The Sa Pa marketplace, Lao Cai Province, Vietnam

Sa Pa market, in its current shape, is a typical mainland Southeast Asia highland market. Here, highland produce cultivated or gathered by montagnards dispersed in isolated hamlets is sold to, or exchanged with, other montagnards and lowlanders for various commodities and consumer goods. Over the last few years, a fast growing tourist influx has contributed to modifying the architecture and size of the marketplace, while the range of goods on display has increased to fit both direct and indirect tourist demand. Using historical data covering one century, this research shows that despite recent transformations, for most of the montagnards, the market in Sa Pa is still used for the same social purposes as in the past. Unequivocally, it is chiefly for the outside traders and local Kinh authorities and residents that the locally booming economy has opened new opportunities. The numbers of Kinh traders in Sa Pa town have soared to the point that they are now taking over the marketplace, both in a physical and a legal sense, leaving little space for the montagnards. Yet the question as to whether the montagnards actually ever want to carve a position for themselves in the marketplace is still open to debate.