About 10 km from Phan Rang City, on the National Highway 1A, Bau Truc pottery village in Phuoc Dan town, Ninh Phuoc district, Ninh Thuan Province, is one of the two oldest pottery villages in Southeast Asia.
An asphalt road leads visitors to the village. The life of the people here is better now with nice houses. Most of the families in the village do not make pottery anymore. Those who still pursue the traditional trade are located deep inside the village.
In these families, the living rooms are also the galleries where their pottery products are displayed and the inside rooms are where pottery products are made. The everyday items like flower pots, water jars, plates, jars ... are created by the talented hands from clay.
Bau Truc pottery items are made from clay from the Quao River mixed with sand. Clay is collected from the river only once a year, each lasting for half a month. Clay is taken more or less depending on the ability of each person. In the clay collecting season, local people try to take as much clay as they can to store, for use in an entire year.
Currently, people in Bau Truc pottery village still make pottery items in the traditional way. They do not use turntables but the craftsmen have to turn around the products. Jars and plates are gradually formed after each rotation and when the craftsmen stop rotating, it’s time the product is completed.
The colors of fire and earth create exclusive colors for Bau Truc pottery.
The most popular products of the village are relieves featuring Cham women, Cham kings, dancers and everyday items.
Bau Truc’s craftsmen use wet cloths to make the product surface smooth. These items are decorated with seashells, snails or hand-made paintings featuring the daily life of Bau Truc’s people.
They do not use kilns to bake pottery but use only straws and dry woods to burn. This way makes Bau Truc water jars keep the water inside cool.
Bau Truc pottery products have the natural reddish-brown or yellowish red, red pink, dark gray and brown streaks which are characteristic of Champa culture.
The founder of the village is Po Klong Chan. Every year local people still hold worship to commemorate him. With 400 households, in which many households do not make pottery anymore, Bau Truc village is trying to maintain the job.
Coming here, tourists can learn of the unique pottery making techniques of Bau Truc village and can make a pottery item themselves.
