HCM City (VNA) - Craftsmenfrom the An Hoi Coppersmith Village in Ho Chi Minh City’s Go Vap district arebusy with orders for the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, with customers crowdingshops buying their famous brass incense burners.

During Tet, Vietnamese often buy a standardset of worship objects, which include an incense burner placed in the middleand two candlestands on the sides of ancestors’ altars to bring luck andprosperity.

At the bottom of the table, bronze vases,glasses, urns, tortoises and jars of wine are placed, along with statues ofcranes.

Tran Van Thang, 70, owner of the Hai Thang workshop,said he began learning coppersmithing when he was a child and passed thesecrets of the work to the younger generation.

Before 1975, the village had more than 50workshops and households and hundreds of workers, producing a variety of copperproducts.

But now there are only five workshopskeeping the craft alive.

With over 50 years of experience, Thang saidall stages of the production process, from preparing the wax mould to polishingthe final product, require great patience.

“The success of the product depends on thecraftsmen’s skills,” he said.


In recent years, traditional products havefaced competition from products made by machine, so most of the artisans haveimproved designs to meet market demand, Thang said.

“My family stayed with the craft duringdifficult times because we love it,” he said.

Tran Thi Thu Xuong, 47, Thang’s daughter,said the products for traditional ancestor worship took a lot of time to make.

“This year our sales have been slower thanin past years,” she said. “However, we’re able to make a good living and offerjobs with a stable income for 10 people,” she said.

Tran Minh Quoc, 34, son of the owner of theNam Toan workshop, said the workshop has about 20 craftsmen, mostly familymembers and relatives.

"I’m aware of the need to preserve ourancestors’ traditional values, so I decided to learn the craft,” he said. 

Each month, his workshop provides about200-300 products to the local market.


Nguyen Thai Vuong, 36, a walk-in customerfrom Binh Thanh district, said he was looking for two candlestands for his setof worship objects.

“I visited workshops in An Hoi village andrecognised that the traditional products here were made more skilfully, andwere more beautiful than in other places,” he said.

Over the last 100 years, the craft has beenpassed down by families in the area, but villagers say they need supportpolicies to help them survive in modern times.

That may come sooner than expected. Thecity’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism conducted a survey oftraditional craft villages, and included An Hoi as one of the sites on theconservation list.

With such assistance, traditional craftvillages in the city are expected to not only survive but prosper for many moreyears. - VNA