Ceramics in the South of Vietnam – Its traditions and difficulties in the global integration and development

Abstract

in Southern Vietnam began in the 17th Century when the Vietnamese people moved from the North and the Middle to the South, and a small part of the China’s population in the South migrated to Vietnam for a variety of purposes. They together did business and produced goods. Many of them were equipped with high expertise in pottery making. With their skills and creativity, they made millions of products for daily use, decoration, architecture and religion. Ceramics has undergone many success and difficulties in recent centuries, and it has always developed thanks to workers’ dynamism and creativity in this ceramic field. For continuous growth, the workers had to deepen their knowledge from all over the world in the 20th century where the art of making ceramics developed well. This could bring not only opportunities but also threats for the ceramics industry in Southern Vietnam. The paper focused on the current status of the ceramics in Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Vinh Long to point out its positive features, strengths as well as weaknesses in terms of production process, products, environmental pollution, techniques, land resources wearing-out, domestic and foreign markets, marketing methods, integration in the new period, etc. Moreover, the author also suggested a number of solutions to stabilize the markets in Vietnam and foreign countries to make more profit, and simultaneously keep the identity of Vietnamese culture and convey it to the world through southern ceramics. The research includes three main points: • Some information about the origin and development of southern ceramics • Ceramics in the South of Vietnam in the global integration • The current status and difficulties of ceramics in the South of Vietnam in the global integration.