Vi Khe bonsai craft village (in Vi Khe ward, Ninh Binh province) was formed more than 800 years ago. According to the village elders, following the village's gems, in 1211, Thai Thuong Tu of the Ly Dynasty was assigned to manage Son Nam Ha town (now Ninh Binh province). He chose Gia Trang Hamlet (now Vi Khe Village) to set up a traveling palace and build a defensive tower.
During his time living and working in Vi Khe village, he encouraged the development of agricultural cultivation and taught local people the craft of growing flowers and ornamental plants to make a long-term livelihood. From then on, the profession of growing flowers and ornamental plants began to take shape and develop here.
After hundreds of years, the people here still preserve and develop the traditional ornamental plant growing profession to develop the economy.
Mr. Nguyen Van Thien has been involved in the profession of bonsai making for decades. He said that the profession of bonsai making has helped his family's economy improve a lot. Currently, his family has many areas of land for growing crops, so he has also switched to growing and trading high-value crops.
"The tree planting profession is not difficult, as long as the profession is hard-working and hardworking, over time, they will have experience to do it. Unlike other jobs, we have a harder job because we have to work outdoors and in erratic sunny and rainy weather. In my village, most families now have gardens to grow ornamental plants because the tree planting profession helps stabilize the economy," said Mr. Thien.
Also developing the economy from the profession of growing ornamental plants, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Van in Vi Khe village shared: "Since I was a child, I have been exposed to trees, until I grew up, my grandfather and father passed on the profession to me. Up to now, I have had thousands of bonsai trees for sale on the market, depending on each work, there will be different prices. From creating unique tree shapes, I have a good income and get paid a higher price when selling on the market".
Today, in Vi Khe ornamental plant village, people still have income from the profession of editing ornamental plants. Many young people in the village, instead of working for a company, have chosen to work at home, which can bring in an income of millions/day.
The tools to repair ornamental plants are very simple, just a few scissors, saws, hoes, ... and do not have to spend any capital. Mr. Hoang Viet Dai (in Vi Khe ward) said that the income of this profession ranges from 700,000 to more than 1,000,000 VND/day. Depending on the difficulty of each type of tree, whether the shape is complicated or not and depending on the ability of each craftsman, the income is high or low. If you are skillful, careful, have a good understanding of ornamental plants, and please the owner, you will even receive 1,500,000 VND/day.
According to the leader of the People's Committee of Vi Khe Ward, after hundreds of years of the profession of making ornamental plants in Vi Khe, it has been preserved and developed, after the merger, the ward has formed specialized production areas to help people develop the economy.
