(Langnghevietnam.vn)
By ingenuity, artisans
of Yen Thanh village (Thach
Xa, Thach That, Ha Noi) made inanimate bamboo into colorful
dragonflies. However, the gap between production costs and price, as well as
unstable output for products
that made difficulty for workers to maintain and develop
this product.
Dragonfly is one of Vietnam rural symbols, it went into the poetry,
song, the tale
.... Today, the
process of urbanization,
the dragonfly did
not appear as many as before. In order to preserve
the culture of
the Vietnamese village,
the craftsmen made
the “bamboo dragonfly”
product. On Tay Phuong temple
foot, there is
a place known as
the "bamboo dragonfly" hamlet where people live mainly on
bamboo dragonfly. Visiting Nguyen Van
Tai’s house, we surprised by his colorful bamboo dragonfly
products. But he said the number of households making bamboo
dragonfly is less and the scale is more and more small.
Nguyen Van Tai introduces his giant bamboo dragonfly
In the economic downturn, the handicraft industry
is affected.
Bamboo dragonfly also face many
difficulties due to
the lack of
right orientations in which the
most important factor is finding output
for bamboo dragonfly.
10 years ago, there were about 15 - 20 households making bamboo dragonfly in Thach Xa, now that number seriously
declined to 4-5 households. Because
the profit from the bamboo
dragonfly products is low. To get a bamboo dragonfly,
workers had to
do a lot of stages: splitting bamboo, sharpening
dragonfly’s body and wings, assembling wings, painting, drawing…Meanwhile
the price of each product is just from two
thousands to four
thousands Vietnam Dong, so only a few hundred in
profit per product.
The children also help their parents
to make bamboo dragonflies
The workers’ income is unstable because bamboo dragonfly products are just sold best on the Tay
Phuong Pagoda festival. And it is difficult to find buyers at the rest of time.
Small domestic market is not ensured for consumption , the bamboo dragonfly workers found new customers outside to increase sales. But
overseas markets have many
risks. Mr. Tai has had an order from Japan's
client but he was
also anxious, he said “Japan
is a difficult
market, product selection
is very careful. The
selling of bamboo dragonfly products in this market is not easy”.
The final stage to finish product
To meet the requirement of the customer, improvement design and quality
of products is
inevitable. But although
providing good products, clients
also unilaterally cancel the
contract. So the craftsmen are the most damaged
people. The ordered products has different designs comparison
to other products. So if cancelling orders, it will
be difficult for the worker to sell them.
In this situation, the authority, the
relevant department must have supporting measures to sell handicraft products. We hope that the community contribute to preserve and develop
Vietnamese value. In the future, the craft product will be seen on its value.
Some bamboo dragonfly products
Lan Huong