VietNamNet Bridge – The more modern the society becomes, the more traditional art forms are pushed to the oblivion, and it’s a reality that many artisans have to quit their job to look for other ways to earn a living. However, there are people who still stick to their craft work. Phung Quang Oanh is an example.

Oanh’s water puppet workplace is located at Alley 502/50A on Huynh Tan Phat Street, Binh Thuan Ward in HCMC’s District 7.

Oanh has had over 25 years making water puppets in Saigon. Born in the northern province of Ha Tay (now part of Hanoi), Oanh moved to settle down in Saigon in 2007. He had to do many jobs to raise his family and to keep his passion for puppet making. “You cannot do this without passion,” Oand told the Daily.

Due to fewer orders from customers, Oanh has to do carpentry and woodwork carvings to have money. Oanh has a big concern to keep the craft work since veteran artisans are no longer committed to the art while young people are not interested in this.

Oanh said that water puppetry used to have over 30 plays, but now the number is down to 16, including four holy creatures, boat racing, duck catching and fishing. Each play requires over 100 pieces of puppets and the glorious time of water puppetry was from 1988 to 2000.       Phung Van Tu, aged 22, is son of Oanh. The IT student at a university has had 10 years helping his father making puppets.         A water puppet is hand-made in a minimum of 15 days. In the photo, Oanh makes the shape of a puppet.     Each puppet has at least ten layers of oil paint and it takes one day to wait for the first cover to dry before adding the next layer – Photos: Thanh Hoa

SGT