Mr. Pham Huu Dang Dat – the writer of writings “The story of Quang nam craft village” - said: “According to the elders, the name "Phuoc Kieu" has origin from the combination of the two name: Phuoc Ninh village and De Kieu commune. Ancestor of the Phuoc Kieu bronze casting village is Mr. Duong Khong Lo (1019-1094), who was born in De Kieu Commune, Binh Quan Canton, That Truyen District, Tuong Canh, Lang Son Province… Now Phuoc Kieu bronze casting village has many families with last name such as Duong, Nguyen, Ngoc, Le, Tran Van, Pham Viet, Đoan, Đo…in which Duong family has ancient sage Mr. Duong Ngoc Chuc. There are 17 generations from the Mr. Duong Ngoc Chuc to generation of Mr. Duong Nhi who was born in 1918. It is estimated that Phuoc Kieu village was established in the end of the 16th century (over 400 years ago).
To express the gratitude to the ancestors of bronze casting, People of Phuoc Kieu village had built Phuoc Kieu temple and the January 12th (lunar calendar) every year is the death anniversary of ancestor of bronze casting. Over time and wars, the temple was deteriorated and local people has renovated many times.
The heyday of bronze casting was the period under reign of King Tu Duc. Many of the village artisans joined in casting coin, royal seals and some appliances for palace. The sound of gongs is indispensable in all traditional festivals such as the worship, social occasions or festivities. Its sound is becoming cultural identity of the national traditions.. Therefore, Phuoc Kieu Bronze Casting village is more and more honored, and the local authorities and people have tried to maintain.
The products of Phuoc Kieu Bronze casting village are not only provided in Quang Nam province but also many neighboring provinces such as Thua Thien Hue, Lam Dong, Dac Lac, Gia Lai …The tourism in Dien Ban district has been invested and developed. With its location on the way from My Son Sanctuary to Hoi An ancient town, Phuoc Kieu Bronze Casting will be the best destination for tourists. Tourists can visit and buy many kinds of bronze handicrafts products or unique souvenirs such as products from wood, pottery, ... and enjoy local special food.
2. Phu Triem rice-paper craft village
Phu Triem rice-paper craft village is one of the traditional craft villages in Dien Phuong Commune. It has large operation scale in the local.
Phu Triem rice-paper craft village had established in the early of the 20th century. At that time, local people's life was very hard, so they intended making rice-paper to earn money. Mrs. Nuoi, Mrs. Luong, Mrs. Ky, and Mrs. Lieu was pioneers in establishing and developing Phu Triem rice-paper craft village up to now.
Besides working on the farm, local labors also focus on making rice-paper and “Mi Quang Phu Triem” (Phu Triem noodles – one kind of Quang noodles). On the sunny day, people make rice-paper, after that, rice-papers are dried by the sunshine on all the ways of Phu Triem village. Every ten households have a representative who procures of goods and sells at market so it is easy to capital turnover. However, it is so hard for villagers to make rice-paper because they must work under high temperature, sunshine and rice-paper is easy moldy. They must get up early at 2-3 am to grind rice into flour to make rice-paper before the sunrise.
In recent years, thanks to the consideration of the People’s committee of Quang Nam Province, People’s committee of Dien Ban District and local authorities have created conditions and established the Association of PhuTriem rice-paper craft village. They also have planned to build a brand for the Phu Triem rice-paper craft village.
3. 3. An Thanh bamboo and rattan craft village. (Dien Thang Nam Commune, Dien ban District, Quang Nam Provine)
Under the period of Duc Duc – the King Le Thanh Tong, people from Tho Suong – Thanh Hoa province went to the Southern according to the imperial decree “the Army moved to the Southern” and the region of Ba Chau was the final destination. People implemented reclamation and established hamlets, then they handed down bamboo and rattan weaving to each other, it was also the main job at that time. An Thanh village was established since then. In the times of Hồng Đức Nhị Niên (1070), he had given imperial decree to establish Quang Nam village. At that time, the agriculture began to develop while the bamboo and rattan craft increasingly developed with better skills. That was also the main income of local people. When the man joined the army, the woman was becoming a main labourer of their family. Thanks to bamboo and rattan craft, villagers connected closely between the community and their family with:”all houses weaving, people weaving”. The An Thanh bamboo and rattan craft village has sixty percent of households which live by this craft. Every year revenue is estimated approximately 2 billion VND.
