When did the reform begin ?

The "modern" tunic came in during the 1930s, although Vietnamese women in the countryside still wore the traditional tunic.

Some people believe the ao dai must have first appeared in the South (Nam Bo) because this region was the first under French domination and was a colony directly under French administration. The Vietnamese there were the first to wear Westernized clothes. Westernization came later to the North, which was a protectorate. In addition, the North had a Sino-Vietnamese traditional culture that had been established for two thousand years while the Vietnamese culture in the South was only several hundred years old.

Others think the modern ao dai appeared in the North, as designed by Cat Tuong, a painter whose pseudonym, Le Mur, is the literal French translation of his name, Tuong (the Wall). For that reason, the new tunic was called the "Lemur dress." Cat Tuong could easily sell his designs at his dressmaking business.

Yet still others believe that a Vietnamese designed the modernized tunic, which first appeared in Paris in 1921.

We can probably draw two conclusions about the origin of the modern ao dai:

1) The need to modernize women's dress appeared at about the same time in Viet Nam as in the West.

2) This need found expression in the press, which created a popular movement. Credit goes to two reviews, Phong Hoa and

Ngay Nay, both of which belonged to the Tu Luc Van Doan Group. Although the new fashion may have appeared earlier in another place, the active and efficient writing in Phong Hoa and Ngay Nay popularized the modem ao dai.Painters educated in the French Indochina College of Fine Arts transformed the former tunic with the four or five flaps to show off the woman's figure. They reduced the number of flaps to two, one in the front and the other in the back and discarded the belt. The new tunic was buttoned and shorter, hanging a little lower than the knees; the looser sleeves allowed blood to flow more freely; the collar was higher or turned down. A tighter bodice replaced the looser Vietnamese bra or yem. Supple trousers replacing the skirt covered the buttocks more tightly before making a graceful descent to the ankles.

The modern ao dai was widely popularized in 1934. Before, only women married to Frenchmen dared to wear such fashionable clothes and leave their teeth unblackened. Little by little, the new clothes won the favour of women who had been educated in Franco-Vietnamese schools, including female teachers, nurses, and midwives, and the school girls themselves. Two trends opposed each other. The conservatives considered the new mode of dress immodest; in contrast, the progressives thought women must catch up with modern times. In the end, the progressives won.

During the War of Resistance Against France, which began shortly after the August Revolution of 1945, only women in towns temporarily occupied by the French wore ao dais.After the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the Geneva Accords divided the country into two regions; then the American War broke out. The ao dai continued to develop in South Viet Nam. However, it was not a suitable garment for life under American bombs in the impoverished North; there, blouses were popular. Women wore ao dais only for formal events and when travelling abroad.

After peace was reestablished in 1975 and the country was reunified, the ao dai recovered its role and position across the country. Women's fashion began to develop markedly after application of the policy of renewal at the end of the 1980s. Western fashions - especially skirts and jeans- began to compete with the ao dai. However, in recent years, fashion designers and contestants in beauty contests have paid attention to the ao dai. Designs for the ao dai have won international prizes, increasing its esteem. And, the ao dai has secured its place as a symbol of Viet Nam.

When did the ao tu than appear ?

No known document records this garment's emergence. However, its appearance is likely tied to when Vietnamese learned to plant cotton, spin, and weave 30- 40centimeter broad cloth on a rudimentary loom. Also, it may come from when they learned to plant mulberry, raise silkworms, spin, and then weave. thin, soft cloth such as crepe, gauze, and fine, thin silk.



The four-panelled traditional dress is a gauze or silk robe worn over a white or yellow shirt. The robe consists of four narrow pieces of fabric that run the length of the body. Two pieces are joined at the back down to the heel. The front two pieces are joined with the two back pieces down to the waist and then tied together into a knot under a green, pink, or yellow belt. The robe is usually brown, black, or ebony gauze.Women attending spring festivals often wear an ao mo ba, which is a set of three robes: the outer one is black or brown gauze, while the two inner ones are either light yellow, lotus coloured, or sky blue. In the old days, women wore skirts, but later they had pants made of black coarse silk or black satin; some women wore red crepe.

This poem from the first half of the century gives an image of a girl in her traditional dress:

A small turban, the hanging tail still high,

This morning I wear peach yem straps

Satin pantaloons, a blouse of new silk gauze,

And carry a flat palm hat with fringes.

My mother smiles: "Father, Look!

On her feet, sandals with curved tips.
Our daughter is beautiful, beautiful,

When will she be wed?"

"Perfume Pagoda" by Nguyen Nhuoc Phap

A fashion reform occurred in Ha Noi during the mid-twentieth century, while Viet Nam was still under French domination. Men began to dress in Western style, and women began to wear a modern robe that was a renovated ao tu than. Ha Noi women welcomed the new fashion and used French silk- particularly dark red and violet - and soft, thin Indian cloth to make the colourful, modern ao dai.

The reform movement also affected girls in the countryside. However, many people strongly opposed the changes, including the poet Nguyen Binh.

With your velvet turban, your rustling satin pants,
Your modern ao dai, Dear, you make me unhappy!

Where is your yem of floss silk?

Where is the silk belt that you dyed last spring?
Where is your four-panelled dress?

Your black scarf, your trousers of black, raw silk?
- "Country Folk" by Nguyen Binh

Nowadays, women wear the traditional four panelled dress only on festival days and to sing folk songs and love duets on stage or perform in plays such as the cheo opera, Quan Am Thi Kinh (The Goddess of Mercy). Today, although there are many types of renovated ao dai, the ao tu than is the basis of the graceful modern ao dai. To learn more about the garment's history, visit the History Museum near the Red River or the Museum of Ethnology in western Ha Noi.

What does the word "ao dai" mean ?

In Vietnamese, "ao dai “ means "long dress." For many, the dress has become a symbol for the beauty of Vietnamese women.

The ao dai began to attract international attention during the American War in Viet Nam. At that time, many Western writers, journalists, and tourists writing in French and English referred affectionately to the ao dai.

Some Vietnamese terms such as: "nem" "pho" and "nuoc mam" along with "viet Minh" "Viet Cong," and "Ho Chi Minh Trail" have appeared in Western dictionaries. Now, "ao dai" has also earned an entry. Webster's New World College Dictionary defines "ao dai" as "the traditional costume of Vietnamese women, consisting of a long, high-necked, close-fitting tunic split along the side to the waist and worn over loose-fitting trousers."

