Visiting traditional craft villages

Besides tourism advantages of historical monuments and tourist attractions, Binh Duong is the destination of visitors, who want to learn about traditional craft villages, including famous villages, such as Tuong Binh Hiep lacquer, Lai Thieu pottery, An Thanh wood carving village...

 A land of craft villages

At present, Binh Duong has 32 handicraft villages, 9 traditional trades, and 55 traditional handicraft villages. The traditional villages still maintain its efficiency such as Tuong Binh Hiep lacquer, Lai Thieu pottery, Tan Phuoc Khanh pottery, Chanh Nghia pottery, Phu Tho wooden clog, Phu Tho wood carving, An Thanh wood carving, Lai Thieu clay piggy bank... Among traditional craft villages in Binh Duong, Tuong Binh Hiep lacquer village (Tuong Binh Hiep ward, TDM City) is the most well-known. According to statistical data in 1945, Tuong Binh Hiep village had more than 300 households doing this trade, and in 2011 there were 900 households with about 3,000 laborers making lacquer products.

Products of Tuong Binh Hiep lacquer village.

Le Ba Linh, Deputy Chairman of Binh Duong Lacquer - Sculpture Association, said the golden age of Binh Duong lacquer was 1945-1975, when lacquer products was exported to European countries, got high commercial value, reached the peak of quantity, high aesthetic, artistic quality, and diversity. At present, due to market changes, Tuong Binh Hiep village has only about 30 households maintaining this trade. They love lacquer and want to preserve the essence of Vietnamese culture on lacquer products.

Regarding pottery, besides Lai Thieu pottery village (Thuan An town) and Chanh Nghia village (TDM city), Tan Phuoc Khanh pottery village (Tan Uyen town) is one of the three large pottery centers in Binh Duong. Production bases in Tan Phuoc Khanh mainly make pottery for domestic use and fine art pottery. The characteristic of Tan Phuoc Khanh pottery is handmade, containing precious cultural and spiritual values ​​of traditional pottery. Lai Thieu has been also famous for clay piggy banks since the 70s of the last century. Previously, Lai Thieu area has more than 300 households making clay piggy banks, now only about 20 households attached to this trade. Although the household number has decreased much, traditional beauty of the village is still preserved by local people.

Rattan and bamboo weaving in Binh Duong concentrates mainly in Tan Uyen town with daily-use products such as fans, baskets, mats ... (Lac An - now in North Tan Uyen district), rattan products, bamboo products (Tan Phuoc Khanh ward)... In addition, Ba Nhat rattan and bamboo weaving cooperative (Uyen Hung ward, Tan Uyen town) is famous for its products from rattan, bamboo, water hyacinth…

Wood sculpture is also a traditional craft of Binh Duong. This profession was formed and has been developed in Binh Duong for more than 200 years. Visiting wood sculpturing and carving village in An Thanh ward (Thuan An town), Phu Tho ward (TDM City) today, people still hear the sound of chisels, saws ... as in the prosperous years of Binh Duong wood sculpture.

Developing handicraft tourism

To develop handicraft tourism, in addition to realizing contents of Binh Duong Tourism Development Plan up to 2020 with orientation towards 2030, Binh Duong tourism sector will collaborate with localities, production facilities in craft villages to develop handicraft tourism having Binh Duong characteristics. Accordingly, the sector will launch tours of visiting historical monuments and craft villages; invest in unique handmade products with diversified designs; offer experience tours for visitors to involve in production process of traditional products ...

Besides, provincial tourism sector has step by step planned and relocated craft villages to develop diversified types of tourism, such as pots, jars in Lai Thieu, bowls in Tan Phuoc Khanh, lacquer in Tuong Binh Hiep, Dinh Hoa... according to characteristics of professions and localities.

It can be seen that provincial Tourism Promotion Center has promoted and introduced craft village tourism through the compilation and publication of tourist publications. In addition, their information booth at tourism festivals, events in and outside the province combined display and introduction of craft products such as lacquer products, wooden clogs, bamboo rattan products... to visitors. At the same time, the center also cooperated with TV channels to launch programs to introduce and promote handicraft tourism...

Reported by Khanh Dang – Translated by Ngoc Huynh