Iconic antiques; images of ancient citadels, pagodas, and streets; and royal and common costumes from centuries ago have been retraced and featured on modern decorative products in Vietnam.

This is the way many young people promote national historical and cultural values and start their business.

Bronze drums of the Dong Son culture created from 700 BC to 100 AD by ancient Vietnamese people are now reappearing intact with the exact designs and patterns as the antique ones.

The replicas of these antediluvian bronze drums are hand-made in the same procedure as they were produced thousands of years ago.

This is to the credit of young people who have passion and pride for the history, traditions, and crafts of their ancient ancestors.

They have managed to copy exact patterns and styles of the age-old items and then studied the recipes for reproduction.

Grand old bronze drums are found across the northern provinces of Vietnam. Now, similar products of the 21st century are cast in Dong Son District of Thanh Hoa Province, in the north-central region.

Dong Son District is the birthplace of the ancient Dong Son culture.

Thieu Quang Tung is the only person in modern Dong Son who has successfully produced Dong Son bronze drums that look exactly like the ancient ones.

His factory is hundreds of square meters wide, and houses dozens of craftsmen who melt bronze, cast moulds, and carve patterns. It is located in Nhat Thach Hamlet of Dong Tien Commune.

Casting bronze is not the traditional career of his family, Tung said, adding that his love for bronze drums came naturally when he was still a child, while passionately watching archaeologists excavating relics at Dong Ngam and Dong Vung in his home town.

The two sites are included on the archaeological map of the world.

He said archaeologists stayed in his house to work on the two sites from 1975 to 1978, and he heard many stories from the scientists.

He visited the sites in person and saw ancient drums with his own eyes. The drums were broken into pieces, but the patterns still looked sophisticated, he recalled.

As a 10 year-old, he was saddened to see them in their broken condition, he said.

Growing up, he said he began collecting antiques made of stone, ceramics, and bronze. Thinking of the ancient drums, a crazy idea of casting bronze drums began flashing in his mind.

Tung set out to learn how to cast bronze at a local foundry. “Initially, you can’t cast a drum in the right size because there are always holes on the body and surface,” Tung said.

He learned through trial and error by casting countless test drums over six years. Carving patterns on the surface of the bronze drums presented another challenge.

The surface is densely carved with serried images such as a 12-sided star in the center circled by stars, letters, boats, dancers, triangles and crosses, people in different postures, features, birds, and other animals.

He said he visited museums to study numerous bronze drums to check their patterns and styles.

After learning the bronze casting method and successfully creating his first ‘perfect’ drum in 1994, he announced the achievement, and specialists came to inspect it.

He said he had never imagined that one day, people would buy his drums.

“I started learning to cast bronze in 1988 to merely satisfy my passion.

“Ahead of the ceremony to celebrate 1,000 years of Thang Long-Hanoi in 2010, the organizers asked me to produce 100 Dong Son bronze drums,” Tung said, adding that this was the moment to start his business.

Thang Long (Soaring Dragon) is the former name of the Vietnamese capital city.

Tung confirmed that he has never added a new pattern to the surface of a bronze drum. All of the patterns are copied exactly from ancient ones, he said.

The young man explained that there are different types of patterns on an ancient drum surface, including battles, arrows and prisoners; dancing and rowing on rivers; or boat racing and feasting festivals.

The patterns cannot be mixed with one another, he said.

Now, many state agencies, universities, institutes, and individuals order Tung’s replicas of the Dong Son bronze drums.