Dinh Chu carpentry village

(Baonghean) - Having heard of the ancient carpentry village of Dinh Chu for a long time, it was only now that I had the opportunity to visit the village in Thanh Tuong commune, Thanh Chuong district. The village currently has 50/115 households, with nearly 80 workers, and has been recognized by the Provincial People's Committee as "Dinh Chu Carpentry Village" since 2009. Unlike other carpentry villages that specialize in producing fine art wooden furniture and household wooden furniture, Dinh Chu Carpentry Village also undertakes the entire construction of house carpentry, especially churches with ancient architecture...

Road to Dinh Chu village.

One sunny day, we returned to Dinh Chu village. As soon as we passed through the rather massive village gate, with its ancient architecture, we heard the rustling sound of saws, planers, mixed with the sound of mallets, chisels, and chisels. Mr. Le Dinh Tien, a local land officer, took me around the village, introducing the thriving carpentry workshops, and then stopped at the carpentry workshop of Mr. Nguyen Van Hung's family. Learning about Dinh Chu village, including Mr. Hung, Mr. Tien said that this village was about 500 years old, and the carpentry profession was also introduced to the village many years ago. The proud thing is that the carpentry village still preserves the traditional profession of its ancestors, which is building churches in ancient architecture. The skilled and long-standing carpenters in the village are mainly from the Nguyen Quang, Nguyen The, Nguyen Gia, and Luu families. Saying ancient village, ancient profession is what we want to say.

Mr. Hung's carpentry workshop has a fairly large area. When entering this carpentry workshop, there are scattered xoan and jackfruit tree trunks as big as a person's hug, which have been inked and prepared to be sawn to build houses. The workers are covered in dust, busy with the work of cutting wood, planing, carving... When entering here, all you see is wood and the noisy sounds of saws, chisels, and planers, everyone is focused on their work. When there are guests, Mr. Hung stops working, quickly brushes off the thick layer of dust on his clothes, and receives us. He is 60 years old this year, but he still looks agile, with bright eyes. Talking, Mr. Hung proudly said: Carpentry is the traditional profession of the village, especially the profession of building this ancient architectural church. There are times when the village's craft has had its ups and downs, but passed down from father to son, generations of people here have constantly strived to preserve the traditional craft of the village, so that it can flourish like today. Mr. Hung is the 4th generation "sticking" to the carpentry profession. Having been in the profession for 45 years, he understands a lot about this hard and sacred profession. Sacred because, for generations, his family has specialized in building churches in ancient architecture for customers near and far. Customers from Quang Binh, Ha Tinh, Nghe An, even people from Vung Tau, Phu Tho... also come to order. People often order a church roof of 2 to 3 compartments, and the type of wood depends on the customer. Here, he often builds houses from 4 types of wood: xoan, jackfruit, doi and lim. Of which, houses made from lim wood are the most expensive, the cheapest is xoan wood. At this time, a 3-compartment house made from lim wood costs 600 million VND, but if made from xoan wood, it would only cost 120 million VND. Currently, there is a family in Anh Son district ordering a church roof made from jackfruit wood, worth 500 million VND, to be completed by the end of this year. Why did he choose these 4 types of wood to build a church? Mr. Hung explained: Lim and Doi wood are very good, there is no need to mention them, and xoan wood is soft but tough, light, and rarely gets termites; jackfruit wood is beautiful, does not crack, is easy to work with, and can be used for a long time. These types of wood are very suitable for building churches, if the roof does not leak, it can be used for hundreds of years.

Carver at Mr. Nguyen Van Hung's carpentry workshop.

