In the context of Vietnam entering a new development stage with many intertwined opportunities and challenges, the need to promote the nation's endogenous strength is more urgent than ever. The Draft Document of the 14th Party Congress emphasizes the task of "strongly and comprehensively developing Vietnamese culture and people", while affirming that culture is the spiritual foundation of society, an important endogenous strength, and a driving force for sustainable national development. In this flow, cultural heritage - which is often seen as a memory of the past - is being placed in a new position: a valuable asset of the nation, which can create identity, soft power and bring economic value if properly exploited.
The problem is not only to preserve what our ancestors left behind, but more importantly, how to bring heritage into contemporary life, becoming a resource to nurture people and contribute to the future.
Heritage in the new development vision of the country
From the perspective of someone who has been involved in conservation for many years, Associate Professor Dr. Dang Van Bai, Vice Chairman of the National Cultural Heritage Council, said that in order to develop Vietnamese culture and people in the spirit of the 14th Congress Documents, it is necessary to first look back at how the whole society treats heritage. He emphasized: "Developing Vietnamese culture and people in the spirit of the draft 14th Congress Documents will be a synchronous strategy, harmoniously combining the preservation of cultural traditions and the pursuit of modernization."
He does not consider heritage as just static structures or customs that have been shaped in the past, but as a living part of national identity, nurturing the emotions, pride and human values of people today. According to Associate Professor, Dr. Dang Van Bai, a country is only truly strong when its people are strong; and if you want people to be strong, you need to create a synchronous cultural ecosystem, starting from the family, continuing in school and perfecting in society. He explained: "Integrating the mutual values between family culture, school culture and social culture will create a synchronous and sustainable cultural ecosystem."
From the perspective of Associate Professor Dr. Dang Van Bai, preserving heritage does not mean keeping everything as it is. On the contrary, he believes that heritage only promotes its value when it is brought into modern life in flexible ways, with the support of science and technology and especially the participation of the younger generation. “Preserve for development, not to preserve intact”, he said, emphasizing the need to innovate thinking in approaching heritage. The ultimate goal is still people – to recognize their roots, from there confidently step out into the world.
National identity and national competitive advantage
Along with the approach to the spiritual value of heritage, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Van Duong, Vietnam Institute of Culture, Arts, Sports and Tourism, continued to expand the issue from the perspective of the Party's cultural ideology. According to him, throughout the 1943 Vietnamese Culture Outline to recent resolutions, the Party has always considered culture and national identity as the foundation. The Draft Documents of the 14th National Congress inherit that spirit, but at the same time emphasize more on the relationship between heritage and economic development.
He analyzed: “Building an advanced Vietnamese culture with a strong national identity has always been considered a key task by our Party. The Draft Document of the 14th National Congress has gone one step further by emphasizing the preservation and promotion of heritage associated with economic development.” Here, heritage is not only a source of historical documents or spiritual assets but also a competitive advantage of Vietnam on the global economic and cultural map.
Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Van Duong believes that each heritage has its own story. It is these stories – from history, customs, architecture to performing arts – that make the difference between Vietnam and the rest of the world. If exploited with creative thinking, Vietnam can turn heritage into a “brand attraction” for the country, through tourism products, cultural industries, contemporary arts or international media.
However, he also pointed out the current limitations: many localities do not have a comprehensive strategy; the exploitation of heritage is still scattered and lacks depth; and the connection between heritage and technology, education or creativity is not really synchronized. Therefore, he emphasized: "Heritage values can only truly be promoted when brought into contemporary life with new languages, new technologies and new ways of doing things." According to him, digitizing heritage, building digital museums, open data or interactive applications are factors that help the younger generation access heritage in a more attractive way.
Resources of tomorrow, not just of yesterday
While the two experts above emphasize the spiritual and identity values, Dr. Tran Huu Son, Director of the Institute of Applied Folklore, focuses on the economic value of heritage. He believes that the current development process is opening up opportunities for heritage to become a new growth engine, part of the knowledge economy and creative economy.
Dr. Tran Huu Son emphasized: “Cultural heritage does not only have preservation value. It also has use value and non-use value. Non-use value – such as emotions, symbols, stories – often creates much greater economic value than purely material.” According to him, cultural tourism, products associated with indigenous knowledge, craft villages, traditional cuisine, OCOP products or cultural experience models can all generate large revenues, while promoting the image of Vietnam to the world.
Cultural tourism, products associated with indigenous knowledge, craft villages, traditional cuisine, OCOP products or cultural experience models can all generate large revenues, while promoting Vietnam's image to the world.
However, different from the idea that “exploitation is good”, Dr. Tran Huu Son warned of two risks: one is “museumization” of heritage when only focusing on protection without promoting; the other is crude commercialization that causes the heritage to be distorted. He emphasized: “Heritage belongs to the community. Businesses can provide services, the government can manage, but only the community is the one who keeps the soul of heritage”. Therefore, developing the heritage economy needs to put the community at the center, so that they can both benefit and actively participate in conservation.
According to Dr. Tran Huu Son, only when there is a balance between culture, environment, society and economy, heritage can truly “live” and become a sustainable development resource for the locality and the whole country. He proposed perfecting the law, promoting decentralization, building a transparent restoration fund and strongly applying science and technology in the conservation process.
From the analysis of the three experts, we can see an important common point: whether approached from a spiritual, identity or economic perspective, cultural heritage is recognized as a particularly important endogenous resource of Vietnam in the new period. It is both a spiritual foundation for nurturing people, a creative material for Vietnam to step out into the world, and an economic resource that can bring specific and sustainable benefits.
The Draft Document of the 14th National Congress requires approaching heritage with creative thinking, integrating culture - economy - society in a comprehensive strategy. If heritage is to become the strength of the nation, Vietnam needs a new way of behaving - more scientific, more humane and more consistent. Heritage is not just to remember, but to develop; not just to cherish, but to spread; not just a story of yesterday, but a resource of tomorrow.
In the context of globalization and increasingly fierce competition for values, awakening the power of heritage is also awakening the power of the nation. This is not only a requirement of the 14th Congress Document, but also a path for Vietnam to step into the future with its own unique values.
Source: https://vov.vn/van-hoa/khoi-day-suc-manh-cua-di-san-van-hoa-trong-chien-luoc-phat-trien-quoc-gia-post1248757.vov
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