Cat Cat brocade village

Nestled in a beautiful valley about three kilometers from Sapa Town, Cat Cat- the old village of ethnic groups- attracts tourists from all over the world for its distinctive customs and practices which have been lost in almost ethnic villages. The village is within easy walking distance from any hotel in downtown Sapa.

Overview

Cat Cat cultural village was formed in 19th century by the gathering of some families belonging to some ethnic groups living in mountainous areas of northern Vietnam, especially Black H’Mong .They lived next to each other along the mountain side and cultivated surrounding their home. Rice and corn were grown in terraced fields, while traditional handicrafts such as twisting flax and weaving fabric have been well-kept. Through times, Cat Cat Village has transferred to one appealing feature of Sapa’s tourism.

What to see?

Visiting Cat Cat, tourists will be impressed by the peacefully picturesque sceneries. People can easily catch sight of women sitting in front of the loom with colorful pieces of brocade, while children playing around with pets or even livestock. From the plain brocade, then women can carefully dye them with special leaves and embroider beautiful patterns of flower and animal on them. Moreover, many residents of Cat Cat Village are also skillful at manipulating sophisticated gold and silver jewelry.

The original architect of H’Mong people is interesting as well. Their house typically contains three rooms with three doors and po mu wood roof, while the walls’ material is sawn timber. There are other indispensable parts of the house such as altar, kitchen, places for keeping food and sleeping, etc.

What to do?

Cat Cat Village gives tourists a chance to have a glimpse into the daily life of local ethnic people, as well as take part in traditional activities such as weaving fabric. It is also a good opportunity to purchase some traditional souvenirs and handicrafts right from the craftsmen. People can also try some local food selling the way upcoming to the hill.

In addition, the road leading to Cat Cat Village is an easy and interesting route for trekking. The spot is only within 20-30m minutes walking from Sapa center; and the hike through mountains will offer tourists the wonderful picture of rice paddies, water fall, or even water buffaloes grazing leisurely.

Duy Vinh sedge mat village

Being created by alluvium of three rivers Thu Bon, Trung Giang and Ly Ly, Duy Vinh commune (Duy Xuyen district, Quang Nam province) has been famous for a long time of weaving sedge mats. The profession of weaving sedge mat was derived from Nga Son – Thanh Hoa province, and introduced into Quang Nam in early 14th century. 

Sedge grass is the main material in mat weaving; it is easy to grow in this land and gives high productivity. There are many kinds of mat like plain mat, colored mat, embossed mat…; therefore depending on the intended use of each one, farmers will harvest sedge in many different sizes. After being harvested in July and August every year, sedge will be dried, dyed by color ink and stored for weaving all year round. Many clients come to Duy Vinh to buy sedge mats or they will be sold at Ban Thanh sedge mats market.

Duy Vinh craft village has 350 households, 300 of which have weaved sedge mats from generations to generations and supplied nearly 10,000 pairs of sedge mats each day to the market. The weaving process requires two people, one is the designer for the pattern by controlling the jutes up and down rhythmically, the other is responsible for inserting the sedges into the space between jutes. This work requires patience and experience to make a perfect work. From the yarns of green, red, purple, yellow sedge ... with brain and heart, the weavers have created hundreds of perfect color mixing picture.

In many years before, this product was very hard to consume and heatly competed by industrial produced mats. However, some years recently, many people returned to use sedge mats; that helps to resuscitate this valuable traditional occupation. Duy Vinh mats craft village is not only creating job for local residents but also an attractive destination of worldwide tourists

Ban soy sauce village

The Ban craft village produces arguably the most delicious soy sauce in Ban Township, Yen Nhan District, Hung Yen Province.

Ban soy sauce is so popular because it is made from large-grain sticky rice, small-grain soy bean, and in particular dinged-well water. There is only one well in Ban Village to supply the water to make the soy sauce, which is its sole purpose. Therefore, coming to Ban village to witness the sauce’s production in Hung Yen is recommended to tourists as it is a fascinating sight around harvest time. 

March to August is that time for the villagers, so expect to see hundreds of jars in diverse sizes filling yards in every household. Making soy sauce is not difficult but making Ban soy sauce is an art-form.

Producers have to wash the rice carefully then soak it in water and cooked into sticky rice, next scatter the sticky rice onto a large bamboo flat basket and dry it in an airy place until the rice turns yellow. Soy beans must be roasted until the bean is brown and then the beans are soaked in a clean jar for one week. After the beans have fermented, producers will add a little salt and more soy beans into the water and stir regularly. The sauce must be fermented on sunny days.

Coming to Hung Yen, tourists will also be suggested to visit the Pho Hien relic complex, of which Mau Temple is a highlight and a mystery. Once stepping into the temple, travelers will be amazed by the huge seven-hundred-year-old tree which makes a domed gate for the temple. Another attraction tourists should not miss is the huge longan tree, called Nhan To, in front of Hien Pagoda. Around 300 years old, the tree is a sacred place for locals as they believe the tree brings prosperity to the land.

Another relic of the Pho Hien relic complex worth visiting is Thien Hau Temple, Dong Do-Quang Hoi Temple and Chuong (Bell) Pagoda which is endowed with poetic scenery and boasts a stone bridge spanning a lotus pond and 18 statues of Arhats. Hung Yen Literature Temple holds a collection of ancient steles. 

