Will the do paper profession still exist in the future?

(Baonghean) - No one remembers exactly when the profession of making do paper in Nghi Phong commune (Nghi Loc) was formed. The elders in the village only know that when they grew up, they could clearly hear the sound of pounding pestles and do paper all day long. At one time, the profession of making do paper helped to relieve hunger and poverty for the people of Phong Phu village, attracting nearly 100% of the households in the village to participate in the profession. But now the income from the profession is too low, combined with increasingly scarce raw materials, the profession of making do paper is facing the risk of being lost.

People of Phong Phu craft village dry do paper.

To make thin sheets of dó paper, craftsmen must go to the forests in the western districts such as Tan Ky, Quy Chau, Que Phong, Tuong Duong... or to some districts of Ha Tinh and Thanh Hoa provinces to find niệt and dó trees to bring back as raw materials for production. Mr. Bach Quoc Lam's family in Phong Phu hamlet currently has 40 paper molds poured every day, and is one of the households that still makes a lot of dó paper in the craft village. Mr. Lam is 62 years old this year, with nearly 40 years of experience in the craft. He confided that now his children have started their own families, only the youngest is studying at Vinh Medical University, so the two of them are still working on the craft. The most difficult thing now is the source of raw materials for production. Now that I am old, I still have to go every week to the mountainous areas of Tan Ky, Quy Chau... to find niệt and dó trees to make the craft. The process of making dó paper is quite elaborate. The leaves of the niệt and gió trees must be stripped off, only the bark is taken out, the black outer layer is scraped off, the white bark is stuffed with lime water and boiled for a day. After cooking, the bark is soft and mushy, put in a pond to soak and wash off the lime water, then continue to be pounded and pounded very finely. The raw material is placed on a thick, flat stone plate, using a wooden pestle to pound it thoroughly into a wet brown powder. Then mix this powder with water, soak it in bleach to whiten it, filter out the residue. Continue to soak the bark of the bìm bìm tree to get water, mix it with the bleached niệt water to make a viscous mixture, scoop this water and spread it on a 1m2 screen mold, dry it thoroughly, peel it off to make a thin, opaque white paper. That is the dó paper product.

This job does not make you rich, but it does provide extra income to cover daily expenses. With 40 molds, Mr. Lam's family can pour 2 times a day, making 80 sheets of do paper, the current selling price is 2,500 VND/sheet, after deducting expenses, the profit is about 130,000 VND/day. Both he and his wife are farmers without a salary, thanks to this job they have money to cover daily expenses. This job is done year-round, except on rainy days when they have to stop because they cannot dry the paper. Thanks to hard work, his family can provide for their 4 children's education. Now the older siblings are married, and the youngest sister, Bach Thi Hang, is studying at Vinh Medical University. During the summer holidays, she also diligently helps her parents pour molds and peel the paper. Hang told me that she works hard to save money to cover expenses for the new school year. The output of do paper is very favorable, every few days someone comes to buy it, pays immediately, without any bargaining. However, the difficulty is the lack of raw materials and the steps are quite time-consuming and laborious.

The family of Mrs. Bach Thi Tam, Phong Phu hamlet, is famous in the village for making smooth white paper molds. It has been more than 70 years since her husband's parents started this profession. Although it is considered a side job during the off-season, her family has never taken this profession lightly, because thanks to this profession, her family still has enough food during the lean season. Nghi Phong land is white and infertile, the family has 10 sao of rice and other crops, but the yield is low, farming is not profitable. Mrs. Tam always works hard to make extra money to make ends meet. Her day usually starts at 4 am, preparing breakfast for her family, and carefully drying dozens of do paper molds before going to work in the fields...

Phong Phu do paper is purchased by traders to serve the market of making paper fans, incense sticks, sea fish belly stickers, and votive paper. All the do paper is sold out. However, due to many difficulties in the production process and low income, the number of households making the paper is gradually shrinking. Mr. Nguyen Van Ngai - Vice Chairman of Nghi Phong Commune Farmers' Association said: The do paper making profession in Phong Phu village has existed for hundreds of years, in the past, the elders did it spontaneously, serving domestic consumption. Although the income from the profession was not high, it was a profession to save the local people from hunger and poverty. In the past, when the village was prosperous, there were 70 - 80 households making the profession, every 3 - 4 am every day, the village was filled with the sound of pounding pestles, men, women, old and young, boys and girls competing to pound the paper to prepare raw materials for new batches of paper. Especially in the sunny summer months, the do paper was dried white all over the village... But now, those images only remain in memory. Currently, many households have abandoned the profession to do other jobs with higher income, the number of households practicing the profession is only about 30. Very few people are still interested in the profession left by their ancestors, the craft village is mainly for the elderly, older workers, while young workers prefer to work far away or work as workers in industrial zones in the province. The difficulty of Phong Phu do paper craft village is that the source of raw materials is increasingly scarce and hard to find. The main raw material used to produce do paper is the niet tree, this tree grows in remote mountainous areas. In the districts of Quy Chau, Que Phong, Tuong Duong... everywhere there are footprints of Phong Phu villagers looking for niet. Each time the tree is exploited, they have to wait 6-7 years before they can exploit it again.

Finding raw materials is difficult, the production process also goes through many arduous stages, while the product price is not high compared to this period of inflation. Therefore, Phong Phu's do paper craft is gradually fading away, although the local government knows and regrets, there is still no solution to continue to preserve and develop the craft sustainably. In the near future, if the production method is not changed, I am afraid that the do paper craft here may fade over the years, and the image of white paper molds on village roads and alleys will only remain in the memories of the people here.

Quynh Lan