Vietnam · Printing / Woodblock
Tranh Đông Hồ
Dong Ho woodblock printing is the traditional Vietnamese folk painting tradition of Dong Ho village in Bac Ninh province near Hanoi — producing bold, colorful images on paper made from bark using hand-carved woodblocks and natural pigments. The tradition produces a specific genre of folk imagery: prosperity symbols (fat pig, fish, rooster), New Year wishes, folk tales, and social satire — the visual language of Vietnamese rural Lunar New Year celebration. The paper itself (giay diep) is made from ground oyster shell mixed with powdered rice husks pressed onto bark paper — producing a pearlescent white surface that makes the colors glow more brilliantly than conventional paper. The multi-block color printing requires a specific registration system that aligns each color block precisely without mechanical guides.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · UNESCO candidacy process ongoing (Vietnam nomination for Representative List)
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