After expansion in August 2008, Hanoi included a hundred Traditional Handicraft Villages, such as: Bat Trang Pottery Village, Dinh Cong Jewelry Village, Flower Village, Vong Village, Yen Phu Incense Village, Duong Lam Ancient Village, Van Phuc Silk Village, Ha Thai Lacquer Village, Phu Vinh Bamboo and Ratan, Chuong Conical Hat Village, Son Dong Capenter Village
Bat Trang Pottery Village
Location: Bat Trang Pottery Village is located in the south east of Hanoi, passing Chuong Duong Bridge turns right and go about 10km along the dike of Red River. Bat Trang belongs to Bat Trang Commune, Gia Lam District, Hanoi.
Characteristic: This is a pottery village with a half-millenary historic development.
Some decades recently, the vitality of this village is still blown up by the thousands of pottery-kiln on fire day and night.
In the period about 12th - 14th century, there are a numbers of families in Bo Bat Pottery Village (in Thanh Hoa Province now). They were Bui, Phung, Tran and Vu families coming there to work pottery, selling it to people in city even doing business with foreigners. At first, it was called Bach Ho Group and when there are the thousands of pottery-kiln, it was called Bat Trang - the age of name is as approximately old as the age of group.
Who was the Bat Trang pottery ancestor? As a popular documentary he is Hua Vinh Kieu who gained a pupil scholar certificate under the reign of Ly. On the occasion of being sent to the north country under the Sung Dynasty ( China today) as King envoy, he learnt work and taught to people when he came back. He was regarded as the founder. But according to the "Dao Tuong Kinh Su Bi Ky" epitaph, Tran Hoe Doctor in Tu Chi built it. Quy duke, Nguyen Thanh Chau, in 1737. He was the founder. On the other theories, Luu Phuong was said to be the founder...
When it was seen on the Dai Viet administrative map, Bat Trang products were got the favor of people from the top citizen class in Thang Long to the poor peasant in country. Bat Trang family use items gone far abroad. From the early 15th century, China was the place with the tradition pottery work for the thousands of years and well known in the world but there were ever the tens of Bat Trang pottery sets in the tribute festival. Since then in every reign, in decline or prospect situations, Bat Trang Pottery Village still assured the worth of goods, kept position and passed every trial. It is proud of working, living, old origin in Bat Trang.
In the Gia Lam proverb, there is a word: "living to be man in Bat Trang, dying to be tutelary spirit" that means it is very happy to be a man in Bat Trang because of the stable pottery work, big fortune. In Kieu Ki Village, there was a work of making Indian ink; material was the skin of buffalo. They had to kill buffalo and worship tutelary spirit so this tutelary was well off. Bat Trang likes a symbol of Vietnam traditional trade village.
It is a famous trade village, recently, there are over 6,000 people in 1,500 families with the total 153ha. The rate of pottery kiln in Bat Trang is the first rank at the other same villages in the world. Most men in Bat Trang follow the traditional work (nine of ten) except for person leaving Home. After over an innovation decade, many traditional trade villages are recovered, the innovation and increase of Bat Trang Pottery Village are increasing unbelievably.
On the basic of tradition pottery technique, Bat Trang pottery workers have taken - abused-propagated greatly the progress of science technology into every stage in making pottery. It has made many types of top class pottery, that is useful and beautiful and it upgrades the sense of pottery art. The Bat Trang list of pottery getting high quality is longer more and more by day like bowl, dish, pot, cup, wine pot, a big flower-vase, leg lamp, lime-pot, big-bellied jar... It made by all sort of glazes as ancient pearl blaze, crackle glaze, dark glaze, indigo-blue flower glaze, grey flower glaze, melt glaze...
In 10/2004, Bat Trang Pottery Market was opened in the area of over 5.000m2. It is not only the place to display and trade but also an interesting tourist site in Hanoi.
Dinh Cong Jewelry Village
Location: Dinh Cong Jewelry Village is located on the To Lich river bank is Dinh Cong Thuong Village, also called Dinh Cong kim hoan (Jewelry). It belongs to the present Thanh Tri District, Hanoi.
