Enhancing the value of Cham ceramic cultural heritage

People here not only strive to preserve the quintessence of traditional crafts but also create new ceramic products and promote the development of community tourism.

Ceramic production at Bau Truc Cham Ceramic Cooperative, Phuoc Dan town (Ninh Phuoc, Ninh Thuan).

Efforts to boost production

Bau Truc pottery village is currently the oldest pottery village in Southeast Asia, still maintaining the completely manual production method, without using a turntable. With only clay and tools such as bamboo, shells, sea snails, and colors made from tree bark, through the skillful hands of artisans, kneading, rotating, and shaping into soulful and vibrant objects. After that, the pottery is fired in the open air, creating the characteristic yellow-red, pink-red, black-gray, brown... veins on the pottery coat.

In addition to producing utensils serving the religious life of the Cham people, familiar household products (jars, pots, urns, stoves, kettles, pots, etc.), Bau Truc pottery village promotes research, skillfully combining cultural and technical elements to improve product design and quality, diversifying types (vases, water bottles, night lights, lamps) decorated with Cham cultural images applied in art and interior decoration to meet the diverse needs of the market. Each product costs from tens of thousands to millions of VND depending on size and sophistication.

With over 40 years in the profession, Ms. Chau Thi Hoa shared that the pottery making profession in Bau Truc has become “a part of the blood and flesh”, passed down from generation to generation in her family. Since childhood, her mother taught her the basic techniques to create ceramic products to serve daily living needs. Up to now, she has constantly innovated, harmoniously combining traditional manual methods and new ideas to create unique products with beautiful patterns, meeting the diverse tastes of customers.

Ms. Hoa said: Customers can order according to their own designs or request special products. At that time, I have to research and think of ways to make them, from small decorative ceramic vases, water towers, flower vases to 1.2 m tall vases or statues with different shapes.

Cham pottery products from Bau Truc village in Phuoc Dan town (Ninh Phuoc, Ninh Thuan). Photo: Nguyen Thanh/VNA

Mr. Phu Huu Minh Thuan, Director of Bau Truc Cham Pottery Cooperative, said that with nearly 50 members, the cooperative is constantly striving to develop and enhance the value of Bau Truc pottery products. Currently, the cooperative's ceramic products are not only limited to Cham culture but also combine Western and Vietnamese culture to improve product design and quality to increase attractiveness. In addition, the cooperative regularly improves service quality, innovates product display forms at visitor homes, and builds new experience programs for tourists, students.

“With the increasing trend of tourists interested in craft village tourism, Bau Truc pottery village has become a prominent destination in Ninh Thuan and has welcomed a large number of visitors. In particular, UNESCO’s recognition of Cham pottery art as an intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent protection has created a strong spread of information. This is the motivation for the cooperative in the craft village to make further efforts to develop production,” Mr. Phu Huu Minh Thuan shared.

Coming to Bau Truc pottery village, visitors have the opportunity to admire artisans performing skillful and artistic pottery shaping techniques. More specifically, visitors can also create simple pottery products by themselves, freely draw patterns and try the firing process, bringing an interesting experience like a real potter.

Ms. Nguyen Tieu My (a tourist from Vinh Long province) excitedly said: "I find Bau Truc pottery products very unique, completely different from industrial pottery. The handmade products here are unique with their own colors and diverse patterns, no product is duplicated. I am very impressed with the meticulousness and skill of the artisans when molding each block of clay into beautiful ceramic art works".

Towards sustainable development

Bau Truc pottery village currently has 2 cooperatives and 11 pottery production and trading establishments with about 300 households involved in the craft. Not only a traditional craft village, Bau Truc is also considered a living "Cham pottery museum" in the South Central region. To preserve and develop this unique feature, Bau Truc pottery village is making strong changes through experiential tourism activities, promoting products at many fairs and exhibitions inside and outside the province, attracting the attention of the community.

Tourists choose to buy handmade ceramic products of Bau Truc Cham Ceramics Cooperative, Phuoc Dan town (Ninh Phuoc, Ninh Thuan).

Recognizing the importance of heritage conservation, all levels and sectors have been implementing many policies to support the development of traditional pottery villages. In particular, Ninh Thuan has initiated the project to preserve and promote the value of the intangible cultural heritage "Cham pottery art" with an estimated budget of more than 205 billion VND (mobilized from the central and local budgets, socialized sources and the participation of domestic and international organizations). The project consists of two main phases: Phase 1 from 2025 - 2028 focuses on removing the heritage "Cham pottery art" from the risk of needing urgent protection. Phase 2 from 2028 onwards, aims to inscribe this heritage into the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Vice Chairman of Ninh Thuan Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Long Bien stated that the province pays special attention to socio-economic development, ensuring that the Cham community benefits directly from traditional cultural heritage. The top goal is to build a sustainable conservation system, not only preserving but also strongly developing "Cham pottery art" in a contemporary context, preserving unique cultural values ​​and enriching the cultural diversity of Vietnam.

To realize this goal, the Provincial People's Committee has assigned the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to preside over and coordinate with departments, branches, localities, scientists and Cham cultural researchers to collect comments and contributions. In particular, to build mechanisms and policies to support the development of craft villages and plan for effective resource mobilization. The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ninh Phuoc District People's Committee closely coordinate with consulting units to continue researching and selecting the optimal solution, both preserving and enhancing the "Cham Pottery Art", aiming at stable development, creating sustainable livelihoods for people, contributing to the development of craft village tourism to attract tourists to Ninh Thuan.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/van-hoa/nang-tam-gia-tri-di-san-van-hoa-gom-cham-20250408144042615.htm