About Thuong Nguyen carpentry village...

(Baonghean) - The Thuong Nguyen civil carpentry profession in Quynh Hong commune (Quynh Luu) has a 40-year tradition, recognized by the Provincial People's Committee as a craft village in 2012: 100% of the households working here are Catholics, working diligently day and night, creating many beautiful and durable wooden products, meeting the diverse needs of the market. However, from the sustainable development of the profession, from 2010 to now, the craft village no longer has poor households.

We visited Thuong Nguyen craft village on a day at the end of July. Stopping by Mr. Ngo Quang Hoang's production facility, he and his three sons and workers were diligently completing cabinets and tables and chairs. Mr. Hoang said that his family has been doing carpentry for more than 20 years, before that his father did the job and then passed it on to his children. Now his family is also a large-scale production household in the craft village with solidly made beds, cabinets, tables and chairs, furniture, reasonable prices, trusted and favored by consumers. Thanks to that, his family's wooden furniture production facility never runs out of work, in addition to serving the needs of retail customers, it also supplies agents in the district, Vinh city, Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh provinces, consuming 200 products of all kinds/year. After deducting input production costs, his family has a net profit of 200 million VND each year. From the job, his family has been able to build a high-rise house with many expensive living amenities. His two eldest sons, Ngo Quang Binh and Ngo Quang Minh, both succeeded their father in building the family's traditional carpentry profession to develop steadily.

Thuong Nguyen Craft Village carpenters complete the product.

Coming to the carpentry workshop of Mr. Nguyen Viet Kinh, the first person to open a carpentry business in this parish and also the oldest person working in the profession, Mr. Kinh has handed over the carpentry workshop to his son Nguyen Viet Binh, but he still participates in the work every day. Mr. Kinh said: "I have been attached to this profession for more than 40 years, although it is hard, heavy, noisy and my body is always covered in wood dust, but if I don't work for a day, I feel tired. When my hands can no longer hold a chisel or a plane, I will stop working."

Mr. Kinh recalls that his fate with carpentry was also quite coincidental. In 1973, his family hired workers from the North to make two cabinets. Seeing them do it, he also tried to learn, thinking "if others can do it, why can't I?" and so he learned the trade himself until the workers finished the two cabinets and he had learned the basics. At that time, the tools were very simple, including a chisel, a plane, and a hand saw, but whoever hired him to make doors, tables, chairs, or cabinets, he would do it all. In 1982, he bought a planer and a saw to do the job on a large scale and gradually taught his children the trade. All three of his sons followed their father's carpentry career, contributing to spreading the profession in the locality; for example, Mr. Nguyen Viet Binh's workshop has a sales revenue of more than 2 billion VND/year, after deducting input costs, the net profit is more than 100 million VND/year.

Not only the above households, in Thuong Nguyen craft village, everyone is diligent in production because the development of carpentry has brought a prosperous life to the parishioners here. In the past, when carpentry was not yet strongly developed, people in Thuong Nguyen village mainly lived by farming, and those who knew carpentry went to work for craft villages in the northern provinces. Later, when the craft village developed, people did not have to go far away but focused on working right in their homeland. Now, hamlet 7 (Thuong Nguyen) has 217 households, of which 109 households participate in the craft, accounting for 50% of the total households in the hamlet, the total production value of the civil carpentry village reaches over 24 billion VND/year, the average income from the craft reaches 47.5 million VND/person/year. The products of the craft village have many designs and types from popular to high-end, meeting the diverse needs of customers. The village is clean and beautiful, with all kinds of vehicles bustling in and out transporting raw materials and goods for consumption.

Mr. Ho Huu Tung, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Hong Commune, said: The locality is very excited because the people in the religious area have a traditional craft village that creates many jobs for workers and legitimately enriches the production households. All households working in carpentry are very diligent in production, from 5 am a new working day is urgent and effective. The activities of the craft village have spread the atmosphere of competition in labor and production throughout the commune. In addition to farming, people also grow flowers, ornamental plants, raise livestock and poultry, and trade in various goods and services to increase their family income. Thanks to that, the living standards of the people in the whole commune are relatively even, security and order are stable, and the religious and non-religious people are in harmony.

Saying goodbye to Thuong Nguyen carpentry village, I still have a lasting impression of a vibrant craft village space with colorful high-rise roofs connecting one another to brighten up the face of the new countryside. And the impression of the gentle parishioners, quick in the market mechanism, good at production and business, pushing back poverty and enriching their families and hometowns...

Quynh Lan