Dao cultural identity in the new pace of life
Early in the morning of a day in late November 2025, Son Hai village (Ba Che commune) was bustling with the sound of festival drums echoing along the banks of the Ba Che river. The 5th Ban Vuong festival in 2025 opened at the place considered the "cradle" of Dao culture. While the mist was still covering the simple roofs of the ethnic people, the sound of festival drums echoed throughout the village, and crowds of people flocked to the Ban Vuong temple area.
From the boat dock, from the cultural house, delegations representing 12 local clans, carrying offerings of specialty plants and domestic animals, marched to Ban Vuong temple, where the worshiping ceremony began. This is a deeply humanistic ceremony, guiding people to always remember their roots and reassuring their spirits, because their ancestors, the sacred Ban Vuong, protected and blessed them. This ceremony is also a link between the community and the clan, village and hamlet; praying for the Dao people's descendants to be healthy, have favorable weather and wind, and have good crops and bountiful harvests.
Coming to the Ban Vuong festival, people and tourists can also witness many unique rituals of the Dao people. Folk song and dance exchange programs, folk games take place vibrantly. One of the rituals that makes the whole space light up is the fire dancing ritual. In the middle of the communal house yard, a pile of glowing coals is smoking, the shaman performs a ceremony to invite the masters to enter the participants. When the music stops, the fire dancing boys start jumping up, bending down to hop and jumping with their bare feet on the pile of glowing coals. The fire dancing ritual is both a very rich and unique spiritual and cultural activity of the Dao people; and has the meaning of educating courage, daring to face difficulties and challenges.
Mr. Hoang Van Son, Party Cell Secretary and Head of Son Hai Village, shared: “The Ban Vuong Festival is not only an occasion to remember our ancestors, but also a way for us to pass on dances, songs, and customs to the younger generation. When the Festival takes place, the whole village seems to relive its memories, feel the community's solidarity, and feel proud of Dao culture.”
In the midst of the bustling festival atmosphere, one can see the unique cultural vitality of Son Hai village - the culture of the Thanh Y Dao people is vividly present in every ritual, dance, costume, and belief. Located on the banks of the Ba Che River, Son Hai village has more than 300 people, of which 70% are Dao people. Son Hai owns a unique system of relics: Ong Temple - Ba Temple, ancient pottery kilns with 17 kilns stretching across the hillside, reflecting the sophisticated craftsmanship of ancient residents. Folk rituals, such as the cap sac ceremony, bell dance, dance on the fields, tac xinh dance, and traditional handicraft products, such as brocade embroidery and wine making, are all preserved and vividly reproduced.
From these existing cultural values, Ba Che commune has proposed to build a Dao Cultural Tourism Conservation and Development Area in Son Hai village - a project that combines cultural conservation with community tourism development. According to the plan, the project includes: Restoring the Ban Vuong Temple relic site with walking paths, trees, and flower beds; restoring the old fishing village wharf; recreating the sea journey of 12 Dao clans by wooden boat; building plum, peach, and sim flower hills, fields, and upland rice hills; renovating the cultural house, exhibition house, and homestay model typical of the Dao people; equipping 2 motorboats and 1 canoe to create a river tour route, helping visitors experience the river-mountain living space associated with Dao life. The total investment is about 25 billion VND.
Ms. Hoang Thi Oanh, Vice Chairwoman of Ba Che Commune People's Committee, emphasized: “The goal of the project is not only to preserve festivals, rituals, costumes or traditional crafts, but also to create a vibrant space for the community to proactively preserve and promote Dao culture. When tourists come to experience, people will have more livelihoods and be proud of and preserve their own heritage. This is how we connect cultural preservation with sustainable socio -economic development.”
The project aims to build Son Hai village into a center for preserving typical and unique Dao cultural heritage; a place to display and collect cultural values of the Thanh Y and Thanh Phan Dao people; and at the same time, a highlight on the community tourism map of the mountainous region of Quang Ninh. Ba Che has a clear path: Preserving cultural capital to guide development, turning living heritage into a resource to help the village and commune gradually change its appearance, affirming Dao identity in the midst of modern life.