What does a flying dragon on the ao dai represent ?

The dragon in Western myth and folklore is often a monster and a symbol of evil. Many Western artists have used the dragon to depict the on-going struggle between good and evil. For example, Saint Michael who defeats the devil, and in many stories a gallant knight duels with a dragon and either dies in the depths of the dragon's teeth or returns home victorious.

In contrast, in Asian countries the dragon is revered as a sacred animal. The Vietnamese people are proud to be descendants of a dragon and a fairy. The dragon came from the ocean and the fairy from the heavens. They fell in love with each other and married. Later, the fairy became pregnant and gave a birth to one hundred eggs, from which one hundred sons emerged. Fifty sons followed the father to rule the regions near the sea, while the mother took the other fifty sons to conquer the mountains. One of their sons founded the country of lac Viet. "Lac Viet" is the name of ancient Viet Nam.

In Viet Nam, the dragon is a symbol of power, glory, luck, happiness, and prosperity. As such, it can ward off evil spirits. For example, dreaming of a dragon or feeling the presence of a dragon spirit is a good omen. During feudal times, only the king could use this image, which was a symbol of his power. The dragon motif often decorated the king's clothes to show that the dragon's destiny was intertwined with the king's. In 1010, King Ly Thai To (914 - 1028) established the Ly Dynasty and decided to move the capital of his kingdom from Hoa Lu in northern Ninh Binh Province to Thang Long, present-day Ha Noi. "Thang Long" means "rising dragon." The king named the city after seeing a dragon ascend from the new site. In 2010, Hanoians will celebrate Ha Noi's 1,000th birthday with a feast of cultural activities.

The dragon's deep roots in Vietnamese spiritual life gives it a traditional and sacred role in Vietnamese culture. As time has passed, the image of the dragon has become a popular motif of adornment on ao dais. Fashion designers have used embroidery and paint to replicate the spirit of the dragon, adding to the ao dai's elegance and tying its modern style to antiquity.

How was the ao dai uniform revived in school ?

Twenty years ago, Dam Thi Ngoc Tho, then principal of Ho Thi Ky High School, created a stir in the town of Ca Mau at the southernmost tip of the Mekong Delta. Tho announced a school regulation in 1983 to reintroduce the traditional white ao dai as a uniform for girl students. "Ladies and Gentlemen, let us demonstrate beauty and equality in our socialist school," she told an audience of more than 800 parents. "I believe I'm right. Otherwise, the Communist Party will discipline me."

One provincial officer even accused Tho of being bourgeois. He and others believed the ao dai (popular under the former Sai Gon regime) was a remnant of the past. The flowing dress had nearly disappeared after South Viet Nam was liberated in 1975. Tho's critics felt that modern students shouldn't waste their money on clothing and detergent. Even one of Tho's best friends expected the decision to be withdrawn within a year. however ,after the principal finished her speech, the audience sat silently for a few seconds. Suddenly, everyone started clapping. Tho was so happy that she burst into tears.

Even today, her memories of struggling for the ao dai remain fresh in her mind. She recalls that in 1981, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Binh, then Minister of Education and Training, visited Ca Mau. She advised the teachers to create an equal and disciplinary educational environment for the children. "I had many poor pupils who studied very hard. They wore patched clothes, so they never socialised with their rich schoolmates," she recalls.

Tho lay awake many nights thinking about the ao dai. In those days, the dress cost little more than the students' ordinary clothes. One ao dai could last a schoolgirl two years, she reasoned. With such uniforms, her pupils would appear equal, and the school would flourish with beauty.

Tho and her colleagues lobbied intensely before the uniform was actually accepted in the schools. Tho submitted articles to the local newspapers. She explained the benefits of an ao dai uniform and sought the support of local educational authorities. The teachers even wore their own ao dais to set an example for their students. They also met with the students' parents and asked the latter to save their money to buy ao dais. In some cases, the school's Trade Union provided dresses for those who couldn't afford them.

As a result of these persistent efforts, Ho Thi Ky High School approved a dress code for the 1983 - 1984 school year. Rumours and criticisms waned. Other neighbouring schools began to adopt the same practice. Within seven years, the ao dai was officially recognised as the most beautiful uniform for school girls in Viet Nam.

How has the ao dai developed through time ?

Among the factors differentiating the world's peoples are language, housing, and dress. According to Vietnamese scholar Phan Ke Binh's Vietnamese Customs, "most of our dress since the Tang Dynasty has imitated the Chinese."

Chinese civilisation influenced Vietnamese culture during the thousand years the Northern (Chinese) people dominated Viet Nam. Court dress (head-wear, clothes, belt, garments, boots) and ancient military uniforms (hats, armour, clothes, shoes) reflect this influence. However, the Chinese presence did not affect civilian clothing for the common people, particularly the women's robe called "ao tu than" or "four-panelled traditional dress." Ao tu than is the forerunner of the ao dai . It does not look like a Chinese woman's

What are several quick assessments of the ao dai ?

This might be a good summary: "Beautiful, but not for every woman and every occasion." Or: "elegant," "graceful," "simple but showing off the woman's slender form," "a charming dress with its flaps fluttering attractively in the wind ...”

Visitors to Viet Nam have used all sorts of adjectives to express their admiration for the traditional tunic worn by Vietnamese women. Because the .ao dai is close-fitting, it becomes slender women, as most young Vietnamese women are. It is like Raymond de Dalmas’ description of the kimono as "perfectly suitable for the Japanese women's particular beauty and making them appear even more lovely." Yet we don't often meet women wearing kimonos in Tokyo's streets, perhaps because the garment is not appropriate for work. For the same reasons, we rarely meet Hanoi an women wearing .ao dais in the streets.

Western women, who are generally less slender than the Vietnamese. love the .ao dai but rarely wear one because they feel uncomfortable. As Edie Schule notes in her memoir, Earth and Water, "Emmie Clare was immensely popular with her students, but when we met, she had just ended a three-month tussle with school administrators over their requirement that female teachers wear .ao dai to work. We all considered this a victory since the .ao dai has been transformed from a piece of 'traditional' attire into an uncomfortable, inconvenient form-fitting burden."

How does a Western woman look in a Vietnamese ao dai ?

Below is a personal experience by writer Ngoc Hien:
I was at a Vietnamese wedding recently but saw only one ao dai. The interesting thing was. the wearer was a Western woman. I don't mean to object to the fact that none of the Vietnamese women at the wedding wore an ao dai because each Vietnamese woman looked attractive in her Western dress or skirt.

