Explore Bau Truc Pottery Village

Bau Truc pottery village- the name is popularly known by many local tourists as well as foreign ones. It is the oldest pottery village in Southeast Asia and famous for hand-made pottery products and unique way of baking potter.

 Bau Truc pottery village is in Phuoc Dan town, Ninh Phuoc district, Ninh Thuan province. It is about 10 kilometers away from Phan Rang city to the South, right on National Highway 1A. Bau Truc pottery village is proud of being one of two the oldest ones in Southeast Asia.

Bau Truc village is over 200 years old. It means that the pottery village was originated from a long time ago. There are more than 400 households in the village. Most of these households are Cham people, of which over 80 percent of households make this traditional craft.

Bau Truc is named after original Cham name Paley HamuTrok, means “Lang Trung”- protruding part of the end of river. Pottery craft is started by Poklong Chan from ancient. He is one of Patriarch of ancient pottery craft and it has been remained by people here up to now.

Patriarch Poklong Chan helped Bau Truc people to escape from condition of misery and taught them to dig clay to make pottery. Up to present, although Cham Bau Truc pottery village-Ninh Thuan district had experienced a process of changes history, being affected by nature and people, in hearts of Cham people, they has primarily remained the traditional village. Nowadays, Bau Truc Village is planned into town: however, scenes of village and life of people here have not been changed not much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A man is focusing on making a pottery statue

Unlike the other traditional and old craft villages such as Bat Trang. Bau Truc village is very modern and spacious. Streets of village are paved by concrete, houses with red roofs, stores and households of making pottery are always busy with visitors from everywhere coming here.

Pottery of Bau Truc village is famous for materials to make it. Pottery products are made from clay collected from Hamu Craok fields and yellow sand from Quao River. This just makes main differences between products making from pottery of Bau Truc and these of other villages. Yellow sand at Quao River has many outstanding features that there is no sand compared to. This type of sand is not only smooth but also tiny. Clay collected from Hamu Craok field is soft. Clay is crashed finely, soaked with some of water, and incubated during the night. And then it will be mixed with sand. Rate of clay and sand with water depends on products they make.

People in Bau Truc village have remained the primary way of making pottery items from many different generations. If other villages’ people make pottery items by using turntable to make, Bau Truc’s people make by themselves. Craftsmen do not use turntable, they themselves use their hands to turn around product to create the shape for it and some simple tools such as bamboo sticks, shells, etc. to turn around product to create the shape for it. Moreover, they also use wet cloths to make the product surface smooth. Although manual labor is hard and productivity is low, shapes of pottery products are beautiful and unique. There are no identical ones. It is said that no two pottery products of Bau Truc, whether they are big or small, are identical, although the craftsmen try to make them look the same and they are baked at the same place in the same way.

Pottery products made with a large number are relieves featuring Cham women, Cham Kings, dancers and everyday items. These items are decorated with seashell, snails, simple flowers, or hand-made paintings reflecting the daily life of Bau Truc’s people. They look modern but they still bear an old soul.

Especially, the workers making pottery products in Bau Truc village are mainly women, because women are neat-handed and patient.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is no turntable, so the worker herself turns around to shape for the product.

There is also no need kiln. The workers just use straw and dry wood piled, and then put a fire to burn. Time for baking pottery lasts about 2 or 3 hours. The products that are baked has colors of natural red of clay or yellow-red, red- pink, black-gray, brown featuring Champa’s culture.

Pottery products of Bau Truc village are nowadays stylized from shape to decorating motifs. Pottery items made have displayed in houses, at hotels or senior restaurants. Bau Truc’s products have become famous ones and they are consumed in local and international markets. At the same time, they are also souvenirs for tourists coming here.

Every year, travel companies usually introduce tourists to come Bau Truc pottery village with a view to visit and learn more about the traditional pottery village. Tourists really enjoy seeing craftsmen to make pottery product or even they make it by themselves. If you have time in this summer vacation, why do not you visit the village only once time. I am sure that you will really love it.

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