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Location: In Ba Dinh District, Hanoi.
Characteristic: The village of Ngu Xa appears as a small peninsula near
the Truc Bach Lake. It�s where many sophisticated bronze products were
produced for the needs of the ancient capital of Thang Long.
An old saying in Hanoi goes "Glossy silk of Yen Thai, pottery of Bat Trang,
goldsmith of Dinh Cong, bronze-caster of Ngu Xa".
Ngu Xa means five villages. According to history, during the Le Dynasty (1428 -
1527), people of the 5 villages Dong Mai, Chau My, Long Thuong, Dien Tien and
Dao Vien (from Hung Yen and Bac Ninh provinces), who were skillful at bronze
casting, had migrated to the capital to establish a casting workshop for
business. They settled here and set up a new village in the capital and named it
Ngu Xa to remember their five original villages. Afterwards they reorganized
into a separate professional guild called Ngu Xa bronze-casting guild. Nowadays
Ngu Xa Street is still there to the east of the Truc Bach Lake, in Ba Dinh
District. Despite living in the capital, the bronze casters of Ngu Xa always
maintained their rural practices, building a pagoda for their Buddhist worship
and a communal house dedicated to the originator of bronze casting, Bonze Khong
Lo.
Ngu Xa really represents the talent of Vietnamese bronze casters. Their products
over the last 500 years have become outstanding masterpieces of national art.
Among the most famous products of Ngu Xa bronze casters are bronze bells and
statues. Bronze bells are very popular, and can be found in every Vietnamese
pagoda. They are special musical instruments, which give an echoing sound when
ringing as the thickness of each part of the bell differs. Every step of the
casting procedure, from shaping the mould to preparing the mixture and melting
and pouring it into the mould must follow a special strict process, requiring a
peculiar know how. Bronze statues are the other famous product of Ngu Xa. One
typical example is the Buddha statue cast in 1952 and placed in Thien Quang
Pagoda right in this village. The statue is in a cross-legged sitting position;
the design is simple but harmonious. It is 3.95m high, the distance between the
two knees is 3.60m, its perimeter is 11.6m and the whole statue weighs 10 tons
and sits on a throne of 96 lotus petals. The lotus throne is also made of bronze
weighing 1.6 tons. This is a grandiose piece of bronze art work, typical and
sophisticated in all aspects, acting as symbol of the techniques and art of
bronze casting in Vietnam. The Buddha�s face is benevolent and calm, his
stature, sitting with folded robes expresses an inner deep calmness. Yet he
seems also very close to a human being. This illustrates the Vietnamese concept
of life, as well as the tradition of Buddhist carving. The great works of the
ancestors from this village include not only the Buddha Statue, but also many
other famous works, considered to be Vietnamese master-pieces, such as the Tran
Vo Statue in Quan Thanh Temple and various bronze relics such as
incense-burners, lamps and cranes, all considered to be valuable antiques.
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