A day in Dai Bai brass casting village, Bac Ninh

Speaking of the famous Vietnamese bronze casting village, perhaps it is impossible to ignore Dai Bai village located in Bac Ninh province. This place has become a famous place providing thousands of models of brass handicrafts across the country, even going further to international markets: Western Europe, Eastern Europe,… Today, let’s explore this long-standing famous bronze casting village.

Dai Bai brass casting village (also known as Buoi Noi village, Van Lang village) is a trade village specializing in fine art bronze products: bronze worship items, bronze statues, flower pots, bronze paintings, … In addition, they also have aluminum castings and aluminum mounds, but copper products are still main products here. All fine arts products are cast by artisans in Dai Bai village.

An overview of Dai Bai bronze casting village

Dai Bai copper casting village has a long and traditional history of tens of centuries. Legend has it that since ancient times this was a craft village specializing in the production of copper products for domestic use with a small scale. But it was not until the eleventh century that Mr. Nguyen Cong Truyen organized and managed the sample production and turned Dai Bai village into a famous bronze casting village. He was honored by the people here as “Master Tien” or “The brass ancestor”.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Truyen (989-1060) was a son of the village, he came from a Confucian family. When he was 6 years old, his family moved to Thanh Nghe (Thanh Hoa nowadays). When his father died, he brought his mother back to his old hometown, which is Dai Bai village. From here, he improved on agricultural tools to produce bronze and boosted people’s production.

By the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Dai Bai bronze casting village expanded day by day and specialized in the profession, establishing wards: specialized production wards (copper pot, bronze tray, brass pot, bronze wire), and the market ward specializes in promoting the sale and purchase of products.

Today, Dai Bai craft village has 4 hamlets:

• Son hamlet specializes in bronze worship items and pots
• Tay hamlet specializes in brass tray, gong,…
• The middle hamlet specializes in copper kitchenware
• The outside hamlet specializes in bronze pots 

Over thousands of years of history, Dai Bai village has many ups and downs. During the years when the country was engulfed in the smoke and fire of war, the trade village was lost, the people left the village and went away. Until the 1900s, the craft village was restored. Today, Dai Bai craft village has not only become one of the most famous craft villages in Vietnam specializing in mounds and copper casting with nearly 70 enterprises, 1200 households still pursuing their profession, but also a tourist destination. Bac Ninh’s main point attracts tourists from all over the world.

Location of Dai Bai village

Dai Bai bronze casting village (Dai Bai commune, Gia Binh district, Bac Ninh province) is also known as Buoi Noi Village. Visiting Dai Bai craft village today, people can see flat, asphalt roads, industrial parks, businesses, handicraft shops, and workshops day and night still echoes the knocking, chisels, artisan’s welding sound.

From the center of Hanoi to Dai Bai trade village, you can go in 3 directions:

• Highway 17
• Highway Ha Noi – Bac Giang / NH1A
• Highway 38 and Highway 17

The fastest route is via NH17 (note: this route is subject to charges).

Estimated time: 66 minutes

Distance: 38.1 km

Ideal time to go during the day: go from 7 – 8 am or 1 – 2 pm and arrive at 9 – 10 am or 2 – 3 pm for the best experience.

What is attractive about Dai Bai bronze casting village tourism?

Traveling in Dai Bai craft village, you can admire many delicate fine handicraft products here. In the past, the craft village only produced household appliances, followed by worship items. Nowadays, with the improvement of production technology, modern machinery and equipment, innovative and creative tools by the people to serve the production and meet many needs of customers. Models of goods here are increasingly diversified, from worshiping objects, feng shui items: brass incensory, tripod cauldron, diaphragm, bell,… to decorations, souvenirs: bronze paintings, vase, portrait,…

The product prices here are recognized by the people as appropriate, cheap and worthy of the product quality. Prices depend on each product, size, machining level, and sophistication, ranging from 20 to 180 dollar. Just spend about 100 dollar to bring home qualified worship, feng shui items to receive fortune for homeowners. Dai Bai bronze is highly appreciated for its manufacturing expertise, due to its traditional methods, in addition to the improvement of production techniques, products have been exported to difficult markets. such as: Western Europe, Eastern Europe, China, Southeast Asian countries,… Besides, you can go to the factory and see the process of producing the mound, copper casting of the artisans as well as exchange prices with the seller. 

In Nam An Craft, we proudly present to you the most high-qualified brass products from Dai Bai village.

Famous tourist destinations when coming to Dai Bai craft village

Coming to Dai Bai craft village, visitors can visit the bronze casting workshop and buy exquisite handicrafts, in addition, there are also famous places to visit historical relics such as:

• Van Lang communal house worships Thanh Hoang in the village, Lac Long Quan and Nguyen Cong Hiep
• Dien Loc communal house, the place of worshiping the ancestor Nguyen Cong Truyen (San Chua hamlet)
• Dien Phuc pagoda or Dai Bai pagoda (Tay Giua hamlet) was restored in the reign of King Le Than Tong (1646-1647). The pagoda was built in the style of internal public, foreign, with cross houses, two-storey bell floors, Ta vu and Huu Vu houses, each side up to ten compartments.
• Tomb of the ancestor of casting Nguyen Cong Truyen
• Inlaid with Nguyen Cong Truyen (Trai village)
• Especially, it is the traditional festival of Dai Bai village – the place honoring the traditional products made from bronze, the hearts attached to the profession and preserving the cultural beauty of the homeland. The festival is held every year on April 10 of the lunar calendar.
• There is also a death anniversary of the ancestor held on September 29 of the lunar calendar. The tourism potential in Dai Bai craft village has been increasingly focused and developed by the local authorities, becoming a tourism spearhead of Bac Ninh province.

Notes when traveling to Dai Bai bronze casting village

Please take note of the time of day to get the best experience:

• During the period of the ceremony, Tet is when the copper market is extremely active.
• Check prices, various products at Dai Bai bronze buying websites before going to the store. Customers can pre-order through the website to ensure the desired quantity of products.

Dai Bai craft village and other famous craft villages in our country such as Long Thuong, Ngu Xa, Y Yen craft village,… are historical proof of the craft village culture of his father. Today, with the non-stop development of technology, hundreds of handicraft villages have gradually faded, but Dai Bai bronze casting village is still indifferent and active in finding new directions, developing, seeking and conquering many markets.