Phuc Sen Forging Village

Phuc Sen Forging Village is a traditional blacksmithing village in Phuc Sen Commune, Quang Hoa District, Cao Bang Province, about 30 km east of Cao Bang City. Inhabited by the Nung An ethnic group, the village has preserved manual forging techniques for several centuries, producing knives, hoes, and farm tools renowned for durability and sharpness. Visitors observe open workshops, furnaces, and artisans hammering red-hot steel, offering insight into northern Vietnam's living craft heritage.

Visitors can expect a rural village setting with rows of family-run forges and open-front workshops along the main road. Artisans work at coal-fired furnaces, heating steel until red-hot and hammering it into knives, scissors, hoes and other tools. Visitors can walk between workshops, watch the full forging process, hear rhythmic hammering, see finished products displayed for sale, and interact with Nung An craftspeople in their homes and workspaces.

Phuc Sen has been a forging center for several hundred years, with local accounts tracing the craft back 300 to 1,000 years among the Nung An people. Techniques have been passed down through generations within families, historically supplying agricultural tools and household knives to communities across northern Vietnam.

The village is a living heritage site of the Nung An ethnic group, representing preservation of traditional manual craftsmanship, community identity and intergenerational knowledge transfer. Forging remains a core livelihood and cultural marker, with distinctive products recognized for quality throughout Cao Bang Province.