Characteristic: The name of the village shows us it is already famous for jewelry handicraft.
The Dinh Cong Jewelers used to relate the following story: during the Ly Nam De period (571 - 603), in the To Lich River area, there were three orphan brothers of the Tran family called Tran Hoa, Tran Dien and Tran Dien, who originated from Dinh Cong Village. After a period of exile in the war, they learned jewelry making and came back to their native village and opened a jewelry shop called "Kim Hoan", taking the gold bracelet as their trade mark. The jewelry they made was very sophisticated. As their prestige became more well-known, the king got the three brothers to come to the royal court to make jewelry. The brothers taught people in their village the profession. Since then, Dinh Cong Village has been renowned for its jewelry, the skills being handed down from generation to generation. Besides the Dinh Cong Village, Hang Bac Street in the very heart of Hanoi is an area for jewellers originating from Dinh Cong Village.
In fact the three Tran brothers are not the originators of the jewelry handicraft, they simply contributed to the development of the techniques. About 5 or 6 centuries earlier, ancient China had already appreciated Giao Chi (the name of Vietnam at that time) as an area rich in gold and gemstones, and the exploitation of these precious resources was developed. A Chinese historian in about 187 - 226 A.D. wrote: Sy Nhiep sent to China many gifts, at first these were gold and silver items. In many tombs of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, sophisticated gold and jade jewelry such as bracelets, rings, hairpins, combs, earrings and necklaces have been found.
Under the feudal regimes, kings and mandarins gathered skillful jewelers not only from Dinh Cong village but also from other provinces to produce jewels for themselves or to decorate their palaces.
To make sophisticated products, jewelers must master 3 important techniques relating to the profession, including carving, making and polishing.
The carving technique involves carving a picture, design or motif on jewels, or on gold or silver pieces. The pieces included necklaces, bracelets and spittoons.
The making technique involves spinning tempered gold and silver into strings and then making flowers, birds and animals from these strings to stick on the jewels. This technique requires a careful and skillful hand, so it’s mainly reserved for women. The polishing technique making gold and silver articles by shading not by carving.
The skillful jewelers must master not only these 3 professional techniques but above all the ancient technique of smelting. To use pure gold (called also gold foil or gold leaf) for jewelry making, they have to follow the traditional techniques of "polishing gold".
When the making is finished, the article is ready for polishing. Silver articles are brushed with sand and then with a solution of soot and lime and then put on a fire. The article is then immersed in a solution of boiled alum and finally polished with sand and pieces of glass. Gold articles are brushed with a solution of pounded brick and liquid salt, then put on a fire and cleaned. Then they are immersed in a solution of boiled, sour fungus and finally polished with sand and by pieces of glass.
Looking at the figures and motifs on the articles, one can see the patience, skill and creativeness of these Vietnamese jewelers.
Flower villages around Hanoi
Characteristic: The area of Tay Tuu, Tay Ho, Quang Ba, Ngoc Ha, Huu Tiep, Dai Yen were the flower-growing land. Overtime, Hanoi has come into its times of modernization and industrialization. The traditional surrounding flower villages have been turning into "villages within the city".
Referring to the traditional flower villages in Hanoi, people speak the most of Ngoc Ha. It had become a flower village since the establishment of capital city. This village has developed continuously by the experience of history and time, and has always been considered as a big flower village supplying fresh flowers for Thang Long - Hanoi City and its vicinity. In 1954, there were in this village up to 500 households involved in planting flowers. Every morning, from the early time, the Ngoc Ha flower market was full of buyers and sellers, even coming from Vong Village (Dich Vong - Cau Giay District) with their tuberoses.
