Bau Truc pottery village

Bau Truc Pottery village of Cham ethnic minority which is belonged to Ninh Thuan province. It is considered as one of the oldest pottery villages in SouthEast Asia. Bau Truc is located about 10 kilometres in the South of Phan Rang

Although it is just a small village but there are more than 400 families in this village, of which 85% are in the traditional pottery business. Bau Truc pottery village is the boundary of Phuoc Dan town, Ninh Phuoc district, Ninh Thuan province. It takes about 180km from Kega Lighthouse Resort to get there.

Bau Truc pottery village is an ancient craft village that has existed and developed for more than 7 centuries since Mr. and Mrs. PoKong Chang brought Cham people migrated from mountainous areas to the plains. In addition, this place has preserved many unique features of Cham pottery. Therefore, the village has become the oldest village in Southeast Asia famous for its excellent handcrafted ceramic products.

The Cham people in Bau Truc pottery village always consider themselves to be descendants of Po Klong Chang, a courtier of King Cham Po Klong Giarai (1151 - 1205). They said that it was he who brought the people to move from mountainous areas to the plains "Hamu Trok" to live and teach the Cham people here to take clay from the river to make pottery. Not only that, the PoKong Chang couple also taught the villagers how to cultivate, fish and trade so that people could escape from poverty.

After coming to live in a new land, the Cham people in the "Hamu Trok" have developed a flourishing pottery making, playing an important role in improvement of the material and spiritual life. In 1832, during the reign of Minh Mang King, according to historical events, the name Paley Hamu Trok was changed to Vietnamese as Vinh Thuan. This name officially became a part of many different administrations, sometimes government, district, town.

During the resistance war against America, a dangerous flood occurred in 1964 swept away the houses and cattle of the Cham people in this region. Therefore, they moved the village to a higher place - where there are many bamboo trees next to a large pond, which is now so called Bau Truc. From here, the name Bau Truc is used in emphasizing a famous village of Cham people in this region.

After the country's reunification day, in 1976, Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan provinces merged into one as Thuan Hai province. Bau Truc retains the administrative name as Vinh Thuan hamlet but belongs to another district - An Son district. In 1992, Thuan Hai province was again divided into two provinces, namely Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan. Since then, the administrative name of Vinh Thuan hamlet has been changed to "Quarter 7", Phuoc Dan town, Ninh Phuoc district, Ninh Thuan province.

According to the process of formation and development of Bau Truc pottery village, we can see the diverse and complicated changes like many other Cham villages in Ninh Thuan. Different from ceramic art of Vietnamese people from the North to the South in terms of making pottery as well as decoration. Bau Truc pottery of Cham people in Phan Rang - Ninh Thuan does not use turntables but completely uses their skillful hands to make beautiful figures for their pottery.

In addition to the craft of pottery, materials play an important role in the process of creating products. To choose good ceramic materials, the clay must be taken from the banks of the Quao River and then brought back to the small dam and mixed with appreciate amount of sand. The amount of sand used to mix with the clay should depend on the size and usage of each type of product. Therefore, Bau Truc pottery is different from other types of pottery that existed in the market.

Nguồn ảnh: Internet