Nhoi village is famous for
making stone products since the third century AD. According to historical documents, the village's stone products are not only available at cultural and historic projects in the province such as Bao An pagoda, the Lam Kinh temple and Ho dynasty's citadel in Thanh Hoa, but also at the Thang Long ancient citadel, the Temple of Literature in Hanoi, Dien Huu pagoda and Phat Diem stone church in Ninh Binh province. They even contributed to creating the specific architecture of Hue's imperial palace and the royal tombs of Nguyen kings. So far, most of the population in Dong Son have established themselves as stone craftsmen despite many ups and downs.In the early 1990s, Nhoi village faced many challenges following the termination of the East European market. Then, only two craftsmen continued the work. To this end, local authorities issued two resolutions on preserving and promoting the development of small industries and traditional
crafts. In addition, stone making establishments and craftsmen proved to be active in learning and applying new technologies to diversifying products to meet increasing requirements of the market. Artisan Le Thieu Que is one of the few who tried to renovate the traditional stone craft. He now works as a teacher at the provincial centre for small scale industrial training, having spent three years collecting experience in making stone products of high artistic and economic value. After ten years, Mr Que's
establishment has trained over 200 students and many have set up their own stone making businesses which are providing high quality products for domestic and foreign markets. Nhoi village now has over 10 establishments specialising in making stone fine art products, earning about VND 10 billions per year.
About 6km from western Nho town, there is a large stone making establishment owned by Mr and Mrs Bay Huong on an area of nearly 3,000 square metres where 70 labourers are working attentively in a 500m2 workshop. Mrs Le Thi Huong said that they had to spend seven years in Ho Chi Minh City to learn techniques in making stone products and then they came back to their homeland together with 10 machines to make adornments. In the beginning, they focused on maintaining normal production and trained employees. It takes about one month for a person to be able to make stone products and earn VND 500,000 in the next month, therefore more and more young
people came to the establishment which specialises in making stone watch faces and strings. The
craft has been expanded to other communes including Dong Ninh and Dong Minh. In Cam Tu village alone in Dong Hoang commune, there are ten fine arts stone making establishments. Mrs Le Thi Thom said that she used to work in Hanoi, however she could save a small amount of money. Then she returned to work for Bay Huong establishment which provides her with more money and more time with relatives. Many women labourers at this establishment shared the same opinion that the craft is a good solution because they can avoid sunlight, rain, harmful matters and at the same time have more time to support their families. Some people are planning to buy machines to make stone products at home and sell for Bay Huong, Hong Minh and Truong Hoc establishment.
Head of Dong Son district's Department for Industry and Trade, Le Ba Ung said that stone making is now one of the eight new crafts in the locality. In 2006, the exploitation and making of stone products reached VND 319 billion in which exports accounted for VND 160 billion. The above results came from the active efforts of local artisans and people and the authorities' assistance in terms of funds, vocational training, building of industrial and crafts villages and complexes, improving infrastructure and transferring of new techniques. As many as 10,000 people now have stable jobs, earning an average of VND 600,000 per month. In 2006 alone, 1,035 new jobs were created in the locality.Chairman of DonPeople's Committee, Nguyen Dinh Hung affirmed that the district will continue to invest in expanding stone making craft together with measures to save this natural resource and protect the environment. In addition, new crafts will be employed and expanded to other rural areas to help improve people's living standards.Restoring traditional crafts and developing new ones is now a good choice to speed up economic restructuring towards the trend of goods production, thus creating a motive force for Dong Son district to reach fast and sustainable development in the coming time.
More summaries about the Promotion of Stone craft in Dong Son, Vietnam