VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES - DO THI HONG THU ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE DIRECTION IN VAN LAM EMBROIDERY VILLAGE (NINH HAI, HOA LU, NINH BINH) MASTER’S THESIS Major: Vietnamese Studies Code: 60 31 60 Supervisor: Prof Dr Truong Quang Hai Hanoi - 2011 INDEX ACKNOWLEDGEMENT COMMITMENT INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: SEVERAL BASIC QUESTIONS OF REASONING AND METHODOLOGY OF VAN LAM TRADE VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT 13 1.1 History of the question study 13 1.2 Concept and features of traditional trade villages 18 1.2.1 Concept of traditional trade village 18 1.2.2 Classification 21 1.2.2.1 Trade villages 21 1.2.2.2 Traditional trade villages 21 1.2.3 Features of traditional trade villages 22 1.2.4 Role of trade villages in economic and social development 26 1.2.5 Sustainable developing trade villages 30 1.3 Factors influencing the formation and development of trade villages 33 1.3.1 Geographical position 33 1.3.2 Demands of the consumers and economic pressure 34 1.3.3 Professional skill level of the artisans and qualified workers; traditional techniques and long-standing experience of trade villages 35 1.3.4 Regulations of trade villages and the government’s policies 36 1.4 Study viewpoints and methods 40 1.4.1 Study viewpoints 40 1.4.2 Study methods 40 Chapter 2: REAL SITUATION OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF VAN LAM EMBROIDERY TRADE VILLAGE (NINH HAI – HOA LU – NINH BINH) 41 2.1 Geographical position and natural condition Error! Bookmark not defined 2.2 Shaping and developing process of the embroidery trade in Van Lam trade 41 2.2.1 History of the embroidery in Vietnam 45 2.2.2 Forming and developing process of Van Lam embroidery village 48 2.3 Real situation of economic development 52 2.3.1 Situation of development and number of embroidery businesses 53 2.3.2 Scale and level of growth of the trade village 55 2.3.3 Economic structure 57 2.4 Real situation of social development in the trade village 59 2.4.1 Population and workers 59 2.4.2 Families and lines 60 2.4.3 Relics and landscapes 61 2.4.4 Festival 65 2.4.5 Infrastructures 66 Chapter 3: ORIENTATION AND SOLUTIONS FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN A SUSTAINABLE WAY IN VAN LAM EMBROIDERY VILLAGE 68 3.1 Assessing the real situation of development of Van Lam trade village from the sustainable viewpoint 68 3.1.1 Economic effect 68 3.1.3 Environmental meanings 83 3.1.4 Difficulties and challenges in the development of the trade village 84 3.2 Orientation of sustainable development of Van Lam embroidery village (Ninh Hai commune, Hoa Lu district, Ninh Binh province) 88 3.3 Some solutions contributing to sustainably develop Van Lam embroidery 90 3.3.1 Production materials and renovating product designs 90 3.3.2 Consuming markets 91 3.3.3 Investment 92 3.3.4 Land and production premises 93 3.3.5 Developing human resources 93 3.3.6 Protecting trade village environment 94 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS……………………… REFERENCES 100 LIST OF ILLUSTRATED TABLES AND GRAPHS Order Tables and graphs Page Table 2.1 Number of lace embroidery from 1993 to 2010 54 Table 2.2 Scale of lace embroidery businesses in 2009 56 Graph 2.1 Structure of lace embroidery businesses in Van Lam 56 Table 2.3 Economic situation of Ninh Hai commune from 2007 to 2009 58 Table 2.4 Situation of population and workers of Ninh Hai commune from 2007 to 2009 60 Table 3.1 Export value of lace embroidery businesses from 2007 to 2009 71 Graph 3.1 Economic structure of Ninh Hai commune phase 2005 - 2010 73 Table 3.2 Comparing income agricultural workers Table 3.3 Contribution to Ninh Hai commune budget of lace embroidery businesses from 2007 to 2009 76 Graph 3.2 Contribution rate to Ninh Hai commune budge of lace embroidery businesses from 2007 to 2009 77 Table 3.4 Job formation of lace embroidery businesses in 2009 78-79 between lace workers and 74 Table 3.5 Activities to maintain and develop traditional lace embroidery scale of businesses from 2007 to 2009 82 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I would like to express my gratitude and deepest respect to Prof.Drc.Truong Quang Hai, my supervisor, who enthusiastic instructs and conveys basic knowledge to me, as well as contributes valuable ideas to help me complete this thesis I would like to express my sincere thanks to the people of Van Lam communes for their enthusiasm in supplying me information during my field work in these areas Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends who always care, share, motivate and encourage me Date: / /2011 Signed Do Thi