The iconic Shark Jaw Building in Hà Nội’s city centre once again became a point of controversy after the local government announced plans to demolish the building in early 2025. When the building was constructed in the early 1990s, people of different walks of life criticized its architecture design. Many felt that the odd architecture design neither fit in with the northern part of scenic Hoàn Kiếm Lake nor blended in with the rustic Old Quarter at its southern end. Others simply deemed it ugly. Some 30 years later, upon public announcement of its pending demolishment, there were outpours of nostalgic sentiments from the general public and discussions in the mainstream media about the building and heritage preservation. Unsurprisingly, the three editors of this book began exchanging our personal thoughts about this controversy in an actual online conversation. In our conversation, we find resonance between various talking points about this current controversy and the key ideas contained in the chapters of this edited volume, unpacking the different underlying issues of living with heritage in contemporary Vietnam. Instead of writing in conventional prose, we decided to recreate our conversation to introduce the chapters in an applied approach.