Today’s A Journey
through Aesthetic Realms
will be presented in
Aulacese (Vietnamese), Aulacese (Vietnamese),
with subtitles in Arabic,
Chinese, English,
French, German,
Hungarian, Indonesian,
Italian, Japanese,
Korean, Mongolian,
Persian, Portuguese,
Russian and Spanish.
From the south,
you travel up north
Bringing with you a song
from the River
of Nine Dragons and
a heartfelt love of a man
from the land of orchards
I go out to greet you
with tender affection.
Preparing a black horse
and golden palanquin,
Taking along lý tunes
and chanty,
O beloved, I traverse
high mountain passes,
one after another
To bring you back home,
singing song
of faithfulness.
A Quan họ girl is lovelorn
of the mynah bird
I’ve been fond of you
since long ago
Someone’s garment
flutters in the wind
on the bridge
We’re deeply devoted
to each other.
A Quan họ girl is lovelorn
of the mynah bird
I will follow you this time
The breeze sways flowers
in the field of rice
Singing our song
of matrimonial tie.
From the south,
you travel up north
Bringing with you a song
from the River
of Nine Dragons and
a heartfelt love of a man
from the land of orchards
I go out to greet you
with tender affection.
Preparing a black horse
and golden palanquin,
Taking along lý tunes
and chanty,
O beloved, I traverse
high mountain passes,
one after another
To bring you back home,
singing song
of faithfulness.
A Quan họ girl is lovelorn
of the mynah bird
I’ve been fond of you
since long ago
Someone’s garment
flutters in the wind
on the bridge
We’re deeply devoted
to each other.
A Quan họ girl is lovelorn
of the mynah bird
I will follow you this time
The breeze sways flowers
in the field of rice
Singing our song
of matrimonial tie.
O my Quan họ beloved!
O black horse!
O my Quan họ beloved!
O black horse!
You’ve just enjoyed
“Song of Devotion,”
written by composer
Trương Quang Tuấn,
with vocals and dance
accompaniment by
our vegan Association
from southern Âu Lạc
(Vietnam).
“Song of Devotion”
praises the love between
people from the south
and north regions;
though having to
cross mountain passes
and streams, a man from
the Nine-Dragon Delta
and a woman from
Quan họ land pledge to
form a harmonious bond
of love.
Two Western
ceramic historians,
Professors John Guy
and John Stephenson,
in their book titled
“Vietnamese Ceramics:
A Separate Tradition,”
written originally
in English, acknowledges
that Aulacese ceramics has
a long-standing history
and a very unique tradition
compared to those
of other countries
well-known
for their pottery.
Each region has also
developed its own course.
The difference
between northern, central
and southern style has
created a colorful picture
of pottery for Âu Lạc.
Forest Flower Residence
Whenever pottery
is mentioned,
Aulacese folk poetry
has these verses:
“If only I could marry you,
I would buy Bát Tràng
bricks to build...”
Bát Tràng bricks
are famous far and near.
Bricks are used
to build temples, shrines,
and palaces.
Bricks are used
to build houses, roads,
lakes, and wells.
However, Bát Tràng
not only produces
ancient bricks but is also
a center symbolic
of northern Aulacese
ceramics.
For a long time,
Bát Tràng has always had
hundreds of ceramic kilns.
Everywhere people
are busy preparing clay,
polishing, glazing,
and heating products.
Most Bát Tràng ceramics
are handicraft products.
To make ceramics,
the artisans must
go through phases
of selecting, treating,
preparing the soil,
then shaping, decorating,
glazing and, finally,
heating.
Selecting clay is
a very important step.
Clay must have high
plasticity with essential
chemical compositions,
fine grains, grey-white,
high heat-resistance,
from 1250º C to 1320º C.
Next is preparing clay.
Depending on the type of
ceramic products needed,
the process of
preparing clay is varied
accordingly.
Shaping products is next.
The traditional shaping
method in Bát Tràng is
by hand,
using a turning table,
but nowadays the use of
casting is more prevalent.
Next, the plain products
are to be dried.
The optimal measure
often used is airing
plain products on shelves
in airy places.
Nowadays, most families
desiccate plain products
in a kiln.
When plain products’
shape are fixed,
they will be perfected
by whittling, trimming,
and polishing.
Bát Tràng potters use
pen brushes to draw
patterns and many other
ornamental forms directly
on plain products.
The next step is glazing.
Glaze is made from
many various kinds of
stone powder and minerals.
Once glazing is finished,
potters often pour glaze
on products’ surface,
then put them in a kiln.
Fuels used for a kiln have
changed for each period:
from heating the kiln by
hay, then wood, and coal.
Now the kiln is heated
by electricity or gas.
Presently, technology
has been applied
in many phases of the
pottery-making process,
but the heating phase
is still of significance
to potters because
the heating technique
determines the success
of a batch of pottery.
Besides traditional glazes
such as green-blue,
brown, ivory-white, or
crackle glazes,
Bát Tràng today has
more modern glazes,
giving pottery
a colorful “coat” such as
green, earth yellow,
sky blue, and red.
Mr. Vũ Đức Thắng is
a Bát Tràng ceramic
artisan, well-known
for his method of
ceramic making with
the handmade technique
of implicit drawing
and embossed designs.
