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Phuoc Phu ceramic village
  
Update5/28/2020 10:32:20 AM
Situated in Phong Hoa commune, Phong Dien district, Thua Thien Hue province, Phuoc Phu village was formed by merging Phuoc Tich and Phu Xuan hamlets. Phong Hoa commune was originally known as Phong Lau (the commune located by O Lau river bank).

Phuoc Tich is accessible by waterway, facilitating locals in exploiting materials and selling their ceramic products. Under the reign of Emperor Minh Mang and Emperor Khai Dinh, villagers monthly submitted to Nguyen dynasty 30 "om ngu", a kind of ceramic pot used to cook rice for the Emperor. As the village does not have an abundant source of firewood and clay, it was allowed to find firewood in a forest in My Xuyen hamlet (Phong Hoa commune) today and clay in Giong (Hai Chanh commune, Hai Lang district, Quang Tri province). Later, the clay available in Duong Khanh hamlet (Hai Duong commune, Quang Tri province) which is about 30km away from the village by boat was used. Traditional products that can only be found in Phuoc Tich are piggy bank, ceramic horn, Kitchen God statue, etc. These products were sold from Nghe An province to the south Vietnam. In its heyday, almost everyone made pottery, joined hand to construct ceramic kilns and brought their products to other areas. 


Almost all of the people in the village made ceramic products

Although locals were forced to leave the village in the resistance against France, ceramic craft followed them wherever they were. During the time that the America temporarily occupied, aluminum products became popular. Most of the skillful craftsmen who were revolutionary comrades moved to the north. Therefore, Phuoc Tich ceramic village was at risk. It was not until 1975 that the traditional craft was recovered. They learned from Huong Canh ceramic village (Vinh Phuc province) and built dragon kilns to make use of the temperature for particular products. However, locals still failed to create glazed ceramic products. Since 1985, villagers learned from Bien Hoa and created glazed ceramics. Due to local weather condition, ceramic kilns are mainly fired in the first and the second quarter of the year. Like other ceramic villages, pieces of ceramic are found around the village.

thuathienhue.gov.vn
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