The culture ministry plans to compile a dossier of Dong Ho woodcuts to apply for recognition by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as a global cultural heritage.

The northern province of Bac Ninh where Dong Ho paintings originated, has been studying and documenting many pieces from Dong Ho in order to add this traditional form of painting to the country’s list of national cultural heritages.

Dong Ho woodcuts are special to Vietnam . They are printed by hand from wooden carvings and depict peaceful, happy and prosperous lives.

Dong Ho is on the southern side of the Duong river in Bac Ninh, 40km to the east of Hanoi and is one of the villages that preserves the ancient cultural relics from Kinh Bac, the Red River Delta in northern Vietnam.