An Hoi
Few people would expect that in the midst of the prosperous Saigon, there is still a craft village with a tradition of casting bronze urns for over 100 years. Every spring, traders from the Mekong Delta provinces bustling come here to pack goods. From the village of An Hoi, Go Vap, thousands of sets of bronze urns followed traders to the North and Central, down to the Southern Continent, and sometimes to countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, etc. However, now, the market has changed drastically and the urbanization rate is quite fast, which has made the once famous copper craft village gradually disappear, even in danger of being wiped out.
Bringing a new profession to the village, at first, Mr. Nam Kinh only taught and passed on the profession to his descendants. Since then, the An Hoi bronze casting profession was born. Later, Mr. Tran Van Thang (Hai Thang), one of Mr. Nam Kinh's excellent students - wanted to develop this profession, so he taught it to his children in the region. Nam Kinh taught the profession from the age of 13-14, for more than 50 years, Mr. Hai Thang still kept the fire and pursued the bronze casting profession, despite many years of war, even when raw materials were very scarce. rare (the late 80s) seemed to have to turn sideways. Mr. Hai Thang said that before 1975 was the time when the craft village was most developed, the whole village had over 60 households with hundreds of artisans doing the job. At this time, in the area of Cho Lon - Gia Dinh, there were areas selling handicrafts and a lot of bronze casting products from pots, pans to worship items, incense burners, lamp stands.
“The busiest time is around Tet holiday, when merchants from all over the world flock to An Hoi, they are as crowded as the guild, and the goods cannot be sold in time, so we often receive orders in advance. Many directors and giants also drove cars to come here to deliver goods to prepare for the New Year's day," recalls Mr. Hai Thang. At that time, An Hoi bronze urn products were not only present throughout the continent of Cochin China, but also to Laos, Cambodia, and Burma… Now with efforts to preserve the beauty of this craft village, many young people are making donations to artisans here so that they can sustain themselves as well as continue producing amazing handicrafts.
