My PhD project deals with the reorganization of small-scale trade in the post-doi moi era in a historical trade village in Northern Vietnam. The focus of my research lies on the dynamics of both long-standing trade ties as well as newly established connections in order to shed light on how access to markets is achieved, and how inter-generational relations, gender issues and power relations within extended family networks are being supported or challenged. I am especially interested in the impacts of the new economic situation on relationships within and between families, such as between husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters, and extended kinship ties. Departing from an actor-oriented approach, I will pay close attention to how traders shape social, cultural and political transformation processes. Based upon long-term ethnographic fieldwork, this project aims to provide new insights into the relational dynamics between state, society, and market in Vietnam.