Preserving and promoting the values of traditional craft villages

Today, the preservation of traditional craft villages is integrated with culture promotion and tourism development, which requires the participation of the entire cultural sector, localities, businesses, cooperatives and craft villagers.

Sustainable development of craft villages

Hanoi Capital City is home to around 1,350 craft villages. Each craft village has its own identity, creating unique, sophisticated products imbued with national cultural identity.

The products of craft villages are diverse in types and designs, ranging from garment and textile, ceramics, weaving and embroidery, to wooden furniture, mechanics, agriculture and food processing.

Meanwhile, the northern province of Thai Nguyen has 88 craft villages and 184 traditional craft villages. Most are involved in the procession of agricultural, forestry and fishery products, wooden, rattan and bamboo furniture making, and ornamental creatures. These villages are currently generating jobs for more than 42,000 local workers, with an average income of 4.5-5 million VND/person/month.

Tourists discover the traditional culture and lifestyle of the local people in Bat Trang pottery village in Hanoi. (Photo courtesy of the Bat Trang Tourism Company)

The development of craft villages in Hanoi and Thai Nguyen, as well as in other localities across the country, has partly shown that production activities of these villages are increasingly being promoted.

However, several traditional craft villages are gradually being lost, and some others are even at risk of disappearing from social life.

There are many reasons leading to the loss of traditional craft villages, but the most prominent one lies in the lack of raw materials for production.

For example, in the bamboo and rattan industry, 600 craft villages across the country currently have to import raw materials to maintain their production.

Therefore, the urgent requirement in many localities where traditional craft villages are located is to develop planning for raw material areas and strengthen linkages for the production and consumption of craft products.

Developing craft village tourism

The Government has issued many mechanisms and policies to facilitate the development of craft villages. Prominent among them include Decree 52/2018/ND-CP dated April 12, 2018, on the development of rural crafts, and the Prime Minister's Decision 801/QD-TTg dated July 7, 2022, on approving the programme to preserve and develop Vietnamese craft villages for the 2021-2030 period.

These documents have laid a legal foundation for localities to work out plans and measures to safeguard and uphold local craft villages, in which craft village tourism is being promoted by many local authorities.

According to the Coordination Office for New-style Rural Areas of Thai Nguyen Province, the local authorities have implemented many activities to promote and preserve the cultural and historical values of local craft villages. Notably, a tourism development project in Thai Nguyen Province for 2021-2025, with a vision to 2030, was approved, which eyes craft village tourism as an important economic sector.

During the 2018-2023 period, Thai Nguyen province allocated nearly 3 billion VND to support local traditional craft villages.

Meanwhile, in Hanoi City, the Deputy Chief of the city's Coordination Office for New-style Rural Areas, Nguyen Van Chi, said that the office has proactively coordinated with functional domestic and international organisations to effectively implement the programme on preserving and developing craft villages.

The programme has contributed to raising awareness for traditional craft villagers on the importance of creating innovations to further promote their products to customers.

In addition to the Government's policies, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has also coordinated closely with relevant ministries, sectors and localities to create the most favourable conditions for the development of craft villages and encourage qualified and talented craftsmen and artisans to stay devoted to their jobs.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Le Minh Hoan, stressed that the safeguarding and promotion of traditional handicraft villages is one of the important factors boosting economic development in rural areas, as well as the improvement of the quality of life in rural areas.

(Source: NDO)