Extending the brocade on the mountain

Ms. Ly Thi Quyen teaches students the first embroidery stitches.

We arrived at the class on a sunny afternoon, the large room was packed with people. We were greeted by Ms. Ly Thi Quyen, Director of Thien An Cooperative for Processing Medicinal Herbs and Ethnic Brocade (Thien An Cooperative), she is the one who directly teaches the students.

Starting from local agricultural products, Ms. Quyen and Thien An Cooperative have had many activities aimed at preserving and promoting traditional cultural values of the Dao ethnic group. Ms. Quyen always wondered: How to make generations of Dao ethnic people understand and love and be proud of their origins, and at the same time be able to develop the economy from the existing traditional cultural identity values.

The Dao ethnic brocade embroidery class is one of the activities aimed at that desire. This class is held during the off-season, when women and students are on holiday. With 5 main teachers, for nearly three months, students will attend class both morning and afternoon on weekdays.

What is special here is that before learning embroidery, students will learn about the role and meaning of embroidery art and traditional costumes.

Not only that, before each new embroidery, the class will hear about the birth of each decoration. Therefore, each student when holding the embroidery needle is very attentive, gentle, cherishing each value that lasts over time.

Attentive, meticulous (Photo taken at a brocade embroidery class in Phu Thong commune).

As one of the instructors, Ms. Trieu Thi Dam patiently and meticulously guides students through each stitch. Ms. Dam is over 70 years old this year, but has been involved in brocade embroidery for nearly 60 years.

According to Ms. Trieu Thi Dam, learning embroidery requires high concentration and careful attention to every detail. Even the first basic steps from holding the fabric and holding the needle must be done correctly and in the right direction, otherwise the embroidery will not be beautiful and will often be flawed. Not only teaching by hand and eye, artisans often use the Dao language in the teaching process. The story of embroidery is therefore not simply about learning the craft, but also an opportunity for the national language to resonate and be preserved in every stitch and needle.

This class not only has grandmothers and mothers but also students. Ly Nha Phuong shyly shared: I am 7 years old this year, my mother brought me here to learn embroidery, my mother told me to try to study so that in the future I will know, as a daughter of the Dao ethnic group, I must know my culture...

Since 2022, Ms. Quyen and Thien An Cooperative have made efforts to bring traditional products of the Dao ethnic group to domestic and foreign tourists. The Cooperative has coordinated to organize nearly 10 classes with more than 300 students trained. From those classes, 2 interest groups of nearly 20 women have been established to participate in the profession, and the products meet the standards for sale to the market.

To meet customer needs, Thien An Cooperative has created additional items such as bags, wallets, herbal pillows, etc. with unique embroidery. In 2024 alone, with agricultural products, medicinal herbs, and brocade embroidery, Thien An Cooperative achieved a revenue of 2.2 billion VND.

And with this embroidery class, Ms. Quyen also hopes that the students will stick with their hometown's identity, continue to improve their skills to provide good quality products. From there, they can create an additional source of income for their families.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/van-hoa/202508/noi-dai-buc-tho-cam-tren-nui-139079b/