Carpentry, if building a normal house, just need to get the ink right, but for the job of building a church, it needs to be meticulous, spend a lot of effort. Because in addition to good beams, there must also be sharp patterns, sophisticated carvings, according to the customer's request. The most difficult part is the carving stage, whether the house is beautiful or not depends largely on the carving patterns, so it needs to have skilled workers. Not only is it beautiful in form but it also always fulfills the customer's order on time. Therefore, Mr. Hung's carpentry workshop in particular, and the craft village in general, are busy all year round, many skilled workers from Ha Nam come here to work. Currently, Mr. Hung employs 5 skilled workers, of which 1 is a specialized carver from the village. Mr. Hung pays monthly salary according to skill, for woodworkers, he pays 4.5 million VND/month, for skilled carvers, he pays up to 12 million VND/month. However, in the village today, there are only 3 or 4 carpenters, so the carpentry workshops have to hire workers from Ha Nam to do the work. The tools used are mainly machines, so the construction progress of a house is much shorter than the manual work in the past. A 3-room, 4-rafter wooden house, Mr. Hung's team of workers takes 45 - 60 days to complete, including painting and building the house for customers. Each year, the carpentry workshop receives 4 - 5 churches, using about 80m3 of various types of wood. If there are customers, Mr. Hung can receive 20 houses each year, because in the village there are many carpentry workshops specializing in making churches like his, he receives orders from customers, and works with other carpentry workshops. The characteristic of building churches is that they are large, using large tree trunks that are new and easy to choose and make. The workers must also be strong to carry and move large pieces of wood easily. Previously, these types of wood were often ordered within the province, but in recent years, most of the xoan and jackfruit wood had to be imported from Gia Lai and Dak Lak to have large trunks, while doi and lim wood are increasingly rare, and have to be ordered from everywhere. The wood purchased, based on the size of the customer's house, the master craftsman must carefully select and find the appropriate heartwood, otherwise it will be wasted. Which trees should be used as pillars, which trees should be cut into beams, rafters, and crossbars... are all carefully calculated.

A carver at Mr. Hung's carpentry workshop, a young man of nearly 30 years old, said: "After more than 10 years of working in this chiseling and carving profession, the experience I have learned is that I must strictly follow the design. The worker needs to have a knack for carving, combined with diligence and carefulness. To have a beautiful, sharp product, the soul and talent of the worker are needed. Here, we work all year round and there is never enough work, and wages are paid monthly. With the responsibility of a worker, especially when building a church, the worker always works with his heart.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hung completed the church in ancient architecture.

As a large carpentry workshop in the village, with year-round employment, many young people in the village followed Mr. Hung to learn the trade. All 5 of his children have graduated from university and have jobs. When people in the village came to learn the trade, he did not hide the trade, because he thought that if he did not pass on the trade, at some point, the craft village would fade away or lose its reputation. Therefore, those who came to learn the trade were carefully trained by him. After mastering the trade, they could stay and work for him, or open their own workshop. Counting on the fingers, up to now, he has trained 6 villagers to become skilled, of which 3 stayed to work for him, and 3 returned to open their own workshops right in the village. For a long-time craftsman like Mr. Hung, the joy of building new houses is one thing, but there is also the personal joy of having contributed to the development of the craft village.

Famous for its ancient architecture, Dinh Chu Carpentry Village also has a team of craftsmen specializing in the production of a variety of household wooden products. Following the concrete roads deep in the village, we immediately reached the Lam River dike, blocking the south of Dinh Chu village. There is the carpentry workshop of Mr. Le Van Thien, quite famous for high-end household wooden products. At this time, Mr. Thien's carpentry workshop has 2 workers, all of them are covered in sweat, dripping down their faces, but still smiling, their hands moving quickly to the rhythm of the saw and planer. Mr. Thien invited us into his house, looked at the brand new table and chairs, still smelling of paint, he boasted that he had just completed this table and chairs set, made in a new style, made entirely of clove wood, priced at 50 million VND, many customers have come to express their interest in buying, but not yet for sale, the main purpose is to introduce the new product. He is currently making a similar set, but using doi wood, the cost will be lower. He started working as a carpenter at the age of 13. When he grew up, he went to Hanoi to work for a carpentry workshop, both to improve his skills and to save up capital. In 1996, he returned to his hometown to make a living using his skills. At that time, he mainly took on projects inside and outside the district, specializing in making doors, stairs, and kitchen cabinets. When he had more capital, he opened a carpentry workshop at home. The main products are high-end household furniture such as cabinets, beds, tables, and chairs... Unlike house builders, for household carpenters, only if they can buy salvaged wood can they make a profit.

Before leaving Dinh Chu Carpentry Village, the owner of the carpentry workshop, Nguyen Van Hung, could not help but feel a little worried and troubled: The essential thing for a craft village is to promote its products every year, but this is not possible here. The reason is that until now, the craft village has not had any organization to manage it, it is mainly spontaneous, households find their own markets. The craft village should have established a craft group, have someone in charge, only then can this ancient carpentry profession develop sustainably. Therefore, the young generation in the village is not very interested in this profession anymore, the number of young people learning the profession is decreasing, the risk of the craft village being lost is understandable. I hope that all levels and sectors will soon establish an organization to manage the craft village so that the products of Dinh Chu Carpentry Village can be passed down to many future generations! What Mr. Hung said is also the common concern of the villagers!

Xuan Hoang