The south central coastal province of Ninh Thuan is working on a project on preserving and promoting the value of traditional pottery making craft of Cham ethnic people.
Ninh Thuan works on project on preserving pottery making craft of Cham ethnic people
The project, which has a vision to 2028 and incoming years, includes two phases. The first phase aims towards removing the heritage from the list of cultural heritages in urgent need of protection, while phase 2 aims to gain the intangible cultural heritage of humanity title for the heritage.
The project has an estimated cost of more than 205 billion VND, which will be sourced from the central and local budgets and donations from domestic and international organisations.
According to Nguyen Long Bien, Vice Chairman of Ninh Thuan Provincial People's Committee, the project eyes to help the local pottery practitioners have benefited from their own cultural practices.
It also aims to develop at a sustainable preservation system so that the Cham pottery making art will not only be revitalised but also thrive in today’s life, thus contributing to safeguarding the unique values and cultural diversity of Vietnam.
The art of pottery making of Cham ethnic people was inscribed in the list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding by UNESCO in November 2022.
Unlike other traditional ceramic villages, Cham's pottery makers don't use turning tables to create their products but only use their skilled hands. Cham women move themselves backward around blocks of clay to shape objects.
The products are not laid with enamel but dried and baked outdoor in wood and rice straw fires at about 800 degrees Celsius for seven to eight hours.
