Đông Hồ painting village & Chuôn Ngọ village

Đông Hồ woodblock painting
Đám cưới chuột (Wedding of Mice) is one of the
famous woodblock paintings in Đông Hồ village.

Saturday, 7 June 2014 - We rented a car with driver (about USD 60) and traveled to two craft villages near Hanoi. I wished to see these villages for a long time, but couldn't make my way until this day. Both villages are located 40km away from Hanoi but in opposite directions. We left Hanoi in the morning and traveled 40km to Đông Hồ painting village in Thuận Thành district, Bắc Ninh province. Our car went along a dyke road then the driver turned right and we went down to the market of Đông Hồ village. This village has a 400 year history of making folklore paintings. Most of the families in the village have given up making traditional paintings and changed to make offerings for the dead people (for example, fake money and other things to be burned at the funerals and in other occasions). Only two families in the village still continue this traditional craft work.

Tea pot and cups made from sea shells
At a local house in Chuôn Ngọ village

I chose to visit artist Sam's house first. The first floor of his house is used as a shop with many paintings. Some paintings were new to me as I had not seen them before. Mr. Sam was very friendly and introduced his hand made paintings as well as wood carved paintings or woodblock paintings. Some moulds have been used for decades. A large hand made painting "Wedding of Mice" is worth VND 2 million (about USD 95) without frame. A small woodblock painting would cost USD 2. We chose to buy a painting of a girl carrying water in the old days. It was interesting that the original painting was lost for a long time and kept in France. It was returned to Vietnam recently and recovered by the artist. Mr. Sam hoped that the Government would support the artists so that they could continue this work and he also expected UNESCO would recognize Đông Hồ paintings as a world heritage. You can find more information about this type of painting in my blog: Đông Hồ woodblock paintings

Mr Sam & his painting shop
 in Đông Hồ village
One of the only two families in the village
that still keeps this traditional work.

We walked along narrow alleys of the village and visited the village's temple. It's located next to a beautiful pond with an old bridge over it. We went to see the second artist's house (Mr. Chế). He has a big shop and prices are also more expensive. We returned to Hanoi for lunch and moved on to Chuôn Ngọ village which specializes in inlaying mother-of-pearl on wooden products. This village is located 40km south of Hanoi. We went to 3 local houses in the village. The locals showed us mother-of-pearl inlay on beds, plates, tables, calendars, tea pots, smoking pipes and carving works on big sea shells. Souvenirs such as pen holders, tissue boxes, paintings, wooden furniture with mother-of-pearl inlay are sold at a big workshop. The sea shells are imported from different countries and create different colors for the craft products.

We ended up our day trip with lots of souvenirs we bought in Đông Hồ painting village, Chuôn Ngọ village and hand embroidery paintings in Thường Tín commune on the way back to Hanoi. We had an interesting day meeting with some artists who are talented and have passions for continuing our traditional craft works. Hopefully, these works will be passed on to the next generations and not vanish in the future.