“Whoever comes to Ba Ren visits the pig market. Eye-catching, fun to talk about”
The “unique” Ba Ren pig market has entered Quang Nam folk songs like that. The market is located on Highway 1A, about 40 km from Da Nang City and also many kilometers from the ancient town of Hoi An – a famous destination on the world tourism map.
Choose a beautiful sunny day Before the Lunar New Year 2019, we went to Ba Ren pig market as soon as the sun came up. At 7am, the pig market was bustling with hundreds of sellers, buyers and thousands of pigs of all kinds with the characteristic bustling “ec ec” sound.
Ba Ren Pig Market is a place that supplies piglets to farmers throughout Quang Nam and neighboring provinces. .
< figure class=”image” contenteditable=”false”>
Ba Ren pig market opens from 7am to 9am every day.
To keep up with the early market from 3-4 am, pig drivers went to every house in every village in Que Son and neighboring districts such as Duy Xuyen, Dien Ban, Dai Loc, to choose the healthiest and most beautiful pigs to sell to the market.</p >
Mr. Nguyen Ho – a pig driver who has been attached to Ba Ren market for more than 20 years said cheerfully: “On a sunny day, coming to the pig market is the most crowded. A few days ago, it rained all week and the market was empty all week because of the cold rain. People were afraid that the pigs wouldn’t be able to stand the humid weather, so they didn’t let them go to the market. In this sunny day, the pigs will go to the market freely!”.
Ba Ren pig market has both meat pigs and piglets for people to buy and raise. Mr. Pham Cu – Director of Ba Ren pig market said: “Ba Ren pig market existed before liberation (the liberation of the old Quang Nam – Da Nang province at the end of March 1975). About 5 years ago, the market was renovated to make it brighter. Before, the market had been very dilapidated for many years. The market usually opens in the early morning from 7am to 9am. In the past, there were only sellers and buyers. Now sometimes there are tourists who hear about the “unique” Ba Ren pig market and come to experience it and they enjoy it very much.
The market director “Had more than half of my life,” the pig market manager said: “My task is to count the number of pigs entering and leaving the market every day. From a few hundred pigs to thousands of pigs per day depending on the day. The sellers and buyers here almost know each other. So this market also has the unique feature of buying pigs with a warranty. With a reputable agreement, even without any written documents between the buyer and the seller, if a pig is bought and raised for about 5-7 days and finds that the pig is not healthy or has signs of illness, it will be brought out. The market returns the seller is willing to take it back and exchange it for another pig.”
Interesting job of holding a pig
Also from the “one of a kind” pig market hai” in Quang Nam, there is another very interesting job, which is pig handling. At the market, there are always nearly ten people on duty holding pigs, mainly women. In addition to carrying pigs into and out of the market for the pig drivers, the women also carry the pigs to weigh them. Because if the pigs have a large weight, if they are put in a basket to gain weight, the pigs will struggle and get weighed incorrectly. Even the pigs will run away and catch them again, which is very difficult. So someone must hold the pig completely and stand it on the scale. Just subtract the weight of the person holding the pig to know the weight of the pig. So what the whole market knows best is… the weight of the ladies holding pigs.
Ms. Tran Thi Thao holds a pig and weighs it. She has worked as a pig handler at Ba Ren market for 30 years
55 year old Ms. Tran Thi Thao has worked as a pig handler at Ba Ren market for 30 years. Going around the market and asking everyone, everyone knows that Ms. Thao weighs 43 kg. Ms. Thao said: “The people at the market know everything about how much weight I gain or lose. For each round of carrying a pig to stand at a scale like that, I get paid 2,000 VND. Carrying the pig in and out of the market for driving the pig is 500 – 1,000 VND/head. Every day, carrying pigs in and out and carrying pigs to weigh them at the market from 7am to 9am continuously, I earn 50-70 thousand VND. On busy market days like the days in December leading up to Tet, there are days when you can earn 100,000 VND. After the market, I work extra this and that to take care of my family.”
Thao’s hometown is far in the North. She followed her husband to Que Son, Quang Nam as a bride and has followed this profession to make a living for more than 30 years. Her husband passed away early when the children were young, but she still stayed in her husband’s hometown to earn a living at the pig market and raise her two children. The sincere love of the Quang people, the sellers and the buyers, and the sisters who work together to handle pigs at the market, is what makes Thao stick with Ba Ren market.
The pig breeds at the market are very diverse.
“People here ( People from Quang Nam) but people in the market, they talk like that but are straightforward and honest, living a very meaningful life. My family passed away early, and my children and I still rely on our husband’s hometown and live in the love of neighbors, in the love of people sharing each other’s lives at the market. And even though the job of holding pigs is very difficult, “I earn thousands of dong in sweat and tears”, but I am always grateful that thanks to Ba Ren market, thanks to the job of holding pigs, I have a livelihood to take care of raising my children to become good people” – Ms. Thao confide.
Someone once said that when you go to a certain land, you must go to the local market to understand the land and people there. At Ba Ren pig market, we actually experienced this. Through many years of change and change, the small market still buzzes every morning on the North-South highway across Quang. Living life” with the market is the story of people whose professions are closely associated with the market, from the foreman, the pig driver, to the pig-carrying lady. To visit Ba Ren pig market once, you will feel the beauty of daily life culture that is both pure in the authenticity of the countryside market and unique and interesting in that the whole market only buys and sells one item, which is the “Bat Gioi” in Quang Nam. .
Khanh Hien
</p >”
