Xoan singing is a special performance in the opening ceremony of the Hung Kings Commemoration Day and the Hung Temple Festival every year.
Abundant "ingredients"
In the ancient communal house of An Thai village (Van Phu ward), People's Artist Nguyen Thi Lich, her hair streaked with gray, sits amidst her young students. Her calloused hands patiently guide the children, correcting each rhythm and nuance. The young Xoan singers' voices, though hesitant, are clear and full of enthusiasm. From a heritage once classified as "in need of urgent protection," Xoan is now reviving and developing day by day...
Beyond simply teaching Xoan singing, Phu Tho has incorporated it into "Xoan Singing in Ancient Villages" tours, where visitors are invited to sit on mats, listen to the women sing Xoan, and then try their hand at singing and dancing with clappers. When visitors join in the enthusiastic singing in the rich Xoan atmosphere of the ancient villages, the value of the heritage becomes more accessible, integrated, and transformed into a unique tourism product that spreads, contributes to promoting culture, and creates livelihoods for the community.
In Huong Canh village (Binh Xuyen commune), the kilns are always ablaze. On the potter's wheel, the nimble hands of artisans transform lifeless lumps of clay into vases and cups... Each turn, each carving, preserves the traditional form while adding a touch of new creativity. What's special is that visitors to Huong Canh not only watch, but also get to try their hand at pottery. Some children struggle with handfuls of clay, while foreign tourists awkwardly try turning the wheel. Their creations may be clumsy, but they bear a unique, one-of-a-kind mark, a joy only they can experience. It's not just a memory, but a cultural experience where visitors participate in the creative process, rather than just observing from the sidelines. This has transformed pottery from a traditional handicraft into a commercial service – a clear piece of the emerging cultural industry.
However, according to Comrade Duong Hoang Huong - Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, besides its potential, Phu Tho still faces many difficulties: some cultural institutions are deteriorating, heritage preservation work is not commensurate with its value; tourism products are still monotonous, tourist spending is low, and the percentage of international tourists is not high... Therefore, "awakening the soft power" from the existing heritage treasures to transform them into development resources has become an urgent requirement demanding fundamental and scientific macro-level solutions.
Awakening soft power
Between 2021 and 2025 alone, nearly 250 historical sites were restored with a total investment of over 1,100 billion VND. These figures demonstrate the determination of Party committees, government authorities, and the people to revive cultural and historical relics. This not only contributes to preserving memories and enhancing culture but also opens up opportunities for tourism, festivals, and services. When traditional festivals become tourism products, heritage sites confidently move beyond the confines of villages and communes, integrating into the overall development and creating unique values that contribute to promotion and bring many benefits to the community...
Building on that foundation, Phu Tho is taking bolder and more ambitious steps in its pursuit of shaping a cultural industry to create a truly meaningful economic sector. This goes beyond simply preserving and developing culture, aiming to "enrich oneself through culture."
The Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism informed: In the field of culture, sports and tourism, during the 2020-2025 term alone, the Department advised on the issuance of 6 resolutions, 2 action programs, 12 resolutions of the People's Council, and hundreds of decisions and plans of the People's Committee, thereby creating a favorable legal framework for the development of culture, sports, and tourism.
Tourism – the sector most closely related to the cultural industry – has truly become a bright spot. Phu Tho currently has two national tourist areas (Hung Temple and Tam Dao), 15 provincial-level tourist destinations, and more than 1,500 accommodation establishments with 20,000 rooms. By 2025, the province expects to welcome 14.5 million visitors, generating revenue of 14,800 billion VND, with an average growth rate of over 10% per year. These figures show that the heritage of the Ancestral Land has been and is creating a significant resource for the budget, and at the same time affirm that cultural tourism can completely become a "spearhead" in the macro-level orientation of the task of developing the economy of the Ancestral Land with a clear direction: Striving to make tourism a truly leading economic sector by 2030, and the cultural industry must directly contribute to the GRDP. This is not only a growth target but also affirms the aspiration to position itself as the "cultural heart" of the country - a place where Vietnam's soft power converges and spreads from its Hung King origins.
To concretize aspirations in the cultural field, many specific actions have been implemented systematically and scientifically as Phu Tho is promoting the digitization of heritage, building UNESCO dossiers for Mo Muong and the Tay Thien Mother Goddess worship belief, investing in the restoration of the Hung Temple special historical site and the system of revolutionary historical relics, while encouraging the promotion of socialization in cultural development and promotion to create creative spaces, modern museums, cultural complexes... aiming to connect heritage with technology, combine culture with tourism and sports to create a cultural industry ecosystem.
The Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism emphasized: “We need to shift from a purely cultural mindset to a cultural economic mindset. We must identify the culture of the ancestral land as a high-value economic sector, preserving the national spirit while opening the door to integration. This is also the great aspiration for Phu Tho to confidently create the momentum and strength to enter the future through the path of cultural industry – where every Xoan song, every pottery product, every traditional festival… is the lifeblood, livelihood, and pride of an entire region – the land of the Hung Kings era, the cradle and origin of the Vietnamese nation.”
Phu Tho possesses a rare cultural "treasure trove," with 2,778 historical and cultural relics, including nearly 1,000 classified relics, 6 special national relics, 6 national treasures, and nearly 2,000 intangible cultural heritage items. Most proudly, two of these sites have been recognized by UNESCO. These are important foundations and unique assets for Phu Tho to transform its culture into economic strength. |
Nguyen Yen
Source: https://baophutho.vn/khat-vong-cong-nghiep-van-nbsp-hoa-240171.htm
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