Hoi An in Quang Nam province was listed by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1999.

But 125 old houses were deemed to be in an “emergency state”, Nguyen Duc Minh, deputy director of the town’s Center for Managing and Restoring Heritages, said.

A historical house at No 16 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street belonging to the La family is one such.

The two-story, 100 sq.m house has been abandoned for years since all its roof beams and pillars are in complete disrepair, partly eaten by termites.

Only one third of its yin-yang roof now remains. The roof is called such since it is tiled in traditional Chinese style with alternate rows facing upward and downward.

House No 10 on the same street is also in bad shape.

A privately-owned ancient temple on 84 Tran Phu Street has also been abandoned for many years.

Cash crunch

According to the restoration center, 142 old public structures have been restored at over VND48 billion (US$3 million) in the past seven years but the government spent less then VND1.6 billion on restoring 107 privately-owned houses.

Of the 1,107 old structures in the town’s region 1, some 916 are privately owned.

In 2003-2005, the center announced two projects to restore 217 heritage sites belonging to private citizens but they are yet to start due to lack of funds.

Though the local government has promised to put up 45 percent of the cost of restoring the house at 16 Nguyen Thai Hoc, its owners are unable to raise their share of the amount. The restoration is expected to cost over VND1 billion ($62,500).

Expert Le Van Tang said restoration activities in Hoi An had been done “causally”, using poor-quality materials, and by incompetent workers.

Tiling yin-yang roofs in the traditional way would help them withstand strong typhoons like the recent Xangsane but would require 600 tiles per meter. In recent years, the roofs had been restored using just 150-200 tiles per meter.

Nguyen Su, the town’s Communist Party chief, said it was time to set up a specialized fund to restore such historical sites. The town now has a tourism development fund.

Xangsane hit the province last month, partly destroying 80 old houses and totally destroying five.

Since the typhoon, 50 such houses have been standing on props.

Reported by Khai Ly – Translated by Hoang Bao