Hanoi focuses on preserving craft villages

Many artisans in Hanoi have raised concerns about how maintain and develop craft villages, which are at risk of being lost from the impacts of the socio-economic development process.
Speaking at a seminar entitled, “Hanoi Craft Villages – Potential for Tourism Development” held in Hanoi on August 5, Director of Hanoi University’s Tourism Culture Department Duong Van Sau said that developing tours to craft villages is one way to preserve their cultural values as it offers economic and cultural exchange opportunities for the villages.
He suggested that the Government should have policies to encourage and facilitate sustainable development of the villages, give tax preferences for them in exporting their products and speed up tourism promotion activities at the villages.
According to jewellery artisan Le Ba Trung, the material values of the craft villages’ products may no longer be suitable to modern life but their cultural values will exist forever.
“Therefore, we must preserve crafts and transmit those valuable cultural values to following generations,” he said.
Hanoi (formerly Thang Long) boasts the largest number of craft villages in the country. According to the municipal Department of Industry and Trade, the city now has 1,264 craft villages, attracting nearly 1 million workers.
In 2009, the craft villages reached a total production value of 7 trillion VND, accounting for nearly 10 percent of the capital city’s industrial and handicraft production value.
However, Hanoi’s traditional craft villages have been losing because young generations are not well trained, leading to lower quality of the products. In addition, there are fewer people who want to learn and spend a lifetime with traditional crafts.
To maintain their operations, many craft villages have expanded their production to new fields in order to meet market demand.
The Hanoi Craft Week 2010 themed “Thousand Years of Quintessence”, which is taking place from August 4-9, is expected to be a channel that promotes the traditional cultural values of craft villages and boosts the export of their products.