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Location: Dinh Cong Jewelry Village is
located on the To Lich river bank is Dinh Cong Thuong Village, also called Dinh
Cong kim hoan (Jewelry). It belongs to the present Thanh Tri District, Hanoi.
Characteristic: The name of the village shows us it is already famous for
jewelry handicraft.
The Dinh Cong Jewelers used to relate the following story: during the Ly Nam De
period (571 - 603), in the To Lich River area, there were three orphan brothers
of the Tran family called Tran Hoa, Tran Dien and Tran Dien, who originated from
Dinh Cong Village. After a period of exile in the war, they learned jewelry
making and came back to their native village and opened a jewelry shop called
"Kim Hoan", taking the gold bracelet as their trade mark. The jewelry they made
was very sophisticated. As their prestige became more well-known, the king got
the three brothers to come to the royal court to make jewelry. The brothers
taught people in their village the profession. Since then, Dinh Cong Village has
been renowned for its jewelry, the skills being handed down from generation to
generation. Besides the Dinh Cong Village, Hang Bac Street in the very heart of
Hanoi is an area for jewelers originating from Dinh Cong Village. In fact the
three Tran brothers are not the originators of the jewelry handicraft, they
simply contributed to the development of the techniques. About 5 or 6 centuries
earlier, ancient China had already appreciated Giao Chi (the name of Vietnam at
that time) as an area rich in gold and gemstones, and the exploitation of these
precious resources was developed. A Chinese historian in about 187 - 226 A.D.
wrote: Sy Nhiep sent to China many gifts, at first these were gold and silver
items. In many tombs of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, sophisticated gold and jade
jewelry such as bracelets, rings, hairpins, combs, earrings and necklaces have
been found. Under the feudal regimes, kings and mandarins gathered skillful
jewelers not only from Dinh Cong village but also from other provinces to
produce jewels for themselves or to decorate their palaces. To make
sophisticated products, jewelers must master 3 important techniques relating to
the profession, including carving, making and polishing. The carving technique
involves carving a picture, design or motif on jewels, or on gold or silver
pieces. The pieces included necklaces, bracelets and spittoons. The making
technique involves spinning tempered gold and silver into strings and then
making flowers, birds and animals from these strings to stick on the jewels.
This technique requires a careful and skillful hand, so it’s mainly reserved for
women. The polishing technique making gold and silver articles by shading not by
carving. The skillful jewelers must master not only these 3 professional
techniques but above all the ancient technique of smelting. To use pure gold
(called also gold foil or gold leaf) for jewelry making, they have to follow the
traditional techniques of "polishing gold". When the making is finished, the
article is ready for polishing. Silver articles are brushed with sand and then
with a solution of soot and lime and then put on a fire. The article is then
immersed in a solution of boiled alum and finally polished with sand and pieces
of glass. Gold articles are brushed with a solution of pounded brick and liquid
salt, then put on a fire and cleaned. Then they are immersed in a solution of
boiled, sour fungus and finally polished with sand and by pieces of glass.
Looking at the figures and motifs on the articles, one can see the patience,
skill and creativeness of these Vietnamese jewelers
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