Hanoi (VNA) – Hanoi is home to1,350 craft villages, which is favourable condition for the capital city todevelop tourism.

The most popular ones among both domestic andforeign tourists are Bat Trang pottery village in Gia Lam district, Van Phucsilk village in Ha Dong district, and Chuon Ngo mother-of-pearl inlay village inPhu Xuyen district.

Located in an area rich in clay, Bat Trang villageenjoys advantages of ingredients to create fine ceramics.

Moreover, lying on a bank of the Red Riverbetween Thang Long and Pho Hien, two ancient trade centers in the north ofVietnam during 15th-17th century, Bat Trang’s ceramics were favourite productsnot only in domestic but also foreign markets thanks to Japan, Chinese andWestern merchant boats.

In  the 18th and 19th century,due to the foreign trade restricting policy of the administration of Trinhlords who ruled the north of the country, it was difficult for pottery productsin Vietnam to be exported to foreign countries, and some famous pottery-makingvillages like Bat Trang and Chu Dau (Hai Duong province) experienced a hardtime.

Since 1986, thanks to economic reforms anddevelopment, more attention has been vested in the village and the world gets achance to know more about Vietnamese porcelain through the import of many highquality Bat Trang’s ceramic products.

Bat Trang ceramics are produced for dailyhousehold use such as bowls, cups, plates, pots, and bottles as well as for worshippingor decoration purposes.

Nowadays, artists bring into ceramics manyinnovations in production techniques, and creativity in products’ features, givingbirth to many new products, and even daily household items may have the beautylike decoration ones.

Meanwhile, Van Phuc silk village is locatedabout 10km west of downtown Hanoi on the Nhue River. It is known far and wide asthe cradle of the finest silk in Vietnam. 

Van Phuc silk products were particularlypopular during the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945) which used them to dress theroyal family and aristocrats.

Not only prominent in the domestic market, thetraditionally hand-woven and hand-dyed silk has captured the loyalty ofcustomers outside the country.

Between 1931 and 1932, Van Phuc silk wasdisplayed at international exhibitions for the first time in Marseille and thenParis. At the Paris Fair in 1932, the Vietnamese silk was praised by the Frenchas the most sophisticated product to come out of Indochina. From 1958 to 1988,the silk was mostly exported to East European markets.

Based on traditional designs, locals in VanPhuc silk village are creating more modern products to meet the increasingdemands of domestic and foreign markets.

Touring Chuon Ngo village in the suburbandistrict of Phu Xuyen, visitors will have an opportunity to admire picturesqueimages with high artistic values created from mother of pearl, demonstratingthe high craftsmanship of artisans.

This place is famous for sets of wooden furniturewhich are exquisitely inlaid with mother of pearl and worth up to billions of VND.

Mother-of-pearl inlaid products of Chuon Ngovillage are better than those of other places thanks to the sophisticated linesand vivid decorative details.

The village’s products are increasingly diverseand rich in designs, meeting domestic demand and even reaching out tointernational markets such as the UK, Russia, the US, the Netherlands, andJapan.

Furthermore, Chuon Ngo village still retains thetraditional scenes of the northern region with millennia-old pagodas andhouses.

To develop tourism in craft villages, Hanoiwill select those recognised as traditional craft villages thanks to richcultural identities, attractive surrounding, and favourable transport system tobuild them into sample models, then expanding to other villages.

The Hanoi craft village association hasselected potential ones such as Thach Xa bamboo dragonfly-making village inThach That district, Chuon Ngo village in Phu Xuyen district, Du Du woodsculpture village and Chuong conical hat making village in Thanh Oai district./.