Hong Thu COMMITMENT I hereby declare that the researched results in this thesis are absolutely honest Information and results published in this thesis are my researching work If there is any shortcoming, I will bear all responsibilities before the training unit and the law Date: / /2011 Signed Do Thi Hong Thu INTRODUCTION Rationale Throughout history, handicraft villages have always played an important role in the economic - social life, and in spiritual cultural activities in the countryside of Vietnam In the process of industrialization and modernization, and the international economic integration, the development of these trade villages is very important for transferring rural economy, preserving and promoting national cultural values In recent years, along with the implementation of policies to support agriculture and rural development of the Party and Government, industries and handicraft villages have been restored and developed Many villages have created permanent jobs, taking full advantage of most of the workers in their leisure time Ninh Binh locates in the south of the Red River Delta at the gateway from the North to the South Therefore, it becomes an important strategic hyphen for the North - South traffic Ninh Binh is also the crossroads of three major cultures that are Red River, Ma River, and Hoa Binh Hence, this is the land of history and culture with many traditional villages such as Van Lam lace embroidery, Kim Son sedge fine arts, Ninh Van stone carvings, Phuc Loc carpentry, Van Long bamboo mat weaving, and Binh Khang rock garden Artisans in traditional villages with skilled hands and creative minds make products are not only beautiful and valuable but also contain elevated values for the land and people of Ninh Binh Referring to Ninh Binh, people think of the Hoa Lu ancient capital of Dai Co Viet under two dynasties of Dinh and Pre-Le It is also the start of the Ly dynasty However, maybe not many people know about Vu Lam royal step-over place (It is now Van Lam hamlet) This is where the ancient King Tran Thai Tong after defeating Nguyen Mong invader for the first time (1258) ceded the throne to his son, Hoang Crown Prince, and became the King’s father He then came to Vu Lam Mountain to lead a religious life and build Vu Lam royal step-over place The area of Vu Lam ancient mountains is now Van Lam village in Ninh Hai commune, Hoa Lu district, Ninh Binh province In the second resistance to struggle against Nguyen – Mong aggressors, once a gain the King and mandarins of the Tran dynasty chose Vu Lam mountains as their revolutionary base, consolidated forces, counter-attacked Thang Long imperial capital city, and defeated the invaders to gain the national independence The reason for choosing this place is that this is a dangerous mountain area with the Ngo Dong River flowing through in the front, and rocky mountains and valleys behind in order to maneuver in both on land and in water The names of land and people in Van Lam village today still strongly remains their historical stamps of those days such as Truong Thi field for holding maneuvers, Ben Thanh for gathering naval forces, Tuan Cao village for mandarins to notifying the King, Hanh Cung village for the King’s residence, and Thai Vi temple where Tran Kings are worshipped According to records in the history books, when the King Tran Thai Tong (Tran Canh) and his court came to Phi Van Son to build the revolutionary base to fight the Nguyen - Mong for the second (1285) Mrs Tran Thi Dung, mother-in-law of King Tran Thai Tong had passed on the lace embroidery to the people of Van Lam, Ninh Hai [43, tr.1248] Since then people have involved in embroidery Van Lam embroidery village now locating in Ninh Hai commune, Hoa Lu district, Ninh Binh province, becomes the “kingdom of lace embroidery” that is famous throughout the country With the pride “Fields all four sides are not equal to having a job within reach” and “A rolling stone gathers no moss”, Van Lam people is more proud when this traditional embroidery has contributed to create job for hundreds of unemployed workers This increases income and improves people’s life to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, and transfer agricultural - rural economic structure Embroidery products with variety of designs attract many tourists at home and abroad However, today, along with the rainstorm development of scientific and technological revolution, the application of new scientific and technological achievements into production has freed the labor of many people Machines are taken the place of manual labor Accordingly, embroidering machines, drying equipments, and units used to