Southern An Giang Province’s Cho Moi District is well known among those in the know as the place to find “genies of the lamp”, because what they do seems superhuman and magical – moving structures like houses and temples as a whole.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about these structural movers is that they are not trained engineers or contractors. They have poor education levels, but have a genius for what they do.
SGGP recently met with some of the local “genies”.
As soon as I arrived in the district’s Long Dien A commune, it was clear that I was in the right place. There were about a dozen or more “moving houses” signboards posted on both sides of the road leading to the district’s center.
The district has more than 50 teams that specialize in the business of moving structures, and the names and addresses of the team leaders are introduced on the signboards, which made it easy to get in touch with the people that locals have dubbed “genies of the lamp”.
I met with Luong Thanh Luy, known locally as “Tu Luy,” one of the first people to be able to magically relocate construction structures, although it was not until 2006 that his exploits received any media attention. This happened after he successfully moved the Vinh Trang pagoda gate and the Long Hung temple in Tien Giang Province.
Before he was called up on to move these national relics, many construction experts have given up on it.
But he had a vignette to share with me. It dated back to 1990. That year, when Cho Moi District upgraded and expanded its main road, the house he built for one of his friends, Lai Cai, became an “illegal” structure as its position encroached the street’s right-of-way by five meters.
Cai asked Luy for help to save the house. After many days of racking his brain, Luy had an idea – move the house the way fishermen once did to launch a large boat.
After a week of preparation, Tu Luy and his team were able to move the house by five meters using jacks and round wooden trunks on which the house slid. The work was done perfectly.
He became well known for the feat and many others in similar predicaments as Lai sought his help.
All his works were made based on contracts with strict provisions, Tuy said. The houses or other construction structures had to be kept intact and in safe condition in the process of moving and re-installing. If it developed a crack that was more than a centimeter wide, customers would not have to pay him.
When I commented that even good engineers or contractors might not dare to accept such severe requirements, Tuy showed that he was also quick witted.
“Yes, for that reason, my colleagues and I can make money.”
Another “genie of the lamp” I met was Le Van Duoc, known as Tam Duoc, in Long Hoa 2 hamlet of Long Dien A commune.
The work of fame of this genie, whose education level is quite low, was the successful relocation of the Chua Ong-Chua Ba Pagoda in Vinh Chau District, the southern province of Soc Trang.
When he agreed to take on the work in 2003, the over-100-years-old pagoda had deteriorated seriously and was in danger of collapsing. Most locals did not believe Duoc would be successful.
However, he and his team of 30 workers proved the skeptics and doubters wrong. To the surprise of local residents and construction engineers, they were able to relocate the pagoda safely to a site 15 meters away from its original position.
Tam Duoc has not looked back since, and his reputation has spread not only in the Mekong Delta, but also to southeastern provinces like Dong Nai and Binh Duong, and even further to the Central Highlands provinces of Lam Dong and DaK Lak.
The genies have helped relocate and preserve many construction works across the country, including historical and cultural relics, over the past ten years. Through their work, many houses, temples and other works have been saved from demolition, causing a great loss.
The rewards
Their efforts have also paid off for the genies mselves. Being paid remuneration equal to 20-30 percent of the value of the structures relocated, they have become quite well off over the last couple of decades that they have been doing their business.
In An Giang Province, many companies specialized in “relocation of construction works” have been set up, with some having several billion dong as their chartered capital. Many local genies now have cars and/or newly-built large houses.
In some families, both fathers and their sons are genies, and in others, all the children are engaged in the business.
