Phuoc Tich Ancient Village

Roofs of old houses peep through rows of chè tàu plants, beside an earth lane that people have walked back and forth in every season of rain and sun.

This is Phước Tích, in the Phong Điền area of Hue. It stands beside the Ô Lâu River, and it has lived there for more than 550 years without ever speaking loudly about itself.

Phước Tích is not noisy. More than 30 old rường houses still stand here. They are not kept for display. People still live in them.

What truly sets this place apart is its pottery. Clay is taken from the bank of the Ô Lâu River. It passes through the hands of the potter and the red glow of the kiln, and it becomes pottery such as the om and the trách. Pieces like the om were once offered to the royal court of Hue. Not everyone could make pottery for an emperor to use. The craft demands patience with every detail, a knowledge of earth and fire, and a quiet self-respect that the people of Phước Tích have kept through many generations.

In 2009, Phước Tích was recognized as a national monument. It is the second ancient village in the whole country to receive that title, after Đường Lâm in Hanoi. The title is well deserved, but the people here do not live for it. They live here because this land is home.

Morning in Phước Tích comes with birdsong in a garden of old trees, and with smoke from someone's kitchen rising into the cool air of the river country. An old potter sits at his wheel. His hands press the clay into curves he has known since he was a child following his father into the kiln. There is the sound of clay meeting a hand, and the sound of water soaking into the body of the pot, soft and sure.

That is the sound Phước Tích has kept through 500 years, and it can still be heard today.