Being proud of national intangible cultural heritage

Thu Dau Mot (TDM) city’s People's Committee has just held a ceremony to kick off the project on "Preservation, maintenance and development of Tuong Binh Hiep lacquer village in combination with tourism in TDM city and surrounding areas" (briefly called the Project). This is a good sign at the expectations of the people and artisans of the craft village after 2 years of annoucement, demonstrating the efforts by the local government in connecting and promoting related procedures to kick off a very meaningful project, contributing to promoting the local socio-economic and cultural development.

A golden age

Tong Binh Hiep lacquerware is one of TDM’s long-standing traditional craft villages, combining the cultural quintessence of the North with the soil, raw materials, and creative industrious workforce in the South, creating products with unique characteristics, which are handed down and developed into unique handicraft products that are trusted by domestic and foreign consumers.

The ceremony to kick off the project will meet the expectations of the craft village’s people and artisans after 2 years of announcement

Tuong Binh Hiep is the only land in the South that fully contains 3 types of traditional lacquer: decorative lacquer, applied lacquer and artistic lacquer painting. All are placed in a unified space, but very separate in terms of visual language and art. With the important cultural values ​​of the craft village, along with the efforts by the Party committees, local authorities and artisans, on April 6, 2016, lacquer craft in Tuong Binh Hiep was recognized as the National Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Ministry of Culture - Sports and Tourism.

According to artisans, Tuong Binh Hiep lacquer products are famous throughout the country for their quality, sophistication and gentleness with Asian style. According to statistics, in 2001, Tuong Binh Hiep lacquer village had nearly 2,000 households engaged in production with nearly 4,000 workers. However, now there are only some tens of establishments and enterprises producing lacquer products, mainly creating jobs for the local idle and elderly workers. The market changes too quickly, so the number of artisans who are passionate about the craft village have somewhat decreased over time. The younger generation is no longer passionate about the lacquer profession.

Over the past time, the province gave more support policies for Tuong Binh Hiep lacquer craft village, helping it not be lost. Particularly, the province supported the craft village to build a collective brand, implemented a project on tourism development associated with lacquer village development, provided production facilities with loans…Noticeably, provincial People's Committee approved a project on "Preservation and development of Tuong Binh Hiep lacquer village in combination with tourism in TDM city and surrounding areas”.

The project is implemented in public land (Ong Doc mound) with a total area of ​​more than 54,000 square meters in group 32, quarter 8, Tuong Binh Hiep ward, Thu Dau Mot city. It is expected to be implemented for the period of 2020-2023 with contents, such as: Building a concentrated lacquer craft village with a fully-built infrastructure system..., creating the best conditions for establishments and businesses to access programs and policies related to lacquer craft, creating enough space to promote lacquer products to potential markets and combine the introduction and promotion of the local specific cultural, historical and religious relics in the locality, develop the type of sightseeing and shopping at the craft village and in surrounding areas of TDM city.

Determination by whole political system

To contribute to preserving and developing Tuong Binh Hiep lacquer village, preserving and developing the cultural and spiritual heritage values ​​​​of the ancestors, with the support and facilitation of the province and departments, in 2020, TDM city held a ceremony to announce the project.

However, in 2021, due to the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic, all aspects of the economy and social life of the people were affected, so the implementation of the project has faced difficulties With the determination by the city’s whole political system along with the coordination betwwen departments and sectors in the province, the city is now gradually implementing the contents of the project through the implementation of steps to adjust the 1/500 scale detailed planning of the area for construction of the craft village and is preparing legal documents for the construction and installation of the signal board to the craft village.

Up to now, the situation of Covid-19 pandemic has been controlled, so the project has been quickly implemented, contributing to creating favorable conditions for the craft village’s establishments and enterprises to access preferential programs, contributing to the local socio-economic development through trade and tourism promotion activities. With the direction of provincial Party Committee, People's Committee, TDM city’s People's Committee held a ceremony to kick off the project. Vo Chi Thanh, Vice-Chairman of TDM city’s People's Committee said that kicking off the project will partly meet the expectations of the people and artisans of the craft village after 2 years of announcement. This is also the effort by the city’s government in connecting and promoting related procedures to kick off this very meaningful project.

Possibly speaking, tourism development associated with traditional craft villages contribute to preserving and developing craft villages in a sustainable way. This is the right step, not only expanding the market, opening up many opportunities to promote traditional craft village products, but also contributing to preserving and upholding the values ​​of traditional culture in each craft village in Binh Duong.

Reported by Thoai Phuong-Translated by Kim Tin