Van Phuc – a 1,000 year old silk craft village

VietNamNet Bridge – Van Phuc village in Ha Dong City, about ten kilometers from Hanoi, is well-known nationwide as an ancient craft village where beautiful silk products with many patterns were made for traditional clothes for the kings of the Nguyen dynasty.

Guests choose clothes made from Van Phuc silk in Van Phuc Village.

Lying on the bank of the Nhue river, close to the West gate of Hanoi, Van Phuc Village retains the image of an ancient Northern village in feudal times, with a well and lotus pond, an old banyan tree at the communal house where villagers still hold a market and, in many families, the old looms beside the modern looms. The craft of silk weaving has been preserved here for over 1,000 years and became famous when Van Phuc silk was displayed at international fairs in Marseille and Paris in 1931 and 1936.

Van Phuc silk is best known for premium satin clothes and “cloud” silk (a silk cloth with a cloud pattern that appears to loom in and out) made from a skillful weaving technique which at one time was unique to Van Phuc craftsmen.

Currently 800 families in the village are working as weavers, with over 900 looms and textile tools, attracting from 3,000 to 5,000 visitors and tourists annually. The average price of silk sold here is from VND20,000 to VND25,000 per meter, while the high quality silk is about VND150,000 per meter.

In 2007, Van Phuc Village produced over 2.5 million meters of silk with the total revenue of 35 billion dong and was honored as one of the representative craft villages of Vietnam, the Vietnam News Agency reports.

(Source: SGT)

Update from: http://english.vietnamnet.vn//buys/2008/11/814710/

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