Culture Rising in the New Era of the Nation

This is also the year to focus on streamlining the organization, holding Party Congresses at all levels, moving towards the 14th National Party Congress, opening a new era - the era of national growth, development, prosperity and prosperity. In that context, culture is identified as a tool to build national soft power, affirm national identity, position the country, and make Vietnam shine on the world map.

Lesson 1: Changing the mindset of creating culture

One of the outstanding results of the culture, sports and tourism sector that has been evaluated and recognized in recent times is the change in awareness and thinking from "doing culture" to "State management of culture" which has been increasingly improved and perfected, approaching in depth.

Many outstanding results

Implementing President Ho Chi Minh's ideology: "Culture must light the way for the nation to go", the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress and the directive speech of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong at the 2021 National Cultural Conference, in recent times, culture has received deep attention, not only as a spiritual foundation but also as a driving force for socio -economic development.

As Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung said, the activities of the sector always receive the attention of the Party and State leaders. The phrase "culture" often appears in legal documents, as well as directive documents, especially in the directive statements of key leaders of the Party and State. The Prime Minister assessed and commented that "culture continues to receive attention and culture has never achieved as many important results as at this time".

Looking back at the results of 2024, the culture, sports and tourism sector can be proud that its efforts have borne fruit. This is reflected in the work of preserving and promoting traditional cultural values and cultural heritages, which continue to achieve new achievements; the building of a grassroots cultural environment has achieved encouraging results, contributing to promoting the values and roles of family, community and society.

Many traditional cultural values of the nation were promoted, new cultural and ethical standards were formed; cultural work in ethnic minority and mountainous areas received attention. In addition, cultural and artistic activities were organized enthusiastically, fulfilling political tasks well and contributing to meeting the cultural enjoyment needs of the people.

In particular, the improvement of the legal system on cultural heritage has made remarkable changes, creating an important legal corridor, contributing to removing difficulties and obstacles and moving towards transforming cultural assets into development resources. Many cultural heritages have been recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). According to experts, 2024 is a shining year for Vietnamese cultural heritages when our country has 2 more cultural heritages recognized by UNESCO: the Festival of Ba Chua Xu in Sam Mountain and the reliefs cast on 9 bronze peaks in the Hue Imperial Palace.

Ceremony to receive Dai Phung communal house as special national relic, Dan Phuong commune, Dan Phuong district, Hanoi, February 2025. Photo: Thien Tu

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Dao Cuong said that the country currently has more than 40,000 relics and nearly 70,000 intangible cultural heritages inventoried, of which 34 heritages have been recognized by UNESCO (including 8 world cultural and natural heritages, 16 intangible cultural heritages and 10 documentary heritages); 138 special national relics have been ranked by the Prime Minister, 3,653 national relics, 620 intangible cultural heritages have been included in the list of national intangible cultural heritages. Notably, the country has 294 artifacts and groups of artifacts recognized by the Prime Minister as National Treasures; 202 museums, including 126 public museums and 76 non-public museums, preserving and displaying over 4 million documents and artifacts, including many collections and especially rare artifacts...

Culture is the soul, the core that shapes national identity, the bridge between the past, present and future, the foundation for the nation's eternal development.

In the context of Vietnam entering an era of strong integration and development, culture is facing many important opportunities and challenges, requiring urgent solutions and actions to promote development and rise in the international arena, entering a new era - the era of rising of the Vietnamese people.

Director of Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong

“The fact that cultural heritages are ranked and listed at local, national and international levels has aroused pride and strongly encouraged the heritage community, local authorities and the whole society to pay attention and proactively participate in protecting heritages. At the same time, it is necessary to promote the introduction of local cultural heritages, creating more motivation in the process of socializing cultural heritage conservation activities,” Deputy Minister Hoang Dao Cuong acknowledged.

Cultural and foreign affairs also have many bright spots. In 2024, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism organized the signing of 11 international cooperation documents during visits by senior leaders of the Party and State, developed 14 plans to implement foreign affairs activities and 9 projects.

The position and role of the culture, sports and tourism sector have also been affirmed through a series of events promoting and honoring the image of Vietnamese culture, people and country in many countries around the world, not only connecting Vietnamese culture and tourism with other countries but also contributing to promoting and elevating cooperation with strategic partners to a new level.

When culture is placed on par with economics and society

The cultural fields are of interest, the cultural heritage is shining, becoming an important driving force to increase the attractiveness of tourism. For example, in the ancient town of Hoi An (Quang Nam), Trang An (Ninh Binh), Hanoi's old quarter..., the local government and people have promoted the conservation and promotion of heritage values in association with the development of tourism - services and trade, creating livelihoods for the people.

In 2024, the 8 world cultural and natural heritage sites in Vietnam alone will welcome about 14.8 million tourists (including 6.3 million international visitors), with revenue from entrance tickets and direct service fees of about 7,700 billion VND.

In Hanoi, in 2024, the city organized more than 3,000 cultural, artistic, and sports events, in which the city coordinated with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to organize highly appreciated national and international events.

Vice Chairman of the City People's Committee Vu Thu Ha said that the city has also developed a set of criteria for recognizing city-level tourist destinations and so far has 42 city-level destinations to connect and develop tourism. With specific solutions, in 2024, Hanoi was voted as the leading cultural destination in Vietnam, attracting more than 27 million tourists, an increase of more than 12% compared to 2023 and tourism revenue reaching over 110,000 billion VND, an increase of 18.3%.

It can be said that, in recent times, Party committees and authorities at all levels have increasingly recognized the role of culture as well as the viewpoint that "culture must be placed on par with economics, politics and society", thereby paying more effective attention to the issue of cultural development.

To concretize the policies and viewpoints of the Resolution of the 13th Party Congress on the cultural field, in addition to promoting the combined strength, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung said that the sector determined to innovate strategic thinking. Accordingly, culture is the "reins" in the "culture - sports - tourism" triad.

“Following the orientation of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, which identified the synchronous completion of institutions as one of the three strategic breakthroughs, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has proactively sought resources and proposed to competent authorities for approval to continue to complete institutions, policies, and legal gaps to help the industry develop.

Specifically, submitting to the National Assembly for approval the Resolution on investment policy for the National Target Program on Cultural Development for the 2025-2035 period and the Law on Cultural Heritage (amended) at the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly; continuing to focus on completing the dossier to propose the development of a Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Advertising..." - Minister Nguyen Van Hung shared.

Speaking at the conference on the implementation of the 2025 tasks of the culture, sports and tourism sector, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also reiterated the view that cultural development is the endogenous strength and soul of the nation. The culture of the Vietnamese people with a history of thousands of years is the nation's eternal strength; the development of physical education and sports is an objective and mandatory requirement, contributing to the formation of a healthy nation; tourism is a key economic sector.

“Therefore, the culture, sports and tourism sector plays an extremely important role, with a profound, comprehensive and global impact; it is both urgent and strategic and long-term for socio-economic development, national construction and protection, contributing to creating a solid foundation to bring the country into a new era - the era of national growth, building a strong and prosperous Vietnam” - the Prime Minister emphasized.

The work of drafting legal documents on culture, sports and tourism is a part that contributes to perfecting the legal system, removing difficulties and obstacles, overcoming bottlenecks, and adjusting aspects in the fields of state management of the industry.

A system of synchronous legal documents on culture, sports and tourism is the basis for us to shift from a cultural mindset to State management of culture, unlocking resources for sports, creating a clear corridor for tourism to truly develop into a spearhead economic sector.

Director of Legal Department (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) Pham Cao Thai

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/van-hoa-vuon-minh-trong-ky-nguyen-moi-cua-dan-toc.651822.html