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The locals in Cat Tuong commune specialize in making conical hats. Photo V.L |
“Phu Gia + Cat Tuong” gives 179 results in 0.54 second when being searched on Google. This shows that Phu Gia conical hat has been becoming well known nationwide.
Craft village for tourism
Cat Tuong commune has become one of attractive destinations, said Vice Chairman of Cat Tuong commune People’s Committee, Le Quang Cong. The locals are no longer surprised when seeing cars or foreign tourists coming there.
The commune was one of 13 localities nationwide selected to build a cultural and tourism village of ethnic groups. Also, its craftsmen performed successfully at Tay Son-Binh Dinh Festival taking place last year, Cong said.
“Alongside tourists, many journalists have come here to write articles about the village,” Dang Van Tam, a craftsman, proudly said. “Our village looks more beautiful when being on screen.”
Thanks to the local and provincial budgets, Cat Tuong has received more than VND1.3 billion to improve its infrastructure in the past two years.
Also, 30 poor households took out loans from the district’s Bank for Social Policies to invest in making conical hats.
Dream of a house for conical hat
The craftsman Do Van Lang, honored in the Tay Son-Binh Dinh Festival 2008, said he was going to build a thatched cottage used to perform the making of conical hats.
“My family makes conical hats from generation to generation,” he said. “I now want to present 500-1,000 s.q meter of land to the commune to build a cottage, aiming to perform the making of conical hats.”
Lang intended to build such a cottage long time ago because he wants to help tourists enjoy hundreds of conical hats with various patterns and the performance of the making of conical hats.
“We have no space which is wide enough to perform all stages of making a conical hat,” he added. “220 households in Phu Gia agreed to partly contribute to the construction and the local will finance the rest.”
“Phu Gia conical hat village is one of five craft villages in Binh Dinh selected to join a tourism project,” said Cong. “The construction of an exhibition house was approved with the capital of about VND600 million.”
“It is expected to be built on an area of 2,000 s.q meter, including many items,” he added. “It will have a design of a traditional thatched cottage used to receive tourists, perform the making of conical hats, and store materials.”
Mentioning Lang’s wish, Cong said the local authority always encouraged all households to build exhibition houses.
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