Tho Ha village - making pottery wares

Tho Ha Village is in Bac Giang Province, 50km north of Hanoi. The village used to specialize in . In the 1980s, the villagers abandoned the old tradition and adopted new ones.

The village is not as famous as Duong Lam for the old beauty but it still maintains the core of an ancient village in northern Vietnam. Tho Ha is a small corner for busy townsfolk to seek the peaceful atmosphere of the old days.

From Hanoi, tourists will have to pass several industrial parks and new residential areas of Bac Ninh, which are noisy and dusty. When they enter the area of Bac Giang province, they can feel the taste of the country life, especially when they go on the only path to Tho Ha village. This taste comes from the field, from banian trees, the river wharf and also from old red bricks which paves the way.

Tho Ha is surrounded by a bend of the Cau village, making the village a peninsular. The village used to be a commercial center of a region. Pottery wares of Tho Ha were transported to markets throughout the northern region from the Cau river wharf.

As time changes, the pottery-making trade has become the past. The remaining trace of an ancient pottery village, one of the three most famous pottery-making centers in northern Vietnam, is only walls which are built by pieces of earthenware. These walls have become Tho Ha's specialty.

If Duong Lam is well-known for its ancient houses made by laterite, Tho Ha is remembered for its walls of earthenware. This village is also special for its "urban" characteristics.

In 11th-12th century, Tho Ha was an economic center for pottery, full of kilns, businessmen, and boats trading in ceramics. These days, young people only know of Tho Ha's former fame through the splendid walls, roofs and houses made using broken pottery. Nowadays, there are no kilns left in Tho Ha.