The 15th-century Hoi Ky village in central Quang Tri province amazes visitors not only by the omnipresent, intricately-decorated “nha ruong” (wooden houses in gardens), which are considered to outshine Hue royal palaces by a UNESCO expert, but also by its intact culture and the perfect harmony between nature and people.

According to village head Duong Van Cho, Hoi Ky village nestled by the winding O Lau river in Hai Lang commune is now home to some 50 “nha ruong” out of its 109 houses. 20 of them are sophisticatedly-carved century-old houses.

“The Hoi Ky houses are astoundingly elaborate and are really worthy of worldwide recognition. In my opinion, generally speaking, the royal palaces in Hue, the country’s imperial capital, don’t boast such artistic sophistication and detail richness as the houses here do, probably as the palaces are too large to pay particular attention to details,” remarked Kitani Kenta,  from the Institute of UNESCO World Heritage, Comprehensive Research Organization, Waseda University.

“Nha ruong”, which are commonly found in Hue and Quang Tri province and adjacent ones, are usually located in a large garden and surrounded by brick walls or ever-green, neatly-trimmed hedges. The houses are complexes with main and auxiliary houses, small josshouses, and sometimes ancestors or relatives’ tombs.

Nguyen Van Manh’s house is among such time-honored houses. Apart from his old, intact pieces of furniture, his house boasts two age-old “hoanh phi” (horizontal lacquered board usually engraved with Chinese characters) and some “cau doi” (a pair of vermilion lacquered and gilded wood panels which contain parallel meaningful sentences).

Manh said that his grandfather built the house in the early 20th century and the construction took up to three years. His extended family of four generations have lived in the house since.

The village also boasts a system of time-honored temples and lineage worship houses and is known for good security and harmony among neighbors.

“Hoi Ky village has all that it takes to become a popular tourist attraction,” said Dr. Le Vinh An, from Hue Relic Preservation Center.

The provincial Relic and Landscape Preservation Center is applying to have the village recognized as a national relic.

Though proud, many villagers are concerned that the recognition would bring more trouble than benefits, as the village and their houses would then be put under the State management, and they wouldn’t be able to fix their houses. Several are also worried that the village’s hallmark bamboo clusters along the river would be done away with to build an embankment against corrosion.

Locals at Hanoi’s Duong Lam old village and northern Ha Giang province’s Dong Van old quarter recently petitioned to have their villages de-recognized as national relics due to the overwhelming trouble the recognition brought.