Policy to "open the way" for cultural development
With ethnic minority communities scattered in mountainous, border and island areas, the province has long identified the preservation and promotion of traditional cultural values as a key task. In recent years, the province has implemented many policies and action programs to both protect heritage and combine socio-economic development, contributing to improving the material and spiritual life of the people.
Based on that awareness, the Provincial Party Committee issued Resolution No. 11-NQ/TU (March 9, 2018) "On building and developing culture and people of Quang Ninh to meet the requirements of sustainable development"; the Provincial People's Committee issued Action Program No. 105/CTr-UBND to implement Resolution No. 11-NQ/TU, with a comprehensive system of tasks, in which the group of tasks on preserving, restoring and promoting types of cultural heritage, especially intangible cultural heritage of ethnic minorities, is given priority for implementation in localities.
By 2021, Resolution No. 06-NQ/TU of the Provincial Party Committee "On sustainable socio-economic development associated with firmly ensuring national defense and security in communes, villages and hamlets in ethnic minority, mountainous, border and island areas for the period of 2021-2025, with a vision to 2030" and Resolution No. 16/2021/NQ-HDND of the Provincial People's Council "Approving the overall program for sustainable socio-economic development associated with firmly ensuring national defense and security in communes, villages and hamlets in ethnic minority, mountainous, border and island areas of Quang Ninh province for the period of 2021-2025, with a vision to 2030" with specific policies, have created a strong support framework, with a total expected resource of about 4,000 billion VND. In 2023, Resolution No. 17-NQ/TU of the Provincial Party Committee "On building and promoting cultural values, human strength of Quang Ninh to become an endogenous resource, a driving force for rapid and sustainable development", continues to emphasize the task of preserving, restoring and promoting the values of cultural heritages, concretized by Action Program No. 869/CTr-UBND of the Provincial People's Committee and Plan No. 383-KH/TU of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee.
The province has reviewed and inventoried 362 intangible cultural heritages, implemented 19 projects to research, collect, restore, preserve and promote heritages; of which 19 heritages have been included in the national list. Quang Ninh is one of the localities in the country with Then Tay - a representative intangible heritage of humanity recognized by UNESCO, demonstrating the vitality and lasting value of ethnic minority culture.
In addition to preserving tangible heritage, the work of teaching and promoting intangible cultural values has been implemented synchronously. Training courses, folk art and traditional craft clubs have been widely organized with 122 clubs operating strongly, both maintaining traditional knowledge and skills and participating in provincial and national festivals and performances. Many organizations and individuals actively collect, research, and publish books on cultural values, such as Hat Dum Ha Nam - Yen Hung, some issues of Dao people in Quang Ninh, and festivals in Quang Ninh province.
The work of honoring artisans has been carried out systematically. The province currently has 31 artisans who have been awarded the titles of “People’s Artisan” and “Excellent Artisan”, along with practical support policies, contributing to ensuring that the living cultural values of the people are passed on in a sustainable manner.
Notably, the management and organization of festivals are implemented systematically, both preserving traditional values and becoming unique tourism products, creating new vitality for the community. Every year, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism guides localities to organize Tay, Dao, San Chi ethnic festivals in Binh Lieu, Tien Yen, Ba Che, combining traditional sports such as stick pushing, tug of war, archery, boat racing, etc., both preserving the cultural soul and enhancing the role of culture in community life.
Regarding traditional physical and spatial heritage, the province coordinated with localities to collect and display more than 580 artifacts; build cultural villages/hamlets of the Tay, San Chi, and Dao ethnic groups in localities, helping tourists and people deeply understand the culture and traditional life. From costumes, musical instruments, labor tools, to traditional housing architecture, all are cared for, preserved, and restored, creating conditions for the heritage to be alive and connected with modern life.
Thanks to policies, projects and synchronous methods, Quang Ninh is gradually preserving the cultural soul of ethnic minorities combined with socio-economic development, turning heritage into a driving force to change the local appearance. Culture is not only a memory, but also a driving force for life, shaping a new rhythm of life for ethnic communities in the province.
Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/giu-gin-hon-cot-van-hoa-cac-dan-toc-3386626.html
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