Over the years, a 600-year-old, culturally rich village which is home to a nationally recognized temple in central Vietnam’s Thua Thien Hue Province has thrived on its time-honored traditional crafts.
Chuon Village in Phu Vang District’s Phu An Commune is only 7km from Hue City, the country’s imperial capital, which accommodates imposing palaces, relics, and resplendent landscapes.
Formally known as An Truyen Village, Chuon boasts a century-old temple which is 420m² in area and has 80 pillars.
The village’s temple, which has been recognized as a national relic since 1994, is typical of the architecture popular during the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945).
It still has many worshipping and decorative items which were used in the past.
According to village head Ho Van Lap, Chuon Village is a culturally rich community. Among the four lineages Ho, Nguyen, Doan and Huynh, who are credited with founding the village, the Hos have given the place the most honors by having the most educated descendants working as high-ranking court officials.
Three Ho brothers also led an uprising in 1866 during the reign of Tu Duc, the Nguyen Dynasty’s fourth king. The revolt ended in failure and the three brothers were executed.
Seventy percent of the village’s 1,100 households go fishing at Chuon Lagoon for their livelihood now. Most of their catches are sold at markets in the district, throughout Hue City and other provinces.
Chuon Lagoon, part of the breathtaking Tam Giang lagoon system, is some 15km from downtown Hue City, which is the capital of Thua Thien-Hue Province at the moment.
The lagoon is ideal for photographers, seafood lovers, and tourists who wish to indulge in pastoral pleasures and live just like natives.
Chuon Lagoon is best known for five popular species of fish and certain kinds of seafood while Chuon Village is famous for a special kind of traditional wine.
Currently around 300 villagers practice their long-standing craft in some 100 family wine distilleries to make a living.
Nguyen Van Rang, 72, who is descended from a four-generation family which has a history of wine distilling, revealed that the unique flavor of the wine is acquired thanks to the village’s source of water and a special kind of rice.
“Our village has long been wealthy, as people are really hard working and resourceful. In today’s society, we also need to be flexible and good at grasping opportunities. Only five percent of the households in the village remain poor,” Doan Ro, head of a hamlet in the village, proudly said.
Chuon Village Market, located next to the village’s temple, is quite famous for selling a wide variety of specialties including traditional wine, cakes, and seafood fetched from Chuon Lagoon.
The village also hosts an annual festival, which features a clutch of traditional cultural activities, in the middle of the seventh month of the lunar year.
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Đăng ký: VietNam News