Bac Ninh (VNA) - As modernisation threatens to wash away traditional culture, artisan Nguyen Huu Hoa and his wife, Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Thi Oanh, are holding the line for Dong Ho folk painting, a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.
Keeping 500-year-old craft alive
Born in Bac Ninh province’s Dong Khe residential area half a millennium ago, Dong Ho painting hit its roaring peak in the 1940s, when 17 family clans churned out vividly coloured, all-natural works for spiritual, festive and daily rituals, especially the Lunar New Year. After 1945, the craft came close to extinction as households abandoned painting in favour of votive paper making.
Inside a cramped 30 sq.m workshop, Oanh is laying down delicate brushwork while Hoa is pressing ancient woodblocks. Their grandkids cycle through printing, colour-mixing and drying, a miniature recreation of the old painting village.
Determined to keep it chemical-free, hand-printed, Oanh has not only safeguarded traditional techniques and restored rare antiques but also rolled out more than 50 new designs that blend folk tradition with modern taste, helping Dong Ho paintings reach more hands.
The family’s ancestral home now features 600 woodblocks, some dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, plus thousands of paintings spanning just about every genre.
"Cultural ambassadors" taking Dong Ho paintings globally
They have become a fixture at cultural performances and promotional events, from Hanoi to far-flung corners abroad, using demonstrations and exhibitions to decode one of Vietnam’s most distinctive folk-art traditions, in which each piece carries not just visual beauty but also stories of custom, belief, and life philosophy.
The couple appeared at a traditional craft exhibition celebrating Vietnam’s 70th National Day in 2015, and later, a Ly Dynasty commemoration in 2022 attended by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and senior leaders. They also appeared at a reception in November 2022, where State Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan hosted Denmark’s Crown Prince, and the “Discover Vietnam Day” in April 2023 spotlighting Bac Ninh, along with numerous diplomatic and cultural delegations representing Vietnam and the province overseas.
Under their guidance, visitors routinely get to print paintings themselves and dig into the meticulous process on shimmering “do” paper coated with crushed shell powder.
A defining milestone for Hoa came in December 2025, when he was the sole Dong Ho artisan to join the Vietnamese Government delegation to the 20th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in New Delhi, and to witness UNESCO inscribe the craft on its Urgent Safeguarding list.
Bac Ninh now boasts eight UNESCO-recognised intangible cultural heritage elements, 25 groups of national treasures, 33 spots on Vietnam’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage List, and 246 active preservation artisans, said Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Dap./.
