Nguyen Tri Dong, deputy head of the Agriculture and Rural Development Division of Huong Khe district, said there are 682 hectares of aloeswood trees in the entire district, mostly in the commune of Phuc Trach (350 hectares). The trees are grown and cared for by households. The trees are also seen in other communes and towns.

When aloeswood trees are 6-7 years old, they have a trunk diameter of 15-20 centimeters, and can be exploited for two years.

One enterprise and two cooperatives produce and trade aloeswood-made products, and four workshop and trade facilities have five products certified as meeting OCOP (one commune one product) standards. There are many business households. The total turnover of products made of aloeswood is up to VND80-100 billion a year.

The person who ordered the scan is a scientist, Hoang Thu Hien, 33, from Hanoi, who now lives and works in Germany.

The woman is conducting a multimedia art piece about aloeswood, titled Scent from Heaven. She wants to learn about the formation of aloeswood, a valuable product favored by many people in the world.

The project has many component projects, including CT scan, 3D scan, performance art and experimental film, funded by Kunstfond, an art fund, the cultural agency of Hamburg, and universities. 

Once the first part of the project is completed, the results will be shown at photography and visual art museums in Europe (Ireland, Belgium, Germany and Hungary) this year and next year, according to Hien.

Hien decided to come to Huong Khe to conduct the project because she knows it is the homeland of aloeswood trees. She wanted to see the inner structure of the trees and the diameter of the aloeswood core. After many sleepless nights, she came up with the idea of using high technology to answer the question. 

She borrowed an aloeswood tree trunk from people in Phuc Trach commune and brought it to Tan Thanh clinics to photograph.

With the project, Hien wants to make people, especially in western countries, better understand the origin of aloeswood trees, the formation of aloeswood, and the efforts of people to create the luxurious perfume from the wood, which is a symbol of wealthy people.

A representative of the clinic said the clinic only allows a CT scan for scientific research, not for commercial purposes.

Tran Hoan