Bình Tây Market (, Chinese: 平西市場) is the largest market in Chợ Lớn; located in Bình Tây ward, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Prior to 1975, it was also referred to as "Chợ Lớn mới". () to differentiate from its predecessor, "Chợ Lớn cũ" ().
Prior to the market's construction in 1928, there had, in its place, existed another market (located in modern-day Chợ Lớn Post Office). Nicknamed the "Old Market" (Vietnamese: Chợ Lớn cũ; ), its subsequent destruction during a fire led to construction of the "New Market" (modern-day Bình Tây Market), hence its alias.
Geography Bình Tây Market sits on a four street-block span, bounded by Tháp Mười Street to the north, Lê Tấn Kế Street to the west, Trần Bình Street to the east, and Hậu Giang Street to the south.
History
Bình Tây Market was built, or at least financially supported, by a Chinese businessman named (郭琰; Vietnamese: Quách Đàm), originally hailing from Chaozhou in Guangdong. Quách Đàm operated his businesses under the trade name of Thông Hiệp, but he was best known by his nickname "Handicapped Thông" among local Chinese. He started out very poor, making a living by recycling garbage and other used material; later, he began to enter into other types of businesses, in which he earned his fortune. There used to be a life-size bronze statue of Thông Hiệp standing right in the center of the Bình Tây Market, surrounded by four bronze lions, and four bronze dragons spitting water into the fountain under in which the statue of Thông was standing. The full size statue of Thông was replaced with a smaller glass altar sometime between 1976 and 1980 for unknown reasons. Nowadays, that statue is located in the Fine Art Museum of Ho Chi Minh city. The four bronze lions and dragons are still standing .
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