Recently, we made a trip to revisit Dong Ho Village with a desire to meet old artisan Nguyen Huu Sam. Just when we arrived at the dyke in the village and talked with the villagers about the (1) old artisan, they intimately told us about him.  

The old house owned by the artisan is (2) situated in a long alley of the village. On the walls of the house there are many folk paintings in different genres, from daily life paintings to landscape (2) paintings shown in a set of "four seasons".  

Mr. Sam told us about his past. (4) When he was three years old, he was instructed in the craft of making Dong Ho paintings by his father. At five, he could help his father apply the Dong Ho paintings. At seven, he was able to draw with a pen (5) and made the most difficult samples. Years went by and the soul of Dong Ho folk paintings has kept seashell powder paint to the Poonah-paper.  

Up to the 1940s this craft flourished. At that time, Nguyen Huu Sam was assigned by his parents to take the paintings to the market for sale. Mr. Sam said that 17 families in the village had been (6) engaged in making Dong Ho paintings.  

Artisan Nguyen Huu Sam has always been devoted to the making of Dong Ho paintings and has waited for opportunities to restore this traditional (7) craft. In 1967, when the local authorities assigned him to restore the traditional genre of Dong Ho folk paintings, he gathered 50 (8) artisans with professional skills and collected hundreds of woodblocks to establish the Dong Ho Painting Cooperative. Thanks to his efforts, such famous paintings (9) like "Rat's wading", "Rooster", "Scene of jealousy" and "Writing verses about precious flowers" have been revived. Dong Ho paintings have been available in many (10) countries of the world such as Japan, France, Germany, Singapore and the United States.