Pho Hien also has stunning Vietnamese architecture, which is decorated with the colors of folk belief and religion, and some are considered high in artistic value. Along with their architectural features, these relics have preserved utensils for religious offerings, palanquins, hammocks, horizontal lacquered boards and many pairs of wood panels with skillfully-inscribed parallel sentences.

More importantly, the relics of Pho Hien preserve their innate ancient beauty. With the wet rice civilization and culture, we catch the colors of bronze, stone, wood, tile and soil on each roof, door and path, which create a sense of immortality of each relic.

With its role as a key link from the traffic artery of the Red River, Pho Hien was once a frontal port of Thang Long Citadel that opened to the sea, ranking second in importance to Hanoi, as goes an old Vietnamese saying. Today, Pho Hien residents are embracing an ambition to revive its glorious past.

Tranh Khuc " chung" cake village

Tranh Khuc Village in Duyen Ha Commune of Thanh Tri District, Hanoi is known throughout the country for its traditional craft of making Banh chung (square glutinous rice cake). At present nearly 200 households in the village are involved in making Banh chung to supply the markets on the occasion of Tet (New Year Festival).

In many homes all members of the family are involved in making Banh chung at their residence. Quantity varies from one household to another, averaging hundreds of cakes a day, but up to 1,500 cakes at Tet. In recent years, Banh chung made by Tranh Khuc villagers have been exported to many countries, including Russia, Australia and Thailand, mainly to meet the needs of overseas Vietnamese.

The Banh chung produced here is renowned for its distinctive flavour. Village elders are most experienced at making these special cakes and generation after generation they hand down their expertise, keeping the craft alive in Tranh Khuc Village.

Each step in making Banh chung involves a professional touch. The Dong leaves used to wrap the cakes must be large, green and untorn. After the leave ribs and petioles are removed they are washed and left to dry. The glutinous rice must be large-size grains which are washed and drained. The green beans must be of top quality. They are husked, cooked and pounded into paste. The pork must be fresh and not too lean. It is parboiled to eliminate any odour and then cut into large pieces and marinated with spices and pepper to make it soft and delicious. To make a cake, four or five layers of Dong leaves are used as the wrap of the dumpling, with the green blade of the outside leave turned outward. The dumpling is made of a layer of glutinous rice, a layer of green bean topped by pork and then another layer of green bean topped by another layer of glutinous rice. The dumpling must be wrapped tightly to maintain a uniform shape. The cakes are placed into a big pot and boiled for eight to eleven hours. 

The trademark of Banh chung made in Tranh Khuc Village has been registered to the Hanoi Industry and Trade Department and the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam under the Ministry of Science and Technology. With its typical flavour and good quality Banh chung of Tranh Khuc Village have been exported to many countries. 

Wraping all the dumpling into a square cakeBesides making the traditional Banh chung, Tranh Khuc villagers can alter the ingredients to suit the tastes of offshore customers. For example, people in Australia like to have egg added to the recipes while US customers insist on having chicken added, or the Taiwanese like to have Chinese sausage included in the Banh chung.

According to Nguyen Van Thanh, Chief of Van Uyen Hamlet, Tranh Khuc Village produces Banh chung all year round but the busiest time is around Tet (New Year Festival). The trademark of Banh chung made in Tranh Khuc has become the pride of the villagers.

Phuc Sen forging village

Phuc Sen forging village is located in  Quang Yen district, Cao Bang province. Phuc Sen hammer village is a traditional trade village, appeared over 1000 years ago. Phuc Sen is a rocky village. Main products of the village are metal and steel hand-held agricultural equipments and woodwork equipments. During Vietnamese’s  war resistance, Phuc Sen forging village took park in casting cannon and grenade casing.

Phuc Sen commune has 10 hamlets, 6 of them involved in forging. Stepping into the village, we can find forging furnace everywhere. Main products of the village are metal and steel hand-held agricultural equipments and woodwork equipments. Those bushwhackers, axes, scissors, knives, hoes, shovels, reaping hooks, etc are made from skillful hands and secret of forgers.

Phuc Sen forged products are identical. By examining the temper water, we can see the quality of the knife. In addition, professional forgers  can test by moving the knife on a nail. One that moves smoothly is a good one. It’s important to make an evenly thin blade and use good tempering water. Though there are not many designs for the products, Phuc Sen farm tools have become a trade mark around the country. 

When visiting these hamlets, one can see a diverse range of forges and tools sold on both sides of the road, while the sound of hammer blows resounds across the village.Besides the normal forge tools, such as bellows, anvils, hammers and water troughs, the Nung An people also build earthen cylinder kilns, about 80cm in height and 60cm in diameter.

Thanks to their secret techniques and expertise,  Phuc Sen villagers have a reputation for making very sharp and durable products.  To promote the development of the traditional craft,  villagers often bring their products to sell at Quang Uyen Market so they can raise funds for agricultural tools, blacksmithing tools and materials.

Lately they have started selling their products to other localities in the country.

Chuon "Tet" cake village

An Truyen village, also known as Chuon, in central Vietnam, has been famous for Tet cakes since the reign of King Bao Dai.On the 24th of every lunar month of December, hundreds of households in An Truyen Village, Thua Thien-Hue Province, start making Tet cakes made from sticky rice.

