Gửi bình luận
As the Lunar New Year of the Horse 2026 approaches, Thuy Duong chung cake village (Thuy Nguyen Ward, Hai Phong City) becomes increasingly bustling.
Preserving the craft across generations
Despite not being officially recognized as a craft village, for those who have tasted Thuy Duong chung cakes, this place has long become a familiar destination. Visiting the village these days is like touching the early breath of spring. The warm aroma of freshly made cakes lingers throughout the village.
The craft of making chung cakes in Thuy Duong dates back many generations, though no one can remember exactly when it started. The elderly villagers recalled seeing their mothers and grandmothers diligently working with baskets of rice, bowls of mung beans, and pots of boiling water during childhood. The village well, crystal clear for generations, has been the source of water for cooking rice cakes, making bean sprouts, and preparing tofu. The craft has been passed down across generations.
In the past, many households in Thuy Duong village made rice cakes. Over time, only about 20 households remain, persistently preserving the craft. On ordinary days, these households supply chung cakes to markets in the ward and neighboring areas. Every Tet (Lunar New Year), the atmosphere becomes bustling. Names such as Mr. Nguyen Tat Na, Mr. Nguyen Tat The, and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Dang… have long become the well-known “brands” of Thuy Duong chung cakes.
In the three-room wooden house of 80-year-old Mr. Nguyen Tat Na's family, everyone is busy wiping leaves, washing rice, and rinsing mung beans. Mr. Na said that on normal days he makes a few hundred chung cakes to supply the familiar market, but during Tet, his family often mobilizes around 15 people to produce about 1,000 cakes per day. “I learned to wrap rice cakes when I was a child. Then I passed it down to the next generation, now it's the fourth generation. Now, my daughters, my son and his wife all make a living from chung cakes – a simple craft deeply bearing my family love,” shared Mr. Na.
Mr. Nguyen Tat The, 62 years old, another rice cake maker in Thuy Duong, proudly explained that Thuy Duong chung cakes have unique features. The rice must be fragrant and sticky glutinous rice, the pork must have a good balance of lean and fat to create a rich flavor, the mung beans must be of the best quality, and the salt must be of the right quantity. The cakes here are wrapped by hand, without using molds, yet they are still square, thick, and solid.
With nimble hands, the chung cake makers layer the rice, mung beans, pork, and rice into the leaves, and in less than a minute, a neat wrapped chung cake takes shape. Each batch must be simmered for 12 hours to ensure the cakes are soft, fragrant, and long-lasting. Once cooked, each cake is gently reshaped, embodying the care. Pride and reputation passed down through generations.
Hai Phong News
