When young people "connect" with cultural heritage

Preserving heritage is like caring for an ancient tree; the elders maintain the roots, but it is the younger generation who waters it and helps it bloom with new flowers that are in keeping with the spirit of the times.

The project to revive the Thanh Ha pottery craft (Hoi An) has benefited greatly from the contributions of young people. Photo: Tran Duc Anh Son

Preservation and celebration

Vietnamese youth are increasingly interested in and involved in activities to preserve, honor, and promote the value of Vietnam's cultural heritage. Their activities are diverse: from experiencing and researching heritage, critiquing cultural heritage preservation projects at the local and national levels, to creating digital media, connecting traditional methods with modern technology to promote and enhance heritage values, contributing to the "revival" of many seemingly forgotten heritage sites…

Vietnam currently has over 41,000 historical sites and scenic spots (including over 4,000 national-level historical sites and over 9,000 provincial-level historical sites); and thousands of intangible cultural heritage items (including 248 recognized as national-level intangible cultural heritage).

Preserving and promoting the value of these heritage sites in the context of Vietnam's accelerated development of cultural industries, viewing cultural heritage as a resource, cultural capital, and soft power of the nation, requires a dynamic and creative force: the youth.

In Hanoi and its surroundings, young people have formed many groups with different principles and methods of operation, but all aiming to preserve and honor the value of cultural heritage. For example, the "Vietnamese Temples and Shrines" group specializes in photographing and showcasing the architecture and religious statues in temples and shrines in the Northern Delta; the "Vietnamese Village Communal Houses" group specializes in researching village communal houses in Northern Vietnam, introducing typical communal houses through images and videos on social media, raising awareness about dilapidated communal houses, and calling for the swift creation of documentation for preservation, restoration, and renovation.

Members of the Vietnamese village community also engage in a very meaningful activity: honoring the traditional Vietnamese ao dai (long dress). They often appear in the traditional attire of "five-panel ao dai - headscarf - traditional shoes," alongside stunning images of the famous village temple or picturesque rural landscapes.

The SEN Heritage group brings together young researchers in the fields of ancient art, Sino-Vietnamese studies, architecture, painting, graphic design, etc., with the guidance of leading experts in museum conservation, archaeology, history, and fine arts. Their aim is to encourage young people to care about cultural heritage, especially that which has been destroyed or even completely disappeared due to time, war, and human actions.

Living heritage in contemporary life

In Da Nang , the project "Digitizing Cham Tower Heritage - The Case of My Son Temple Complex and Bang An Tower," jointly undertaken by a group of students from Da Nang University of Technology and technology startups to address the problem of "heritage erosion by time," and the project "Reviving Thanh Ha Pottery Village through a Design Perspective," implemented between 2019 and 2021, are two typical projects representing two approaches: modern technology and the revival of traditional craft villages.

If the "Digitizing Cham Tower Heritage" project helps preserve a permanent "digital copy" of Cham towers, creating an accurate database for future research and restoration of these relics; then the "Reviving Thanh Ha Pottery Village" project has breathed new life into the pottery craft in this rural village, helping to solve the problem of "labor drain," bringing high income and pride in the profession, preventing young people in the village from leaving to work as factory workers in industrial zones, thus preserving the heritage.

In Ho Chi Minh City, there is the "Architectural Musings" group, founded in 2019, bringing together young people working in the fields of history, cultural heritage, architecture, and art. After nearly 6 years of operation, the group's members have posted more than 2,000 bilingual Vietnamese-English articles introducing, analyzing, and evaluating Vietnamese architectural heritage on the "Architectural Musings" webpage, with many unique and valuable documentary images, very useful for researching and preserving ancient architectural works, especially those from the Nguyen Dynasty and the French colonial period.

Today, young Vietnamese people use social media as a mass communication channel to promote and introduce traditional crafts and villages in a vivid and relatable way. Many young people use TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube to create video series demonstrating techniques for making conical hats, weaving, pottery, performing folk songs, or recreating traditional rituals.

Some young creative groups have also built fashion brands, souvenirs, or short documentaries based on local heritage. International collaborative projects also aim to enhance the capacity of young people working in the heritage sector, opening up new career opportunities and enriching cultural values ​​through creativity and business. Training programs, workshops, and volunteer activities have attracted thousands of young people.

From the examples above, a shift in thinking is clear: if previously heritage preservation was often understood as "keeping the status quo," now it is understood as "making heritage alive in contemporary life." When the younger generation participates in this process, heritage is infused with new energy, both preserving its identity and adapting to the times.

The enthusiasm and active participation of young people in the field of cultural heritage today have contributed significantly to the protection, honoring, and promotion of the value, knowledge, passion, and love of Vietnamese cultural heritage among young people and the community in general.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/khi-gioi-tre-cham-vao-di-san-van-hoa-3325717.html