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Playing “Bai Choi” in Hoi An
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| [Ligne directrice - Note] Note du photographe |
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Since becoming a World Heritage Site in 1999, the ancient city of Hoi An has been staging bài cḥi game during its famous Full Moon Night Festival, held on the 14th day every lunar month and sometimes on Saturday evenings. Bài cḥi ("in-hut card game" or "tower of cards") is a typical Vietnamese cultural game or sort of amusement that attracts people of all ages of any social segment.
In bài cḥi, players sit inside 10 makeshift thatched huts (cḥi) on stilts in the middle of a rice field or communal house yard around a central tower. 60 cards divided into 30 pairs are placed in a bamboo pipe located in the central tower, under the management of the nhà cái (banker). Each card — a bamboo stick — is assigned the name of a chess piece and players will select the type of card they want to buy. After paying a small fee players each climb to a hut of their own with three cards.
After distributes all the cards, the banker has a long beating of drums, draws the first card from the bamboo pipe to start the game. Standing on the central tower a hiệu (speaker) loudly reads or sings luc bat poems (6, 8) to describe the card the banker has just drawn and passed on, to guide the play. The speaker — traditionally wearing áo dài and a turban or conical hat as in this picture — also acts as MC to improvise interesting and funny verses to hint the description of the card so that players can figure out which one. When a player has a card that matches the one announced by the banker, the speaker beats his drum to announce the winner. The banker brings the called-out card to the player’s hut to compare and makes the winning pair, then exchange the pair with a yellow flag. Whoever gains three consecutive yellow flags gets a red flag and wins.
The winners are usually rewarded with bamboo-framed lanterns coated with silk — a specialty of Hoi An — or souvenirs from other regions.
History and origin of bài cḥi are unknown. Rumour has that the game was played during every Spring Festival in ThuaThien-Hue Province some 400 years ago. Then it lost its popularity and was almost forgotten until recently when the former capital of Hue and the ancient town Hoi An were recognized by UNESCO as world cultural heritage sites.
Currently, bài cḥi is regularly played in Hoi An and in Thanh Toàn Village near Hue. But it may be played in other areas that I don't know of. Please give the info or links so I can update. Thanks.
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FermentedOwl, TRASH, nicol_g, Sue77584 trouve(nt) cette note utile
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| A Flamboyant: I am glad... | ngythanh |
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05-14 18:10 |
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- TRASH
![Gold Star Critiquer [C: 199 W: 0 N: 0]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/g-n-n.gif)
(0) - [2007-05-13 10:01]
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Besides playing "Bài Cḥi" in public in certain occasions like Lunar New Year or big festivals, this game can be played in smaller size among family members with a set of cards at about 1" x 4" size printed on thick paper.
I still remember during the '60s in Hue, my grandmother used to invite her friends to come over to join, and they spent several hours playing this game while sitting over a set of planks covered by a straw mat.
Thanks for the info.
Regards,
Totally unknown to me, this game - sounds really nice! The speaker seems to have the most challenging task here as I suppose creativity is required for his job.
Really interesting to see some traditions are brought back to life.
Thank you.
Your "small" picture contributes a big effort into the revival of this tradition game.
This photo alone is worth your trip to the UNESCO's world cultural heritage site. I believe travelers to Hoi An who missed the monthly chance to participate into this traditional entertaiment would be happy to take notes on your statement of the game process.
Thank you and nest wishes, Mr. Thanh.
Regards,
Your posting regarding "Bài Cḥi" is helpful, but I think there are more researches to be done.
I know we are not scholars on the field of social, culture or tradition, but the more we can contribute or discuss, the better. In this spirit, I am referring another hint that suggests there was a similar game has been mentioned in the article "Bài Cḥi in B́nh Định Province". If this is another side of the game history, you may want to quote or translate for those who are interested.
Thank you for this picture and notes.
Regards,
PVy
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 501 W: 135 N: 2283]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/g-g-g.gif){kind=small}
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 324 W: 4 N: 164]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/g-n-g.gif)
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