A book on Hanoians’ eating and drinking etiquette through history by author Vu The Long, in its Chinese-language edition, has received the 2025 influential Southeast Asian book award in China.
The award was announced on July 4 during the release of the 2025 China–ASEAN Book Influence Report, held in Nanning, Guangxi, as part of the China–ASEAN Book Culture Week 2025.
The selection was based on sales data, reader feedback, and media reviews in China.
The book takes readers back to the early 20th century, offering a rich, nostalgic exploration of how Hanoians ate, cooked, and embraced or resisted culinary influences introduced through waves of migration and East-West, North-South cultural exchange.
Blending personal experience with meticulous research, from written documents and archaeological artifacts to oral histories of elderly Hanoians, the book presents a vivid and well-documented portrait of Hanoi’s culinary heritage and cultural identity through a century of change.
The Chinese edition was published in November 2024 by Guangxi Science and Technology Publishing House, with publishing rights acquired from CHI Cultural JSC (Chibooks).
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