Thanh Hoa (VNS/VNA) - Bronze casting in Che Dong village in thecentral province of Thanh Hoa has officially received a certificationrecognising it as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage, making it theseventh local heritage to receive the title in the country.

The traditional handicraft and trade of Che Dong village have existed forthousands of years and have been preserved and promoted to this day.

The trade comprises a sophisticated technical process involving many stages,each of which uses different techniques like moulding, mixing the compound,heating and casting.

Experience is often passed down through families and kept secret from othervillages. This is why Che Dong village is the only place in Thanh Hoa provincethat has preserved the art.

All the bronze items they make are meticulously crafted by hand.

Local artisans create items of worship, jars and particularly drums. Theycreated the biggest bronze drum in Vietnam at 1.21m high in 2007, and then thebiggest bronze drum in the world which weighs around eight tonnes and is twometres high in 2013.

The artisans in Che Dong village also cast 100 bronze drums as a tribute tocelebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Hanoi in 2010.

Thanks to these outstanding achievements, the Ministry of Culture, Sports andTourism issued the decision to bestow the title on September 4.

Addressing a ceremony held on Saturday to mark the recognition, vice chairmanof the Thanh Hoa provincial People’s Committee Pham Dang Quyen affirmed thatthe recognition brought both honour and pride to the villagers and people ofThanh Hoa.

“In the short term, local administrators need to focus on creating favourableconditions for the workshops, artisans and villagers to preserve and promotethe invaluable heritage of their ancestors.

“Besides re-planning the village, more incentives should be issued to encourageworkshops and artisans to train and pass the trade down to younger generations.The bronze workshops also need to support each other to produce and promotebronze casting to make it become a major trademark in both domestic andinternational markets,” Quyen added.

Also at the ceremony, artisans showed off their skills to attendees.

According to the Thieu Trung communal People’s Commune, 132 households in thecommune were maintaining the traditional trade, but only 15 households at aprofessional level, concentrated mainly in Che Dong village. — VNS/VNA