Preserving the national "soul" creates momentum for sustainable national development

Resolution 9 of the 11th Central Committee determined that “Culture is the spiritual foundation of society, the goal and driving force for sustainable national development”. Along with that, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong also emphasized that “Culture is the soul of the nation, expressing the identity of the nation. If culture exists, the nation exists”. Imbued with that viewpoint in the orientation of socio -economic development, Thanh Hoa province always considers culture as “soft power”, the driving force and goal for comprehensive and sustainable development.

Vietnamese Ethnic Culture Day April 19: Preserving the national Pon Pong performance of Muong people in Ngoc Lac.

Thanh Hoa is known as a land of "sacred land and talented people", with a long history and culture, along with more than 1,535 historical and cultural relics and scenic spots. Of these, 854 relics have been ranked at all levels, notably 1 world cultural heritage, 5 special national relics. Along with a dense system of relics, Thanh Hoa is a gathering place of 7 ethnic groups: Kinh, Muong, Mong, Thai, Tho, Dao, Kho Mu. Each ethnic group has its own identity and customs, creating unique cultural values preserved through festivals, games, performances, dances, songs, costumes, dishes, languages, writings, folk knowledge... Many traditional cultural values of Thanh Hoa have been carefully shaped from within the community, through many historical changes, enduring over time to be listed in the list of national intangible cultural heritage. Typical examples include: Ba Trieu Temple Festival (Hau Loc); Muong Ca Da Festival (Quan Hoa); Muong Xia Festival (Quan Son); Pon Pong Festival (Ngoc Lac), Kin Chieng Booc May (Nhu Thanh), Tro Xuan Pha (Tho Xuan), Ngu tro Vien Khe (Dong Son)...

In order to preserve, promote and honor the traditional cultural values of the ethnic communities in the area, our province has determined that the construction and development of culture must be placed on par with the socio-economic development and must be implemented consistently; culture is a solid foundation for comprehensive development. In that spirit, the province has issued many mechanisms and policies on culture. In particular, focusing on the work of preserving and promoting key cultural relics; renovating and embellishing cultural relics that are seriously degraded; preserving and promoting intangible cultural heritage associated with tourism development. In particular, after the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 1668/QD-TTg on November 17, 2008, taking April 19 every year as "Vietnam Ethnic Culture Day", activities to preserve and promote the cultural values of ethnic groups in Thanh Hoa province have been increasingly focused on implementation.

The province has focused resources and mobilized social resources to implement projects to preserve and promote the value of historical and cultural relics. In the period of 2017-2022 alone, the whole province has mobilized hundreds of billions of VND to invest in preserving, repairing, restoring and preventing degradation of relics. Many relics after being restored and embellished have gradually promoted their value when becoming attractive tourist destinations. Typical examples include Lam Kinh Special National Relic (Tho Xuan), Ho Dynasty Citadel World Cultural Heritage (Vinh Loc), Ba Trieu Special National Historical Relic Complex (Hau Loc), Le Hoan Temple Special National Historical Relic (Tho Xuan)...

Along with the concern for the restoration of relics, the province has paid attention to restoring, collecting and exploiting traditional festivals, folk songs, folk dances, games, performances, languages, writings... of ethnic groups. Many intangible cultural values have had a strong vitality in the community, becoming a characteristic when recalling that ethnic group and locality. Typical examples are the Pon Pong festival, gongs (Ngoc Lac), Tro Xuan Pha (Tho Xuan), Cheo (Hoang Hoa, Vinh Loc, Quang Xuong), Ba Trieu Temple festival (Hau Loc).

Vietnamese Ethnic Culture Day April 19: Preserving the national Ba Trieu Temple Festival 2023.

In order for culture to have lasting vitality, the province has encouraged units and localities to organize festivals, exchanges and cultural festivals of ethnic groups organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, provinces and localities, such as: National Dao ethnic cultural festival; ethnic cultural festival; "Trang An festival connecting heritage - Ninh Binh". From there, it creates a "living ground" for folk culture forms, contributing to spreading the colorful traditional cultural values of Thanh land.

At the same time, the province has selected unique traditional cultural forms, craft villages, and typical products of the locality and ethnic groups to develop projects and plan tourist sites and areas to serve the preservation of cultural values associated with tourism development. Specifically, such as: Master plan for conservation and promotion of the value of the Ho Dynasty Citadel and surrounding areas associated with tourism development; project to restore, embellish, conserve and promote the value of Lam Kinh Historical Relic Site; project to research, restore, and promote the value of typical festivals and unique folk cultural forms in Thanh Hoa province, serving tourism development. In addition, the province also pays special attention to developing human resources for the cultural sector; encourages artists to be creative and compose artistic products. In addition, the province also pays attention to excavation and archaeological excavation of relics, contributing to clarifying and affirming the rich diversity of Thanh Hoa culture.

Recently, in order to digitize heritage, the province has directed units to apply digital technology to destinations and relic sites in order to exploit heritage associated with cultural and spiritual tourism. Some relics have applied digital technology, such as: Lam Kinh Special National Relic (Tho Xuan), Ho Dynasty Citadel World Cultural Heritage (Vinh Loc). The digitization of relics has contributed to preserving and promoting the value of relics in a more sustainable way; promoting the image, information of relics as well as the cultural beauty of Thanh land to people and tourists at home and abroad. This is also the basis for Thanh Hoa province to continue to call for and attract investment resources for the work of preserving and promoting the value of cultural heritage.

Preserving and promoting cultural values is a top priority and strategic task. To develop the cultural career, Thanh Hoa province will continue to build and implement mechanisms and policies, attracting resources to develop culture in the coming time. Thereby, contributing to building and developing Thanh Hoa culture and people to meet the requirements of rapid and sustainable development of the province and the country in the spirit of Resolution No. 58-NQ/TW dated August 5, 2020 of the Politburo on building and developing Thanh Hoa province to 2030, with a vision to 2045.

Article and photos: Thuy Linh

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