Cultural exchanges happen two ways. If Western costumes make us look good, we should wear them. If a foreigner becomes more graceful in our Vietnamese ao dai, we'll favour her wearing it. This is not strange.

The interesting thing is that the ao dai has turned out to be very useful, for it can hide ninety per cent of the wearer's physical imperfections. The two free-floating flaps will hide short legs or bow legs. You don't have to worry if you have a large waist. In fact, a fat woman can use an ao dai to make her body look slimmer.

However, these advantages for Vietnamese girls may turn out to be disadvantages for Westerners. The reason is their shoulders. Some Western women's shoulders are too large for an ao dai to hide. Ao dais look better on the slender shoulders of Vietnamese.

But there was no problem for that Western woman, whose husband was a Vietnamese photographer. He himself looked like a hippie with long hair and a beard. But his appearance didn't reveal everything. He must have advised his wife to wear an ao dai to the wedding. Furthermore, while a singer crooned "Ha Dong's Silk Gown," he pleasantly explained to her the meaning of the song about the white ao dai she was wearing. Her gray eyes opened wide in delighted astonishment.


In spite of her large and strong shoulders, the Westerner was quite graceful in her ao dai , which was printed with bamboo leaves. Perhaps her ao dai was the only true and interesting thing to win attention from visitors at the wedding party.


When the party was over, a taxi arrived. The taxi driver opened the car's door. Oh My! Before sitting on the car seat, that lovely young Westerner slightly lifted her ao dai's back flap to one side as skillfully as any Vietnamese girl.

How did the traditional tunic evolve into the modern ao dai ?

Women wore the traditional Vietnamese tunic when they were not working in the fields. Urban women wore the garment for festive or solemn occasions or when they went to the pagoda. The traditional tunic differs from one region to another.

The north of Viet Nam (Bac Bo) and Central Viet Nam (Trung Bo) have many tunics, including an unbuttoned one with two front flaps of equal length that hang freely and one with front flaps tied together and worn over a bodice that covers the neck for modesty's sake. A five-piece unbuttoned tunic has an outer, larger flap on the left side that is twice as broad as the inner flap on the right; a belt keeps the flaps from hanging too low.

The four-flapped tunic was very popular in Kinh Bac, a region of traditional culture north of the Red River and including Bac Ninh Province and part of Bac Giang Province. This tunic, often worn over two others, is called the "three-piece dress;" women wear its third part made of gauze when going on pilgrimages in the spring. The gauze outer tunic is black or brown or dark violet; the two inner tunics are ivory, lotus-pink, yellow or sky-blue. The collar is round; the flap, straight; and the sleeves, tight. The tunic is buttoned from the waist up to under the arm, but from there to the neck, it is left unbuttoned; the collar is turned down to show a part of the coloured inner tunics.

When the Nguyen lords settled in Central Viet Nam in the 17th century, this tunic was influenced by the long dresses of the Cham culture. Because of this influence, the four- flapped tunic became the ao dai.

How did the first ao dai show take place in Paris ?

In 2001, for the first time, models presented the Vietnamese women's .ao dai - a graceful, fitted tunic with flowing panels worn over simple wide-bottomed trousers - at the UNESCO House in Paris before hundreds of guests, including forty ambassadors from the Asia-Pacific region. Designer Huong Lien took the .ao dai to the west. "This was the happiest event in my life," she said upon returning from the exhibit.

Mr. Pham Sanh Chau, the Vietnamese ambassador to UNESCO, had invited Ms. Huong Lien to bring the exhibition. The delegation arrived in France on 28 May and went immediately to Tours to begin work. The team spent two days getting acquainted with the stage and the models. "The stage presented no problems," Ms. Huong Lien said, "but the models did. They were Filipinos, Chinese, French, Koreans and Overseas Vietnamese. We had to retailor over fifty .ao dais to fit them! That took time and energy, but we finished on schedule."

The first exhibition opened on 31 May at the L'Univers Hotel in Tours. The Vietnamese delegation presented two collections - a traditional one, "Vietnamese Ao Dai Through the Century," and a modern one, "Stylised Ao Dai." The team collaborated with Vietnamese-French designer Ms. Pascal Valery Tung Lam, who had sponsored the trip to France and had even postponed a show scheduled for April in order to work with the guest designers. "We had to return to Paris immediately after the show in Tours, arriving at 9 AM," Ms. Huong Lien continued. "That left us with only twelve hours of rehearsal time before our opening. We were all so nervous! Mr. Pham Sanh Chau had told us that this exhibition was important both as an opportunity to introduce the .ao dai to international friends and also to demonstrate the value of the .ao dai to the cultural heritage of the world. This would be part of UNESCO's campaign to promote and protect intangible forms of world heritage and the first fashion show held at UN ESCO House. The programme, which allowed forty minutes for the Vietnamese exhibition, also included music and dance from Korea, Japan and India."

To demonstrate the beauty of the .ao dai, the Vietnamese delegation presented three collections: "Vietnamese Ao Dai Through the Century;" "Wedding Ao Dai:" and "Ao Dai with the Country's Name Written in Characters." All the outfits were made of Vietnamese silk. The delegation also handed out fliers in French and

English outlining the history of the .ao dai. "As our models stepped onto the stage," Ms. Huong Lien added with pride, "the audience exclaimed in surprise and pleasure. The spectators broke into spontaneous applause. We had worried whether the international models could convey the soul and beauty of the ao dai, but they succeeded in showing the garment in a new light. Mr. Kochiro Matsura, Director General of UNESCO, enjoyed reading the characters. 'Very beautiful!' he exclaimed, applauding enthusiastically. Overseas Vietnamese showed approval and support. After the exhibition we burst into tears of happiness!"

Earthly delights

Researchers and collectors of antique pottery are still talking about an exhibit that took place last year titled “From Go Sanh to Quang Duc”. Long Tuyen investigates. In the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum a map shows two ancient pottery centers, Go Sanh in Binh Dinh and Quang Duc in Phu Yen. The first thrived in the old Kingdom of Champa, the other on the border of Phu Yen province in Quang Nam prefecture of Dai Viet under the reign of King Le Thanh Tong.

Found by Vietnamese researchers before 1975, Go Sanh pottery was produced in the wealthy Vijaya Dynasty of the Cham Kingdom. Quang Duc pottery evolved out of techniques and enamel technology learned from China and from the ancient Chams.

