My Thien pottery is a national intangible cultural heritage.

In the 19th century, this place applied the technique of making glaze to the production of pottery. My Thien pottery has just been classified as a “Traditional Craft” and officially became part of the national intangible cultural heritage.

In My Thien pottery village, Chau O town, Binh Son district (now Binh Son commune), there is now only artisan Dang Van Trinh (60 years old) who is the only one keeping the profession. Mr. Trinh and his wife have persistently stuck to the profession, from kneading clay, shaping, painting to firing and selling, all stages are done by the couple themselves.

Mr. Trinh shared that he has been involved with pottery since he was a child, when his father passed on his first piece of clay and his first lessons in the craft. Through his father's story, he learned that more than 200 years ago, people with the last names Pham and Nguyen from Thanh Hoa came to Quang Ngai to start a business and built the first kilns in My Thien, laying the foundation for the pottery profession here.

“The ancestors at that time chose the land along the Tra Bong River, convenient for trade, to develop the craft. Initially, the villagers mainly did farming, but thanks to learning from skilled craftsmen, they gradually switched to pottery making. The Co people in the Tra Bong mountains often made rafts of firewood and floated down the river here, both selling firewood and ordering jars to brew rice wine,” Mr. Trinh recalled.

My Thien pottery village was recorded in the petition of Quang Ngai Governor Nguyen Ba Trac sent to King Bao Dai and published in the famous Nam Phong magazine in 1933. According to documents, funeral orations and folklore, artisans here were once invited to the Nguyen Lord's Palace to create exquisite pottery for the royal family and as gifts.

Trade between the mountains and the plains has been going on for hundreds of years. Every December, the mountain people come down to the village to order jars of wine. In the workshop, Mrs. Pham Thi Thu Cuc (Mr. Trinh's wife) is turning clay while listing the orders that are about to be delivered to customers, such as more than 500 mortars, over 200 jars of wine, 50 - 70 vases, and many types of lime pots, teapots, enamel pots, etc.

Artisan Dang Van Trinh confided: “Although times have changed, the patterns on My Thien pottery still retain their traditional appearance. The five-clawed dragon is embossed in the Ly Dynasty style, symbolizing nobility and sacredness. The bamboo branch symbolizes a gentleman, upright, and also means luck and prosperity. The mouse associated with the image of “a mouse falling into a jar of sticky rice” is a symbol of abundance and prosperity.”

In My Thien pottery village, each family has its own way of creating dragons. Mr. Trinh keeps the old style passed down from his ancestors, sometimes the dragon has many scales, sometimes it is simplified - depending on creativity, but always keeps the common soul. "Many people just need to look at the pattern to know which family the product belongs to. Once I tried replacing the pattern with the 12 zodiac animals, but customers still only chose dragons, bamboo and rats. They appreciate the rustic, old style, that's why it is called soulful pottery," said Mr. Trinh.

The traditional glaze-making technique is now preserved only by Mr. Trinh. It is still the familiar formula, finely ground red stone mixed with white soil, cement, wood ash and water, simple but creating a characteristic white glaze. The pottery is fired twice: the first time to create a solid ceramic body, the second time to dip in glaze and then put into the kiln.

The artisan arranges each product near or far from the fire, adjusting the glaze ratio to create the desired color. After 48 hours of continuous firing, each product has a unique, changing glaze color - that is the attraction for collectors. My Thien ceramics are sold from a few tens of thousands to more than a million VND, depending on the size and sophistication.

Mr. Trinh's ceramic products are currently recognized by the Quang Ngai Provincial People's Committee as 3-star OCOP and are completing the approval procedures for 4-star OCOP. At the production facility, he also set aside an area for students to visit and experience making ceramics, contributingto educating and spreading the value of the craft village.

Currently, his family mainly makes pottery to order, serving restaurants, hotels, and resorts that tend to be environmentally friendly and close to nature. Mr. Trinh said: “I am teaching my son the craft. I hope to nurture a love for the craft so that when my wife and I are old and weak, the pottery village will still have people to continue and preserve the soul of My Thien - a place that has been on fire for over 200 years.”

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has just issued Decision 2208/QD-BVTTTDL announcing the List of National Intangible Cultural Heritage for My Thien pottery (Chau O, Binh Son). This is one of the long-standing traditional crafts, closely associated with the cultural life and livelihood of local people. According to the Decision, My Thien pottery is classified as a "Traditional Craft".

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/van-hoa/nghe-gom-my-thien-la-di-san-van-hoa-phi-vat-the-quoc-gia-149911.html