If Bat Trang ancient village is the cradle of pottery art in the Northern of Vietnam, Phuoc Tich ancient village is an indispensable centre of pottery art in the central land of this beautiful nation. The village peacefully lies on the bank of O Lau River with the typical features of Vietnamese village in the past time, which is an ideal destination for a laidback after hard-working day.
It is said that Phuoc Tich village was established more than 500 years ago. In the first time, the original name of the village is Phuc Giang, which expresses wish for a prosperous life of local people. In the dynasty of Emperor Nguyen Hue (1753 – 1792), it was renamed as “Hoang Giang” for memorizing the first founder of the village. Until the reign of Emperor Gia Long (1762 – 1820), the village is known as “Phuoc Tich” with the beautiful dream about a better life for the next generations.
In the period of feudalism, Phuoc Tich ancient village is famous for pottery products favored all around Vietnam’s regions. Not only serving for the daily life, the products of Phuoc Tich is also used in royal families. According to Mr. Dien - a descendant of pottery artists said that the villagers only earn money for their life by making and selling pottery because they have no land for agriculture in the past time. In the golden age of Phuoc Tich village, their products are used widely in the area of Central Land of Vietnam. The local is so busy that their pottery vases had never turned off. Thanks to this traditional job, many generations of Phuoc Tich village enjoyed a better life.
From 1900 – 1968, Phuoc Tich’s trade activities are suspended due to a long period of war. After the time of Vietnamese independence (1975), the pottery products were continued to sell into the market but it isn’t still remain the dominant position. In 1989, this traditional job comes into disappearance because their products cannot compete with other products in the market.
Although there is no longer traditional job, Phuoc Tich ancient village still restore the large amount of pottery relics from the previous time and 37 ancient houses in this area.
Visiting Mr. Dien in the village, you can discover a variety of pottery samples with long standing ages. All of them are man-made products with high quality of durability and sophistication.
The ancient houses are typical features for rural architecture in the Central Land in Vietnam following model of house – garden. The old houses hide into the flourish bush of trees, which both offer a taste of tranquility and serene.
A special thing is that there are tree fence for dividing the boundaries among ancient houses. Its height is only a half of an adult people. Phuoc Tich villagers say that those special structures of their houses make their relationship closer. You can look over from this house to another one; communicate to each other without difficulties.
Each ancient house has often a small water pool in the yard. It is said that local people’s house used to make of leaves. In the past time, great fires often occur in the village, in particular, in pottery-making families. For this reason, they built those pools for preventing fires.