The clay for Quang Duc pottery was sourced at An Dinh and the enamel was made from blood cockles from O Loan Lagoon. The fires were fed with hop seed bushes and queens crape myrtle wood, plants peculiar to the An Dinh area. Researchers have found that all Quang Duc pottery has shell marks and distinctively colored enamel. Using shells to test firing temperatures was a technique used by ancient potters in many places, but exposing blood cockles to high heat to create colored enamel is a practice unique to Quang Duc wares.

A shipwreck found near Binh Thuan contained Jingdezhen and Dehua porcelains from the 16th and 17th centuries, plus Go Sanh - Binh Dinh and Quang Duc - Phu Yen pottery. This shows that Quang Duc pottery was exported as well as being valued locally.

In its heyday, Quang Duc pottery was sold in many places in Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City antique collector Tran Dinh Son had some items of Quang Duc shell pottery, including a lime pot with a poem in nom script, that were found when a canal in Saigon was dredged after 1975.

The Quang Duc pottery trade dates back 300 years
Artisans report that the Quang Duc pottery trade dates back 300 years and was established by the Nguyen family from Binh Dinh. There are grounds to suppose that Quang Duc pottery is the successor of the Chams' famous Go Sanh - Binh Dinh pottery of the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th centuries and later Dai Viet pottery.

When the Nguyen family moved to Ngan Son they found excellent clay, fuel and waterways on which to transport their pottery. Their wares were very distinctive. Unbaked pottery was placed into a firing bag and blood cockles were stuffed inside before firing. According to antique collector Nguyen Vinh Bao from Binh Dinh, Go Sanh and Quang Duc pottery was fired using hop seed bushes to increase the kiln temperature and create the distinctively colored enamel.

Quang Duc village is now in An Thach commune, Tuy An district, Phu Yen province. Many trade villages remain in this area. In Quang Duc village, Quang Diem Luu Phuoc Temple still contains parallel sentences that read:
“Merits from the ancestors are permanent.
Luck for the descendants lasts for numerous generations.”

Vietnamese Language and Scripts

Among the 54 Vietnamese ethnic groups some have had their own scripts for a long time and some have not preserved their ancient scripts. As a matter of fact, some ethnic groups consisting of some hundreds of individuals living in remote areas have their own languages.

More than 80% of the population speaks Vietnamese or Kinh/Viet Nam, the natinal language. Many ethnic minority people speak Kinh and their own native language.

Three scripts have influenced Viet Nam’s history:

• Chinese Han ideograms were used until the beginning of the 20th century.
• The Nom script, created between the 11th and 14th centuries, was derived from Han script to transcrible the popupar national language.
• European missionaries in the 17th century first developed quoc ngu, the Romanised transcription of the Vietnamese language used to this day.

Vietnamese Proverb and Folk Songs

Nobody knows for sure the origin of Vietnamese proverbs and folk songs in terms of their inception and authors. Vietnamese proverbs and folk songs, however, are orally transmitted and incessantly edited throughout generations.

By this virtue, the proverbs and folk songs become so natural and clear that they are able to describe our customs and traditions simply and truthfully. For that reason, theseproverbs and folk songs are also dubbed as Vietnamese popular literature, which proliferates by thousands of phrasings on all topics of various aspects of human life in society.

PROVERBS:

Like in other countries, Vietnamese proverbs state basic principles of folk wisdom and conduct, which have become an essential and enduring part of daily speech. They are short, succinct sayings with an intended meaning, which is to instruct or advise about something worthy of our attention. Most ofVietnamese parents use proverbs to educate their children about basic moral tenets of conduct and behavior. These proverbs are usually formed with or without rhym (E.G. An cay nao, rao cay ay : one shall cultivate the tree from which one eats fruits . An qua nho ke trong cay : when eating the fruit, one should remember those who planted the tree). The common topics ofproverbs are as follows, addressing routine issues of our society’s customs and traditions such as interpersonal psychology, common experiences, moral precepts, and conduct and etiquette of politeness:

Customs and traditions: “One bite of honor earned in public is better than a banquet given in one’s own kitchen”

Real life psychology: “With love, everything becomes beautiful, with hatred, everything turns ugly”

Common experiences: “When lightning flashes relentlessly in the east, it is absolutely going to rain in the early morning (when rooster crows)”

Human maturity moral: “Good reputation is preferable to beautiful clothes”

Conduct and etiquette of politeness: “When sending a personal message, speak out; when asking people to deliver a wrapped gift to someone, leave it unsealed”.

FOLK SONGS:

These are short ballads, written in rhythm or iambic pentameter in stanzas. Folk songs are spread among common people from one generation to the next, and nobody knows their authentic authors. It is certain that folk songs are formed by multitude of composers who get inspired and let their strong feelings flow out in the form of poetry; then other people try to memorize the poems and pass them on to the public. Therefore, there is a countless number offolk songs, probably hundreds of thousand ones. There are so many generations of Vietnamese children whose mothers sing them to sleep with these types of folk songs and help them grow maturely by the profound influence of the folk songs. Also, there are so many generations of Vietnamese young adults who get married by borrowing folk songs in flirtation. Folk songs indeed manifest every fiber of the human touch deep in one’s heart and various situations of society as well. The following are some examples:

Mother’s admonition:

The fatherly immense toil is as big as ThaiSon mountain
The constant motherly devotion is similar to the stream of water flowing out from spring,
You ought to honor your parents with all your heart
In order to decently fulfill the solemn precept of filial piety

Geographical advices:

Going on road, be cautious of Ai Van mountain pass
Going by boat, be cautious of the path of billow at Hang Doi Bay

National history:

Missing you, I wanted to come to see you,
But I was afraid of The Ho’s groves, and the Tam Giang cross river
The Tam Giang cross river is dried up nowadays
And the grove is on watchful guard.

Romantic love:

You are leaving, I won’t let you go
I hold your dress flap to write a verse on it
The verse clearly exhibits the three words
Loyalty, piety, and love
The word loyalty to honor the father
The word piety to adore the mother, the word love for both of us.

Why do you, young lady, cut grass alone,
Let me join you as a couple,
Do you still continue cutting more grass?
Let me help you cutting it to become a married couple.

