Many land areas surrounding Ha Noi used to be famous for growing and supplying beautiful peach trees to Northerners for the New Lunar Year (Tet)s holidays. These villages only existed a few years age but have since been urbanized by housing development projects. 
The Nhat Tan, Quang Ba and Tu Lien Wards of Tay Ho District used to be famous for their vast fields growing beautiful peach trees, but now houses and high-rise buildings from the urbanization projects have been built in their place.  Subsequently, peach trees were brought to remote Communes like Xuan Dinh, Xuan La and Xuan Thuong and grown there on smaller fields. 

A mere five years later, Xuan La and Xuan Thuong Communes were subject to the same fate.  Housing development projects began and the peach tree fields had to be cleared to make the land available for the construction of apartment buildings and villages. At present, peach tree plantations are only grown on a narrow strip of land running along Xuan La, Xuan Thuong and Phu Thuong Communes. However, the Ha Noi Peoples Committee has approved  the construction of a new urban zone in Xuan La-Xuan Dinh which is right on the strip.
This development is expected to begin by the end of 2007 and the fields of peach trees will once again be leveled and filled, paving the way for the emergence of high-rise buildings.
 With such a rapid rate of urbanization, it is predicted that just three or four years, there will be no more peach villages in Ha Noi.  In fact, for several years now, to decorate their homes to welcome the Tet holidays, Hanoiese have had to buy peach flowers from other provinces including La Ca, a village lying in the outskirts of Duong Noi Commune in Ha Tay, a province in the southwest of Ha Noi.

As far back as eight or nine years ago, Ms. Duong Thi Yen, a resident of Y La Hamlet of La Ca village went to Nhat Tan to buy some peach trees which had been uprooted from fields due to urbanization projects and grew them on the side of the road leading to La Phu Commune.  Yen and her husband failed in growing this kind of tree in their land at first but ended in great success two or three years after. The people in La Ca village at the time used to make their living by weaving wool , but were suffering losses brought on by the fluctuation of wool prices on the Chinese market.  Many began to look for a new vocation. Being impressed by Yens success, many local people decided to invest in growing peach trees.  At first, peach trees were seen growing only in a few plots of land in Y La Hamlet, but only three years later, vast amounts of peach tree plantations began covering the entire village of La Ca.

According to a recent report of Duong Noi Commune, at present, more than 103 hectares of land in La Ca are used for growing various kinds peach trees where quality is in no way inferior to Nhat Tans ones. Unfortunately, in the very near future, La Ca will meet the same fate as other villages which used to grow peach trees in Ha Noi. The capital is expected to expand west to merge into Ha Tay Province. Dozens of urban developments are predicted to be established in the idyllic villages where thousands of peach trees are in place. As more speculators/ investors flock to La Ca in the search for land, more local villagers sell their land as prices are soaring day after day.  Two years ago, a square meter of land in La Ca only cost VND2 million, but now it has hit VND 3 million – 3,5 million.

Ms. Nguyen Thu Ha, living in upper La Noi Hamlet, pointed to a field of peach trees with pinky and white buds on their branches and said, "The trees are still mine, but the land have been bought by a person.  After Tet, there will be no more peach trees on this plot of land!". The longevity of La Ca peach village is only between seven or eight years. After that, the peach trees will most likely be grown in another village as they are an indispensable decoration in most Northerners homes during Tet holidays.  However, with such a rate of urbanization, how long will these new peach villages last?

 S.G.G.P