French colonial Hanoi's discourse of public space revolved aound or swung between, a sense of danger lurking in the strangeness and unpredictability of the city and its indigenous population, and the desire to make Hanoi a grand city attesting to Franc's superiority and successful colonial enterprise in Asia, daily life for French, especially in the early years of the colony, involved a variety of menacing urban phenomena. As reported by the French community's newspaper, a number of threats emanating from smelliness and dirtiness confronted the French when they moved around the city. Mad dogs, death, illness, disappearance occurred daily, the modern city was ever out of reach, thrawted by the backward customs of the locals and their consequent lack of hygiene, by municipal inattention and by individual responsibiltiy.