Van Phuc – Silk village

Van Phuc Village, now Van Phuc Ward of Ha Dong District, Ha Noi, has been known for many centuries with the brand name: Ha Dong silk and Van Village silk.

Located on the bank of the Nhue River with velvety mulberry groves and rice fields, Van Bảa fiefdom has been known as mulberry planting and silkworm breeding village since the 9^th century. According to a local legend, progenitor of the profession is Madam A La Thi Nuong, the beautiful and well-mannered daughter of the land of Cao Bang.

She descended the profession to villagers and helped “seven villages of La and three villages of Mo” to become the leading silk weaving villages in the country. Since long ago, the local people have honored her as tutelary god for their villages. Specialty of Van Phuc textile village that is known everywhere include “lissome bud silk” with high durability, plain silk, embroidered silk, satin silk, etc. All the materials help people to feel their clothing airy and cool.

Thanks to perfect technology and fine art specifications plus rich and traditional colors and patterns, textile products of Van Phuc are very popular for all classes of people. Every year under the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), Van Phuc Village had to submit to the court in Hue a large volume of silk to be used as clothing for the royal family members and mandarins, and as contributions in the diplomatic relations.

In the years from 1932 to 1936, Van Phuc silk was brought to the exhibition in Paris (France). In 1942, there were 18 artisans of the village to be awarded with honorary certificates. Today, Van Phuc has more than 1,000 looms in 785 households, three streets with over 100 stores trading in silk fashion. Van Phuc silk was exported to many countries of the world.

Source: vietsights

Categories: A La Thi Nuong , Cao Bang , Ha Dong , Lissome bud silk , Looms , Nguyen Dynasty , Nhue river , Silk village , Van Bao fiefdom , Van Phuc , Van silk , Village