Due to the limit of this short writing, we can not afford to cite more examples. We are certain, however, that the proverbs and folk songs are indeed the common literature treasures of Vietnamese people: It is a common way of composing them and transmitting them from one generation to the next, and common as well in sharing the didactic values of these common treasures. Theproverbs and folk songs play a significant role in providing the very first teachings on the ethical way of human conduct or individual behavior, and even knowledge on how to deal with the life situation, large and small. Particularly folk songs bring pleasure as well as entertainment to daily life with their dignified verses of courtship and romantic love. Proverbs and folk songs are truly a priceless thesaurus of Vietnamese people. It is certain to say that none of the Vietnamese can remember all of the proverbs and folk songs, but it’s also true that none can say they do not remember some.

Vietnamese Lacquer Painting

The principal material for pumice lacquer painting is Vietnamese lacquer, used to lacquer cultural objects and current usage articles. After his arrival in Hanoi, one day Inguimberty accompanied Nam Son in a visit to the Temple of Literature. He was amazed at a layer of lacquer covering the ancient cultural objects, the parallel sentences and the columns of the sanctuary. Time - several centuries - had changed this layer of lacquer into an extraordinarily beautiful color scales.

Inguimberty was gained over by the "Annamite lacquer" and later on engaged in trying lacquer in painting. Inguimberty had made a great service to the development of Vietnam lacquer painting. He was of the view that only the Vietnamese were capable of making lacquer painting, just like oil painting was the privilege of Europeans. However this malicious resin has rather extravagant characteristics. To have it dry, it must be kept in heat. The cold and dry weather prevents it from being ever dry. To paint with lacquer, one must paint in depth what is in the external layer of the picture and paint above what is in the internal layer, then rub it with pumice and the picture will be visible. The strokes must be minute because there is a great deal of sticky matter and a high degree of homogeneity must be achieved in the lacquer, because everything might disappear during the pumicing. The creation is done in several stages, after each of them, the lacquer dries and only then can one start the following stage. A small mistake can be disastrous. Thousands of other difficulties are to be overcome, the working rules must be strictly observed. Only a true artisan in the lacquering art who has inherited the secrets transmitted from generation to generation can resolve these problems. The palette of lacquerpainting includes only the color of “canh gian” (cockroach wings), then (black), son (red), silver and gold. Gold and silver must be pure gold and silver, which in the present are difficult to obtain. To prepare the color, mother-of-pearl and egg shell are also used. Other materials are sometimes not so effective. If the entire complex stages are got over, sometimes still kept secret, we shall certainly obtain a marvelous world ofmaterial, color and light, a magnificent world unknown up to now. In 1958, a delegation of Vietnamese painters brought their lacquer works to the International Exhibition of Fine Arts held in Moscow by the socialist countries. Their works were highly appreciated when the contents of the works reflected the multiple aspects of daily life in a manner characterized by perspicacity and romanticism. Form 1957 onwards, pumice lacquer was more and more recognized as the principal language of theVietnamese painting. Almost all painters wanted to achieve the most important work of their life by means of this material . Tran Van Can has enthusiastically composed some most successful lacquer paintings in all his artist life. In the race to valorize this traditionalmaterial; Nguyen Gia Tri was the first to attain the aim. On the surfaces of the paintings, colors and material constitute layers that intermingle to form a bloc of amber perfectly limpid and Nguyen Gia Tri added strokes to set out his personages in the background, young girls standing or sitting, going to and fro, pursuing a butterfly or picking flowers, playing under the leaves of a weeping willow floating in the wind, or walking on the bank of a lake where white lotuses are blooming. All were arranged in a harmonious rhythm with arabesques to make viewers feel the contrast between extreme richness and maximal modesty. Very few persons can equal Nguyen Gia Tri in lacquerpainting . A painter who has made profound studies of pumice lacquer said: "Pumice lacquer can be compared to a religious man who observes strict control of himself, respecting the rigorous rules of his original religion."

Vietnamese Oil Painting

After the restoration of peace, Tran Van Can produced a canvas retying the rope of the irrigation scoop, which was a creation of high professional level he had long mastered. Duong Bich Lien looked at things in a global way; he brought landscapes and scenes to the level of symbols. In his canvas Harvest, the author has simplified to the utmost the scene of harvest: only golden waves succeeding one another to the horizon.
Nguyen Do Cung who was a veteran graduate of the FACI has made an oil painting, the machine building workers in 1962. He spent a rather long time at the engineering factory of the Cam Pha mines, living and working with the workers. Piles of documents, drawings, and sketches were prepared for this painting depicting a nascent large-scale industry of the country if one pleads for a "painting reflecting the individual" likes Vlaminck - a French painter in the early 20th century - Bui Xuan Phai has been able to materialize this conception.
It suffices to admire his paintings to realize that Bui Xuan Phai was in a state of mind heavy with past memories, that he took the past as a source of inspiration. Bui Xuan Phai was a veteran painter but he began to win public attention from the 1970s with his works on the old streets of Hanoi. He had recourse to bright colors and stylized forms in black outlines, like a glass panes of a window.
He has contacted with the works of Rouault. Toulouse-Lautrec and painters of force and rapidity has given influence which he applied to his paintings, adding the flavor of the old streets of Hanoi to that of modern time.
Many young painters have received his influence and he is considered as one of the four most talented artists of our time. Over two decades 1970s and 1980s, it seemed thatoil painting did not surpass that of the first year after the restoration of peace to respond to the demand of socialist realism.
It is easy to understand when many good oil painters had chosen pumice lacquer or silk painting. Since 1925, oil painting in the poetical realist painting has acquired solid traditions and made continuous development, contributing many art works of value to the revolutionary painting.

Vietnamese Paper Painting

Among the Vietnamese plastic arts, wood engraving is a long standing traditional one. We have inherited from our ancients from Dong Ho village a valuable tradition of wood engraving in color. These engravings are appreciated by generation to generation and have become an indispensable moral alimentation. Dong Ho images have their place deep in the soul of the people and their features have kept their sharpness in spite of the upheavals of the times.

With color as red as peony, as yellow as ripe paddy, as green as a young rice plant the images have by themselves the taste of rural areas in all their characteristic rusticity.

The engraving is always performed on the wood of persimmon-tree, which is sole and does not swell when dipped in water. In printing, starch plays an important role. Mixed with starch a coloring matter forms a solid and clear paste suitable for creation. Besides, scallop shells give a typicallyVietnamese gleam and constitute a decorative element of printed pictures of a very simple treatment. The genre of painting on paper using gouache, water color, pastel, ink, color pencils, drawing charcoal, sauce occupies an important position inVietnamese painting. In many cases, these pictures have been works of great artistically value, and what is particularly precious is that they have expressed the direct sensations of the painter before the objects, sensations that cannot be repeated. Quite a few of these painters have thus created representative works contributing to the different stages of the history of painting. Sy Tot has created the best of his gouache in the All children can study. The composition of the picture is pyramidal, the drawing without artifice, each figure is set off by light. It is surprising that Sy Tot's style highly resembles that of Le Nain, although Sy Tot has not even known Le Nain and his style stems merely from his intuition.