Mrs. Huynh Tam, 84, sold more than 1,600 Tet cakes in the last two weeks of the lunar month of December.Tam said, “My family has been making Tet cakes for 4 generations, so all my children and grandchildren know how to make the best cakes. The secret is using the rice from Cua Paddy Fied, in the village. The rice has to be rinsed, dried, then cleaned three times with water. Then green beans are cooked with flavouring. Lard also makes the cakes have their special taste.”."The difference in taste of the cakes made here is quite clear, especially when they’re freshly out of the boiling pot. You can smell the green beans along with the fat,” she said.

At the house of Ho Van Toan, 10 people were busy preparing and wrapping cakes that have been made by his daughter a law and children. “I just can’t take any more order. It’s insufficient to sell more than 20 cakes for a customer at a time. The reason our cakes our so special is the addition of flavouring, green bean and pork fat. It’s also important to add the right amount of pepper, fish sauce, seasoning powder and other spices for the cake.”

Mr Doan Ran, 78, is experienced in the production of Tet cakes. He said that An Truyen sticky rice was among specialties offered to King Bao Dai of the Nguyen Dynasty. The king also specifically asked that this rice be used to make Tet cakes, then presented them to court officials on the Lunar New Year.

After adding all the ingredients, cakes must be wrapped in the leaves of Su banana . These leaves are what give the cake it’s colour, which can be kept for between 15 and 30 days. Even tying the cake takes skill. It must not be too loose or too tight. The cake is cooked using long-burning "duong" wood that makes a fire that lasts up to three hours.

Price of Chuon Village’s Tet cake remains unchanged at VND10,000 (USD0.5) and VND30,000 (USD1.5) each, depending on different sizes. Many people, including those from Danang, Ho Chi Minh City and even in northern provinces come to the village to buy their cakes.

Phuoc Tich pottery- making village

Phuoc Tich village in Phong Hoa Commune in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue’s Phong Dien District has been recognized as a national cultural heritage site by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Lying silently 40 kilometers to the north of Hue, the ancient village is well-known for its traditional pottery crafts and ancient houses and temples that have been preserved for 500 years in the traditional style that makes them invaluable architecturally and culturally.

Founded in 1470 by Hoang Minh Hung, a marquis under the reign of King Le Thanh Tong, the village at that time was called Con Duong, lying near peaceful O Lau River, and was a sanctuary for local Cham villagers. A 500-year-old Chinese fig tree, a temple worshipping Confucius and a twin tower honoring Hung and the founder of Cham pottery are historical proofs of the ancient village.

Phuoc Tich village has 117 houses, 27 of them highly valued for their cultural integrity, and 10 churches. Most houses in the village are between 100 and 500 years old and are so well preserved as to astonish cultural anthropologists, architects and historians alike.

The homes in Phuoc Tich are considered representative of the homes throughout Northern and Central Vietnam with their open structures and their surrounding fruit orchards that are as large as 1,500-square-meters.

Phuoc Tich houses are mainly made of breadfruit wood and are adorned with exquisite and lively carvings, most of them undamaged despite being surrounded by so many wars through the years. The interiors usually include parallel sentences, a horizontal lacquered board, wooden scrolls, a plank bed and an altar wardrobe. Moss covered tile roofs sag a little under the weight of time and brick walkways, wind screens and old water wells complete the picture. Green lines of tea trees are a charming green substitute for walls.

Traces of Cham culture remain in the village. Recognition of these national cultural relics brings opportunities for development of the village’s tourism potential. Local authorities have organized many activities and folk games for tourists to learn more about the ancient village as well as ancient ceramics.

Phuoc Tich was a famous pottery village in its heyday, supplying the entire central region. It achieved great honor when the Nguyen Court in Hue commissioned the village to produce “om ngu”, or clay pots, for cooking in the Forbidden City.

The pottery has no enamel, so it is called soil pottery primitive and has few vignettes. It is simple and has a natural beauty. During the Nguyen Dyansty, trade was brisk throughout the land; boats and ships from Nghe An, Quang Tri, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Quy Nhon and South Vietnam all sailed here to buy pottery.

Every year Phuoc Tich villagers jubilantly hold the festival to honour their craft making ancestors on November 5 of the lunar calendar at Doi Temple. With its unique value in terms of architecture and traditional craft, Phuoc Tich Village was ranked by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a national relic.

Xuan Lai bamboo- weaving village

Xuan Lai bamboo product making village is located in Gia Binh district, Bac Ninh province (30 km from Hanoi). It is considered as the cradle of bamboo products. Consumers are familiar with its products of bamboo flag handle, mattock handle, ladder, dado…

Xuan Lai village produces bamboo products, especially black bamboo. Normally, bamboo is soaked under water for months; it is then fumigated with straw and clay for four days. This makes it light and stable.

The profession of  bamboo making Xuan Lai village's longstanding. Formerly, families dig to make the main appliances for daily life in the family as woven baskets, baskets, bamboo bed, bed, couch ... Until now, many households has established production facilities, large-scale business.

Currently, Xuan Lai is also famous for interior handicraft from bamboo such as sofa, rocking chair bookshelf, bamboo house, coffee table, wardrobe… and small items such as glass pad, clothes hanger, and flower vase… especially products with shiny brown black that are not painted are much preferred. Bamboo furniture and decorates made by the village are combined firmly in terms of structure and beautifully in terms of colors. They are convenient to use. Bamboo are soaked under ponds for several months then covered with straw and clay, put onto the ovens on the ground to be smoked out. The ovens use straw. They have no fire but only smoke. After being smoked out for four executive days, bamboo becomes lighter, tougher, and resistant to termite and wood eater. It will be used as material to make useful and good looking items.