design patterns, product lines, and modern embroidering technology gradually develop and replace manual embroidery Embroidery by hands is also facing sharp competition with machine-made embroidery and garment industry On the other hand, under the influence of the market economy, pressure on capital, market, product design, and price has made many villages to transform their trading form Along with this, the traditional craft has greatly deformed Van Lam embroidery village is not an exception of the influencing impact rules of the market economy However, in the future, whether the embroidery has been maintained in the Van Lam village or not? Alternatively, will the Van Lam embroidery suffer the same fate as some other villages? Therefore, the conservation and development of a traditional village in the context of modern society has meant both keeping national cultural characters creams, and contributing to solve the problem of “not involved in agriculture but still staying in homeland” Developing trade villages not only transfers the rural economy, contributes to the increase of trade industry density, and reduces the proportion of agriculture, but also conserves national cultural and historical values The special thing is that most of the villages in Vietnam locate on the axis of convenient transportation both on land and in water Tourism of traditional craft villages in Vietnam is becoming attractive destination for domestic and foreign tourists because of long-standing cultural values and specific crafts in each area Visitors can not only observe the peaceful landscape of the Vietnamese countryside, learn about the job ancestor, and make the acquaintance of artisans, but also directly participate in the production process of the local handmade products Van Lam embroidery village is such a village In this province, Tam Coc - Bich Dong tourist area is named “dry Ha Long”, annually attracting a large number of tourists Developing economy and society in a sustainable way in trade villages is a new direction and a major challenge for many trade villages in the process of industrialization, modernization, and market economy opening Although Van Lam village has a great advantage for trade and tourism development, Van Lam embroidery village is now facing many challenges Therefore, its socio - economic development should be in a sustainable and long-term direction Although Van Lam embroidery products have been present in many countries around the world, in general the development of Van Lam embroidery village still has many limitations The embroidery bases are small and in unprompted development without coordination and combination The work of trademark registration and product quality improvement is still limited, not well exploiting tourism potential of trade villages The market for product consumption is not stable On the other hand, at present and in the coming years, the area of commune’s farmland has declined rapidly The number of people without frequent employment is increasing, putting a greater pressure on labor and job Therefore, in the future, the development of embroidery villages aims to promote the advantages and potentials of a local traditional handicraft Since then, trade villages will be promoted in a sustainable and long-term way, contributing to the transfer of local economy This is an essential requirement and a concern of all levels and sectors in the province Learning about the traditional embroidery in Van Lam not only sees the rise and fall development of the village, but also contributes to promote local tourism in order to popularize its trade name and preserve a traditional village Hence, I chose the topic “Economic and social development towards a sustainable direction in Van Lam embroidery village (Ninh Hai, Hoa Lu, Ninh Binh)” for my MA thesis with the instruction of Prof.Dr Truong Quang Hai I hope that the findings of Van Lam embroidery village will help me learn more about the villages of Vietnam, and the role of trade villages in the country industrialization and modernization process 10 ... popularize its trade name and preserve a traditional village Hence, I chose the topic ? ?Economic and social development towards a sustainable direction in Van Lam embroidery village (Ninh Hai, Hoa. .. economic and social development of Van Lam embroidery trade village Chapter 3: Orientations and solutions of sustainable economic and social development in Van Lam embroidery trade village 12 CHAPTER... hands and creative minds make products are not only beautiful and valuable but also contain elevated values for the land and people of Ninh Binh Referring to Ninh Binh, people think of the Hoa