In the 1920s, a female merchant from Cu Da village (Thanh Oai district, Hanoi) courageously learned and invested in mastering the new and strange knitting technology brought by the French, to open up a thriving industry...
Cu Da (Cu Khe commune, Thanh Oai district, Hanoi) has long been known as a Northern village with many beautiful architectural works such as village gates, communal houses, flagpoles and ancient houses with traditional style, interspersed with two-storey houses with Indochinese style architecture...
The pride of Cu Da villagers is that the village has had electricity to light up the village streets since 1930, has had a beautiful concrete flagpole on the bank of the Nhue River since 1929, and has a railing running along the riverbank.
Surely they must be extremely proud of their homeland, so the merchants of Cu Da village named their trading names starting with the word Cu such as: Cu Tien, Cu Chan, Cu Gioanh, Cu Chung, Cu Hai, Cu Linh, Cu Phat, Cu Hao, Cu Chi, Cu Ninh, Cu Lap, Cu Hoanh, Cu Nguyen, Cu Tan... In the first half of the 20th century, these brands were famous in Ha Dong, Hanoi, Saigon, some brands even went abroad.
The Cu Da people got rich by buying fields, renting out land, collecting rent, lending money at interest, weaving silk, making soy sauce, some people were contractors, some people built houses for rent, drove passenger cars... From 1924, there was a change, from here many Cu Da people had another way to get rich by using Western-style knitting technology.
The first person to have an initiative in the knitting industry was Mrs. Trinh Thi Chuc. She married a man from the same hometown, Mr. Tu Cu (Vu Van Cu), so she was often called Mrs. Tu Cu.
New career
In the book "Cu Da Nhan Vat Chi", author Vu Hiep, who is Tu Cu's nephew, said that in 1924, when Mrs. Tu Cu was 24 years old, she started working in the knitting industry. A few years before that, her husband and wife moved from Cu Da to Ha Dong to rent a house on Cua Dinh street to sell vermicelli, dried bamboo shoots, and candy to make a living.
Advertisement for the new sweater of the year, published in Ngay Nay, January 9, 1938. Photo: baochi.nlv.gov.vn
Her parents also lived nearby. Her grandfather, Trinh Van Mai, worked as a secretary at the Governor's Palace, and she did some small business. Later, Tu Cu switched to selling hemp rope, so she often went to Hanoi to get goods.
One day, walking on Hang Ngang Street, she saw a Chinese textile shop called Quang Sinh Long, Ha Quang Ky, which had a new type of shirt. She spent money to buy a shirt so she could go in and see the weaving machine. This was a knitting machine, completely different from a silk loom, which she had never seen before. Standing there watching the weaving, she felt extremely excited…
The weaving machines were modern but the weavers were Vietnamese, so she quietly waited until lunchtime. When the weavers went to eat, she followed them and asked them questions. It turned out they were all from La Phu village, near Ha Dong. They said they bought the weaving machines at Godart's house on Trang Tien street.
She went straight to Godart and boldly went to the young man who was selling for the company and said: "Sir, I will give you 1 coin, please be my interpreter to the boss, so I can ask about that loom". At that time, 1 coin was a very large sum of money, almost half a tael of gold, the price of the loom was 120 coins.
After the discussion, she was so happy that she went home and discussed with her husband to sell her dowry of rice fields and then ordered two machines. At the end of 1925, the machines arrived in Ha Dong, and a French specialist came to install the machines and give instructions on how to use them.
She went to Quang Sinh Long's house again, met the workers, and offered to pay them 4 dong per month like Quang Sinh Long's but invited them to lunch. After a year, the salary increased to 5 dong, not to mention working in Ha Dong which was close to home, so the group of skilled workers came to work for her.
At that time, gold was 22 dong/tael, so the salary paid to workers was very high. Cu Chan Company was born, with beautiful knitted products, selling very well.
Today, in the ancient village of Cu Da, there is still the house of Mr. and Mrs. Cu Chan, with a signboard bearing the two words Cu Chan, accompanied by two Chinese characters written as Cu Tran. According to the national language, Cu Chan means truthful, great sincerity; and according to Chinese characters, it means great treasure, both meanings are good.
Sign on the door of Mr. and Mrs. Cu Chan's house in Cu Da village
For a businessman, honesty from good quality products to honesty, building "trust" with customers and partners are treasures that must be kept, only then can the business prosper and become rich.