Xuan Lai village is being preserved and developed with typical products of high use value and art value such as bamboo pictures, bamboo furniture and bamboo architecture. Products of Xuan Lai village are welcome domestically but also internationally through tours as well as Vietnam and international import – export enterprises.

Phu Cam conical hat making village

Hue conical hat or Phu Cam conical hat has not only a beautiful form but also modest color. It is light and so thin that light seems to pierce through it. Through natural light, one can see Hue landscapes with verses engraved on paper placed between two layers of leaves. Hat-making village Phu Cam (also Phuoc Vinh) lies on the southern bank of the An Cuu River in the centre of the former imperial capital of Hue. It’s a village famous for its traditional way of making conical hats for hundreds of years.

From the front look, Phu Cam-made hats look graceful, soft and thin as silk. Hue landscapes or even poems can be seen clearly through the hats in the sunshine. It takes woman much time to make the frame and iron leaves before young girls start sewing. The beauty and grace of a hat depend much on the frame (made of 16 brims from the hem to the top). Artisans use sharp knives to prepare the brims and make the frame that needs skills, techniques and experiences, as well as mathematical calculations which have been handed down for generations.

The leaves to make hat play a vital part, leaves have to be blue-white, neither too young nor too old. Collected leaves are to be put to dry in the sun, put to be moistened by dewdrops, and then to be ironed flat on a steel- plank above a kiln, cleaned with a towel. After all this, leaves are cut to fit the frame.

Moreover, how to arrange the leaves on to the frame is not easy. Each hat needs 50 leaves and between the leaves are coloured papers with pictures or paintings of landscapes, or even poems. Hat-makers are hardworking and careful and diligent. Hats are served with silk-threads and the chin-straps are made of coloured silk (black, white, yellowish, purple, violet…) to harmonize with Hue climate and beauty.

Most remarkably, poem-hat is a distinctive feature of culture in Hue. Locals say they like to do the job not only to earn money but to preserve their age-old tradition as poem-hats have been absorbed into folk music and songs. Today hat are still used by young girls to shade their heads in the sun and to make them look more graceful in the traditional Ao Dai (long dress).

Hoi Quan weaving village

Hoi Quan weaving village in Tuong Giang Commune, Tu Son Town, Bac Ninh Province experienced ups and downs through history, the weaving craft is still maintained and handed down through the generations. 

Major products of the craft village are bamboo screens which are used in hotels or exported overseas, pillows and nappies for babies, and handkerchief. Moreover, the craft village is also well-known for sanitized white cloth used for light industry. 

Visiting Hoi Quan, visitors can see the interesting things of the village when they reach the village’ gate. From the gate, the brick paved lane, a unique characteristic of ancient village in the North, leads to village households. Visitors can hear the sound of running spindles of weaving looms in ancient mossy houses. The tradition is that Hoi Quan villages girls when grow up most know every steps of how to weave a small width piece of cotton cloth or a piece of silk to sell at local markets. 

Before the revolution in Agust 1945, almost every household has a weaving loom, some families has 5 or 6 weaving looms and had to hire more people to weave. The key products of this village is small width cloth (40 cm), mosquito – net cloth, thick cloth, check cloth, silk, and even medical style cloth during some periods. During the war in the North, the village still maintained and significant contributed to the 9 year war (1945 – 1954). After 1954, when the North was totally liberated, weaving in the village was developed with wider weaving looms and weaving technique was improved from string pulling to feet paddle to weave more cloth types such as calico, plain batiste, check batiste. 

Hoi Quan weaving village has currently 900 households (3,650 persons), 90 percent of whom do weaving job. Ten percent of weaving households are big scales weavers. The hardship of Hoi Quan people has helped to maintain the traditional vocation, creating significant incomes to the society, improving households’ economic conditions.

Visiting Hoi Quan, visitor have a chance to visit a culture village which was named as a “village with a good traditions which deserves complementation” by King Tu Duc (1872). Visitors can also hear the busy noise of running spindles and see the hardworking of the local people who work from dawn to dust to create high quality products.

Xuan La " To he" village

Xuan La village has three thousand people and around 200 people are earning their living by making To he. Everywhere there is To he – that place has Xuan La villagers.

The toy figurines which have brought a small joy to many generations of Vietnamese have experienced many ups and downs, but Xuan La people are faithful to this job, though this job can’t make them rich.

To he – folk culture

For children, To he can open a colourful world where they can see characters from history, movies and cartoons, from the famous monkey named Ton Ngo Khong in “The Journey to the West” Chinese novel to Picachu and Pokemon, characters from famous Japanese cartoons to princesses in fairy tales, etc. 

Today, when children are flooded in the world of modern games, toys, etc. To he craftsmen have to be very creative to make their characters lively.To make To he, craftsmen must be very patient, but most To he craftsmen are men. Xuan La families have one oral rule: secrets in making To he are only transmitted to sons and daughters-in-law, not daughters. According to old craftsmen, this job appeared around 300 years ago. 

