Bat Trang Pottery Village

A lump of wet gray clay rises slowly between an artisan's hands until it becomes the neck of a vase, then the rim of a cup. It is very early beside the Red River, and the wheel is already turning. A few steps away, a gourd-shaped kiln glows red. The smell of fired earth and glaze spreads out. This is the pottery village of Bát Tràng.

According to the Hanoi Department of Tourism, the village belongs to Bát Tràng commune in Hanoi, on the left bank of the Red River. Its old name was Bạch Thổ. That means white earth, because the area had an abundant supply of white clay.

A Hanoi newspaper cites archaeological records. They show cultural layers in the old village from the 9th and 10th centuries, and from the 13th and 14th centuries. Traces of pottery making here go back nearly a thousand years.

Oral tradition tells of the day Emperor Lý Công Uẩn moved the capital to Thăng Long, the city now called Hanoi. Potters from five clans followed him, so the story goes. They came from the village of Bồ Bát, in Yên Mô, Ninh Binh. The clans were Trần, Vương and Nguyễn. The other two were Lê and Phạm. They settled on the land called Bạch Thổ and opened kilns. This is a tradition handed down by word of mouth, not a firm historical record. Still, it points to a link between the old pottery craft of Bồ Bát and the Bát Tràng of today.

From the 15th to the 18th century, Bát Tràng pottery flourished. East Asian sea trade was lively then, and Vietnamese ceramics traveled on merchant ships all over Southeast Asia and to Japan.

What makes Bát Tràng pottery special is the glaze. The newspaper Nhân Dân describes the typical kinds. They are a jade glaze that shimmers, a brown glaze that is deep and quiet, a crackle glaze with fine cracks thin as silk threads, and a blue glaze with patterns painted under a white glaze. To get a fine jade glaze, the potter must weigh the proportions of ash, clay and minerals with great care. To get a crackle glaze, the potter must watch the kiln's temperature and how fast it cools. This is knowledge passed down through the hands of many generations.

Today the village has three layers woven together. The first is the family pottery workshops, with the sounds of the wheel and of clay being kneaded, and hands smoothing the shaped clay and painting patterns. The second is the Bát Tràng pottery market, which displays every kind of ware, from teapots and cups to bowls and plates, statues and objects for worship. The third is the Center for the Essence of Vietnamese Craft Villages, in Hamlet 5. It was designed by the architect Hoàng Thúc Hào. It has seven spiral blocks, inspired by the potter's wheel.

Two recent milestones stand out. According to Nhân Dân, on December 10, 2024, the Bát Tràng village festival was recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage. Then on February 14, 2025, at the Thăng Long Imperial Citadel, Bát Tràng pottery was named a member of the worldwide network of creative craft cities.

Bát Tràng is not a craft village boxed up inside a museum. It is a living village. Every morning the wheels turn, and every kiln glows red. Late in the afternoon, the setting sun lays a copper color over the Red River. The smoke of the gourd-shaped kilns still rises quietly, and a potter's hands are still shaping one more vase for the generations to come.