Pham Xuan Hoa, a former airman of the C363 combat unit in Hai Phong city, was born in 1941 to a family of artisans in Bat Trang village with a rich tradition of producing ceramics. After retiring from the military, he started a ceramic workshop in his home town. “I opened the shop to support my family, but the more I worked with pottery, the more I became absorbed in its essence,” he said.
Besides his passion for pottery, Hoa is also obsessed with Nho (Chinese) script. He came up with the idea to produce ceramic Nho letters in 2000 but he had to deal with many difficulties, which made him want to give up many times.
Fortune smiled on him in 2006 when he met Tran Duc Canh, an 82-year-old war veteran who taught a Nho class in Ngu Xa ward, Ba Dinh district, Hanoi. Hoa attended Canh’s class once a week and found that the class not only helped him improve his Nho writing, it also helped him understand the profound meaning of the Chinese words and enabled him to read and translate the parallel sentences at temples and pagodas.
He thought of making a pottery version of the ‘Binh Ngo Dai Cao’ many years ago, but only began putting the idea into action in 2009.
The ‘Binh Ngo Dai Cao’ comprises 1,350 white glazed ceramic tiles with raised blue Chinese letters measuring 18.5 cm by 16.5 cm, and can be read from 20 metres away.
To make the piece, Hoa first had his mentor, Tran Duc Canh, write down all the letters in the original version so he could carve them in ceramic, the most difficult step in the production. After they were carved, he blended and applied the glaze and fired the tiles in a kiln at 1,200 degrees Celsius. The process required a lot of time, patience, concentration, and accuracy so Hoa and his son only produced 10 letters a day.
The treasured work is Hoa’s special gift to Thang Long - Hanoi. He wanted to introduce the ‘Binh Ngo Dai Cao’ to the young generations and inspire their national pride.
Hoa also previously presented his 214 letter, 4.5 by 10 metre, ceramic version of King Ly Cong Uan’s ‘Chieu Doi Do’ (Royal Edict on the Transfer of the Capital’) to the Do temple in Bac Ninh province.