To he is a traditional toy that is closely tied to the lives of farmers. To make To he, craftsmen only need glutinous rice powder, which is dyed with seven basic colours (green, sea blue, red, purple, yellow, white and black), and bamboo sticks. 

In the past, Xuan La villages used trees, ash, etc. to make colours for rice powder but now they use food dyes, to still ensure that children can eat their toys. 

The tools to make To he are very simple, comprising a bamboo stick, a small comb, a bee wax piece and a small knife. With a small box containing the above things, a To he craftsman can go everywhere for several days or even a month. 

Like other traditional crafts, To he has experienced many ups and down. Sometimes To he makers seemed to have lost their job because they couldn’t compete with Chinese toys, which are eye-catching and cheap.Thanks to the efforts of Xuan La villagers, this craft is surviving. Now children can see To he at every park or at the gates of schools.

To he – A cultural ambassador

This folk toy has confirmed its position and is considered a cultural ambassador of Vietnam. Craftsman Nguyen Van Thuan, who has made To he for 56 years, has been to the US and Japan to perform To he-making art.  

No one knows when the art form first appeared but Xuan La is seen as its traditional home. Children in the village, from the age of 7 or 8, started to learn how to make To he from their fathers. As there were no lessons, learning was mostly visual. 

From sticky rice flour and pigment, the artisan can shape the dough into a doctor’s figure, dragons, a phoenix, birds and trees. Though To he is not a particularly difficult job, artisans should know well how to combine different colours in order to produce a lively effect. 

During the holidays, from the first to the third lunar months of the year, 60% of the villagers from Xuan La go to different cities and provinces to knead To he. An artisan can earn around VND40-50,000 per day. But money is not the issue. To he makers say they are happy seeing the joy in the eyes of children who get to see their work. 

Da Sy forging vilage

For centuries blacksmiths from Da Sy Village have been hammering out quality metal products that are famous country-wideFrom early morning ‘til late afternoon, the sounds of steel and iron being beaten with hammers resounds throughout Da Sy Village, as it has for 400 years or more. The village outside Ha Noi City is famous for its metalware. The name is known throughout Viet Nam.The first impression one gets when entering Da Sy Village is a rush of excitement at the sounds of hard work and enthusiasm – a chorus of hammering on family anvils.

In the showroom of the Da Sy Association of Traditional Forgers, villagers often sit around telling historical stories about the village and different ways of production. Visitors can also see the metal being beaten into knives, scissors, sickles, hoes, spades and other farm and garden tools.

The village is one of the best places in the nation to see blacksmithing practices that go back nearly 3,000 years to the beginning of the Iron Age in Viet Nam, even further if one takes in the renowned bronze culture of the Dong Son period from which the ironwork evolved.

Da Sy knives and scissors can be found throughout Viet Nam. Even merchants from Laos and Cambodia put in regular orders. The village, formerly known as Ke Se Village, is in Kien Hung Ward in Ha Dong District. It is one of the many craft villages conserved by the Government.

Da Sy villagers are proud of their homeland for many reasons. Apart from the traditional forging trade passed from generation to generation, it is also well known for many successful doctors, some of them famous. That is the reason why the name was changed to Da Sy (Many Doctors).

According to the late Professor Tran Quoc Vuong, metal forgers from the Dong Son cultural region, of which today’s Da Sy Village can be included, provided the Hung founding kings with weapons to protect the nation, then known as Van Lang, against huge armies of northern invaders.This means that Da Sy’s blacksmiths can probably claim a direct connection with the founding kings of Viet Nam – and gives their work an historic edge few other towns or cities in Asia can claim.

Weapons made in the village have also been used in the battles for liberation in the 19th and 20th centuries, giving their work extra cachet. When peace returned to Viet Nam 40 years ago, the Da Sy people returned to making to agricultural implements such as ploughs, rakes and machinery parts or kitchen implements.

According to local historians, the present village rose to prominence under two blacksmith ancestors, Nguyen Thuat and Nguyen Thuan, several hundred years ago. They arrived from Thanh Hoa Province, which adds further substance to Professor Vuong’s theories.

Today’s Da Sy’s knives and choppers are still renowned for being hard wearing and able to retain a hard and sharp cutting edge. Although mass produced factory tools have flooded the market in recent decades, Da Sy people are full of confidence about their products and their future.Moreover, the designs of the hand-made village products are much more varied and individualistic. About 100 types of knives and more than 10 types of scissors are made in Da Sy Village.

According to the head of the Da Sy Association of Metal Forgers, Le Thanh Yen, the work is hard and includes many complex processes, such as making rough drafts, keeping fires burning, hitting red-hot iron into shape with hammers, tempering (strengthening) the metal with water – and then sharpening the final product

Thuy Ung Horn sculpture-Oyster-encrusting village

Thuy Ung horn carving village has long been famous for its handicraft products. Born and grown on this traditional land, artisans maintains his father career to create the horn products. With the abundance, the sophistication and high-quality,  products of Thuy Ung have been favored by domestic and foreign markets

Thuy Ung (Hoa Binh, Thuong Tin, Hanoi) is well-known as a horn comb village. But like many other traditional villages, it also faced to economic difficulty. In subsidy period, the buffaloes, cows are used for agriculture. Thus, material for production is not enough. The whole village had to move to the wooden comb, plastic comb for living and the horn comb seem to be eroded.