Contemporary Vietnamese Art at a Glimpse

It is not very long since Vietnamese art in general and contemporary Vietnamese art in particular emerged from unrecognizing - I'd rather say anonymity - to have its say on the world's art scene. For a long period, scholars and researchers in the West were prone to dismiss Vietnamese culture as a wan replica of Chinese or a mishmash of French-Chinese-Indian cultures. That Vietnam owes much to those great civilizations is undeniable, but it in no way means thatVietnamese culture is a mere pro-duct of mimicry. It is safe to say that what has enabled Viet Nam to survive as a nation through an aggregate thousand-odd years of foreign domination is that she has known how to digest foreign influences and incorporate their quintessence into her own culture.
In these days, when people are speaking of an identity crisis in Asian art; Vietnamese art has become a center of attraction. Indeed, Vietnamese art works, in the last decade, have been increasingly sought after by foreign collectors and art lovers. Exhibitions of contemporary Vietnamese art organized in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Australia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, the USA, and Argentina...have commanded attention and acclaim.
Indeed, the art scene here is showing such a brimming vitality and explosive diversity as could never be seen in the past. The current blooming of Vietnamese art springs from our earnest urge toward self-affirmation as a culture with its own unmistakable identity and can be interpreted as the tumultuous release of long-suppressed of creative desires. This is a time of change and I'd rather lay emphasis on the younger generation. Vietnamese artists have now become more exploratory and go-ahead, trying to attune themselves to international trends as they are enjoying the benefits of artistic freedom of expression in the salutary climate of Doi Moi. A powerful upsurge of new art forms and revitalized traditions are moving Vietnamese art forward. Young artists are seeking their hallmarks based on their own experience and personal vision, increasingly showing self-confidence and audacity in their work. Theirs is a generation without complexes. They are not overawed by what their elders had done in their capacity as pioneers, nor do they attempt to make tabula rasa of the past. While doing their best to wed tradition with modernity, they are in no way traditionalistic, well aware as they are that traditions can sometimes become impeding and conducive to conservatism.
Of this young generation, the first group to gain international renown by their works is the Gang of Five, composed of five Hanoi painters: Hong Viet Dung, Ha Tri Hieu, Dang Xuan Hoa, Tran Luong and Pham Quang Vinh. Concurrently rising to prominence are such artists as Tran Trong Vu, Hoang Hong Cam, Nguyen Than, Bui Minh Dung, Le Quang Ha, exponents of a robust neo-expressionist trend. Among the foremost adepts in abstractionism, are Nguyen Trung, Do Hoang Tuong, and Tran Van Thao. Do Minh Tam, Tran Luong, Le Hong Thai...The romantic-minded Nguyen Thanh Binh and Pham Luan charm with their sunny palettes and enchanting lyricism. Such cutting-edge art forms as performance and installation begin to be explored and are no longer unfamiliar to the public. The iconoclast Truong Tan turns a corner from orthodoxy by producing most unconventional works straightforwardly expressing his gay convictions. Nguyen Bao Toan, Nguyen Minh Thanh in Ha Noi and Le Thua Tien in Hue are among the first "engage" installation artists to produce in Viet Nam. Mention should be made of Vu Dan Tan the Sorcerer who turns castoffs into art works, the minimalist Le Thiet Cuong,the unclassifiable Dinh Y Nhi with her hallucinatory black-and-white paintings, the instinctive Vu Thang with his compelling use of mixed media in lacquer painting....
Indeed, it is this complex-free generation that is setting the tone for the future of Vietnamese art. They do not content themselves with following up traditions. They are fashioning a new vision that keeps drawing substance from national roots and are accordingly creating a new tradition - the tradition of the New.

Overview of Vietnamese Art

Through the Upheavals of History

Compared to other Asian countries, and according to several art commentators, Vietnam was the earliest to merge into the main stream of modern art, as defined by the West, in both form and content. Such a fact can be easily seen with the coming into existence of Ecole Des Beaux Arts (Indochina's School of Fine Art) in the early 1930s, with the presence of professors from France.

Western style in technique and the use of color was what the first student generation trained in this school obtained. The techniques however were employed by the graduate artists to depict the aesthetic essence of Vietnam, especially the freedom and generosity of an Asian soul. Such a fundamental beginning had laid the foundation for the younger generations to follow and again led to their success.
In the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, the first generation of Vietnam Is modern artists joined in the international market of art and was highly evaluated, in Vietnam as well as overseas. From then on, they gained good reputation and were honored the masters of Vietnam’s modem art. Among them were To Ngoc Van, Nguyen Phan Chanh, Nguyen Gia Tri, Bui Xuan Phai, Le Pho, Tran Van Can, Nguyen Do Cung, Nguyen Lien Chung, Nguyen Tu Nghiem, Duong Bich Lien, and so on.
At present, members of' the first generation have all gone, except two artists, Nguyen Tu Nghiem (Ha noi), and Le Pho (Paris); nevertliciess, their names leave become almost immortal in Vietnam's art history.
The wars against colonialists and the U.S. imperialists unintentionally parted Vietnam's modern art into various styles, each of which has its own way to proceed toward perfection. This was most clearly seen in the differences found in the works of art of the North and South during the separation of Vietnam, the fierce struggles an people's fighting spirits were reflected on the one hand whereas realism-criticism, romanticism, and escapism into the dream of peace pervaded the art landscape of the occupied South.

Without mentioning the historical situation of the country (temporary separation period during 1954-1975 and a pre-renovation period during 1975-1990), Vietnam’s contemporary art bas always experienced two parallel processes of integration:

1. The integration and catching up between the Northern and Southern styles.
2. The integration into the international market of modem art writes preserving the traditional genres and the mythical nature of the Oriental. Vietnam’scontemporary art was heart of a nation that underwent relentless upheavals. Peace regained from the wars of national defense has become a unique source of living materials never seen in art else where. And such materials leave providedartists now and in the future powerful inspiration.

Past and Present...

