Many contemporary Vietnamese are proud of such traditional ceramic making villages as Bat Trang, Phu Lang, Tho Ha, Huong Canh, My Cuong, Ly Xuyen and My Thieu, whose delicate products are considered symbols of the national civilization and national historical chronicle. But few of them know about Chu Dau Village in Hai Duong Province, which flourished for more than 200 years, but declined in the early 17th century, and now has its ancient products displayed at 46 famous museums worldwide. This traditional ceramic making village with a once glorious history is now under strong revival.

Along with the history of ancient ceramics

The story of Chu Dau ceramic village was first mentioned in a letter by Makoto Anabuki, ex-Secretary of the Japanese Embassy to Vietnam in 1980, to Ngo Duy Dong, the then Secretary of Hai Hung Province's Party Committee. In this letter, he wrote that during a working trip to Turkey, he had visited Topaki Saray Museum in Istambul and was very interested to see an ancient Vietnamese ceramic jar on display. On the jar there were 13 Chinese letters, saying: "In the Year of the 8th Thai Hoa reign (1450), a ceramic maker of the Bui Family in Nam Sach area draws on this jar for fun." Makoto Anabuki asked help from the Party Secretary of Hai Hung Province to find the origin of this valuable jar.

It can be said that this letter is one of the important sources of information that helped the search for Chu Dau ancient ceramic village, out of the 13 ancient ceramic sites in Hai Duong Province.
In the five years, i.e. 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990 and 1991, archeologist Tang Ba Hoanh, who was then Director of Hai Hung Provincial Museum, invited many experts to cooperate with the local authorities to investigate, research and take part in excavating five times on an area of 40,000 square metres to a depth of 2 metres, where they found more than 100 kiln foundations with tens of thousands of valuable artifacts. During this time, other valuable information arrived, including that of Chu Dau ceramic articles being displayed or preserved at 46 museums worldwide. In 1994, a ship that came from Thailand and had sunk in the sea near Cu Lao Cham (Cham Islet) of Vietnam was discovered, together with a huge amount of ancient artifacts, including 400,000 ceramic items, mainly Vietnamese ceramic, made in the second half of the 15th century. Among them there were many Chu Dau ceramic items of unique shapes and high aesthetic. At an auction held in New York, USA, a Ty ba (moon-shape lute) ceramic vase made in Chu Dau Village was sold to Mr. Jules Speelman by Sothebys for a record price of 521,000USD.

This information attracted attention, not only from businesses or collectors in antiques, but also from archeologists, historians, researchers and cultural activists throughout the world. After that Chu Dau Village received many visitors, including a foreign delegation with experts in ceramics from England, France, the US, Belgium, Australia and the Philippines. A delegation came to Chu Dau, bringing with them machines and equipment for measuring the earth's magnetic field to explore exactly each plot of land that could hide thousands of valuable artifacts.

Those surveys and excavations stirred a chain reaction in the local people. Many peasant families dug their gardens, even the brick back yards of their houses, to find antiques. Dang Van Ngo and his family, while digging a hole for tempering limestone, collected different ceramic artifacts that filled a mini-truck. Among the ceramic items discovered by the local people were many valuable samples and the Chu Dau Ceramics Enterprise brought them for preservation and research, as well as reproductions, which produced good results. All these documents and information, like the horizontal and vertical lines, helped to reproduce a picture that described very clearly the Chu Dau ceramic village dating back 300-400 years.

The revival begins
In 2000 a man visited Chu Dau Village. He did not search for the antiques for profit, but wanted to restore the traditional Chu Dau ceramic village, copying the excavated ceramic pieces with cultural value into fine art articles for export. He was Nguyen Huu Thang, Director of Saigon Haprosimex Company.

Thang's project to restore Chu Dau Village was divided into different steps. In Phase 1, with an investment of VND 24 billion, Chu Dau Ceramic Enterprise was built on an area of 33,250 square metres at the village's gate. The enterprise runs a workshop to make ceramic products baked at high temperatures (using gas). Efforts were also made to search for and collect unique ancient ceramic samples, and invite experts and artisans from other famous ceramic villages to gather at the enterprise for cooperation and research into the colours of traditional ceramics. About 200 young people from Chu Dau Village were selected and taught basic techniques and professional secrets in each production process. They will become experienced ceramic makers in the family ceramic making groups established in the future.

After just two years, all targets in the Phase 1 of the project have been fulfilled with good results. Nguyen Van Luu, Director of Chu Dau Ceramics Enterprise, a native of Nam Sach District, introduced us to two experts, Vu Dinh Nham and Ha Ba Dinh. These two men were working together with the local ceramic makers. Nham was a painter and Head of the Fine Arts Application Faculty of the Hanoi Fine Arts University, and is now Chairman of the Vietnamese Ceramics and Porcelain Club. Painter Ha Ba Dinh was Head of the Product Designing and Shaping Department of the Hai Duong Porcelain Factory. They are among dozens of experts who were recruited by Saigon Haprosimex to work for Chu Dau Ceramics Enterprise.

Nham said: "Chu Dau ceramic products have reached some high-quality norms, i.e. they are as transparent as jewels, as white as ivory, as thin as paper, and their echo rings like a bell. To reproduce their shapes and designs is not difficult. Actually, in this enterprise, the young workers who have learnt the craft for only two years can do it rather well. But to find a formula for each colour is not that easy, especially for the famous enamels of Chu Dau ceramics, such as the transparent and white, deep blue, sapphire, green, moss-green and yellow. However, many products of the enterprise displayed at international exhibitions and fairs abroad attracted the customers' attention. This also reaffirmed that the enterprise's main objective, i.e. to restore this traditional craft is the correct direction and it increases our confidence in our capability."

Director Nguyen Van Luu added: "In the future, we shall build a workshop to make ceramic products baked at low temperature, which can use dried wood as fuel like our ancestors did long ago. This type of baking helps the product "cure" gradually and fully, hence their quality is higher. We will also open more show rooms to display our products and establish transaction offices to sign contracts with customers. Furthermore, we give financial support to those who build family kilns. To restore this ancient ceramic craft does not mean to imitate the entire old production process.

We have to reproduce the ancient articles and sell them to the consumers of the 21st century. This means we have to select the samples, designs and enamels that are suited to modern times, include the quintessence of other ceramic making villages nationwide, apply the most advanced technologies to production so as to decrease the labour intensity and the products' cost, and protect the environment and workers' health."

Luu informed us that the first batch of Chu Dau products, including 8,490 articles worth USD 20,000 was exported to Spain, and in late 2003 another 19 batches of goods will be delivered. This was really a good news to Chu Dau ceramic makers.

When visiting the workshop covering about 3,000 sq. m with more than 200 workers, we saw different kinds of ceramic wares just out of the kilns, and at that moment we realized the talent of the workers as well as the breath of the reviving Chu Dau Village.