In order to make a horn comb, workers must do many stages. Each stage requires the workers to be very skillful, carefull. The making process is difficult because all horn comb is completely different from others and workers must depend on their horns to produce. The value of each is not only shown by horn material but also by the processing of workers.

With talented hands, the business acumen, and the psychology of customers knowledge  Thuy Ung villagers has innovated designs, diverse product. Besides traditional combs, he created some new products such as: bracelets, rings, brooches, combs ... with different designs and styles.

With his horn production and Thuy Ung village scale, the raw materials from domestic suppliers do not meet. So Thuy Ung villagers has to import raw materials from other countries such as Laos, Cambodia and other countries in Africa. "Horn of each continent has a different color.  So our products are also more abundant, more colorful, " a villager shared.

Horn comb is the best one for hair. It prevents and fixes broken hair, massages the scalp, maintains circulation, brings nutrients to hair roots. Currently, there are many fake horn combs on the market. Talking to us, he unveiled " to know real horn comb, the simplest and most efficient is combustion. If it is real product, it will become soft, and to a certain temperature it will burn down".

Thuy Ung workshop makes the hundreds of products per day. Currently,  products appear in many shops and  entertainment centers over the country, especially in Hanoi such as Vincom, Trang Tien Plaza, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Ngoc Son temple, Van Mieu Quoc Tu Giam .....

In order to take advantage of raw materials for environmental protection, villagers does not waste any part of the horn. They uses the smallest piece to make ornaments, even sucks the dust of horn to be sold to farmers as fertilizer. The using all materials is both increasing income and protecting environment.

Thai My bamboo- weaving village

For years, the village of Thai My in Cu Chi District, Ho Chi Minh City has specialised in making plenty of products from bamboo and rattan which are favourites in the domestic market and exported to some foreign countries. 

According to artisan Cao Thi Cu, 86 years old in Binh Thuong 2 hamlet, the craft of making bamboo and rattan products has existed in the village for over 100 years and has been handed down from generation to generation. For years, each hamlet in the village has specialized in making only one type of product and all the villagers, from the old to the young, are quite good at the craft.

There were times the village’s craft flourished and their products were much sought after in the market. During peak seasons, products were heaped up in every house and were sold in only one day. Even, the villagers could not meet the demand of customers. However, in recent years due to available plastic and aluminum products, the bamboo and rattan products have become less popular. Thanks to the authority’s support and the locals’ effort, the craft has been preserved. To have material for production, the villagers grow bamboo around their houses, in their gardens and fields. They invest more in production facilities and advanced technology to improve the quality of products which have gradually regained their position in the domestic market and are exported to some foreign countries.

The locals also created their own machines to whittle the bamboo barks off and make brims that help shorten the process of production and reduce expenditure. In 2007, Le Vinh Hanh in My Khanh A invented a machine with a capacity of whittling the bamboo’s bark that equaled the output of 15 people. To expand the production scale, he also imported 20 machines to split bamboo laths. At present, his workshop provides jobs for 25 people and supplies the material for all households in the village.

Visiting Thien Long Workshop owned by Le Thi Huych, we saw the strong revival of this craft. Her workshop, covering 3ha, was full of products for export. With 50 workers, her workshop can produce about 1,200-1,500 bamboo baskets/day and exports about 30-40 containers of products each year to Taiwan, China. Huych said that some years ago, her workshop could not provide enough bamboo baskets for Taiwan customers because of the considerably increasing demand during the peak season of harvesting cabbages. Therefore, to meet the timely demand of customers, she has plans to both produce and store products. 

Thanks to Ho Chi Minh City’s financial support policy and the assistance of the authority in Thai My Commune and the women’s association, the locals in Thai My drastically invest in technology and make diverse product to meet all tastes of customers

Thanh Ha pottery- making village

The Thanh Ha Pottery Village is located by the Thu Bon river, Cam Ha ward in the Quang Nam Province, 3 Km to the West of the ancient quarter. The Thanh Ha Pottery Village in Hoi An is a famous example in this type of establishment that aims at furthering tradition as well as employment. The pottery village has a long historical legacy and it used to play an important role in the  development of Hoi An ancient town.

The village originated in Thanh Hoa province and it formed at the end of the 15th century, developing vigorously in the later centuris, at the same time  as the Hoi An port. The products made by the villagers mainly serve the daily lives of the native people in domestic markets. The pottery products include bowls, jars, pots, animal shapes, in multiforms and colors, and they are lighter than the same products in other places

Although they have experienced various challenges over time, economic difficulties and foreign competition, the local inhabitants are always trying to preserve a traditional profession, inherited from their ancestors. The techniques that they use are unique and very diferent from those prevalent in other provinces. Therefore, the village is more of a live museum and it holds precious documentation resources for scientists who study about traditional pottery in Viet Nam and in South East Asia.

Thanh Ha pottery products are made by very well-trained craftmens. They use special clay mixing, burning and baking techniques, and heat modulations to bring out different colors. Depending on the time of burning and the temperature of the kiln, the color can be changed from pink, pink yellow to red, light brown and ink-black. Thanks to the special technique of processing soil and the combination of successive manipulations, the durability of their products is ranked at the top as compared to others in the country, and the brightness is the same as enamel. A soft and clear sound with echo can be heard by knocking on the product. Some products are offered on request or used for planting orchids; they are decorated with the sink and float vignettes that are simple but very nice.

