What is the cultural identity of Da Nang?

Former Director of the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture Vo Van Thang shared interesting information about the work of preserving and promoting heritage values ​​in shaping the cultural identity of Da Nang.

On December 9, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Da Nang City held a consultation meeting to build a resolution on cultural development of Da Nang City in the period 2026 - 2030, with a vision to 2045.

At the workshop, researcher Vo Van Thang, former Director of the Da Nang Cham Sculpture Museum, said that after the merger, the heritage system of Quang Nam - Da Nang has up to 595 tangible and intangible heritages.

Of these, there are 4 heritages recognized by UNESCO including: My Son Sanctuary, Hoi An Ancient Town (World Heritage); Central Vietnam’s Bai Choi art (representative intangible heritage of humanity); Ngu Hanh Son ma nhai (documentary heritage of the Asia- Pacific region). There are 4 special national relics: Truong Son – Ho Chi Minh road, Dong Duong Buddhist Institute, Dien Hai citadel, Ngu Hanh Son scenic spot; 26 national intangible heritages…

According to Mr. Thang, Da Nang has a large space, from the sea to the plains to the mountains, every area has heritage. Few localities in the country have all three cultural regions like that with unique convergence and cultural exchange.

Researcher Vo Van Thang speaks at the conference

PHOTO: HOANG SON

Referring to the identity of the new Da Nang City, Mr. Vo Van Thang said that cultural identity is a broad concept that at first hearing seems "something with a long tradition, anything that has old and old forms an identity".

"Therefore, some people misunderstand, thinking that festivals and hanging colorful flags at communal houses are identity. But identity must have its own criteria. In the concept of identity, there is both tradition and creation, which means there are things that we have to build new, not just keep everything the same for thousands of years and call it identity. There are things that did not exist before, now we create; or we select from what exists," Mr. Thang said.

Dig down to find tradition, fly up to the sky to create character

Mr. Thang recounted that more than 20 years ago, when Da Nang City was newly separated (from Quang Nam - Da Nang province), many people working in cultural affairs said to each other, "Looking around, we see that Da Nang has no distinctive features, no identity." Meanwhile, people said Hoi An has an identity, Hanoi has an identity, Hue has an identity, but Da Nang... it's hard to say where its identity is.

"I just said this, if we don't have a tradition, we have to build a tradition. If we don't have a characteristic, we have to create a characteristic. Identity is what we build. For example, fireworks, if we keep doing it, continuously for nearly 20 years, it will become an identity. Or when I excavated the Phong Le Cham tower, I pushed the cultural history of Da Nang back more than a thousand years. That means digging into the ground to find tradition, flying up to the sky to create a characteristic. One side is archaeology, the other side is fireworks flying up, both create identity," Mr. Thang analyzed.

Mr. Thang assessed that the merger of Quang Nam - Da Nang helps the city possess a huge material warehouse with heritage from the plains to the mountains, rich cultural colors, not lacking any fundamental elements. What is necessary now is not to find more but to select, focus and shape. If left loose, the identity will not be able to form clearly.

From these characteristics, Mr. Thang proposed a set of regional cultural values ​​including the phrases: ancient and attractive, harmonious in diversity, dynamic and creative.

The consultation workshop attracted many experts and cultural researchers in the Central region.

PHOTO: HOANG SON

Mr. Vo Van Thang said that the proposed set of values ​​was formed from the outstanding characteristics of the region. "Ancient" because this area has a continuous history of at least 2,000 years; "attractive" because this is a region of cultural convergence and exchange, where Da Nang - Hoi An has played the role of a gateway for exchange for millennia.

The "harmony in diversity" is evident in Hoi An or the Co Tu mountainous region, where many cultural nuances coexist peacefully. Mr. Thang, for example, even cuisine such as Quang noodles is proof of the convergence from the sea, the plains to the mountains.

Finally, "dynamism - creativity" is the quality that has created the character of the people of Quang Nam - Da Nang, who are accustomed to adapting and living by creativity in both career and culture.

According to him, these elements can be seen as an "identity package" for reference in the process of shaping regional cultural values.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ban-sac-van-hoa-cua-da-nang-la-gi-185251209114626857.htm