Dong Xuan Center, Wholesale market in Lichtenberg, Germany.
The Dong Xuan Center is a wholesale market on Herzbergstrasse in Lichtenberg, housed in former Siemens-Plania and VEB Elektrokohle industrial buildings. It has six sales halls of 6,500 square metres each and two large warehouses, with over 400 traders and around 2,000 employees on a 165,000-square-metre site. Eight food outlets serve Vietnamese dishes.
The site housed Siemens & Halske from 1872, later Siemens-Plania AG and, in the GDR, VEB Elektrokohle Lichtenberg; coal production ended in 1997. Nguyễn Văn Hiền, a former Vietnamese contract worker, opened the first Dong Xuan Center hall in early 2004 after buying the land in 2003. The 1952 Kulturhaus was rebuilt as the Dong Xuan Haus between 2015 and 2023.
The name comes from Hanoi's Đồng Xuân market, founded in 1889 and Vietnam's oldest and largest. Vietnamese visitors come from across Europe to eat, meet compatriots and use services such as tax advice, legal consultation and travel agencies. The market also hosts political events organised by Vietnamese authorities or attended by officials from Vietnam.
The market lies on Herzbergstraße in Lichtenberg, with the halls arranged along roughly 200-metre alleys, so allow time to walk the full length. Trading is wholesale rather than retail, and goods mostly come from China. The site is owned and run by Dong Xuan GmbH under Nguyễn Văn Hiền.
The market is named after Hanoi's Dong Xuan Market, built in 1889 and the oldest and largest market in Vietnam's capital. The first hall opened in early 2004, a year before founder Nguyễn Văn Hiền formally established the center in 2005.
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