Thanh Ha Pottery craftsmen have been invited by the Court of Nguyen Dynasty in Hue to create special products for various activities of the imperial palace. The same as Kim Bong wood craftsmen, they were placed at the eighth or nineth grade of the mandarin system. In the recent decades, Thanh Ha pottery has been sold throughout the country and sometimes abroad (Canada, America, France). It is also the most trusted name for contractors engaged in tasks of renovation.

Tourists visiting this wonderful village will take pleasure in collecting souvenirs they have seen the skillful craftsmen make before their own eyes.

Van Lam embroidery village

Van Lam village in Dong Hai commune, Hoa Lu district, Ninh Binh province was previously called O Lam (Forest of crows). In addition to its rich cultural and historical tradition, the village is famous for its traditional embroidery craft.  Located by the famous Tam Coc-Bich Dong tourist site, the village has become a popular tourist destination. 

The embroidery craft appeared in Van Lam village in the 13th century in the Tran dynasty. At the gate of the village, there is an ancient temple dedicated to the founder of the local embroidery craft. Vu Thanh Lam, a local elder, says Van Lam people worship the founder of the embroidery craft on the 15th day of the first lunar month: “Legends say that Ms Tran Thi Dung, the Great Tutor Tran Thu Do’s wife, came to the village with other people of the Tran royal family and taught local people the weaving and embroidery crafts. The first local products were clothes decorated with bird patterns and parallel sentences and robes for the royal family. Since then, the embroidery craft has become popular among local people. Van Lam embroidery products have found their way to other regions of Vietnam and overseas. We set up this temple to show our deep gratitude to the founder of the craft and to preserve the craft”.

The temple also worships Dinh Xuan Nghenh and Dinh Xuan Xoan, who brought the lace craft to the village in the early 20th century. 

Local women demonstrate their embroidery craft at the Tam Coc wharf while waiting for boat customers. As the craft is handed down through generations, most people in Van Lam get involved in creating embroidery and lace. Men in the village master the embroidery craft just like the women. With thin colorful threads, the skillful hands of local artisans make embroidery products that are as sophisticated and beautiful as masterpieces of art. Ms Nguyen Thi Lua of Van Lam village says embroidery is a detailed craft: “We cannot say how long it takes to make an embroidery picture because it depends on the type of the picture that we make. It takes more time to make more detailed and larger pictures. The craft requires artisans to master every step”. 

In Van Lam village, nearly 700 households make embroidery pictures. Each house in the village is a workshop whose artisans are family members.

Van Lam embroidery products are famous not only in Vietnam but also overseas. In recent years, they have been exported to Japan, the US, Germany and France. Van Lam artisans are constantly creating new products and modifying their products to meet market demand. They have created more than 200 lace patterns and combined embroidery and lace to make beautiful pictures. Ms Lua says:“Customers’ needs are diverse. Some people like blankets, some like table cloths, mattresses or clothes. They are interested in seeing how we make embroidery pictures. We always try to make quality products to introduce to customers”.

Van Lam people have organized package tours to introduce tourists to local scenic spots and embroidery craft. Decorative patterns depicting the Vietnamese countryside, charming Vietnamese girls, and flowers on Van Lam embroidery products are most impressive.

Chu Dau pottery- making village

When talking about ancient pottery villages, one immediately thinks of Bat Trang, Hanoi’s ancient ceramic village. But another ancient pottery village named Chu Dau, thanks to a discovery made in the 1980s, is beginning to rival Bat Trang. Chu Dau’s ceramic craft, once famous worldwide, has been resurrected after disappearing for 3 centuries. 

The name Chu Dau literally means “wharf”. Chu Dau village in the northern province of Hai Duong was known only as a busy trading hub until evidence was uncovered that it used to produce ceramic vases that were renowned around the world.

The story of Chu Dau’s revival as a ceramic village began with a 1980 letter from Makoto Anabuki, Secretary of the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam, to Ngo Duy Dong, Secretary of Hai Duong Province's Party Committee. In this letter, Anabuki wrote that during a working trip to Turkey, he had visited Topkapi Saray Museum in Istanbul and was very interested to see an ancient Vietnamese ceramic jar on display. On the jar was written: "In the Year of 1945 of the 8th Thai Hoa reign, a ceramic maker of the Bui Family in the Nam Sach area drew on this jar just for fun." Makoto Anabuki asked the Party Secretary to find the origin of this valuable jar 4 years later. From the information given, excavations uncovered relics proving that Chu Dau village used to produce ceramic products of high artistic merit. The discovery that wowed pottery experts also shocked the local residents. Nguyen Minh Tu, is a village elder of Chu Dau, says: "I never knew there were pottery kilns in this village although I sometimes found pieces of glazed terra-cotta in my garden. Only when experts came to my house and conducted excavations did I learn that those were pieces of national treasures. My fellow villagers and I are very happy and excited to receive experts, even foreign experts, to our village to research the village’s ancient craft of pottery."

