|
Woodwork village, best days past
In its glory days, the My Xuyen woodwork fine arts village in Thua Thien-Hue province had tens of workshops with 500 workers. Now, the village comprises just a few quiet workshops and less than 100 workers.
What Nguoi lao dong’s reporters first marked when they arrived at My Xuyen village were the buffaloes lumbering along in the chilly wind outside the workshop of craftsman Le Van Man.
Not the sounds of carving or chiselling.
Man said that 2008 is really a dark year for My Xuyen trade village. The workshops are deserted; workers have gone to other localities to look for work.
A gloomy atmosphere now envelops My Xuyen village.
Golden age not forgotten but gone
Just one year ago, Man’s Hoa Binh Company, specialising in making fine arts products for export, still had a prosperous business, exporting several containers of products a month, earning thousands of dollars. Man related that every day he received applications for employment at his workshop. However, since the economic crisis broke out, his foreign partners have cut orders. Man cannot sell many products now. Unable to sell products, Man does not have money to pay workers, and has decided to shut down his workshop.
Le Thua Dong, head of My Xuyen Village, said that business has never been as difficult as these days. Workshops are full of unsalable products.
Le Thua Bang, the owner of a workshop in My Xuyen village, said that sometimes he still carves, but just as a hobby, or to teach children in the village. Showing us the lathe covered with cobwebs, Bang said that he once had 50 workers, but now he does not know if the lathe will ever run again.
Workers going away for a living
In My Xuyen, most of the workers have left the village for other localities to find work. Some of them have reportedly gone as far as Laos and Thailand, where they do jobs unrelated to the fine art work they used to engage in.
Hoanh Khanh, the oldest craftsman in the village, said sadly: “I feel deep grief seeing my students giving up the traditional work.”
More than a half of the workshops have shut down due to debt. There are only 5-6 workshops still running perfunctorily. Bang said that a lot of people have to do other jobs to get money to pay bank debts. Bang himself still owes several hundred million VND to banks, but doesn’t yet have money to pay the banks off.
Nguyen Khoa Truc, Deputy Chairman of the Phong Hoa People’s Committee, said that in order to restore My Xuyen village, local authorities have decided to allocate land, free of charge, to encourage people to maintain the traditional occupation. However, no one wants the land at present because they know they would incur losses.
And so the restoration of My Xuyen to its former glory is put off for another day – if then.
NLD
|
