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What to see

Japanese Covered Bridge in Hoian Ancient Town

Location: Japanese Covered Bridge, also called the Pagoda Bridge (Chua Cau) is located in Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province.
Characteristics: The Pagoda Bridge was built in the 16th century and is still incredibly well-preserved.

More than 400 years have passed and the covered bridge has always been a good shelter

for passers by escaping from the rain and heat.

On the northern side of the bridge is a Japanese pagoda to protect sailors. There are statues of two dogs located at the western end of the bridge and two monkeys at the eastern end. It is said that the construction started in the year of the monkey and finished in the year of the dog, according to Chinese calendar. Other legend is said that the statues on the bridge might have been put there by the Japanese to control this monster, since the dog and the monkey are sacred animals according to their Totem religion.

Phuoc Kien Assembly Hall

Location: Located at 46 Tran Phu St., Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province.
Characteristics: Phuoc Kien Assembly Hall, also called Kim Son Pagoda, was built in 1692 by Chinese Phuoc Kien merchants.

It has since been restored and enhanced many times. Because it was used for worship as

well as for meetings by the Chinese from Phuoc Kien Province, this construction is now called the Phuoc Kien Assembly Hall.

The Holy Mother and the Goddess of the Sea, Thien Hau, are worshipped in the main sanctuary. The Phuoc Kien ancestors and the God of Prosperity are worshipped in the sanctuary behind the main one.

This temple is architecturally unique with its artistic ornaments and beautiful statues. The Chinese architectural style combined with Vietnamese workmanship has enriched it with Hoi An's cultural character.

Tan Ky Ancient House

Location: Located at 101 Nguyen Thai Hoc Road, Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province.
Characteristics: Tan Ky House was constructed almost two centuries ago as the house of a Vietnamese merchant.

It has always been lovingly preserved and now looks almost exactly as it did in the early 19th century.

The design of Tan Ky House shows how local architecture incorporated Japanese and Chinese influences. Japanese elements include the crab shell-shaped ceiling supported by three beams in the living room. Chinese poems written in mother-of-pearl are hanging from a number of the columns that hold up the roof.

Lantern work in Hoi An

Location: Hoi An Ancient Town, Quang Nam Province.
Characteristics: Hoi An lantern is various size and shape, from normal lantern to dragon

lantern or fish lantern with full of color. Hoi An people highly pride on their lantern. It is very simple and easy to do only with hard-work. In past, there was no "night of ancient city".
In past and now, when mention to Hoi An trade villages, it is always said to Thanh Ha pottery, Kim Bong carpenter villages, hardly to the lantern work. Years recently, Hoi An lantern work has developed greatly because out of the rules of town committee all families light lantern in the night of ancient city (monthly 14th lunar calendar) and tourists buy a lantern as a souvenir.
There are about 30 families working lantern in Hoi An. They have to use the old bamboo soaking ten-day in salt water against wormhole and moth then drying it and sharpening it as the size of lantern. Cloth must be silken or nylon cloth, enough toughs for stretching and stretching worker need good technique to do it. To be done a couple of lantern requires 4-work day and 3 decorative works.

The recurrent night of ancient city, holidays, tet holiday with multi- color lantern on very roads. It make everybody feel a happier and more lovely Hoi An.

Visit the website to see more details on lantern making

Phuoc Kieu Bronze Casting Village

Location: Phuoc Kieu Bronze Casting Village is located in Dien Phuong Commune, Dien Ban District, Quang Nam Province.
Characteristics: 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.
These musical instruments can give out unique sounds due to special techniques of combination of different types of metals in the process of casting which only the skilled artisans can do.

Thanh Ha Pottery Village

Location: Thanh Ha Pottery Village is located in Thanh Ha Ward, Hoi An Town, Quang Nam

Province.
Characteristics: Having its origins from Thanh Hoa Province, the pottery-making profession in

Thanh Ha Village absorbed some techniques, original in Quang Nam Province and hence their products have become different from all the others in Vietnam, though also based on clay with manual manipulation and kiln heat. The originality of their products resides in the color, durability, lightness and decoration.

Although it has experienced various changes of time, economic difficulties and foreign competition, the local inhabitants are always trying to preserve a traditional profession, inherited from their ancestors. For generations and in a silence, the village has contributed to the society key items for daily use like cups, bowls, pots, jars, flower-pots...
Depending on the time of burning and the temperature of kiln, the color can be changed from pink, pink yellow to red, light brown and ink-black. Thanks to the special technique of processing soil and the combination of successive manipulations, the durability of their products is nearly at the top rank compared to the others in the country and the brightness is same like enamel. Also, this pottery is lighter than the others. Especially, a soft and clear sound with echo can be heard by knocking on the product. Some products are offered on request or used for planting orchids, pot plants; they are decorated with the sink and float vignettes that are simple but very nice.

Thanh Ha Pottery craftsmen had ever been invited by the Court of Nguyen Dynasty in Hue to create special products for activities of the imperial palace. The same as Kim Bong wood craftsmen, they were put at the eight or nine grades of mandarin system. In the recent some decades, Thanh Ha pottery has still been sold throughout the country and sometimes abroad (Canada, America, France).

Besides the pottery work, Thanh Ha Village is also famous for bricks and tiles. So far, it has ever supplied double, zigzag and tubular tiles for the old architectural constructions, of which the Hoi An Ancient City with the restoration and embellishment of places of historical interest.

Kim Bong Carpenter Village

Location: Kim Bong Carpenter Village is located in Cam Kim Commune, Hoi An Town, Quang

Nam Province.
Characteristics: The carpentry of this village is believed to originate from North Vietnam, and has long been famous with its arts of wood carving and sculpture.

Through contact and exchange with artisans of the same trade from Siem, China, Japan and so on, combined with their own skills; these Kim Bong carpenters have created pieces of work which have normally great meaning in philosophy and fine arts. Products made here have been marketed in domestic as well as oversea markets.

Thuan Tinh Village

Location: Thuan Tinh Village is about 3km from the center of Hoi An Ancient Town, reachable by waterway or by road.
Characteristics: This was here a natural water coconut forest grown on an islet surrounded by water which is blown all year round by the winds from the sea.

Coming here, visitors will find themselves mingling with nature: boating admits rows of water coconut trees, fishing, horse-riding, listening to birds' singing, to fish waggling and resting in huts made from bamboo, thatch or coconut leaves. Visitors can also see handicrafts on display in beam houses which are typical of houses in rural areas in Vietnam, enjoy special foods from rivers, lakes and the sea, and breathe fresh air in a clean and green space, which is very typical of Vietnamese countryside.

Cua Dai Beach

Location: Cua Dai Beach is located in the area of Cam An Ward, about 4km to the

north-east of Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province.
Characteristics: Cua Dai Beach is over 3km in length and up to 300m in width. The beach boasts fine white sand, clear and blue water, moderate slopes and small waves, which make it ideal for recreational activities like swimming and other sea sports.
After visiting the relics in the old town, visitors can go to Cua Dai Beach to enjoy sea food specialities in an ideal environment of immense sky and sunshine.

In the shady palm-lined road bordering the beach stand some large seaside resorts such as Hoi An Beach Resort or Victoria Resort, where lodgings built in Vietnamese traditional style are available. On summer holidays, the famous beach of Cua Dai cools off those heading to Hoi An.

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