The craft of making Dong Ho folk paintings has been added to the list of heritage items requiring urgent protection.

On December 9th, at the 20th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage held in New Delhi (India), the Dong Ho folk painting craft of Vietnam was officially inscribed by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in need of urgent safeguarding.

Thus, Dong Ho paintings are the 17th Vietnamese heritage item to be inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.

Representatives from Bac Ninh province, the consulting unit, and artisans from the Dong Ho painting village presented Dong Ho paintings to delegates at the meeting. Photo: CDKH

According to the Intergovernmental Committee of the 2003 Convention on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the nomination dossier for the Dong Ho folk painting craft of Vietnam meets the criteria for inscription.

That is, Dong Ho folk paintings are closely associated with important festivals such as Lunar New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival, as well as rituals for worshipping ancestors and deities.

Today, only a few families continue to maintain the craft of making Dong Ho paintings, passing on knowledge and skills within the family and to apprentices through direct instruction and hands-on training.

The number of skilled artisans has declined sharply due to a lack of interest from the younger generation, difficulties in securing a livelihood from the craft, and a decrease in demand for woodblock prints during traditional festivals. The number of highly skilled and dedicated individuals pursuing the craft is too small to sustain its transmission and production, making it an urgently needed protection.

The protection plan outlines seven objectives, including opening training classes, inventorying heritage, designing patterns, diversifying markets, improving access to raw materials, and providing protective equipment for artisans. The proposed activities are feasible, aligned with the objectives, and sustainable, while placing the community at the center.

The Intergovernmental Committee of the 2003 Convention decided to inscribe the Dong Ho folk painting craft on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding and encouraged Vietnam to consider integrating this heritage into its education system, both formal and informal, to encourage the younger generation to understand and appreciate the importance of protecting this heritage.

The inclusion of Dong Ho folk painting as an intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding has profound significance for the practicing community and the Vietnamese public; it affirms the unique historical and artistic value of the craft, and at the same time creates motivation for artisans to continue preserving the skills and secrets of this traditional craft, which is facing the risk of disappearing.

The craft of making Dong Ho folk paintings in Dong Khe neighborhood, Thuan Thanh ward, Bac Ninh province, originated about 500 years ago.

The community practicing the craft has created paintings with distinctive characteristics in terms of subject matter, printing techniques, colors, and graphics using woodblock printing.

Artisan Nguyen Huu Qua introduces Dong Ho folk paintings in both Nom script and Quoc Ngu script. Photo: K.Ngoc

The entire process of creating the design, carving the printing blocks, preparing the colors, and printing the pictures is done by hand. The design is drawn with a brush and ink on handmade paper and carved onto a wooden block.

The colors are made from natural ingredients: blue from indigo leaves, red from ochre, yellow from pagoda tree flowers and gardenia fruit, white from weathered scallop powder, and black from bamboo leaf ash and rice straw.

Dong Ho paintings are printed using the woodblock printing method (the printing block is pressed down onto colored paper, ensuring the color is evenly absorbed into the carved image on the block, then printed onto gilded paper, and a loofah sponge is used to smooth the back of the paper to ensure the color or lines are evenly distributed). A painting usually contains five colors, typically printed in the following order: first red, then blue, followed by yellow, then white, and finally the outlines are printed in black.

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