Nha Xa silk weaving village (Moc Nam commune, Duy Tien district, Ha Nam province) sit on the left bank of peaceful the Red River near Yen Lenh bridge connecting Hung Yen and Ha Nam province. In centuries, the brand Nha Xa silk is well known for the most famous silk in Vietnam ranks only after Ha Dong silk (Hanoi).
The beauty of Nha Xa silk brought the soft and charming silk to merchants and travelers coming here over years. According to legend, he who taught Nha Xa people weaving silks and catching fingerlings is Village Deity – Army General Tran Khanh Du, brilliant general in Tran Dynasty. During his trip on the Red River, he was drawed by scenic river bank,then he decided to guide Nha Xa people feeding river fingerling, sericulture, silk weaving… the weaving of Nha Xa also formed, preserved until today.
In early years of the twentieth century, Nha Xa silk products were available in more places and ranked only after Ha Dong Silk (Hanoi). Although each weaving households had to face with too much difficulties to find markets but most people have been trying to keep Nha Xa traditional weaving village which their ancestors left for.
Today, walking on unpaved trails of Nha Xa silk village, you will admire the changes this simple village every day. Going through each family in the village where visitors can hear the textile sound of weaving machines. According to Nguyen Hong Tien (Chairman of the traditional silk club in Nha Xa), now woven Nha Xa village has 230 households with 800 persons, including about 350 workers participated in weaving, operated over 200 textile machines. Many large households have organization plan to reasonably produce 4-5 in home textile machines running all day and night. These families are often implement fully the stages of productions from raw materials to finished products. The large workshops simply have 10 looms, the advanced weaving looms specialized products with high quality to give the senior market and foreign such as Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City and exporting to Laos, Thailand …
“In the market mechanism in recent years, not only the workshops of my own but also many other families of the village themselves must strive to live, to find buyers for the products, try to keep the traditional craft of previous generations” said Pham Thi Ha from Hoat Ha silk workshop. However, products of Nha Xa silk village are still many people’s favourite because of perfect quality and varied design… Many new items become more and more popular such as silk flowers, linens, twisted towels… with enhanced quality and product designs.
Begining at Nha Xa, nowaday, silk weaving craft has spread to neighboring areas such as Lanh Tri, Chuyen Ngoai, Hoa Mac, Dong… and create jobs for hundreds of families. With nature of industrious and inquisitive, Nha Xa people has brought the products of Nha Xa silk village to all provinces in the country. Experienced many ups and downs, Nha Xa silk village today still keen on keeping the traditional craft of their previous father generations.
