MY DONG CASTING VILLAGE

CASTING FOR FRENCH SHIPS

In 1938, a foreign ship docked at Hai Phong Port to collect goods but had a broken tail balancer known as the "counterweight turtle", weighing about 1 ton. Received the information, and with a passion for labor as well as many years of experience in the profession, My Dong village's kiln owner asked for the sketch to try it out. The cooking stoves in the villages were gathered into 8 continuous burning furnaces. Under the hands of skilled workers with concentricity and synergy, the "counterweight turtle" was presented to the surprise of both owners and guests. Since then, My Dong casting craft has become popular. Products of My Dong Casting Village are diverse, serving all fields of industry, agriculture, and civil.

PRESERVING THE PROFESSION FOR OVER HALF A CENTURY

During the 80s of the 20th century, due to the traditional casting, and limited, rudimentary designs, My Dong's products couldn't compete with those made with advanced technology. Therefore, the craft village was gradually disappearing. In 1992, in order to restore the traditional casting profession to make a livelihood for the people in the area, the commune recruited skilled craftsmen to pass on the knowledge to the villages. Thus, My Dong Casting Village was step-by-step revived.

ELEVATE THE TRADITION

Today, the people of My Dong inherit, create, and turn metal casting into the main economic sector of the locality. Up to now, the whole commune has more than 140 households casting iron, 15 household casting copper, and dozens of mechanical workshops, forging, and accompanying services. By cooperating with partners from Japan, China, and Taiwan in the field of production technology, the market with advantages of experience, and labor cost, positioned as "a once-bustling river port" near the mining areas and especially convenient for domestic as well as international trade, the products of My Dong Craft village are present in all domestic and foreign markets. Decorative products, grills, gas lids, cast iron lamp posts, etc. are preferred by construction owners. Many high-quality casting and mechanical products are supplied to shipbuilding, motorcycle assembly, and precision mechanics such as ship propellers, side bearings, turbochargers, electric motor housings, pumps, sewing machine underparts, motorcycle frames... The casting industry's output is more than 20 thousand tons/year, and the production value is about 500 billion VND, attracting nearly 3,000 local as well as foreign workers. The income of employees is 4 - 9 million VND/person/month.