Canh Hoach village, popularly known as Vac village, is located almost 30km from central Hanoi, half way from the city to Huong (Perfume) Pagoda.

The village, in Dan Hoa commune, Thanh Oai district, looks like every other village in the Red River Delta and agricultural work is a main occupation.

But both old and young members of every household are often seen laboriously working beside large piles of bamboo splints, and half-finished birdcages.

Dan Hoa commune has a population of 15,000, but it has only 300ha of arable land. So most  of villagers have to do extra jobs, including making paper fans, wooden statues, conical hats, hats made of leaves, and rattan products, says Nguyen Van Thanh, deputy chairman of the commune People’s Committee.

“They grow two crops of rice and a third crop of vegetables, mostly soya beans,” Thanh says. “Farming is an easy job as it takes only a couple of weeks to do.”

At other times of the year, they moonlight as birdcage makers, he added.

For many generations, Canh Hoach village has become a major supplier of birdcages to bird raisers in both northern and southern Vietnam.

The village’s birdcages are also exported to many countries.

“All of the village's 1,000 households are involved in making birdcages,” says Thanh. “The job brings each worker an average income of VND50,000 (US$2.8) per day.”

At a workshop belonging to Nguyen Van Nghe, one of the most reputed craftsmen in the village, a group of young people sit in a row, each specialising in a different stage of the process. Most of them are family members, says Nghe.

“My brothers and I inherited the craft from our father Nguyen Duc Nghi. During the French regime, most of the villagers made paper fans. My father learned the skills of birdcage making from a Chinese man and often sold birdcages to French people. He then taught us and some other villagers in this commune to do the same.

People with skilful hands can get the knack of it after a  few weeks. However, it is not simple to complete the finished product.

Artisan Nghe bending bamboo rod

"To make a birdcage, people used to travel to mountain areas in Phu Tho and Hoa Binh to buy some special kinds of bamboo called truc and giang and rattan.

"Today, we can make a good choice of such materials from traders, right in the village.”

“ The Giang must be big and old, and each stump should be equal. The bamboo must be about three years old," says Nghe.

"The process of making a birdcage is rather complicated. The first step is to choose the best parts of the bamboo, then cut them into small slats."

"We boil these bamboo slats for 12 hours. This helps remove the bamboo’s resin and kill any termites, so that the material can become easy to bend. We keep the bamboo slats in pond water for about 15 days, then leave them to dry under the sun for another few days."

When the bamboo slats are ready, they are split into smaller splints to be polished by sharp knives.

"An ordinary birdcage often has about 50 bamboo splints. We call vertical splints "cong" and horizontal splints "vanh," he says.

Some parts of the birdcage, including its legs, are made of wood and these are often carved to have tiny and beautiful images of birds, dragonflies and fish.

A simple birdcage costs VND100,000 ($5.7), but many clients prefer to have birdcages made to order.

Two makers balancing a large-sized birdcage

Nghe has recently made a 1.85m high and 90cm diameter birdcage for a Hanoian client, at a cost of VND6 million. But he says he now spends most of his time making products for export.

His family also serves as an agent, buying products from other households in the village, not only birdcages but many other bamboo and rattan products such as serving trays, lampshades and decorative items.

In co-ordination with the Hanoi Handicraft Production Import Export Company (Haproximex) and the Vietnam Bamboo and Rattaware Import and Export Joint Stock Company (BAROTEX), Nghe exports the village’s products to foreign markets including the US, the UK, Russia, France, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and even to Chile.

"At present, more and more people are beginning to rear birds, so this craft has a good chance of developing further," he says.

The village’s birdcages are often exhibited at Thanh Oai District’s annual trade fair, held in Binh Da town.

In 2006 Nghe was recognised by the Department of Culture and Information of the former Ha Tay Province as a skilful artisan. (At that time Ha Tay Province was still separate from Hanoi City).

“Thanks to the Government’s open-door policy, we now find it easier to develop our business. We hope the State will offer more assistance by supplying us with loans, so that we can further develop the traditional craft,” he says.