Along the canals of Mang Thit district are more than 1,000 brick kilns, seen from afar as miniature towers.
The brick-making village in Mang Thit (Vinh Long) district was established more than 100 years ago, is known as the famous and largest producer of red bricks and ceramics in the Mekong Delta.
Today, the brickworks are still red even though they are past their golden age. Currently, there are around 1,300 brick kilns, spread over an area of 3,000 hectares, most of which are concentrated along the Thay Cai Canal to the section bordering the Co Chien River – a tributary of the Mekong River.
The brickworks are placed closer together along the canal to facilitate the transport of finished products. Kiln owners said the peak was in the 1980s, the entire “kingdom” had more than 1,000 production facilities with around 3,000 kiln mouths.
Each house usually has 2 to 5 brickyards, creating employment for thousands of workers in the area. After the 2000s, the brickmaking industry in Mang Thit gradually declined due to high production costs and changing user habits. Many houses demolish brick kilns to do other work.
A brick kiln is typically 7 to 12 m high, shaped like a round tower, becoming progressively smaller at the top.
The brick kiln is constructed with thousands of regular bricks arranged in a circular architecture. On average, a kiln with 10 workers will be completed in half a month, using more than 30,000 bricks.
Inside a brick kiln with oval entrance doors. The plastering material inside the kiln is not cement mixed with sand, but humus mixed with sand and water to make it very pasty.
The architecture of the brick kiln roof with smaller circles at the top, creates a mysterious feeling like in an ancient tower.
Production is no longer bustling as before, but many factory owners are still trying to stick to their craft.
One workshop has nearly a dozen employees working, always putting clay into the machine to shape bricks.
The clay is mainly taken from Tra Vinh, every day a workshop produces around 15,000 bricks. In the past, brick making was done manually, but now there is a machine, so the cost is low, the efficiency is high, and the workers are also less.
The bricks are dried in the sun to reduce humidity and harden without warping before being kiln.
Ms. Kim Loan (40 years old, brick kiln owner) adds rice husks to the brick kiln. She said each kiln contains about 15,000 tablets, which are baked for 20 days to produce finished products.
“My family has two brick kilns, burning fire for over 20 years. This job no longer brings high income like before, so now I just try to keep my job and my children go to another industry,” explained Ms. Loan.
Boats often enter and exit the Thay Cai canal to purchase bricks or supply clay and rice husk ash for the kilns.
