running in between the boats, the River heartily laughs along when children set paper boats, lanterns with candles to float on her surface during the Full Moon Festival.

The Perfume River at Different Places

The Perfume River is not long. It is only about seventy kilometers long from its sources in the mountains of the Vietnamese Range (or Day Truong Son) to its mouth at the East (or South China) Sea. However, the Perfume River has many turns and twists along its course. Every part of the River has its own beauty, special features, history and story to tell visitors. After its two main branches merged at about three kilometers from Hue City, the Perfume River begins to run its course and divides Hue City into two sections: Northern section (or left section or Ta Ngan in Vietnamese) and Southern section (or right section or Huu Ngan in Vietnamese).

The first section of the River runs through a series of mountains and hills which housed the temples, pagodas, and tombs of Nguyen’s royal families as well as fields of rice, maize, sweet potatoes, cassava, other crops, orchards of various fruits trees and flower gardens. There were different stories about to the name of the River, but the good smell and the fragrances from the wide range of food crops, fruit trees and flowers in the fields, orchards and gardens on both banks of the River at this section would warrant its name - the Perfume River.

The famous Thien Mu Pagoda, a historical and scenic landmark of Hue City, is in this first section of the Perfume River. On one calm and clear-sky spring morning, thousands of tiny waves on the surface of the River at this section would carry with them the sound of from Thien Mu Bell, the song of the birds and the shining sun rays to distant villages on both banks of the River. Sitting in a boat at the middle of the River at this section in one early evening, one could see the sun moved up from the surface of the River’s water to the top of the rows of trees along the River’s banks and then to the top of Ngu Mountain. Then, when the evening arrived, one would feel the soft waves in this part of the River tenderly rocked the boat and there are thousands and thousands of golden moon flakes floating on top of the silvery waves when they rush to the River’s banks.

After Thien Mu, the Perfume River enters Hue City after passing the Gia Vien Bridge, which was built for trains to cross the River. The next major bridge over the Perfume River in 1960s was the Truong Tien Bridge. At this section, the two principal senior high schools of Hue City – the Quoc Hoc for boys and the Dong Khanh for girls – were on the right side of the River or Huu Ngan, while the Imperial City of the Nguyen Dynasty or Thanh Noi District is on the left side of the River or Ta Ngan.

In the old days, the Perfume River shared the happiness and the joy of many families once a year when kings announced the new officers and laurels at Phu Van Lau or the Gate of Literature. At the end of the Nguyen Dynasty, a prince left the Imperial City and disguised as a fisherman on the River. Afternoon after afternoon he would pretend to fish in front of Phu Van Lau and wait for comrades to discuss plans and schemes to liberate the country from French colonial regime. Mothers in Hue could be heard singing below lullaby while rocking their children to sleep.

In front of Phu Van Lau,
There was a man,
Who fished, who waited, who recalled the past
With full of affection

The Perfume River continues its course and passes the Truong Tien Bridge, which was the main blood vessel of Hue City connecting daily the lives on both banks of the River in the 1960s. The Truong Tien Bridge has six arches and 12 spans. The beauty of the Perfume River would be greatly diminished without this Bridge. In a sunny afternoon, the Bridge would be very attractive when troupes of ladies are pedaling and passing it on the way to their home; their “ao dai” in different colors such as white, light blue, light pink, light green float and waves in the air as wings of colorful butterflies. The Bridge had been a place for boys to meet girls and for women to meet men. A popular folk song had the following lines:

Truong Tien Bridge has 6 arches and 12 spans.
If you still remember, please hurry to pass it before the evening falls.

The next major landmark on the Perfume River is the Hen Island, which was not very far from the Truong Tien Bridge. The River is divided into two streams at this place; the right branch or Huu Ngan and the left branch or Ta Ngan. A small dam, the Dap Da, was built to block the Perfume River from wandering out from its two branches and was part of the road that connected Hue City to the East Sea. Between Hen Island and Truong Tien Bridge and on the left bank of the Perfume River is the business center of Hue City, where there is the Dong Ba Market - the main market of Hue City.

In 1960s, boats of different sizes and shapes landed at the Dong Ba Market section every day, after their arrival from different points in Thua Thien Province. People would unload fruits, vegetables, rice, maize, cassava, pots, fish-sauces, chicken, pigs and other items from the boats. Then they would reload the boats with clothes, shoes, candies, toys and other items that could be found in Dong Ba Market for the boats to bring to markets in distant locations in Thua Thien Province. People noisily talked, discussed, and bargained prices. They bustled, walked, and ran in different directions from early morning to late afternoon.

Next to the Dong Ba Market is the Gia Hoi Bridge, linking the center of Hue City with the Ta Ngan District. Thousands or even tens of thousands of boats could be found on the Perfume River. Many families have lived in boats at this section of the River generation after generation. In the old days, good and foods were sold in boats and market activities were on land during the days, but they were on the River during the nights. Travelers, visitors, and artists in early 1960s could rent a boat next to Dong Ba Market to row and enjoy the beauty of the Perfume River, the landscape and the magnificent scenery of Hue City. The boats floating on the River at this section of the Perfume River provided ideal places for friends and colleagues to discuss art and literature, to sing songs, to recite poems and to share happy moments. Under the clear and bright moon, the Perfume River would be smiling with its waves and delight to listen to songs being sung and poems being recited by artists and their friends.

On the darker side, boats at the section of Perfume River near to Dong Ba Market were also being used for earthy pleasures. During the height of the Vietnam War between 1963 and 1966, many sad stories had happened in the boats that anchored in this section of the Perfume River and the number of sad stories grew with the growing intensity of the War. Children lost their fathers, wives lost their husbands, and parents lost their sons. People were pushed away from villages and districts of Thua Thien Province so they lost their means of earning a livelihood and crowded themselves in Hue City. Many of them were forced to sell their bodies just to live. The surface of the Perfume River was listless when it was filled with the sobs and the tear drops of young women after their customers left them late in the nights. The River would keep these sadness and grief in its heart, hiding them deep in its stomach, in its soul but would show nothing on its face.

In the old times, there were many places along the Perfume River where people could find boats to cross from one bank to another bank. Most of the boats that cross the River daily in early 1960s were operated for a small fee and were manually rowed by a woman or a man. The two branched of Perfume River merges at about Cho Dinh Market, which is on its left bank - Cho Dinh Market was famous for the fresh betel leaves that were being sold. After crossing the River at Cho Dinh Market one would reach the Nam Pho, which was famous by its areca nut. Chewing betel leaves with areca nuts was a habit of many parents and people in Hue City.

Not far from Cho Dinh Market, the Perfume River left Hue City and continued its course toward Bao Vinh and finally its destination at the East Sea. The people in Thua Thien Province would say:

From mountain rivers run to the sea, but never in the opposite direction, as rain would drop from sky to earth, as understanding and protection would pass from parent to their children.

That is the way the Perfume River would run its course day after day, year after year!