Culture is the foundation and driving force for national development.

Prof. Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan - Rector of the University of Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi shared this with reporters of the Economic and Urban Newspaper when discussing cultural development in the New Era - the Era of national growth.

Prof. Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan

President Ho Chi Minh once said, “Culture must light the way for the nation.” The 13th Party Congress documents emphasized the comprehensive development of human beings and the building of an advanced Vietnamese culture imbued with national identity so that Vietnamese culture and people truly become an endogenous strength, a driving force for national development and national defense. According to you, in the context of the country preparing to enter a new era - the era of national growth, how should the role of culture be further affirmed?

- The viewpoint that “Culture must light the way for the nation” affirms that culture is both the foundation and the direction of national development. For that reason, even before the country gained independence, in the Outline of Vietnamese Culture in 1943, the Communist Party of Vietnam affirmed that, together with politics and economics, culture forms the three fronts of the Vietnamese revolution. Based on that important awareness, at the First National Cultural Conference in 1946, President Ho Chi Minh emphasized: “Culture must light the way for the nation”. This viewpoint was expressed in the strategy of the Vietnamese revolution to liberate the nation, build and innovate the country.

Specifically, during the resistance war against France and the US, it was the culture of resistance and the culture of national salvation. At the 6th National Congress of the Party in 1986, when the country entered the period of renovation, the Party determined the viewpoint of "building an advanced Vietnamese culture with strong national identity". When the country expanded international relations, in the context of globalization, the Party on the one hand promoted the expansion of the absorption of advanced values of human culture in parallel with preserving the national cultural identity towards the goal of "integration but not dissolution".

The documents of the 11th Party Congress continue to affirm the direction of building an advanced Vietnamese culture, imbued with national identity, comprehensive development, unity in diversity, deeply imbued with the spirit of humanity, democracy, and progress; making culture a solid spiritual foundation, an important endogenous strength of development.

For culture to develop, the first thing is the awareness of local leaders. The second is the vision and consciousness of the community. Local people must really want to preserve and turn their cultural values into heritage for economic development. The third is the role of enterprises is extremely important. Reality has shown that when there are enterprises investing, localities all develop, for example, Ninh Binh, Ha Nam, Tay Ninh, Phu Quoc all have enterprises investing. However, localities must also pay close attention when enterprises invest, it must be appropriate and reasonable; if enterprises bring in inappropriate things, they must be eliminated immediately.
Prof. Dr. Le Hong Ly - Chairman of Vietnam Folk Arts Association

And up to now, the Party has affirmed that “Culture has truly become a solid spiritual foundation of society, an important endogenous strength to ensure sustainable development and firmly protect the Fatherland”. Attention is paid to investing in cultural development commensurate with economic, political and social development. All of this shows that the Party always emphasizes and affirms the position and importance of culture for the development of the country, in which it emphasizes the core values of national culture, which are the foundation and soul that create national values and character.

Entering the New Era - the Era of national growth and prosperity, to achieve that aspiration, I believe that culture has been, is and will continue to be an important pillar, both the foundation and the driving force for national development. Above all, culture plays an important fundamental role in building and developing the Vietnamese people. Only culture and starting with culture can foster people with aspirations, courage, and dedication to face difficulties and challenges, making the country strong without losing its identity.

In fact, in many localities, cultural development has not really been given the importance and attention it deserves, on par with economic, political and social development. In your opinion, what are the current difficulties and limitations in cultural development?

- As shared, the Party and the State have outlined policies and directions very clearly. However, in reality, the development of culture has not been as expected. There are many reasons leading to this situation; however, in my opinion, there are some fundamental reasons.

First of all, there is a limitation in awareness, in many places, at many times and with many people, there is not really a full and correct awareness of the position and role of culture. There are many comparisons that culture is "holding, carrying, placing, cleaning", "flags, lights, trumpets, drums"... Although it is said jokingly, it partly reflects the current awareness of many people about the position and role of culture, including those who have certain responsibilities in planning and implementing cultural policies at all levels, sectors and localities. From not properly assessing the position and role of culture, it leads to a lack of respect and lack of thoroughness in arranging human resources when implementing the policies of the Party and State on culture.

Second is the limitation in investment. If compared with other sectors and fields, it can be seen that investment in culture is still modest. National target programs for culture only reach a very small number compared to investment in other fields...

Sir, to keep pace with the country in the New Era - the Era of national growth, what solutions for cultural development need to be implemented?

- The new era, the era of strong national development, requires that the pillars must be both solid and able to meet the rapid pace of development. In terms of culture, it is necessary to pay attention to some fundamental and breakthrough solutions.

That is, fundamentally and profoundly changing the perception of the position and role of culture in the development and strength of the nation and people. Culture is both the foundation and the driving force of development. Building a national culture is not only about taking care of the material facilities and cultural institutions, but first of all, building a human foundation, cultivating spiritual values, love, human values; personal responsibility to oneself, to family, to the community and to society; at the same time, building courage, confidence, and the ability to adapt to the current strong and increasingly complex changes.

Along with that, it is necessary to promptly realize the Party and State's policies and guidelines into a system of specific policies, plans and actions to achieve the set goals. Another solution is to have a strategy to build and develop Vietnamese people through promoting comprehensive education on awareness and behavior; creating universal cultural standards that are recognized by the community and voluntarily implemented.

A very important solution is to increase investment in resources for building and developing culture. We need to identify and persevere in the viewpoint: investing in culture is a long-term investment, requiring perseverance and continuity; the benefits of investing in culture cannot be measured by mere economic benefits, are not easily seen, and can sometimes only be seen after one or more generations.

Thank you very much!

The Party and the State pay great attention to culture, especially after the 2021 National Cultural Conference. However, when investing in culture, we should choose the focus, the key points, with highlights but at the same time ensuring that all people can benefit. If every commune receives a little investment in culture, it will end up fragmented. Every province has a museum but there is nothing to display. Currently, there are 2 autonomous museums that can "survive" and "sustain": Quang Ninh Museum and Tay Nguyen Museum. This shows that cultural space must have highlights and must be unified.

And to make the cultural space “live”, the Management Board of that place cooperates with tour design companies, attracting domestic and foreign visitors to visit; as well as cooperates with schools to teach experiences to students. In fact, the K9 relic site (Hanoi) from Monday to Sunday always has many schools bringing students to experience. Most recently, the Vietnam Military History Museum has attracted a lot of visitors to visit and students to experience.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Quang Lieu - Principal of High School for the Gifted
Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/van-hoa-la-nen-tang-dong-luc-thuc-day-su-phat-trien-dat-nuoc.655585.html