At the gate of Chuông Village, the market starts before 5 a.m. and takes place
on the 4th, 10th, 14th, 20th, 24th and 30th days of the lunar month.
For more than 300 years, Chuông Village has been renowned for its craftsmanship in making conical hats. Passed down through generations, the craft remains an important part of local life, with many villagers continuing to earn their living from a trade inherited from their ancestors.
The communal house courtyard is bustling with buyers and sellers. Finished white conical hats are stacked in neat rows, waiting for traders to examine and purchase them.
Artisans sit on the communal house steps with their goods. Some sellers can handle up to 3,000 hats in a single morning.
A busy trading scene inside the communal house courtyard, where hat-making materials are sold alongside finished hats.
Lương Thị Hà, who has sold palm leaves for 30 years, supplies the main material used to make the hats. The leaves are dried, pressed flat and neatly bundled before being sold in a dedicated section of the market.
Rather than simply selling finished products, the market serves as a meeting point for the different stages of the hat-making trade. Bamboo frames, threads and binding materials are laid out for sale alongside completed hats, allowing artisans to purchase everything they need to continue their work.
The production process has become highly specialised, with different materials and components supplied by individual traders. Across the courtyard, finished white hats are piled high, while smaller items used in their construction are carefully displayed for buyers to examine.
The area in front of the pagoda yard nearby serves as a gathering spot for trading the raw materials used to make the traditional hats.
Large bundles of raw materials are brought to the market on bicycles, providing the essential supplies local artisans need to continue their craft.
Locals carefully sort through and prepare bundles of materials under the ancient archways.
Goods are laid out on the ground and in simple baskets, giving the market the rustic feel of an old Vietnamese village marketplace.
Rather than simply selling finished products, the market serves as a meeting point for the different stages of the hat-making trade. Bamboo frames, threads and binding materials are laid out for sale alongside completed hats, allowing artisans to purchase everything they need to continue their work.
The production process has become highly specialised, with different materials and components supplied by individual traders. Across the courtyard, finished white hats are piled high, while smaller items used in their construction are carefully displayed for buyers to examine.
An elderly woman leaves the market carrying her newly purchased materials, heading home to continue a handicraft that has shaped the village's livelihood for over 300 years.
A man carries a large sack of materials on his shoulder through the bustling communal house courtyard, navigating past sellers who are busy sorting and bundling palm leaves.
The market is also an important wholesale hub, where some traders handle hundreds, even thousands, of hats in a single morning. Ngô Thị Lan, a local seller, said she had already sold about 1,000 hats while the market was still in full swing.
Buyers and local artisans gather to meticulously inspect the bamboo frames and rings, ensuring the structural quality of the foundation before making a purchase.
The market serves as a complete, specialised supply chain. From neatly tied bundles of flattened palm leaves and vibrant threads to stacks of finished hats, everything involved in making a conical hat is traded here.
Colourful bundles of synthetic thread are laid out on the courtyard floor. These are essential for artisans to securely stitch the leaves to the bamboo frames and to add traditional decorative patterns inside the hats.
Amidst the specialised trade of hat-making materials, the space retains the warm,
rustic charm of a typical Vietnamese rural market.
As the early hours pass, the specialised hat trade gradually winds down, making way for the village’s regular morning market. On the communal house steps, remaining stacks of finished hats now share the space with baskets of fresh fruit, seamlessly blending the centuries-old craft with the everyday rhythms of rural life.
For the people of Chuông, this early-morning gathering is more than a chance to trade. It remains an essential link in the livelihood of local artisans and a living expression of a craft that has shaped the village for centuries.