In 1993 and 1997, at shipwreck sites in the Philippines’ Pandanan sea and near Vietnam’s Cham island, scientists found more than 340,000 porcelain objects from Chu Dau village, 240,000 of them unbroken. This proved that Chu Dau ceramic items were exported across the globe. Research has confirmed that Chu Dau’s ceramic craft was at its height from the 14th to the 17th century. There are currently 46 museums around the world displaying pottery products from Chu Dau village, some of the items worth as much as 1 million USD. In 2000, Nam Sach district native Nguyen Huu Thang, Director of the Saigon Haprosimex Company, wanted to revive Chu Dau as a ceramic village, copying excavated fine ceramic pieces for export and developing the village’s tourism potential. Villager Nguyen Van Luu was assigned the task of reviving the craft. He elaborated: "Our village’s ceramic craft has been highly praised by the international community. After much research, we decided it would be a very good thing to revive ancestors’ ancient craft. We believed this would generate jobs for many local people."

As part of this effort, in October, 2001, a Chu Dau ceramic workshop was established. Efforts were made to find and collect ancient ceramic pieces, and invite experts and artisans from other ceramic villages to collaborate on research into the colours of traditional ceramics. About 200 young people from Chu Dau Village were selected and taught the basic techniques and professional secrets of each production process. These apprentices will become expert artisans in the family ceramic groups of the future. From this workshop, many Chu Dau ceramic items have been exported globally, earning the villagers a better living now while paving the way for them to do even better when craft village tourism begins to spread their reputation to every corner of the world.  

Ly Nhan forging village

Ly Nhan commune is situated in the northwest of Vinh Tuong district, Vinh Phuc province. The commune has 282.6ha in terms of natural land and 141.7ha in terms of cultivating land. It is adjacent to  Phu Thinh in the north and AnTuong in the south and ThuongTrung in the east and in the west , a Red river’s branch next to Minh Chau commune belong to Ba Vi district, Ha Tay province. Ly Nhan consists of 3 hamlets: Ban Mach, Van Giang and Van Ha. Only Ban mach is located inside the Central dam, while the other 2 hamlets are outside of it. Here the forge exists for a long time.

There are many people who wasted their strength to know when the forge in Ban Mach started?But up to date, there have been no correct answers. Ban Mach’s people tell each other that: in the past, its land was rich and convenient to the expansion of farming. But at that time, farming tools were simple and villagers were not devoted in the work, which led to the denuded and desolate village. One day, a duke came to the village for a visit and foud that this land could be developed. He determined to recruite skilled blacksmiths to teach villagers a new trade. The forge in Ban Mach was established since then. Initially, people created working tools for agricultura production. Gradually, when the forge village’s quintessence was known in the imperial city, Ban Mach artisants were assigned to forge weapons serving the feudal wars. Since then, Ban Mach’s forged products have become popular with consumers everywhere.  

Many consumers are fond of Ly Nhan’s forged products because of not only its long-standing history and trademark but also their quality. A knife made by people in Ban Mach hamlet can be used until it wears flat towards its edge without losing its sharpness. Experienced blacksmiths just look at its iron water, then they will say the product are Ly Nhan’s or not. The blacksmiths who are clear distinct can identify which establishment the product belongs to because each establishment has its own key. Those are keys handed down from generation to generation without being taught in any books. Mr Tran Van Hung- a skilled craftsman with 40 years of experience in Ban Mach hamlet revealed that: in order to create a product, the blacksmith must implement many complicated processes and operations. At first, he must select a type of steel that is solid enough for each kind of product. After choosing a suitable steel is to weld, burn and chop the steel. This process help types of steels connect to each other to form a shape of a product. Then Followed by the process of chiseling, whetting, forging and completing products. In order to get a good product, the craftsman need to implement exactly from selecting steels to fitting handles. However, the process giving soul to the product is to chop and burn steel.(called tempering and welding iron in terms of technique). Each establishment and each blacksmith have their own way to temper and weld steels. Experienced craftsmen just see burning fires in the furnace or hear sound of whetting and then they will know that product is finished or not. Therefore, it takes only 2 years for an apprentice to manufacture a product while it may take his whole life to forge a good product but sometime nothing got. Moreover, only craftsman who has a heart in the blacksmith can keep the craft. There were products which were tempered and forged for 10 times by Mr Hung and took him months to create good ones. 

Ly Nhan now becomes a mechanical arsenal with full of vitality. People can see flaming furnaces, hear uproarious sound of blowing fires on bellows, of hammers and whetting metals everywhere.To keep the traditional blacksmith and help it to stand firmly until now, Ly Nhan’s blacksmith has gone through a lot of ups and downs. Especially in the period of subsidization, the nation’s economy met many difficulties, the traditional forge seemed to be neglected. There existed a period when the village had to ruin furnaces, suspend bellows and villagers got rid of the occupation and left the homes to go to other places to seek for work. Only hearted people kept furnaces, forge several knives, hoes in order not to forget the craft. Thanks to such people, the forge is still alive nowadays. 

At present, Ban Mach’s forge village built up a production area separated from the residential quarter with an aim of avoiding noises and ensuring indices in environmental protection. This area has 30 households with more than 100 workers. Many big machines are also concentrated in this area including 7 grinding machines, 33 hammer machines, 10 battering machines of different kinds…Each day this area can supply tens of thousands of products of high quality and bring high incomes and generate jobs for most of its local workforce. These finished products are not simply ones made by machines. They remain to keep the core and quintessence of the traditional blacksmith. They stil have firm position in the market and obtain consumers’belief and make the trademark of Ly Nhan’s forge village become more well-known and strong