Visit Van Phuc Silk Village – Hanoi

Traditional silk weaving village for thousands of years

Van Phuc silk village (also known as Ha Dong silk village) is located in Van Phuc ward, Ha Dong district, more than 10 km from the center of Hanoi. Having existed for more than a thousand years, the village is one of the most beautiful and famous silk weaving villages in Vietnam.

From the center of Hanoi, you can go to Van Phuc silk village via Nguyen Trai street to Ha Dong post office, then turn right, or follow the route Le Van Luong – To Huu. Although here, the process of urbanization is taking place rapidly, but Van Phuc silk village still more or less retains its ancient beauty.

Van Phuc silk village was formerly known as Van Bao, because of the Nguyen Dynasty’s horseman, it was changed to Van Phuc. In 1931, Van Phuc silk was first introduced to the international market at the Marseille fair and was considered by the French as the most sophisticated product of Indochina. By 1958, Van Phuc silk was exported to Eastern European countries and is now popular in many countries around the world.

Over many generations, Van Phuc silk still retains its traditional beauty and is at the forefront of our country’s textile industry. Van Phuc village silk is considered beautiful and durable. Patterns on silk are very diverse, decorated symmetrically with each other, the lines are not cumbersome and complicated but always create a feeling of openness and decisiveness.

Raw materials for making Van Phuc silk are mainly from silk because of its softness and toughness. To create perfect silk products, workers have to go through many elaborate stages such as silk, sizing, weaving, dyeing, drying… At any stage, the artisan must be very careful. , standing by to monitor even when the process requires machines to perform.

Van Phuc silk has many different designs. Patterns have four categories: animals, plants, objects, and graphics. Among the traditional silks, the most famous is Van silk, which has floating flowers that are smooth on the surface of the silk, and sunken flowers are only seen in the light.

Currently, in the village, there are still nearly 300 households weaving and trading silk products. Most businesses and households are operating at full capacity to meet market demand. Every year, the village produces about 2.5 to 3 million square meters of cloth, accounting for 63% of the revenue of the entire craft village.

Although currently there are many types of silk of poor quality imported from China, greatly affecting the prestige and quality of Van Phuc silk, but the people here are still trying and taking care to create new products. the best product and reassert its position.

Innovation to attract tourists

Along with preserving and developing the traditional silk weaving village, Van Phuc silk village is gradually innovating, becoming a tourist destination to keep pace with the market demand for products as well as the need to explore, play, and have fun. learn about the tourist village.

Coming to Van Phuc silk village at this time, visitors will witness the rapid change of the craft village with a more civilized and dynamic image. On weekends, Van Phuc silk village welcomes many tourists to visit and take pictures.

In recent times, local authorities have invested in infrastructure, embellished streets and embellished monuments. In particular, three pedestrian streets including silk street, food street, petite – antique street are also opened for tourists to visit and shop.

As soon as you pass through the village gate, visitors will be able to see the walking path decorated with colorful umbrellas. Along the two sides of the walking path are shops close together, displaying and selling products such as scarves, ao dai, bags, clothes… with a variety of designs for visitors to choose from. If you want to wear ao dai to take photos, the shops also have ao dai rental services.

One of the most prestigious and famous selling addresses is the silk weaving workshop of artisan Trieu Van Mao, the Van Xuan silk shop, or going to the Van Phuc silk market, where you can choose freely. Choose the products you like best.

The attractions at Van Phuc silk village that tourists can visit such as: Van Phuc pagoda, the temple of the trade ancestors, Van Phuc temple, the Van Phuc silk conservation center, the center of ornamental creatures, and the antique – antique street. , the memorial house of President Ho Chi Minh or the colorful mural road in front of the communal house yard.

In addition, visitors can also visit the weaving and dyeing workshops located behind the Van Phuc silk market to learn about the silk weaving process, directly interact with craftsmen or experience doing a few stages. manufacture products. In particular, coming to the village, visitors also have the opportunity to experience making pictures from rags at VUN Art Cooperative – where people with disabilities are working here.

Visiting Van Phuc silk village, friend Hoang Khanh Huyen (Hanoi) shared: “This is my first time coming to Van Phuc silk village. Right from the moment I entered the village gate, I was very impressed with the brilliant space. After taking a tour in the village, I have a better understanding of the silk weaving process as well as shopping for some satisfactory products here.”

At the end of the tour of Van Phuc silk village, visitors can enjoy familiar dishes sold here such as coconut jelly, ice cream, nuggets, coffee, lemon tea, snacks… at reasonable prices.

If you have the opportunity to come to Van Phuc silk village during the week of cultural tourism and trade, visitors will be able to visit and experience the unique cultural activities and art performances that take place here.

Developing craft village tours

Developing tourism in Van Phuc silk village is a promising direction of Hanoi city. However, in order to have the right direction and effectively promote the potential of the craft village, there needs to be a change from awareness to action.

Tourism human resources working directly in the craft village need to have knowledge and understanding of the economic value of the craft village as well as the typical culture here. Local authorities also need to create conditions to build a team of skilled, professional, able to communicate, behave well, improve foreign language skills to guide foreign tourists to visit.

Vendors at Van Phuc silk village need to be regularly trained in behavioral culture and campaign to wear Van Phuc silk ao dai to make an impression on visitors.

In addition, for Van Phuc silk village tourism to develop, functional units and local authorities need to direct and connect travel agencies with craft villages in promoting the construction of village tours and programs. Van Phuc silk to introduce and promote the craft village.

Currently, the day tours to Van Phuc craft villages are being exploited and built by some travel agencies in combination with other craft villages in Hanoi. However, the sightseeing tours have not really brought much attraction to tourists because they only stop at the level of visiting the village without fully understanding the unique features of the craft village.

Mr. Le Viet Hung – Director of VAN Art Cooperative, who has many opportunities to interact with tourists visiting the craft village shared: “Many tourists coming to the craft village on a sightseeing tour have not yet discovered it all. The unique feature here is due to a few reasons such as schedule, quick visit time, the tour guide does not understand much about the history and characteristics of the craft village.

The success or failure of sightseeing tours greatly affects the image and tourism development of Van Phuc silk village. In order for tours to visit Van Phuc silk village to be effective, travel agencies need to exploit and develop a tour program thoroughly in both content and form, supplementing knowledge about history, featured in the craft village for the tour guide.

Tourism development in Van Phuc silk village not only preserves traditional culture but also creates jobs and improves income for local people. At the same time, helping socio-economic development, enhancing integration, attracting a large number of tourists to visit.

vietnam-destinations.com | Discovering the Vietnam