In Northern Vietnam nowadays, the tradition of Dong Ho Paintings, or the "self-portraits" of Vietnam’s earliest folk painting traditions, are well preserved. In 1024, there existed 2,000 paintings of Buddha which served asthe foundation of the presently - popular Dong Ho Paintings. And from Dong Ho Village, where stands the great 18-century tombstone produced in Canh Hung Dynasty, on which details of the painting trade were recorded, 17 different clans specialized in wood-block have supplied the market with paintings and sculptures depicting history, daily activities, landscapes, social courtesies, proverbs, ritual ceremonies, caricatures, etc. to convey popular philosophy.

Over time and at present, the Dong Ho traditions are reflected, in various decrees and in both content and composition, in the works of contemporaryartists. It could be said, perhaps, that the very touch of popular traces has distinguished Vietnam’s contemporary art from that of the world.

Before 1975, the Northern contemporary art developed in the direction of socialist realism, with the establishment of the Resistance School of Fine Art in the early days of the revolution in the 1940s, and the fighting and working spirits are still depicted in paintings of resistance artists, most of whom are now retired soldiers. These works in the eyes of art collectors reflect the nostalgia for Vietnam’s latest era of heroism. Without seeing the collections of.Art by Vietnamese veteranartists , it would be difficult for us to imagine the longings of an artist behind bars gazing the beaches on Con Dao and Phu Quoc islands, or the spiritual power of Vietnam shrouding over the Ca Mau Mangrove Forest, Sat Forest, and rubber plantations in the Southeast, or on the Hochiminh Trail along Truong Son Ranges when the troops stopped over.
During our nation’s struggle for independence and freedom, 45 painters and sculptors from the School of Fine Art and Decoration and the Saigon College of Art took part in the revolution. As participants in the revolution war, the two generations of teachers and students fostered the same patriotic zeal and artistic creativity during the war-time reality.

After 1975, nine out of 45 had fallen down and most of the rest 36 are still invoked in art. Many of them are professors at the Ho Chi Minh City College of Fine Art, and at the same time working artists, Co Tan Long Chau, Le Van Kinh, Nguyen Sang, Huynh Cong Nhan, Quach Phong, Nguyen Van Son, Le Vinh, Hoang Tram... are a few examples.

Their epic works on the 30 years of history have been highly evaluated by art collectors. Many private and joint galleries run by the resistanceartists have attracted a great number of viewers, and many of their paintings were financially successful.

Also before 1975, the painting of the temporarily occupied Southern Vietnam had made a lot of progress with the Saigon College ofFine Art, Binh Duong and Bien Hoa Schools of Fine Art and the School of Fine Art in Hue. The successful artists in the international market of art include Thai Tuan, Ta Ty, Duy Thanh, Ngoc Dung, Vi Y, Ngo Viet Thu, etc.

Between the 1960s and 1970s, members of the Young Artist Association including Nguyen Trung, Lam Triet, Nghi Cao Uyen, Ho Hun Thu, Nguyen Lam, Nguyen Phuoc, Do Quang Em, Trinh Cung, etc. brought about a fresh breeze of creativity, gaining a good reputationin Vietnam and the outside world. Presently some of them are living in the U.S., sculptors Mai Chung, Duong Van Hung and painters Nghieu De, Nghi Cao Uyen, Lam Triet, Nguyen Phuoc, etc.
Those remain in Vietnam, Ho Hun Thu, Nguyen Trung, Trinh Cung, Do Quang Em, Nguyen Lam, Cu Nguyen, together with Lam Triet who recently returned from overseas, have become a valuable core group. Besides, that the youngartists of surrealism, semi- abstract and abstract schools of art under the instruction of Nguyen Trung and Ca Le Thang, have injected a new atmosphere of creativity, and helped accelerating the integration of Viet - nam' scontemporary art into the world. This has been a spontaneous act which utilises the cream talents of the North and South youth just as they set out to achieve when coming to the world of art.
Vietnamese art in the world and domestic markets.

During 1988 - 1990, which may be seen as a landmark, in Vietnam and especially in Ho Chi Minh City an art market came into being. Earlier, in the early 1980s, some overseas Vietnamese from The U.S., Australia, and Canada came back to collect paintings of famous artists of pre-1975 Saigon, e.g. Ngoc Dung, Thai Tuan, Vi Y, Duy Thanh, etc. and of such renowned artists as Nguyen Gia Tri, Bui Xuan Phai, etc.. Their activity gradually became a catalyst for the emergence of an exciting art market from 1990 on.

Before 1990, it was scarce for an artist to sell his painting for over USD 1,000. Since early 1992, bower, the prices of Vietnam’s paintings soared up significantly due to their distinct quality. The price of about 3,000 USD for a painting was quite common. In 1993, Ho Huu Thu’s abstract lacquer paintings were sold at the price USD 15,000 to a Japanese collector. At the end of 1995, in La Vong Gallery in Hongkong the realistic oil-painting "The kettle and the Tea-cup" by Do Quang Em was sold at USD 50,000, breaking all doubts on the prices of the artist' s paintings in the domestic market and providing a stimulus for otherartists.

Also from the year 1990, when many Vietnamese artists were asked by collectors, galleries and the World Cultural Association to display their paintings at international exhibitions in the U.S., France, Denmark, Australia, Hongkong, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, and Thailand, their artistic skills were highly evaluated by the intenational art community. From then on a translation market appeared with the increasing number on international collectors coming to Viet - Nam to buy paintings on the spot, and to invite individual artists or groups of artists to participate in overseas exhibitions. These undertakings have enabled Vietnam’s art to quickly rejoin the art world after years of interruption... However opportunities for the majority of artists to exchange with the world are still scarce. For some gifted artists, their difficult financial conditions are a major obstacle as they do not easily have opportunities to come into contact with art collectors.
Equal opportunity for the artist community in terms of participation in domestic and international exchanges, especially for the visual arts, is an essential precondition for the artists to get to the summit of their creative work. That is a target for the world in general, and for Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City in particular. The requirement has been acknowledged by the cultural and arts authorities, the various associations and groups including the Association of Visual Artists, the Writers' Association, the Re- porters' Association, the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Art Association and so on, but the ongoing activities have not brought much results.

Since late 1,991 and carry 1992, any- how, in Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang, and especially Ho Chi Minh City, galleries have sprung up one after another and exhibitions have taken place every week, expressing a novel vitality to Vietnam's contemporary art both at home and abroad.

