Silver artisans strive for success

VnnNews -  Skilled artisans in Dong Xam, a silver-carving village, are struggling to solve thorny environmental protection issues and find new markets.

:The ancient temple in Dong Xam (Kien Xuong District, Thai Binh Province) is dedicated to the founder of the silver-carving job.

Although he has reached the ripe old age of 80, Ta Duc Nhu still has no intention of saying good-bye to his hammer.

Nhu is a silver artisan in Dong Xam Village, Hong Thai Commune, in the northern province of Thai Binh’s Kien Xuong District.

While lingering over a hot pot of tea the old man slowly talks about the history of the Dong Xam silver-carving village.

“The trade developed in the region in the 15th century. Legend tells that in 1434, during the Le dynasty, a man named Nguyen Kim Lau from Bao Lac District in northern Cao Bang Province settled in the region. He taught villagers the skills needed to make fine-art products out of silver.

“He was the founder of the Dong Xam silver carving trade,” says the old man.

Another legend tells that Lau was a local man from Duong Tham Village (Dong Xam today) who earned a living by mending bronze pots.

He was very poor because the job did not provide him with much money, so Lau decided to leave his homeland in search of something better. He was gone for six or seven years.

Finally he returned to the village and the people saw that he was richer than before. They urged him to buy enough precious lim (ironwood) to build a big house. The man shook his head and said: “Mending pots was not enough for me to earn a good living. I spent seven years in Cao Bang learning the silver carving trade. Now I would like to teach my newfound skills to villagers. I hope everyone in our village will be able to master the job so that every family can build a big ironwood house.”

Then Lau asked the villagers to help him build a bamboo school and began to teach the trade to local young people. Ten years later, hundreds of villagers had mastered the skills. Lau divided them into 12 handicraft wards and developed strict regulations to encourage the development of talent. He also emphasised the virtue of the handicrafters.

The best artisans were invited to the capital city of Dong Kinh (Ha Noi today) to serve the royal family and aristocrats. Others travelled to rural areas to carve products used during worship at temples and pagodas. Some made jewellery for young women and children and others went to mountainous regions to make products for local lords and ethnic minority people.

During the next 30 years Duong Tham silver makers became famous. Most families earned enough to buy the ironwood they needed to build big houses. Numerous wood traders brought a lot of ironwood to the local wharf, so it was later named Lim Wharf.

Today, the entire country considers Nguyen Kim Lau as the founder of the silver carving trade because all silver artisans can trace their roots back to Dong Xam.

Dong Xam artisans were invited to the royal capital in Hue during the Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945) to make items for the court. Dong Xam artisans and others from Chau Khe and Dinh Cong established a series of silver shops on Hang Bac Street in Ha Noi, which is still famous today for its silver works.

During the wars the trade came to a standstill but things turned around again in 1975. There was a period of recovery, and production of gold and silver goods developed, although the products at this stage were fairly small and simple. After doi moi (renewal) policy started in 1986, as the country began instituting a market economy, many small silver enterprises were established in Dong Xam.

Today, the silver carving trade in Dong Xam crosses over to Hong Thai and Le Loi communes, with nearly 1,600 full-time workers and thousands of seasonal labourers.

Each year the locals make more than 100,000 products to earn more than VND9 billion (about US$462,000), accounting for 45 per cent of the commune’s total income. Average income per capita in Hong Thai and Le Loi communes is highest in Kien Xuong District, where earnings reach VND5-6 million annually.

Environmental issues

Although the Vietnamese saying “Duoc bac thi sang…” (people will be rich if they come across a piece of silver) has a ring of truth to it, villagers also pay a steep price to do their job.

Now they live in an environment polluted by chemicals. Water resources in the region have salt levels six times higher than permitted and air pollution exceeds the allowed levels by seven times.

On average, artisans in Hong Thai and Le Loi communes annually use 170 tonnes of bronze, 4.5 tonnes of pure silver, 14 tonnes of nitric acid, 18 tonnes of sulphuric acid, 5.5 tonnes of cyanide and 1.8 tonnes of mercury.

Local artisans say there are several stages to pass through before a final product is generated: making silver ingots, cleaning the ingots and plating the silver products. All of these stages must be done by hand.

Villagers combine pure silver with nitric acid to make silver powder to use for plating the final products. The chemical reaction releases nitrogen dioxide (NO2) into the air in the form of yellow smoke. It has a bad odour and pollutes the air.

Dr Luong Van Dan, head of health care station in Le Loi Commune, says the chemicals and materials used in the silver carving trade are highly toxic.

“The chemicals are very toxic and are one of the causes of cancer, deformed foetuses and digestive diseases in the area,” he says.

Silver worker Ta Quoc Tuan from Huu Boc hamlet in Hong Thai Commune is 49 years old, but he already looks like he is 60. He has completely white hair and grey skin.

“Everyone knows that the silver carving trade can harm our health, but we cannot quit because we have to earn a living,” he says.
 
Each local workshop has a tank for plating their products. During the production process, the used chemicals are released into local ponds and canals without treatment, polluting the environment and water resources.

To curb the pollution a workshop where all of the area’s artisans can go to plate their products en masse was built by the State in 2004 at a cost of VND1 billion ($55,500). It was built with environmental pollution treatment technology and has the capacity to plate 20 tonnes of products annually.

But many families do not want to use the workshop.

Ta Xuan Dinh, 56, head of the local Phu Loi Co-operative, explains, “If people use the workshop rather than doing the same as they have always done, the price of their products will rise by 15-20 per cent. Many households do not want that extra cost.

“Also, each family has developed its own secrets as the trade was passed down from generation to generation. They do not want to work together in one place for others to see their process.”

Chairman of the Dong Xam Carving Association, Nguyen Van Ngoan, says a comprehensive solution is needed to solve the pollution problem.

“Our workers deal with toxic chemicals every day but they only have masks capable of screening dust. An overall solution is urgently needed, including application of environmental protection standards at all local workshops. The Viet Nam Association of Craft Villages should also establish a centre to help craft villages deal with environmental problems.”

Finding markets

Local artisans are also struggling to find markets for their products.

Although they have great artistic skills they are not very good at marketing to expand their reach.

Most of their products are sent to big enterprises in Ha Noi and HCM City for export to Japan, Taiwan, the US and some European countries.

Only a few local households are able to export their products directly. Most have to use middlemen who pay low prices for silver products.

Artisan Nguyen Van Tuan says a middleman paid him only VND3.5 million ($200) for a carved bronze drum, but it sold for VND12 million ($615) in the market.

Pham Van Nhieu, 60, says local artisans have difficulty contacting buyers so they are forced to use as many as two to three stages of middlemen.

“We feel so sad because every day we have to work very hard to create a product, but we only make about half, or even one-third, of what the product sells for at arts and craft shops in big cities,” he says.

He explains why local artisans have to sell their products to middlemen:

“We don’t know much about marketing and advertising, and our foreign language skills are very limited. Some locals brought their products to HCM City but they were only able to sell a little.”

Village elder Ta Duc Nhu says he is too old to wait for the environment around the village to be really safe.

“My last hope is that the provincial authorities will help us solve the environmental problems and find markets, so that our traditional handicraft can survive.”

VietNamNet/VNS

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