For a long time, the man named Nguyen Van Tuong has been famous in Vietnam and in the world for his karmic affinity with agarwood, as well as his aspiration to make Vietnamese agarwood into a global brand.
Difficulties to bring agarwood to the world
There are many stories about people who go to seek agarwood. However, for Mr. Tuong, it seems that agarwood finds him for many reasons.
Born in the northern province of Hung Yen, Nguyen Van Tuong could not expect that he would journey too far. He was only familiar with hard work in his homeland. When he grew up, he joined the army and marched through the central region. Then, Tuong worked for the Voice of Vietnam Representative Office in the Central Highlands.
In the Central Highlands, he knew agarwood which seemed to “hypnotize" him. Since then, he noted and learnt thoroughly everything related to agarwood. The more he learnt, the more he knew that agarwood is an extremely precious product that people love.
Studying different sources of materials, Mr. Tuong found that Vietnamese agarwood was famous on the silk road from the 2nd century BC, from China to the Middle East. In addition, it was also famous in the central city of Hoi An and Hien street in the northern province of Hung Yen. Being famous at that time, when Vietnamese agarwood along with many other aromas such as anise, cinnamon, pepper, moored in a port of Guangdong Province, China, creating a fragrant smell, people named Fragant Port (Hong Kong today).
Mr. Nguyen Van Tuong and the forest of trees creating agarwood and jobs for thousands of workers in the Central Highlands.
In the early days of the year, Vietnamese agarwood was burnt in palaces of many feudal dynasties and praised for its unrivaled scent. Only six countries in the world map had agarwood and Vietnamese agarwood was considered the best for its scent.
At that time, agarwood trade was forbidden. Mr. Tuong held seminars and worked with his colleagues to write articles and meet workers in the agricultural sectors to bring agarwood off of the list of national prohibited products.
Agarwood sublimation
The ban was abolished, Nguyen Van Tuong resigned from his job at Voice of Vietnam. He went to the central city of Nha Trang to set up Khanh Hoa Agarwood Company. In the early days, businessman Tuong traveled many countries around the world to study and open the market. The journey was as difficult as looking for agarwood.
Products by Khanh Hoa Agarwood Company loved by international friends.
However, today, the journey has helped Vietnam export agarwood to big markets such as China, Japan, Taiwan (China), UAE and US agarwood products are beautiful and standardized in size, package and colour. So they are available on many luxury outlets around the world.
Agarwood fan designed to present senior delegates to APEC 2017
Talking to reporter, Mr. Tuong introduced the Creative and Peace Village project on the area of over 2000 hectares on the side of Nha Trang city. In which, there will be an institute on Vietnamese agarwood.
Mr Nguyen Van Tuong and Agarwood museum
Earlier, many people witnessed the success of Vietnamese Agarwood Museum which has become a must-see destination in Nha Trang. A 5000m2-showroom on an area of 2.2 hectares, the museum was invested over VND200 billion.
In the near future, an Agarwood theater will be built association with the preservation of Vietnamese folk singing. Vietnamese folk songs will be performed together with agarwood incense smoke and fragrance./.