Bau Truc pottery village

Technique

Bau Truc potters work without a wheel: the potting table stays still and the potter moves around it, shaping the piece by hand and adding carved or raised decoration in the Champa style^[1]. Clay and sand come mostly from the Quao river; workers dig out the clay seam, put the topsoil back for growing, and return about a year and a half later, by which time the river's silt has replaced what was taken, to dig clay prized for becoming smooth and pliable in water without cracking when shaped and fired^[1].

Firing uses no kiln: the pieces are fired in the open with firewood, straw and rice husk, and the outcome depends on the weather on the day^[1]. The UNESCO inscription gives a firing time of seven to eight hours at about 800°C, using clay, sand, water, firewood and straw gathered locally^[3]. Traditional colours run from yellowish red to deep red, mixed with brown and grey black streaks, without industrial glaze^[1]. Two product lines are made: everyday wares such as jars, stoves, pots and water jugs, and ritual wares such as incense burners and objects for worship^[1].

Recognition

The Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism placed the craft on the national intangible cultural heritage list on 20 June 2017, by Decision 2459/QĐ-BVHTTDL; the provincial authorities, then of Ninh Thuan, announced it and received the certificate at a ceremony on 20 October 2017^[7]. UNESCO inscribed the Art of pottery making of the Cham people on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2022, at the 17th session of its Intergovernmental Committee^[3]. The UNESCO record notes that the craft remains at risk, citing the effect of urbanisation on access to raw material, weak adaptation to the market economy and declining interest among younger people^[3].

The village today

By 2023 the village counted 663 households and more than 3,000 residents, over 90 percent of them Cham, with about 250 households engaged in pottery through two cooperatives and eleven specialist production and trading businesses^[4]. The Bau Truc Cham Pottery Cooperative reported 54 members that year, earning an average of 5 million VND a month^[4]. Where the craft was once left to women, with men doing the heavier work of digging clay and firing, growing demand for large pieces, some weighing a tonne, has drawn more young and middle aged men into the trade^[4]. Producers have added lines aimed at interior and exterior decoration, wall tiles, planters and lamps, sold online as well as from the village, reaching shops as far away as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City^[4].

Administration

Bau Truc lies in Ninh Phuoc commune, formed on 16 June 2025 under Resolution 1667/NQ-UBTVQH15 from the former Phuoc Dan town and the communes of Phuoc Thuan and Phuoc Hai^[5]. Before 1 July 2025, when Ninh Thuan merged into Khanh Hoa under Resolution 202/2025/QH15, the village lay in Ninh Phuoc district of Ninh Thuan province^[6].