4. Triem Tay Straw mat weaving village. (Triem Tay Hamlet, Dien Phuong Commune, Dien Ban district, Quang Nam Provine)
Triem Tay Straw mat weaving village is located in the southeast of Dien Ban District, it is bordered by Kim Bong craft village (Cam Kim – Hoi An ancient town)
According to the book “the story of Quang Nam craft villages” of the author Pham Huu Dang Dat, “ In the end of the 19th century, some families of village Phu Triem (now it is in Dien Phuong commune, Dien Ban District, Quang Nam Provine) moved to An Phuoc village of Duy Xuyen district. They learnt a trade which was popular in this village. Mr. Le Doan Kiet, a villager of Phu Triem got married with Mrs. Tran Thi Huu, a villager of An Phuoc village. After that he set up his career in his wife’s village. There was a sand dune which is called Xom Con with the fertile soil in Phu Triem. In 1878, Mr. Le Doan Kiet advocated some Phu Triem villagers to move to Xom Con and named it as Tan Lap Hamlet. That was the first titles of Phu Triem village today. Triem Tay straw mat weaving village has remained and developed up to now.
Triem Tay villagers have planted jute by themselves to get materials for weaving mats, so there are always some bunch of jute in their house. There were three types of mat including THỌ shaped flower mats, Tau mats, Tro Bong Beo mats, in which THỌ shaped flowe mats, Tau mats were difficult to weave. The first person mastered the technique of weaving Chu Tho mats was Mr. Luy- a nephew of Mrs. Tran Thi Huu.
100 percent of Triem Tay village's households participated in weaving mats craft. After 1975, every family in Triem Tay village has weaved mats. The color of mats has shining brightly everywhere in this village. The elder and children also weave mats. Products which have just been made, were procured and distributed immediately by the Government.
In recent years, thanks to favorable natural conditions, material source have been enough to satisfy production requirement. It has contributed to increase incomes for local people and the craft has been gradually rebuilt.
5, Ha Quang fish sauce village (Dien Duong Commune, Dien Ban District)
Aquatic exploitation is one of the advantages of Dien Duong commune due to the abundant raw materials from sea. Ha Quang villagers, especially women, are very hard-working. Besides trading in the market, they take care of their family and make some kind of fish sauces with professional process, including: small-fish sauce, fish sauce, shrimp paste, dried shrimp, anchovies, clams ... in which fish sauce is the most well-known. Ha Quang fish sauce tastes sweet, tangy aromatic. Though it is salty, but it is kept longer. The longer it is kept, the more delicious it is. Therefore it is a favorite thing in the market. Dien Duong people make fish sauce with the form of household and near 500,000 liter of fish sauce are consumed in the market by many ways each year.
Nowerdays, homemade fish sauce has still uphold traditional characteristics such as cheap, delicious and pure, although people life has changed and economic has been developed.
6. Nong Son Silk Weaving village (Dien Phuoc Commune, Dien Ban District)
In the year of resistance war, “Nông Sơn – Nhị Dinh” trade village was rather prosperous in planting mulberry, breeding silkworm. However it hadn’t avoided the vicissitudes due to wars.
After the complete liberation, local people of Nong Son - Nhi Dinh went back their homeland and they revived traditional handicraft village. Thanh Cong Weaving Co-operative of Dien Phuoc commune was established since then with more than 50 households, including 120 members who worked hardly days and nights on wooden looms.
In 1995, under the direction of the People's Committee of Dien Ban district, 4 agricultural cooperatives of Dien Ban district including Dien Trung 1, Dien Trung 2, Dien Phuoc 1, Dien Phuoc 2 merged to form the Quyet Thang Textiles association. It is located in business premises that Dien Ban food company handed over and it has remained up to now
Thanks to the existence and development of Quyet Thang Textiles Association in which Nong Son Silk Weaving village was the centre, it has had the spread of power to attract many households taking part in producing. That is prerequisite of recovering Nong Son traditional weaving village.