Pac Rang Forge Village

In a small village in Cao Bằng, the sound of hammers never really stops.

Pác Rằng is a hamlet of Phúc Sen commune. The commune lies in Cao Bằng province. A visitor needs no sign to know the village. The sound that marks it is not birdsong or running water. It is the hammer striking steel, and the forge fire flaring up in the open space of the stilt houses.

This is a forging village of the Nùng An people. The Nùng An are one of the groups of the Nùng, a people of northern Vietnam. The craft is not new. It has passed down through many generations inside families. The Nùng An tell a legend of an old man who taught the village the craft in the 11th century, at first for making weapons. Another story ties the forging here to the Mạc dynasty, when it came to Cao Bằng to set up a base. Both stories point to one thing. The forging at Pác Rằng is very old, and it is still alive and well today.

In 2019, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism recognized the forging craft of the Nùng An people in Phúc Sen as national intangible cultural heritage. In 2024, the People's Committee of Cao Bằng province issued further decisions. They recognized Phúc Sen forging as a traditional craft, and its village as a traditional craft village.

According to the Cao Bằng Farmers' Union, the commune now has about 140 forges. Nearly 250 people work in them regularly. This is not a trade fading on its last breath. It is a trade that feeds a whole hamlet.

The secret of the knives lies in leaf springs taken from cars, a steel that stands up to heavy loads and bending. When a smith heats it, hammers it, shapes it, quenches it and grinds it in the right way, it becomes a very sharp and lasting knife. What decides the result is not machinery but the skill of the smith. That is why Phúc Sen knives are prized for practical sharpness rather than for how they look.

In the village, hammers sound from many directions. Each forge belongs to one family. In some, grandparents and their children work together. In others, only a few people work. The smith heats a steel blank until it glows red, hammers it into shape on an anvil, quenches it in water or oil to harden it, and then grinds and polishes it. Each step demands a precision that an outsider may not fully take in at first glance.

Standing in the middle of the village, a visitor hears the hammers ring out from all four sides. Streaks of red fire flare up and die with each beat of a smith's hand. The forge fires of this small hamlet by the road have burned for generations, and they are still burning.