Due to the expansion of city and fast growth of population, the traditional flower villages like Ngoc Ha, Huu Tiep... are getting limited, the flowers-growing area remains only in small gardens between the buildings. Meanwhile, many new flower villages around the capital have been gradually set up and developing, such as Tay Tuu (Tu Liem District), Vinh Tuy (Thanh Tri District), Dong Anh township and Phu Thuong (Tay Ho District). The flower-growing area increases fast from 92ha in 1990 to over 500ha in 1999; specifically, increased by 22 times in Tu Liem District, 1.5 times in Thanh Tri District and 33 times in Dong Anh District. Among the rural districts, Tu Liem gets the highest income from flower planting compared to the other places in Hanoi (VND141 million per hectare in 1997).
Dam Village is the old name of Tay Tuu Commune (Tu Liem District); it is located 15km from the Hanoi center to the west. The village changed from rice cultivation into flower production since 1994. Presently, the flower-growing area of Dam Village comprises up to 100ha, accounting for 35 percent of its total sown area; and there are more than 1,000 households of the village, i.e. accounting for 40 percent of the total, are engaged in planting flowers. The local flower planters remember that they faced not-small difficulties when they started to change from rice into flowers, especially in terms of seeds. Beside the varieties of seasonal flowers, so familiar to the population of Hanoi like rose, yellow and white chrysanthemums, peony, violet ... they have tried to import many kinds of stranger flowers, such as queen, prince and princess chrysanthemums, marigold, Dalat rose, French rose,...
If there are more varieties of chrysanthemums in Dam Village, then there is a larger area devoted to growing roses in Vinh Tuy. The Vinh Tuy Village has an area of 100 mau (1 mau = 3,600m�) reserved for planting flowers, of which up to 55 mau for roses. Roses are grown everywhere, in gardens and on fields. For this purpose, each household has at least tens square meters or a whole plot. In the recent time, the local rose planters have mainly worked with varieties of Dalat roses; but now there are more than tens of new varieties coming with tourists to Vietnam.
The quality of flowers grown in villages around Hanoi is getting higher. A short time ago, flowers sold in Hanoi shops were mainly provided from Dalat and foreign countries; but now the shopkeepers also try to take flowers right in Hanoi.
It is clear that the demand on fresh flowers in Hanoi is more and more high. It is just the setting-up and development of new flower villages surrounding the city that helps meet partly this demand. However, the planters have to try to create new varieties of nice and unique flowers along with the familiar varieties like chrysanthemums and roses.
Vong Village
Location: Vong Village is in Cau Giay District, 7km from centre of Hanoi.
Characteristic: This village is famous for com making.
A legend tells that in the autumn of a thousand years ago, there was a torrential rain accompanied by severe winds in Vong Village, on the outskirts of present-day Hanoi . At that time, the paddy was just about to ripen and the storm threatened a big loss. The villagers had to collect and dry the young rice as alternative food to avoid starvation.
Unexpectedly, the product had a such a distinct flavour and fragrance that the villagers repeated the process in later years. As a result of the fame of the young rice, this kind of food was brought to other places in the area. Then, it was much sought after by connoisseurs and was one of the village's tributes to the King of the Ly Dynasty (11th -13th century). In Vietnamese, it is called com.
Com is made from young glutinous rice, when the rice begins to ripen and still contains milk and fragrance. The village's traditional renowned craft of making com is still well preserved and developed, even with the advance of technology. The local farming industry does not supply enough rice for com; thus during the season, many villagers have to go to other framing areas near the capital to buy young rice. First, the rice is selected, thrashed, sieved and washed in large washers to eliminate the thin grains that float on the surface. At this stage, it turns to yellow from the original green colour.
To produce a kind of soft com, the rice must be pounded before the most important stage of drying in a large iron pan over a wood fire. The pounding and drying techniques are the know-how that is often kept within the household, never to be transferred to daughters. Artisans of this trade know how long the pounding and drying should last, the frequency of each pounding, how the heat of the fire should be adjusted, and the techniques of choosing good rice and good firewood. Though the village is not as busy with this activity as in the past, you still hear the sound of the pounding and smell the distinctive fragrance of com during the daytime. Pounding is not practiced during the night, so as not to interrupt people's sleep.