Implicit drawing
or embossing is
the method used to
ornament products.
Implicit drawing means
engraving images
on products.
It’s called
implicit drawing,
because all the patterns
and decoration
on this product
were not drawn by a pen
but carved by a knife.
This technique will create
a depth for pottery.
It creates movements
on ceramic products.
We’d like to introduce
two techniques:
one is implicit drawing.
This is a product waiting
for color blending.
And this is a product
with embossed technique,
also waiting for
color blending.
One product is engraved
with a knife,
a tool to scrape it.
The other is embossed,
or heaped up with clay.
These two techniques
require skilled potters,
so that embossed products
cannot be peeled off
and engraved ones
cannot be poked through.
The method is handicraft
and traditional, still
exhibiting the original
culture of Âu Lạc.
Although there is
much deviation from
the original patterns,
Bát Tràng pottery
is still imbued with
national spirit
on each product.
Bát Tràng pottery village
is not only renowned
in Âu Lạc but also
in many countries such as
Spain, South Korea,
the Netherlands,
Denmark, Germany,
France, Australia,
Belgium, and
the United States.
Such good reputation is
due to the rich styles
of shaping,
liberal brushwork,
simple yet diversified
glaze colors, resulting in
the inherent beauty
of Bát Tràng pottery.
Central Âu Lạc
has Bàu Trúc
which is considered
the most ancient pottery
village in Southeast Asia.
Bàu Trúc pottery
belongs to traditional
Champa pottery,
produced in
Bàu Trúc Village,
Ninh Thuận Province.
The land of
Bàu Trúc land,
since time immemorial,
has reserved
for its local people
a treasure to develop
the ceramic profession,
that is the clay and sand
mines formed only by the
Quao River’s alluvium.
The clay is unusually
fine and pliable;
the sand is also very fine.
The clay here always
lends beautiful colors
to pottery.
Unlike the pottery
from many other villages,
Bàu Trúc Village’s
pottery is not glazed and
completely handmade,
with primitive
shaping tools.
In particular,
the water pots made
in Bàu Trúc are favored
by people
in dry and drought areas,
as the water in these pots
are always cooler than
outside temperature.
Ceramic products are
heated outside, then
removed to be sprayed
with colors.
These colors are extracted
from forest plants
and heated for 2 hours.
The typical colors of
Bàu Trúc pottery are
red-yellow, red-pink,
grey-black,
and brown streaks.
The fumigate technique
results in pottery with
mythical and unique colors.
Bàu Trúc pottery
has ancient styles,
simple yet appealing
and warm like
the Aulacese people.
The southern region has
Bình Dương ceramics,
also well-known both
in Âu Lạc and abroad.
According to historians,
ceramic production
started in Bình Dương
since the 18th century, as
there is a very rich source
of clay and kaolin
for ceramic profession
to develop.
Today, Bình Dương
has 125 pottery
manufacturers with over
500 active pottery kilns.
Minh Cường ceramic
company produces
pottery of red, black
or brown clay.
Be it white or red clay,
some glaze it, some don’t,
some use clay alone.
Some heat
at this temperature, some
at other temperatures.
Minh Cường has
a different temperature:
we heat it just enough
so the colors
are harmonious and
the products are beautiful.
Our company specializes
in making and exporting
fine-art ceramics
worldwide.
We adhere strictly to
international standards,
hygienic, non-toxic,
and without lead.
Every year, we export
over 10 million products.
“This tea set is my gift to
you and your husband!”
Annual export turnover
of ceramic industry
in Bình Dương Province
reaches an average of
US$120 million,
approximately 70%
to 80% of ceramic export
turnover nationwide.
Among the near 30 firms
that export ceramics
in Bình Dương, the
products of Minh Long I,
are outstanding and
have been well-received
in European markets
such as France, Germany,
and the Netherlands
due to their elegant,
sophisticated, and
contemporary features.
The application of
color painting at
high temperatures, up to
1380 degrees Celsius,
enhances the
hand-painting patterns
on ceramic products.
It creates
a 3-dimensional backdrop
for the colors and visuals
to become more
beautiful and lively.
Mr. Lý Ngọc Minh,
Manager of Minh Long I,
affirmed: “Minh Long
is currently
the first company
in the world that can
produce hand-painted
ceramics at
such a high temperature.
This is a very difficult
task, because
when painting
at a high temperature,
the glaze would melt
and the color structure
would be altered.”
Ceramic products are
really a combined result
of “essence of earth,
skillfulness of human.”
The traditional,
rudimentary materials –
earth, water, and fire –
are still the same,
yet through
the competent hand of
Aulacese artisans,
high-grade and fine-art
ceramics have
come into existence with
their unique attractiveness,
because they contain
not only the beauty of
forms and colors, but also
the cultural, artistic, and
historical characteristics
of an entire nation
with thousands of years
of civilization.
Thank you for watching
our program introducing
Aulacese ceramics.
Please tune in to
Supreme Master
Television
for more programs
on Aulacese (Vietnam)
specialty and cusine.
So long for now.
Thank you for watching
our program.
Please tune in to
Supreme Master Television.
So long for now.