However, the elderly in the village are worrying that their job, which has been maintained for more than 60 years, would disappear in the near future.

Several weeks before the start of the Full Moon Festival, the villagers have been busy at work to serve the market with their traditional products. However, artisan Nguyen Van Quyen, 57, who has pursued this job for over 30 years, said that the number of traditional lanterns his family produced was falling year by year, from $4,000 units in 2014 to 2,000 units this year. The average profit is very low, from VND2,000-VND4,000/unit.

Artisans still make lanterns in traditional methods. Each day an artisan can make about 15 products.

Lanternmakers said traditional products have to compete with modern plastic products, which are more diverse and more colorful. 

Let’s see how they work:

Thanh Van