The beauty of intangible cultural heritage in the heart of the city.

Thanh Hoa City, nestled against the Ma River, embraces countless valuable assets. Its scenic landscapes and interwoven layers of history and culture have become a rich, diverse, unique, and attractive tourism potential rarely found elsewhere. Throughout its development, the city has consistently prioritized the preservation and promotion of its traditional historical and cultural values, viewing them as a solid foundation and source of internal strength to drive socio -economic growth.

The Thai Mieu festival of the Later Le Dynasty, Dong Ve ward.

Taking a stroll around the city, visitors can explore typical scenic spots, historical sites, and cultural and spiritual landmarks such as: the Ham Rong - Ma River area; the Thai Mieu temple of the Later Le Dynasty; the temple of Duong Dinh Nghe; the tomb of General Le Trung Nghia; the Ho Chi Minh Memorial Cultural Area; the Le Loi Monument; Lam Son Square; Hoi An Park; Thanh Quang Park; Truc Lam Ham Rong Zen Monastery; the memorial area for teachers and students who sacrificed their lives on the Ma River dike construction site; the Monument to the Victorious Youth Volunteers; the Thanh Hoa Provincial Museum; the Hoang Long Ancient Artifacts Museum; Dai Bi Pagoda; Thanh Ha Pagoda; Tang Phuc Pagoda; Dong Son Ancient Temple; Nguyet Vien Shrine...

Associated with the system of historical sites and cultural and spiritual structures are traditional folk festivals, games, and performances. According to preliminary statistics, Thanh Hoa City currently has more than 40 traditional festivals; these festivals attract visitors from within and outside the province to attend, offer incense, and visit, such as: the Thai Mieu festival of the Later Le Dynasty; the Duc Thanh Ca Temple festival in Dong Son ancient village; the Tong Duy Tan Temple festival; the Chu Van Luong Temple festival; the Phu Ba festival; the Ai Son Temple festival; the Duong Dinh Nghe Temple festival; the Nguyet Vien communal house festival...

The city's historical and cultural landscape is vividly colored and filled with vibrant sounds by the presence of many unique and typical games and performances, such as: the Tú Huần performance (Hoằng Quang commune); the "Thiên - Hạ - Thái - Bình" (Heaven - Earth - Peace) word-running game; the blindfolded ball-throwing folk game (Quảng Thắng ward); the "Hò sông Mã" (Hò Sông Mã) melodies (including wards and communes along both banks of the Mã River such as Nam Ngạn, Hàm Rồng, Tào Xuyên, Long Anh, Hoằng Quang, Thiệu Khánh, Thiệu Dương); human chess, card games, Tổ Tôm, and card games (Đông Vệ ward)... In recent years, every time the Lunar New Year comes around, the City People's Committee organizes the "Ancient Village Tet" program in the Đông Sơn ancient village space, Hàm Rồng ward, with many lively and attractive activities for tourists.

According to the tourism development zoning in Thanh Hoa province's tourism development strategy until 2025, with a vision to 2030, Thanh Hoa City is identified as one of the three key tourism development clusters of the province and will become an urban tourism area, a center for historical and revolutionary tourism, and an area for archaeological and historical exploration. The city has identified the task of developing tourism products that are unique, attractive, high-quality, and deeply rooted in local characteristics.

Deeply aware of this, over the years, adhering closely to its functions and duties, the Thanh Hoa City cultural sector has continuously strived to innovate the content and forms of its activities, making a significant contribution to the preservation and promotion of traditional cultural values, better meeting the needs for cultural and artistic enjoyment, and improving the lives of urban residents. Accordingly, the cultural sector has proactively advised the City People's Committee on building programs and plans and effectively implementing the viewpoints, policies, tasks, and solutions of the Party, State, province, and city in the fields of culture, arts, tourism, and sports... with many rich and diverse contents and forms, ensuring practicality, effectiveness, safety, economy, and suitability to the cultural lifestyle, traditions, customs, and practical conditions of each locality, agency, and unit.

The city's cultural sector, in collaboration with local authorities and units, organizes training courses to practice and perform folk games and performances, preserving and promoting traditional cultural values. Recently, the Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and the Provincial Cultural and Film Center, in coordination with the Thanh Hoa City People's Committee and the Thanh Hoa City Cultural, Information, Sports, and Tourism Center, opened a training course titled "Supporting the Practice and Performance of Tu Huan and Thien Ha Thai Binh Games in Thanh Hoa City - 2024," with the participation of 100 trainees, including artisans, cultural and artistic key figures, and teenagers from Hoang Quang commune and Quang Thang ward. During the three-day course, trainees received guidance and knowledge on organizing and operating grassroots cultural and artistic groups. The choreography and staging of two performances were completed... Through the training course, the core team of cultural and artistic personnel from the two wards and communes were able to exchange ideas, learn, improve their skills, and build a core force for the grassroots cultural movement, thereby doing a good job of preserving and promoting intangible cultural values ​​to serve tourism development and community cultural activities...

In addition, the city's cultural sector has done well in developing mass cultural and artistic movements; effectively promoting public cultural activity centers, turning them into unique tourism products of the city (Hoi An ancient town, Phan Chu Trinh pedestrian street, Weekend Rendezvous program, Traditional Tet in ancient villages...), contributing to creating more space for folk games and performances to interact, perform, spread, and promote their beauty to a wider audience; connecting local cultural values...

Besides the achievements, the work of preserving and promoting traditional cultural values ​​in general, and intangible cultural values ​​in particular, in Thanh Hoa City still faces many difficulties and challenges regarding funding, human resources, infrastructure, and the impact of rapid urbanization... Mr. Hoang Cao Thang, Director of the Center for Culture, Information, Sports and Tourism of Thanh Hoa City, said: “Thanh Hoa City is striving to develop tourism into a strong economic sector, with an increasingly high proportion of tourism in the GDP structure, creating a driving force for socio-economic development. To achieve that goal, the preservation and promotion of traditional cultural values ​​in general need to be given more attention and investment, with the joint efforts of the whole society. Because these historical and cultural values ​​are precious resources for tourism development, an important source of internal strength, and a driving force for socio-economic development.”

Text and photos: Dang Khoa

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/net-dep-van-hoa-phi-vat-the-giua-long-do-thi-223589.htm