The 300-year-old craft village in Ngu Hanh Son district in Da Nang is known for its skilled artisans who make exquisite stone statues. Recently, lion and ti huu stone animals have become the most popular products of the village.

Some enterprises now specialize in making stone animal statues to serve spiritual requirements.

The most popular product of these enterprises are Chinese-style lions, which are usually placed in front of temples or building as guards. In China, they are placed in front of tombs.

A worker usually spends 10 days to make a pair of stone lions 90cm tall, 20 days for the statues of 1.2m tall, and nearly two months for large ones.

Before the 90s, European-style stone lions sold very well and were exported to Laos, a senior worker said. At that time, workers could not make big statues because they lacked big rocks.

In 2000, they discovered a stone quarry in Nghe An province, where there was good rock for statue making, including lions up to 3m tall. 

The prices for ty huu are dependent on the size.

Workers said that stone mascot statues are sold mainly in Hanoi, HCM City and some neighboring countries.

A pair of lions 1.2 to 1.4 m high is priced from VND22million to VND27 million ($1,100-1,300). 

Foreign-style stone lion statues are sold on Bach Dang Street in Da Nang.