I. Artistic vestiges
The oldest building at Hoi An is Chuc Thanh Temple, built at Cam Ha village in 1454 by a Chinese monk from Fujian. Because it isn't near any waterway, we can suppose that its construction had nothing to do with the later emergence of Hoi An. In the subsequent centuries, however, the temple must have played an important role in spiritual life of merchants in Hoi An. Vestiges of the 17th century are more numerous. There is a stele at the tomb of a Japanese who was called, in Vietnamese, Khao Van Hau Cu Tuc Quan. The stele, erected in 1629, is rather plain in design. On the top is carved a sun in the free style which was then very popular in North Vietnam. There is also "Japanese Bridge" which is more an act of landscaping than a utilitarian construction. East of the bridge is what used to be called Japanese Street, the main artery of the ancient town.

The vacuum left by the Japanese was filled by the Chinese. The conservation of Guangong Temple by the Court in 1653 was tantamount to recognition of the Chinese community and the acceptance of the three genies Guangong-Guanping-Zhoushang into the Vietnamese pantheon. The construction of Kim Son Temple in 1697 confirmed the growing role of the Chinese community and the Buddhism in Hoi An. For its part Thanh Long Bao Khanh Temple, whose vestiges include a 1696 stele which was moved later to the communal house at Xuan My showed the attachment of the Vietnamese to Buddhism.

In addition to the settlement of many Vietnamised Chinese, there was an influx of seasonal Chinese merchants in the 18th century. Their presence was marked, among other things, by Duong Thuong Meeting Hall and a stele erected in 1714, on which is inscribed a 10-point code providing for mutual assistance and solidarity among the Chinese doing business in Vietnam. Another indication of the marked Chinese presence in Hoi An in the late 17th century and the 18th century is the temple dedicated to Ava!okitesvara Bodhisattva, which is also called Quan Am Temple or Minh Huong Temple, and whose date can be guessed from stelae put up in 1740, 1753 and 1783. Most of the Chinese in Hoi An were from Fujian. In 1792, they built a meeting hall of their own on the site of Kim Son Temple. In the 18th century, when Hoi An was at its apogee, there were people with great academic achievements. Those people, to mark their success, built a temple which they dedicated to Confucius.

During the civil war between the Trinh in the North and the Nguyen in the South, many Northerners settled down in Hoi An. One family, the Tran, has left its mark in the form of a family chapel in downtown Hoi An today. The town's prosperity is further evidenced by big, beautiful communal houses built in surrounding areas in the 19th century. Most notable is the one at Cam Pho village which was set up in 1818, and which in 1875 was added with a storeroom to keep the growing number of worship articles. As for Japanese Bridge, it was first rebuilt in 1763. Again in 1817 and 1874, it underwent major repairs.

More Chinese were coming from Fujian and Guangdong. One family was the Truong who, to mark its presence, had its own motto inscribed in gold on vermilionised wood. That was in 1834. In 1840 the Truong even built a big, sumptuous mansion that was further embellished in the late 19th century and early in the 20th century Another Chinese family, the Tuy, set up its mansion in 1875. Meanwhile, more and more houses had been added to the town. Most of the ones that still stand today are of relatively more recent dates. Even so, some are strikingly beautiful, like Number 77 and Number 101 on Tran Phu Street. Religious architecture kept developing. The temple dedicated to Guangong was rebuilt in 1827. What it is today is the result of that reconstruction. The temple in memory of Confucius was added with a
big ornamental transverse board. Even on Cu Lao Cham, an island that serves as a natural screen for Hoi An, a temple was erected for the worship of Sacred Swift of the Edible Nest. 1863 saw the construction of Ngu Hanh Temple in dedication to the Goddesses of the Five Natural Elements. At about the same period, big bells were cast for the temples of Long An, Hai Tang and Chuc Thanh.

The Chinese also did much to embellish their communal buildings. The meeting halls of the groups from Guangzhao, Chaozhou, Hainan and Fujian were rebuilt, respectively, in 1884, 1887, 1892 and 1990 to look like what they are now. Of the many tombstones marking the graves of the rich on the fringe of the t own, the ones dedicated to Phan Trong Nghia who died at Cam Chau in 1853, to Nguyen Dien who died at Tra Que in 1861, and to Madam To who died at Ban Thach in 1889, are particularly beautiful. Hoi An underwent more repairs early this century. An antechamber was added to the Cam Pho Communal House in 1903. In 1913, the storeroom there was repaired. The temple dedicated to Confucius was refurbished and added with a hall of ceremonies in 1911. As for the Japanese Bridge, it was renovated for the last time in 1917. In a word, the development of Hoi An from the 17th century to the first years of the 20th century was a continuous one, as proved clearly by its architectural vestiges. Culturally speaking, the second half of the 19th century was the best period for the town.