The finished product which must be soft, sweet and fragrant, then finds its way to customers in bamboo woven baskets covered with lotus leaves to keep its moisture and to lend the com the fragrance of the flower. The fragrance of com and lotus, when merged, is too attractive to resist.
Com is often eaten by hand, directly from the lotus leaves, a pinch at a time and chewed slowly to fully appreciate the flavour. It can also be eaten with persimmons or bananas or used as the ingredient for banh com (com cake), che com (sugary soup with com), cha com (pie made of pork and com) among which , banh com is the most well-known as it is used at almost every engagement ceremony. These kind of cakes are wrapped squarely with bananas leaves, tied with a red string and stamped on the out side with a Chinese character meaning "double happiness". With these characteristics, banh com is believed to be a symbol of a steadfast and eternal love. To those who have ever been engaged in farming, eating com often reminds them of a field of young fragrant paddy.
During its season, com can be seen on almost every street. The peddlers cry out loudly: "com, com...", but often it is unnecessary, as they are easily recognized by their paraphernalia: they shoulder two light bamboo baskets (com is not so heavy as other products) with lotus leaves on the top and a small bundle of paddy stems tied to the basket carriers, which are used to wrap and tie com.
Yen Phu Incense Village
Location: Yen Phu Incense Village is in the Yen Phu city gate, located on the edge of the mysterious West Lake in Tay Ho District , Hanoi.
Characteristic: Besides the ornamental fish breeding, inhabitants in the village have done incense for long time.
According to the some documentation and the village elders, Chinese handed down the work of making incense since the 13th century. The Buddhism and the custom of burning incense was developed here and many other places. In the 20th century, making incense developed strongly and not only attracts people in this village but also in the other villages like An Duong, Nghi Tam with a large of people.
In the early time of 1980, there was the sign of oblivion as many families changed their job. But this career is recovered and developed until now.
Even though the incense business is not a cushy job and high income, inhabitants still take their job because of the traditional career. They are used to living on it and find the other suitable job difficult. Thus, this is the hard job; It spends a lot of work stage. Everybody in a work family has to work hard for each division labor in the task from normal to complex. The young and old often does the normal job as sharpening stick, drying and collection, parking goods. The most complex stage is the mixture of spice incense between the sawdust and spice materials. This work is carried out by the experienced worker because it affects on the quality of incense.
Everyday, there are lots means of transport bring materials to village and merchants come here to take incense to the districts all the country. The incense village is more crowded in Tet holiday and the late time of year because the demand of incense is high.
Besides the family live on producing incense, some families carry on business relating to incense like materials, agency, so they live on incense too.
Duong Lam Ancient Village
Visiting Laterite Duong Lam Ancient Village, wandering along its narrow alleyways, we will feel something special that was accumulated many years ago. Going out the gate of Mong Phu Village, we can see large characters "There is talent in any time" that symbol for our previous generation's useful encouragement and advice.
Duong Lam Ancient Village: two kings
The ancient village of Duong Lam on the outskirts of Hanoi is also known as a museum of laterite, Home to around 300 houses built three or four centuries ago with lateritic bricks. The village has also been described as the last stronghold of wet rice farming culture in northern Vietnam. Duong Lam Ancient Village has a history of about 1,200 years with many houses dating back up to 400 years. It is the only place in Vietnam where two kings came from.
Phung Hung (761-802) and Ngo Quyen (808-944), who were born and grew up in the village, led the resistance to and had victories over China's Sung and Southern Han troops to recover national independence. They both became kings. After they died, temples were erected to worship them.
Because Duong Lam Ancient Village is of cultural and historical importance it attracts many tourists. The village is in Duong Lam Commune, about 60km from Hanoi. It consists of more than six hamlets. Among these hamlets, Mong Phu is the biggest and the most famous.