Exclusive knitting business
Mr. Trinh Van Mai also sold some fields to buy 4 weaving machines, named Cu Gioanh. From then on, Cu Gioanh's workshop developed strongly. After a while, Cu Chan and Cu Gioanh ordered machines directly from France.
In 1926, both companies moved to Hanoi to expand their technology. Mr. Cu Gioanh rented and then bought the land at 68-70 Hang Quat Street from Governor Nghiem Xuan Quang to build a textile factory. Today, this land is Nguyen Du Primary School.
Mr. and Mrs. Cu Chan initially rented a house at 101 Hang Gai, then gradually developed no less than their parents. At that time, Nam Dinh cotton yarn was available, the two companies dyed their own colors and improved their designs. If the machines broke down, Mr. Cu Gioanh and Mr. Cu Chan could fix them themselves.
Later, Mr. Trinh Van Thuc, the eldest son of Mr. Cu Doanh, got married and opened the Cu Chung company at 100 Hang Bong street in 1935-1936. The Cu Gioanh company, which was managed by Mr. Trinh Van Can, also developed strongly, with dozens of weaving machines.
Mr. and Mrs. Cu Chan also taught their brothers and children how to knit. First, they taught Mr. Ba Tien, Mr. Tu Cu's older brother, to open a shop in Hai Duong in 1930. Gradually, Mr. Ba Tien's children were also helped to change their profession.
The most successful were Mr. Cu Hai and Mr. Cu Chi, who developed to Hai Phong and opened the first knitting factory in this port city.
In the 1930s, the Trinh family of Cu Gioanh and the Vu family of Cu Chan had a monopoly on the knitting industry in all the provinces and cities of the North. Newspapers at that time such as Phong Hoa, Ha Thanh Ngo Bao, Ngay Nay, Loa, Tia Sang published many advertisements for knitting products of companies bearing the Cu brand name such as sweaters, wool coats, socks, swimsuits, etc., showing a bustling business period of the merchants of Cu Da village.
In 1938, Cu Gioanh and Cu Chung companies imported new, more sophisticated machines (machines number 12 and 14) to weave thin fabrics that were popular in the market, so they were very prosperous. From 1932 to 1945, the world economy was in recession, French knitting companies were struggling, so they were defeated by Cu Da village products, which took over French colonial markets such as: Madagascar, Algeria, Nouvelle Cadedonnie, Reunion.
The companies Cu Gioanh, Cu Chung, Cu Hai, Cu Hien… competed to produce goods for Saigon and export to Vientiane, Phnom Penh, Hong Kong, Singapore. During its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s, Cu Gioanh’s factory had up to 200 workers.
Mr. Trinh Van An currently lives in Ha Dong (Hanoi), his house still has a signboard of Cu Vinh, said that Cu Vinh is his parents' brand. He often heard his parents tell him that at first the family produced soy sauce, traded silk and then wove knitting following the trend initiated by Mr. Cu Gioanh.
During its prosperity, the family had 15-20 weavers working all year round. Knitting machines number 8 and number 10 wove many types of heart-shaped sweaters, socks, etc. The most prosperous period was 1945-1949, when the family had 4 houses in Ha Dong and house 14 Hang Quat, Hanoi.
This was truly the golden age of the Cu Da people in particular, and of Vietnamese merchants in general. In Europe, from the mid-nineteenth century, football became a popular sport, leading to the birth of the competition costume of knitted pullovers for men.
In the early 1920s, knitwear inspired women's fashion. From here, knitwear took a new step forward, not only used as underwear but also as outerwear, warm clothes with many styles.
In the 1920s and 1930s, knitted sweaters were a popular fashion trend in Europe. With her acumen, Mrs. Cu Chan dared to invest in this new technology, leaving a special mark on the silk and textile industry at that time.
In February 1959, following the state's joint venture policy, Cu Gioanh Knitting Factory was renamed Cu Doanh Textile Enterprise and was the predecessor of Haprosimex Thang Long Knitting Joint Stock Company. Mr. Trinh Van Can remained Deputy Director of the enterprise until his retirement in 1974.
Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/ba-cu-chan-to-nghe-det-kim-dat-cu-da-20250210144300635.htm
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