The Vietnamese Art Phases

1925-1945 The Establishment of the Fine Art College of Indochine
1995 marks the 70th year of existence of Vietnamese painting. From 1925 to 1945, the first epoch of the history of Vietnamese painting coincides with the history of the Fine Arts College of Indochina (FACI) because it was that college which created conditions for the birth and development, vigorous until now, of Vietnamese painting... The principal promoter of the programme concerning the fine arts was Victor Tardieu (1870-1937) and Josheph Inguimberty (1896-1971).

Victor Tardieu was a painter having profound knowledge of Oriental art. His oil paintings were extremely simple in form and quite tasteful in colors, their presentation reflected spaciousness, laying emphasis on the general composition. While Le Pho, Mai Trung Thu, Vu Cao Dam, Le Thi Luu... were influenced by Tardieu and always kept good memory of the first solid steps laid by the later to allow them to advance still further. To Ngoc Van, Nguyen Gia Tri, Tran Van Can, Luu Van Sin were inclined to Inguimberty's side. From the beginning, To Ngoc Van was among the openairists with his canvas Offerings realized in the impressionist way. Tran Van Can is to be mentioned with his canvas Little Thuy in the style of the portraits by Vermeer de Delft, a Dutch painter, pure but solid, carefully done and refined... These were works realized in the open air or in front of models in natural light and colours...

Before 1925 all Vietnamese painters had no clear conception of painting. They joined the FACI with the sincere confidence and the deep and burning aspiration to rapidly attain the Beautiful of which they had only a vague but so captivating imagination. Within 20 years (1925-1945)Vietnamese painters had engaged in the search for a model in ancient or modern times, in the West or the East. They approached the Schools of Europeanpainting at the beginning of the 20th century: fauvism, cubism, symbolism, expressionnism, surrealism, futurism, abstractionnism. And only those who could assimilate Europeanpainting and had moral and material conditions were capable of ensuring the continuous development of national art. To Ngoc Van, Nguyen Gia Tri, Tran Van Can, Nguyen Tuong Lan, Nguyen Tien Chung, Luu Van Sin... and later Nguyen Tu Nghiem, Nguyen Sang, Bui Xuan Phai, Nguyen Sy Ngoc, ect, belong to this class of painters...

1945-1954 Painters volunteer to fight for national salvation
1945. The Revolution had awaken the national sense and at the same time political consciousness among the Vietnamese artists. A movement among the artists to support the Viet Minh gained ground in Hanoi with uncommon speed.

The national exhibition solemnly organized at the Municipal Theater of Hanoi in August 1946 gathered the works of various genres by the patriotic artists of Vietnam: oilpainting , pumice lacquer, gouache, water color, wood cutting, most of them treating subjects relating to the struggle of Vietnam for a new life. In 1948, after three years of war, the second national exhibition of fine arts was organized in a forest of palm trees (Xuan Ang village, Phu Tho province) with about 100 pictures, including silks, wood engravings, propaganda drawings. The Third Exhibition was organized in Chiem Hoa, on the occasion of the anniversary of the day of national resistance.

During the 9-year war of resistance against the enemy, Vietnamese painters ceaselessly manifested their sense of responsibility to ward history. Prompted by revolutionary optimism and confident in the victory of independence and freedom, all the combatants who on their own will stood on the cultural and artists front had overcome with courage the difficulties of the war to put their art at the service of their people and their fatherland.

1954- 1995 From socialist realism to the-after war multiform tendency
1954. The 5th National Exhibition of Fine Arts was solemnly organized at the municipal theater of Hanoi, on the occasion of the victory festival. It was an also opportunity to review the nine years ofpainting during the resistance war. But the sacrifice of To Ngoc Van, killed during the resistance, was considered a big loss for Vietnamese painting that nothing could compensate.
At the moment of victory, returning to the capital there were only about thirty or forty painters from all parts of the country. TheFine Arts College of Vietnam urgently founded as early as 1955 to train new painters, was placed under the direction of Tran Van Can. In the meantime, in the South, on Dec.31,1954, painter Le Van De set up the NationalFine Arts College of Saigon, with collaborators the majority of whom having graduated from the Fine Arts College of Indochina: Nguyen Van Long, U Van An, Nguyen Van Anh, Nguyen Van Que...and painters returning from France, like Duong Van Den, Bui Van Kinh. During its twenty years of existence, the NationalFine Arts College of Saigon had produced renowned painters: Nguyen Trung, Nguyen Phuoc, Do Quang Em, Ho Huu Thu, Co Tan Long Chau, Nguyen Thi Tam, Nguyen Trung Tin, Nguyen Tan Cuong... After 1975, the NationalFine Arts College of Saigon merged with the National Decorative Arts School of Gia Dinh to become the Fine Arts College of Ho Chi Minh City, now the Fine Arts University of Ho Chi Minh City.

Embracing new themes centred on man in work, production and combat as well as consulting the art works created for labouring people by French artists as Fougeron, Amblard and Taslitzky or by Italian atitsts as Pizzinato, Trecani and Guttuso, the youngVietnamese painters have finally identified themselves to create a very fruitful progressive realism.

Dong Ho Painting

Dong Ho Painting is a kind of Vietnamese folk painting originating in Dong Ho Village in Song Ho Commune, Thuan Thanh District, Bac Ninh Province. Dong Ho paintings have about 300 years of history in the north of Vietnam.

Dong Ho pictures are printed on a special kind of Dzo paper. The printing paper is made of bark of a tree called "Dzo". Artists use pine leave brushes to coat Dzo paper with sea bivalve mollusk powder to create a sparkling colorful background. Colors of thepainting are refined from various kinds of tree leaves, which people can easily find in Vietnam. Traditional artists use all-natural colors for their pictures: burnt bamboo leaves for black, cajuput leaves for green, copper rust for blue, pine resin for amber, and crushed egg shells mixed with paste for white. The painting is covered by a layer of sticky rice paste to protect the painting and their colors. They are so long lasting, so that it is very difficult to make them dimmer even time or daylight.

Dong Ho Painting has produced hundreds of famous works such as the romantic and humorous “Catching coconuts”, “Teacher” which captures old educational practice and “Jealousy scene” satirizing the polygamous system. But the most famous ones are the pictures of pigs with Ying and Yang circles on the bodies. People in the countryside used to buy Dong Ho pictures for decoration during Tet.

In the past, December was the month households started to produce pictures for Tet. Dong Ho pictures were sold at most rural markets. Those who went shopping for Tet never failed to bring home several Dong Ho pictures, believing they would bring good luck.