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In a peaceful valley in Phuc Sen commune, Quang Hoa district (Cao Bang province), Dia Tren hamlet emerges as a living memory: where stilt houses with yin-yang tiled roofs nestle against the mountainside, where kitchen smoke and the sound of pestles pounding paper blend with the sounds of the mountains and forests, and where the traditional paper-making craft of the Nung An people still quietly exists.
Papermaking is a long-standing traditional craft of the Nung An people in Dia Tren village, Quang Hoa commune, Cao Bang province.
Visiting Ms. Nong Thi Kinh's home on a peaceful afternoon, we found children playing by a stone water trough, traditionally used for stirring the pulp for traditional paper. In the distance, the rice fields were whispering as they changed color, from lush green to golden yellow, stretching to the foot of the mountains. This simple scene evoked a feeling that time here flows more slowly, preserving the old traditions. Inside the rustic wooden stilt house, sheets of traditional paper hung along the walls like slices of memory, silently recounting the story of a craft village that has weathered countless seasons of mountain winds.
The Dìa Trên paper-making village is nestled deep in a valley, surrounded by rice fields and mountains.
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The papermaking craft in Dìa Trên is not noisy or ostentatious; it is a repetition of traditional handcrafted actions passed down through generations: soaking, pounding, drying, and sun-drying. Each step is imbued with meticulousness and patience, an intangible asset left by ancestors, connected to the spirituality, culture, and livelihood of the community.
From the bark of the May Sla tree to the paper that preserves the spirit of the mountain.
The main ingredient for making paper is the bark of the May Sla tree – a type of tree that grows wild on rocky mountain slopes. At first glance, the tree seems like just an ordinary plant, but in the hands of skilled craftsmen, that rough bark is transformed into a material for smooth, lightweight, flexible, and durable paper that lasts for years.
Many families in the village dry the bark of the May Sla tree to make paper.
The paper-making process in Dìa Trên remains almost entirely traditional. The bark is peeled clean, leaving only the white inner layer, then dried and soaked in stream water for a day. Afterward, the bark is soaked in slaked lime, rolled up, and simmered for two to three hours. It is then soaked in the stream for 12 hours before being pounded into a fine paste for about an hour to improve the paper's quality. The next step involves mixing the pounded paste in a water trough until it becomes a pulp, then adding a viscous substance from forest trees to create a binding agent. The pulp is then scooped onto a mold, spread evenly into thin sheets, pressed, and dried on an earthen wall, allowing the sun and wind of Cao Bằng to do the rest.
These sheets of paper are finished after many meticulous manual processes.
Ms. Nong Thi Kinh, an artisan in the village, likens the paper-making process to "raising a child": "You can't rush, you can't make a mistake. Just soaking it for too short a time or stirring it unevenly will ruin the paper, wasting an entire batch. This profession requires patience and dedication."
Made entirely from natural materials, the porous, lightweight, strong, and durable paper served the daily needs of people in the past without harming the environment.
Traditional crafts amidst a precarious reality.
The village of Dìa Trên has 65 households, all of whom are Nùng people, with 40 households still practicing the traditional craft of making handmade paper. This is a commendable number in the context of traditional crafts gradually disappearing due to the rise of modern industry. Income from papermaking is not high, and the effort required is considerable, leading many young people to leave the village to seek other opportunities.
The traditional craft of handmade paper is facing the risk of extinction due to the widespread use of industrial paper.
Many artisans share Mrs. Kinh's concern: If their children don't continue the tradition, who will preserve these ancient techniques in the future? If there are no more paper makers, all that will remain is in books and newspapers…
Traditional handmade paper, widely used in spiritual life for writing prayers, making offerings, and decorating altars, is gradually being replaced by more convenient industrial products. Market pressure and modern demands are putting traditional craft villages at risk of fading into oblivion.
Reviving heritage - a new direction
Faced with this situation, the Management Board of the UNESCO Non Nuoc Cao Bang Global Geopark collaborated with the local government to develop Dia Tren hamlet into a partner for experiential tourism development. Since 2021, households have been guided to innovate products, creating added value from traditional paper: notebooks, fans, paper flowers, greeting cards, drawing paper, gift bags, etc. Infrastructure items such as signboards, parking lots, and exhibition areas have also gradually taken shape, bringing new vitality to the craft village.
From traditional handmade paper, artisans have created a variety of innovative items to meet the souvenir needs of tourists.
Tourists visiting Dia Tren not only observe the papermaking process but also directly experience the various stages: from pounding the pulp to coating the molds and drying the paper. This experience helps visitors gain a deeper understanding of the value of handcrafted products, something that mass-produced paper cannot convey.
"Tourists may only be able to make one sheet of paper in an entire afternoon, only then do they understand the effort the craftsman puts in. The more they understand, the more they appreciate it and are willing to buy the product as a gift or souvenir," a local resident shared.
Thanks to the involvement of the government and the tourism industry, the traditional paper-making craft of Dìa Trên has shown signs of improvement.
Thanks to connections with tourism businesses, restaurants, and homestays, products made from handmade paper are gradually finding a more stable market. Some households in the village even receive orders from souvenir shops in the center of Cao Bang city. These positive signs are like a ray of sunshine after many gloomy days, bringing hope for the revival of an old craft.
Many tourists come here to learn about the traditional paper-making craft.
The paper from Dìa Trên is part of Cao Bằng's heritage, where majestic nature blends with the culture of ethnic minorities to create a unique landscape. And like those light, durable sheets of paper, this traditional craft still needs to be cherished and preserved through the joint efforts of the community, the government, and tourists. So that the paper is not just a material, but a vibrant symbol of a culture continuing to write its story in the modern era.
