With more than 400 year-old history, Phuoc Kieu Bronze casting village (Dien Phuong commune, Dien Ban district) is one of the oldest village of Quang Nam province.
Phuoc Kieu is located on the national highway 1A, about 25km to the north of Da Nang, 40km to the south of Tam Ky city. Remarkably, the village lies between two world cultural heritage namely Hoi An ancient Town and My Son Sanctuary. Thereby, Phuoc Kieu will have lots of advantages in tourist attraction.
Some of the products made by this village are bells, gongs, gong-like music instruments, incense burners, lamp holders, ancient vases, and other bronze musical instruments which are normally used in festivals, ceremonies and daily life.
For a long time, the local people in Quang Nam Province have had a saying “Lam Yen drums and Phuoc Kieu gongs” to praise the traditional craft of casting gongs and bronze products of Phuoc Kieu Village. Artisans in the village are famous nationwide for the technique of casting gongs.
According to the village elders, for over 200 years the gongs cast by the villagers have been used by ethnic groups in mountainous areas in Truong Son Mountain Range and Tay Nguyen (the Central Highlands) and even by neighboring countries, such as Laos and Cambodia. Today, the ethnic groups in Tay Nguyen still go to the village to order the best sets of gongs despite the difficulties in getting there.Recently, artisans in the village successfully cast two bronze cannons similar to the ones used during the Nguyen Dynasty. Each cannon is 100kg in weight, 1.2 m in length and 25cm in diameter.
Recently, artisan Duong Ngoc Sang who has engaged in the craft for over 70 years, has been given the title “The Folk Artisan” by the State. He is considered a “living treasure” of the village because of his expertise in adjusting the sound of gongs.At present, the villagers in Phuoc Kieu not only make traditional bronze products, such as gongs, bells, urns, etc., but also many artworks for interior decoration and tourism.