II. Adornments
Ancient constructions in Hoi An are noted as much for their quaint architecture as for the way they are adorned outside and inside. One common feature of the meeting halls and Buddhism temples is the intricate carved, lotus-shaped lanterns. The beam heads on which they hang are shaped to look like a dragon's head, a squirrel, a cluster of grapes or, more commonly, a carp. Number 77 on Tran Phu Street is noted for the artistic arrangement of the area beneath the skylight. The walls on the four sides are divided into square or rectangular cases, each framing an exquisite relief representing a mythological beast or a scene of everyday life.

In other constructions, greater attention is given to interior decoration. In most antechambers, particularly in the sitting room in Number 101 on Tran Phu Street, all the wood elements are refined and very ornate. Technique is successfully combined with art in the arrangement of the interior which despite the subdivision of space into partitions, does not induce claustrophobia or suggest confinement. The renovate spirit of Hoi An also marks the manufacture of temple bells. Hoi An bells, typified by the ones at Long An, Hai Tang and Chuc Thanh temples, are tall, square-shouldered and straight-waited. They are a modification of traditional b ells and are of the same style as the ones made for Thien Mu Temple (1780) and for the Noon Gate (1816) in the royal capital of Hue.

Cult statues are generally made of earth and are of a small size. Credit must be given to the sculptors for their obvious efforts at realism. Still, the profusion of decorative details was a marked weakness. Like at many other places, houses in Hoi An are provided with "eyes" - those nail-like wood objects driven into lintels whose origin is traced back to Buddhist temples in North Vietnam. The eyes, rather the head of the nail, is normally about 20cm in diameter. It can be shaped in different ways: semi-spherical, square, octagonal, etc. Altogether, door-eyes of 14 different designs have been listed in Hoi An. Most common are eyes in the form of an eight-petal led chrysanthemum with an octagonal figure or the yin-yang sign in the middle to represent, respectively, the sun, the cosmos and the evolution of the world. Some are added with conventionalized figures of bats that symbolize happiness. A few are shaped in the form of the Chinese character signifying "longevity."

Door-eyes on religious constructions are more ornate. The one at Guangong Temple is shaped like that of a tiger, very fierce-looking. At the Fujian Meeting Hall, the yin-yang sign is surrounded by two pairs of dragons, the one on the upper half in the act of adorning the sun, the other pair rendering homage to the moon. The eye at Japanese Bridge is a yin-yang sign with four lotus flowers on the four sides. The carp, which is the symbol of abundance and expected success and is very common in painting and sculpture in North Vietnam, is regarded in Hoi An as a good omen for seafaring people. In the front court at Fujian Meeting Hall, one can see two masts complete with rigging. At their tops are two carp-shaped weather vanes. In the main hall is the model of a ship similar to the big merchant ship featured in a late 18th-century drawing titled "On the Hoi An River" in "Voyage to Dang Trong in 1792 - 1793" by 1. Barrow, published in London in 1806. The weather vane on top the main mast is also in the form of a carp.

No less popular are designs representing "giao long" - those snake- like creatures that are believed to be immature dragons, and which are often portrayed together with carps. The preference for" giao long" was probably due to the fact that dragons - the symbol of royalty - was a taboo under the Nguyen. As for t heir association with carps, that could be designed to suggest harmony because, in popular belief, they represent yang while carps are an image of yin. Bats, the symbol of happiness, are found in many carvings, even on tombstones, sometimes conventionalized in a very surprising manner. They appear in couples or in groups of three, four, or even five. Crabs and lobsters, popular decorative designs in the North in the 17th-18th centuries, were introduced in Hoi An sculpture in the 19th century, mainly for the decoration of Chinese meeting halls, in scenes depicting south-bound voyages.

The yin-yang sign, seem on almost all door-eyes and on many stelae was very trendy in Hoi An, as it was in North Vietnam, in the 19th century. In fact, the sign was first seen on a stele at Chuong Son, Ha Nam Ninh, in 1670. In the 18th century, it was used more and more frequently to finally become very popular in the 19th century. Sculptors were also frequently inspired by fruits. In peaches, they saw longevity and the triumph over evil spirits, and by custard apples and pomegranates, they wanted to suggest fecundity. Scenes of everyday life were also often depicted for decorative purpose. The interior of Number 77 on Tran Phu Street is adorned with two relief’s representing the "Four Social Classes" - a man of letters in the act of reading, a woodman bending under a load of wood, an angler waiting patiently by a pond, a buffalo-boy grazing his animals. There is everything - the sky, clouds, birds, houses, roads, ponds - perspective less, disproportionate, illogical, but quite pleasant to the eye.