Associations of fellow-countrymen and craft guilds in Thăng Long-Hà Nội

September 20, 2010 6:46 PM GMT+7

VGP - Members of fellow-countrymen associations would hold meetings, visit and help each other in times of need, and maintain strong relationships with relatives and neighbors back home. A delegate would be sent annually to offer sacrifices and contributions to build temples and roads in their home villages.

Hà Nội’s Lò Rèn Street is the concentration of blacksmiths – Illustration photo
Since King Lý Thái Tổ moved the capital from Hoa Lư to Thăng Long-Hà Nội in 1010, many dynasties have reigned from Hà Nội, and each of them has brought talented people to the city. At first, groups of skilled craftsmen from villages around the capital built pagodas, houses and did numerous crafts such as sculpture, silver and gold jewelry, bronze, lacquer and cloth dyeing. The product they made depended on the village they came from. For example, Đan Loan villagers (Hải Dương Province) made dyed cloth on Hàng Đào Street; Chằm villagers made shoes on Hàng Hành Street; Đình Bảng villagers (Bắc Ninh Province) made horizontal lacquered boards (engraved with Chinese characters and trimmed with gold) on Hàng Hòm, Hàng Bông Streets.

Normally, craftsmen did not move to the capital permanently. Rather, they returned home at harvest time (as they continued to plant crops, in addition to practicing their craft), or if there were no jobs in the capital. Many of these craftsmen were successful and became quite wealthy. However, they remembered their hometowns. To do so, they set up “associations of fellow-countrymen” among people from the same village who came to do business in Thăng Long. They came together to build communal houses and temples to worship gods and patrons of their home village. For example, Quất Động villagers from Hà Tây Province, worked as embroiders on Yên Thái Street, where they built a communal house to worship the founder of their craft. The association members would hold meetings, visit and help each other in times of need, and maintain strong relationships with relatives and neighbors back home. A delegate would be sent annually to offer sacrifices and contributions to build temples and roads in their home villages.

Some craftsmen also established crafts guilds, which were in charge of product quality control and maintaining the trading reputation of the craftsmen. Annually, these guilds would meet at a celebration of the “Founder’s Day” to discuss their experiences. They also set up a fund to collect donations for newcomers, or for those dealing with unexpected expenses. The associations would also buy raw materials en masse, to get a cheaper price. An example of such an association was the blacksmiths guild, which met twice monthly at No.1 Lò Rèn Street.

These associations carried on the traditional method of trading, while also contributing greatly to Hà Nội’s cultural treasures. Nowadays, the concept of “fellow-countrymen” has expanded, to include people from the same commune, city, or province, who have come to work in Vietnamese cities, or abroad. These guilds continue to help their communities by providing scholarships to less-wealthy students, taking care of the elderly, and supporting victims of natural disasters.
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