Within the context of a research programme, conducted since 2003 in partnership between IRD (French Institute of Research for Development), the Vietnamese NGO PHANO and CASRAD at the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences, a team of researchers and students have carried out a vast number of studies on rural life, the activity and history of over forty craft villages in the provinces bordering on Hanoi.

With their festivals and traditional industries, their communal halls, pagodas, temples, and vernacular buildings, the villages around Ha Noi possess a rich body of cultural, architectural and craft heritage. Less than one hour from the capital are over 500 specialist craft villages, producing an array of religious or artistic objects, as well as food products, industrial goods, textiles, basketware and much more. Despite the trials and tribulations Vietnam has endured, these traditions have remained alive; today they constitute the basis of material, social and spiritual culture among the village communities of the Red River delta.

In this book, the authors give an overview on craft villages in the Red river delta. In which propose especially 10 itineraries:

-         Fine furniture & paper (Bac Ninh province)

-         Pottery villages (Bac Ninh & Bac Giang provinces)

-         Pottery, goldbeating & traditional medicine (Gia Lam district)

-         Prints, metabeating & burnt bamboo (Bac Ninh province)

-         Textile villages around Ha Dong (old Ha Tay province)

-         Lacquer, wood & horn (South of Hanoi)

-         Embroidery & inlaying (South old Ha Tay province)

-         Bamboo & wickerwork (Southwest old Ha Tay province)

-         Bamboo & rattan (West old Ha Tay province)

-         Food-processing villages (West of Hanoi)

Each including several craft villages and cultural villages that contain architectural heritage of superior quality. Selection criteria for villages when drawing up the itineraries were:

- Presence of a traditional craft dedicated to making everyday or cultural and decorative goods

- Ancient craftsand those from which originate ancestor worship during festivals

- About a dozen workshops to be visited, some of them belonging to famous craftspeople

- Architectural heritage of superior quality (pagodas, temples, dinh, etc)

- Presence of traditional markets

- Accessibility from Ha Noi

(Maps and pictures are enclosed with each itinerary for illustrating)