As a collective public work of art, initiated by journalist and painter Nguyen Thu Thuy in 2007, the 4km long ceramic road along the dike wall of the Red River in Hanoi has been recognized by Guinness as the largest-ever ceramic mosaic mural in the world. The mural covers a total area of 1,572 square meters, breaking the previous record set by a Chinese mural by about 80 meters.

However, the billion dong cultural work, which was completed last year to celebrate the capital’s 1,000th birthday, has faced unsolved problems that has directly affectted its aestheticism.

On a section of the ceramic road that runs through Yen Phu street, more and more untidily dressed shops and eateries have appeared on the sidewalk, of course without any permission from local authorities. Additionally, a number of casks of goods which are often placed near the gate of Long Bien market hide some artworks on the road from viewers.

However, the most inexcusable behavior is that of those people have been mindlessly urinating on the road despite the fact that as many as 35 famous artists from around the world spent a lot of efforts creating it in three years.

Though the cultural road is mended annually, local authorities fail to ‘mend’ the awareness of human beings.

To install a water pipe, a big hole has been drilled into the wall decorated with beautiful ceramic artwork.

A section of the wall running through Long Bien bus station is used as an outdoor helmet shop. Several shops appear on Yen Phu street’s pavement. It's also a place for garbage trucks to gather.

A man uses old umbrellas to hide his bicycle repair shop from the sun.

At night, many shops spontaneously appear above the dike wall.