The village is a place to see for tourists from far and wide. It is included in tours of many travel companies. Two of its famous places are Sung Nghiem Tu (Mia Pagoda) and Mong Phu Temple. Mia Pagoda is on a small hill in Dong Sang Hamlet. It was constructed before 1632 and has been upgraded and restored many times. Now it is a national cultural and historical site. Mong Phu Temple is in Mong Phu Hamlet. It was set up with ancient Vietnamese architecture in 1638. In the village, tourists can also see ancient houses and small lanes as well as study the everyday life of residents.
One special thing about the village is that most of the buildings here are made of laterite and mud, two materials that are abundant in the area. Laterite is used on house walls, gates, wells, temple walls, and so forth. The mud is taken from ponds.
Apart from its historical and tourism values, Duong Lam Ancient Village is an important place for scientists to study resident communities in ancient agriculture. Recent studies by a number of scholars show that Mong Phu Hamlet is Asia's only representative of water paddy that remains.
Duong Lam- typical Northern Village
Duong Lam is not only famous for its magic position where two kings came from but also for its typical characteristics of Vietnam's countryside.
Thanks to its cultural value, Duong Lam is the first ancient village that was awarded National historic and cultural relics Certification on May 19th 2006.
Duong Lam Ancient Village is known as "Vietnam Ancient Village" or" Laterite Ancient Village" that brings typical characteristics of Vietnam's agriculture and countryside, northern Delta- Hong River Delta.
Duong Lam brings in itself the most beautiful, lovely features of Vietnam's countryside that have described in folk-songs, proverbs, national literature. The most beautiful and lovely features are range of bamboos, fields, storks, bania tree, water well, yards of communal house, alleys, hamlets, straws, arecas.........
Duong Lam Ancient village is famous for its beautiful architecture relics such as the gate of Mong Phu Village, communal house of Dong Sang, Doai Giap, CamLam Bridge, and Mia Pagoda and especially typical ancient houses with its laterite walls that make Duong Lam be called "Laterite Vietnamese Ancient Village. Ancient gate frame, ancient bania trees and river watering places contribute to make this village be more different from other Vietnamese Ancient villages.
Duong Lam has 9 villages including Mong Phu, Dong Sang, Cam Thinh, Doai Giap and Cam Lam. These villages have close relationship with unchangeable customs, beliefs in thousand years.
The shape of Duong Lam road is fishbone. The advantage of this structure is that if you go from communal house your back will not face up with the gate of Saint. Now, there is one ancient entrance gate in Mong Phu Hamlet. This is different from other gates in Northern Deltal.............Mong Phu's Temple is in Mong Phu Hamlet which was buit in 1684 ( Vinh To date- Le Hy Tong Dynasty). This Temple was built in compliance with Viet-Muong architecture style (The floor of Temple was made from wood). Festival is organized from 10th January with many games such as: worshiped chicken and pig examination.
Duong Lam has 956 traditional houses in which there are equivalently 441,350,165 in Dong Sang, Mong Phu and Cam Thinh. Many houses were built many years ago (1649, 1703, and 1850)
Mong Phu Hamlet remains the most original feature with 45, 100-200 years old ancient houses. These old houses have their own campus and toward the road. Each old house is rounded by walls. Thus, visitors wandering in ancient hamlet will feel as being strolling two rounded walls in two sides of the road.
According to statistic, Duong Lam has 16 relics such as Ngo Quyen Temple, Phung Hung Temple, Mia Pagoda, Mong Phu Communal house, Doai Giap Communal house, Giang Van Minh Church. In addition, Mong Phu also has Tiger area, roared Tiger Hill, Sa Mau Hill, Gem Well, streblus range...where Phung Hung and Phung Hai fought with Tiger, manoeuvred. According to legend, deepend areas were place where Ngo Quyen used to manoeuvre in his chidhood. Ministry of Culture and Information considered Mia Pagoda as special relic. Mia Pagoda has 286 Statues including 6 copper Statues, 107 wood Statues, 174 Statues made from soil.
The people of Duong Lam have protected their material cultural value. Thus, Duong Lam has remained a large number of complex nonmaterial cultural values.'
