Dinh Cong Goldsmith Village

A thread of silver, thin as silk, is bent into the petals of a flower and the tail of a bird. This is the craft that the people of Định Công have kept through dozens of generations. The village lies beside the Tô Lịch River. Today it belongs to Định Công ward, in the Hoàng Mai area of Hanoi.

According to the historian Phan Huy Chú, quoted in the newspaper Nhân Dân, the silver filigree of Định Công has about 1,500 years of history. People of old passed down a saying that names the four finest crafts of the capital, Thăng Long. Thăng Long is the city now called Hanoi. The saying goes: Flowered silk of Yên Thái. Pottery of Bát Tràng. Goldsmiths of Định Công. Bronze workers of Ngũ Xã. Many generations of Định Công craftsmen were chosen to make jewelry for the royal court.

A local document tells of the time of Lý Nam Đế, an emperor who ruled in the 6th century. Three brothers of the Trần family learned the goldsmith's trade, then went home and taught it to the villagers. This is the village's own legend, and no academic source has fixed its date. A clearer record comes from the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports. It says the craft street of Hàng Bạc was created, during the long years of the monarchy, by three original guilds of goldsmiths. One was Định Công. Another was Châu Khê, in Hải Dương. The third was Đồng Xâm, in Thái Bình.

The link between village and street began in the 15th century. Smiths from Châu Khê went up to the capital and set up a workshop for casting silver ingots. Smiths from Định Công and Đồng Xâm gradually gathered on that street as well. The Kim Ngân communal house stands at number 42 on that street. It is the Old Quarter goldsmiths' ancestral communal house, where all three villages worship together. Định Công is the original village. Hàng Bạc is where the craft stepped out into the big city.

The Định Công trade rests on three core techniques: plain work, carving, and filigree. Filigree is the village's own finest art. The silver is melted, then drawn into a thread as thin as silk. Each thread is bent into a petal, a branch or a leaf, a bird or an animal. The Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports calls it the hardest technique of the trade. It asks for sharp eyes, a steady hand and a rare patience. One complex silver filigree picture can take more than a month.

After 1954, the state kept tight control over precious metals, and the craft fell into decline. In 1983, the artisan Quách Văn Trường took an order from an international fair and began to revive silver filigree. At first he worked in copper. He changed to silver when the material was permitted again, according to Nhân Dân. In April 2024, Hanoi officially recognized the goldsmith and silver filigree craft of Định Công as a traditional trade.

A craft 1,500 years old, once famous throughout the capital, is still alive in a village beside the Tô Lịch River. There, a craftsman draws out a thread of silver. Tiny pieces of metal touch with a faint sound. His fingers bend one petal after another. That is more than 1,500 years of history, unfolding in plain sight, and quietly.