Trang Cat village is 30km from the centre of Hanoi. It’s famous for providing Dong leaves to other localities across the country for the festive season.
Everywhere in the village is covered with the green colour of Dong leaves which is typically used as a wrapper for Banh Chung, the traditional sticky rice cake.
Nguyen Minh, a villager and planter of Dong leaves for many years, said that each year she provides tens of thousands of leaves to the market. For each 100 leaves she earns 4USD.
Thanks to the fertility of the land located next to the Day river, Trang Cat is an ideal place to plant Dong trees.
Dong leaves harvested in Trang Cat village are then transported to other localities to serve customers’ demand as Tet draws near.
There are approximately 300 households located in the village, planting approximately 25 hectares of Dong trees.
The Dong leaves of Trang Cat village are also exported to other countries for overseas Vietnamese people to wrap Banh Chung during Tet.
Since the beginning of January, the village has become bustling. While some people pick up Dong leaves, others arrange them in heaps. In addition, business people have arrived in the area to trade the leaves.
Dong leaves are an essential material in making Banh Chung for Tet.
Dong leaves are the signature product of Trang Cat villagers.