The Day River, whose Chinese name is “De Giang”, is about 20km from Hanoi’s inner city. Folklore has a compound word “dao de” meaning to penetrate to the bottom, referring to wise and profound people. That seems to be a suitable personality trait for people who do handicrafts, especially developed in villages of districts along the Day River.
The land belonging to the two districts of Phuc Tho and Quoc Oai is located on the right bank of the Day River, with up to 26 recorded craft villages, with diverse types from agricultural processing to carpentry.
They form an ecosystem of raw materials and output products that are very close to everyday life, such as Thuong Hiep and Tam Thuan tailoring, next to Phung Thuong carpet weaving in Phuc Tho district, while the villages along the Day River in Quoc Oai district as well as the raw material areas of bamboo and giang forests in Thach That are very developed in weaving products such as Muon village, Trai Do (Tuyet Nghia commune), Nghia Huong, Liep Tuyet in Quoc Oai, and the bamboo and rattan weaving villages of Phu Hoa, Thai Hoa, and Binh Xa in Thach That.
The ancients had a saying “Southern bridge, Northern pagoda, Western communal house”, in which to build the largest and most beautiful communal houses, one needs the highest level of carpentry skills. Not far away, the place where those communal houses are built is the craftsmen of the craft villages in Quoc Oai and Thach That.
The semi-mountainous region of Thach That used to be a forest gate many centuries ago, and is still home to famous carpentry villages in Chang Son, Canh Nau, Di Nau, Huu Bang, Huong Ngai, Ngo Sai, Yen Quan, Nghia Huong, Ngoc Than...
Among them, the ancient house-making villages often have close connections with the wooden statue and worship object craft villages such as Son Dong in Hoai Duc district on the other side of the Day River.
Food craft villages also create famous brands far and wide, such as vermicelli from So village, Tan Hoa (Cong Hoa), and sticky rice cakes from Thach village, all located along the food growing areas along the Day River.
These craft villages, together with the beautiful communal houses and pagodas in the region, have created a belt of splendor and brilliance, creating the spirit of the Doai region. Visitors to So communal house, Thay pagoda, Hoang Xa cave (Quoc Oai), Tay Phuong pagoda (Thach That), Ha Hiep communal house (Phuc Tho) ... not only admire the architectural works but also experience the lives of the residents who create the products.
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