The ancient documents/evidences saved in the village’s annals, family’s annals and stone stele, horizontal lacquered board, pair of wood panels, legends, folk verses was very plentiful. They told about Duong Lam’s land and people through historical periods which was still handed out in Duong Lam. If we come at the right time, we will have a chance to participate in many traditional festivals of the village and mix with cultural activities of each great family, guild, factions, folk art as well as traditional games like cock-fighting, swinging, duck-catching, lantern parade, human chess…
Besides its cultural and historical values, Duong Lam still remains diversity food values. One of its specialties is Sugar-cane chicken. Duong Lam is also famous for Cam Lam fresh tea, Mong Phu Soy, Dong sang candy, Nam Nguyen Casaba. The people of Duong Lam have introduced their specialties to tourists. Ha Tay Travel sector in general and Doai Area in particular is making great effort to turn Duong Lam Ancient Village become an attractive historical and cultural site for domestic and foreigner tourists.
Van Phuc Silk Village
During their stay in Hanoi, most tourists insist on a trip to Van Phuc Silk Village, the famous silk village of Hanoi to contemplate the genuine traditional silk-making industry.
Van Phuc Silk Village is situated on the banks of Nhue Thi River, Nguyen Trai Road, near Ha Dong city, 8 km southwest of Ha Noi. It takes you only 30 minutes by motorbike to go there from the centre of Hanoi.
The village has been much well known for its traditional sericulture, weaving, and silk products. Tourists coming here are lured by various beautiful shirts, crafts, ties, dresses and many other things made of silk available in the village. What is special is that the silk is made by very simple looms, which is the genuinely traditional Vietnamese way of making silk.
The cradle of Vietnamese Silk
For centuries, silk has always been considered an extreme luxury, on par with rhinoceros horn, ivory and precious handworks in Vietnam. It has long been a universal byword of luxury, often worn by the richest, most powerful citizens. Most visitors somehow have heard about the significant role of this kind of material in Vietnam, yet might wonder where the cradle of Viet silk is. The mentioned Van Phuc Silk Village is proud to be the origin of best silk and silk-making industry of Vietnam, which is attached to a long-lasting history of more than two thousand years. Though passing by lots of ups and downs, during the recent years, the village’s craft has enjoyed revival due to a surging demand for silk in both the domestic and foreign markets.
Today, the fine and lustrous cloth that originates from the cocoon of the silkworm is more affordable for "ordinary" folk. Furthermore, silk is currently enjoying a fashion renaissance, particularly since its many varieties can be made into a wide range of designs suitable for all facets of modern life. Should you intend to have a silk pair of formal clothes made, just come here and select your suitable materials, and professional tailors here will bring you satisfaction!
Ideal place for silk products & souvenirs
Like other visitors to the village, you will be surprised at this “silk shop town”, where almost all houses along the paths have been turned into shops selling silk products. Specifically, the village is now Home to 1,280 households, 90% of whom are involved in silk production and business. The village makes more than 2 million meters of silk per year. Yet, more than that, you are offered a good chance to explore the Vietnamese traditional industry of silk-making.
No tourists here are uncontented with the glisten of various silk products. They are always confronted with an initially bewildering array of silk products, from raw materials, to garments, and a myriad of silk accessories. The local silk is known for its smooth and lightweight appearance, and qualities that enable it to be dyed more colors to suit a variety of skin tones. In order to cater for the changing demands and tastes of customers, Van Phuc silk producers are expanding their silk and garment repertoire: traditional glossy, embroidered silks, double layers, wrinkled silks, and of course, more colours, hues and weights, for which they have invented new techniques in dying and thermo-processing the threads.
If you are going to buy something from Vietnam as gifts for those at Home, silk and clothes made of silk are available around in the village for your choice. Though the days when Vietnam's silk was reserved for nobility are long gone, what would never change is the sense of romance and luxury imparted by silk, a luminous cloth type. With 2000 years of history behind them, the silk weavers of Van Phuc Silk village are still busy, weaving dreams.
How to get there? With a view to reaching Va