Building Hanoi culture in the new era

During eight consecutive terms of office, the Hanoi Party Committee has always devoted a separate program to building culture and people. Improving knowledge always goes hand in hand with building ethics, lifestyle, and behavior.

This activity has contributed to restoring good traditional values ​​and building new cultural features. However, entering a new era, when the country integrates more deeply with the world, Hanoi's culture and people need to integrate new values ​​and new goals.

There are many different solutions in building culture and people, in which, Hanoi focuses on creating cultural environments.

Family-school-society integration

There are still two weeks left until the Lunar New Year of At Ty 2025, but Ms. Do Thi Phuong (Chau Phong village, Lien Ha commune, Dong Anh district) has already planned to welcome her children and grandchildren home for a reunion. This year, the year-end meal is scheduled to be held on the 28th of Tet, after which the children and grandchildren will visit the graves. The extended family will choose a day to gather together on Tet holiday.

Ms. Phuong is the eldest daughter-in-law in a four-generation family, with dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Her father-in-law has passed away, and her mother-in-law is 95 years old this year. Although she has a lot of “kitchen” work, she still plays the role of connecting the members. Ms. Phuong shared: “To keep the family warm and peaceful, the elderly must be exemplary. When we all get together, we often tell stories about the behavior of the previous generation to our children and grandchildren. Teaching and reminding children and grandchildren helps them understand the principles of being children and people.” As society becomes more and more modern, it seems that “four-generation” families are no longer suitable, but in Hanoi, such models are not rare.

The family is the first environment that each individual comes into contact with, so Hanoi city always pays attention to building a culture of behavior from within the family. In addition to the common attributes of Vietnamese families such as adults setting an example, filial children... the city focuses on factors such as elegant and polite speech; encouraging the acceptance of modern factors. Therefore, many families seem to be very "traditional", but are also very "modern", when children study abroad, work in modern environments or at foreign enterprises...

Head of the Department of Building Lifestyle and Family Culture (Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports ) Bui Minh Hoang shared: “We encourage people to preserve the beautiful behavior of Hanoians, commend exemplary models, and popularize the implementation of the Family Behavior Criteria... Instead of general commendation, we group exemplary cultural families in each field such as: Encouraging learning, preserving heritage, humanitarian charity... When the community knows about the examples, people will look at their own families to adjust their behavior.”

Building culture and people is a long-term journey. The Hanoi Party Committee has implemented Program No. 06-CTr/TU on developing culture, improving the quality of human resources, and building elegant and civilized Hanoians (formerly Program No. 04-CTr/TU) for eight consecutive terms).

The city focuses on building culture in three environments: Family, school, and society. For schools, the city has introduced a set of documentson civilized and elegant lifestyles in schools at three levels since the 2012-2013 school year. From the 2024-2025 school year, education on civilized and elegant lifestyles will be implemented at preschool level. The city focuses on fostering love for the homeland in students by organizing direct visits and learning programs at historical sites in the communes and wards where they live.

Regarding the social environment, Hanoi has implemented the Code of Conduct in Public Places since 2017, with specific codes of conduct in different spaces such as: Historical sites, cultural houses, markets, supermarkets, train stations, libraries, parks... In a place where civilized lifestyle is difficult to penetrate like a traditional market, the city has had initial successes with the "Civilized Market" model. Thai Ha Market (Dong Da District) was once chaotic, but now, right from the market gate, the code of conduct in public places is posted. All items are placed on high, airy, clean shelves, and the walkways are regularly cleaned.

The service attitude of the traders is also polite and courteous. This result is thanks to the Women's Union at all levels promoting civilized behavior in commerce, asking business households to commit to selling correctly, selling enough, and selling quality products... Currently, all districts, towns and cities are implementing the Civilized Market model. Head of the Propaganda Department of the Hanoi Women's Union Hoang Thu Hong said: "The Civilized Market model is a concrete step in implementing the code of conduct in public places in the market space, and is the most effective communication measure to bring the code of conduct in public places into life through interaction and trade between traders and people who come to buy and sell goods".

With these three pillars, almost when participating in any environment, each individual's behavior is regulated by both social concepts and specific rules. Although there are still phenomena of littering on the street, swearing or fighting over small collisions..., the mainstream of Hanoi culture is still to restore traditional cultural beauty while simultaneously creating modern cultural features.

Adapting to the new era

The behavioral culture of Hanoians is considered a valuable “asset”. But today’s social context has changed a lot. Entering a new era, international exchanges are becoming stronger, people live in cyberspace more and more… creating a collision between tradition and modernity, between national identity and international trends. A typical example is the excessive idolization of foreign entertainment stars. Even domestic entertainment programs are busy copying international programs.

Traditional festival of Cau Do village, Ha Cau ward, Ha Dong district. (Photo: KHANH AN)

The time that young people “live” in a “virtual” environment with social networks and the internet is increasing and difficult to orient and manage… These challenges require the formation of a suitable system of cultural and human values, while affirming the representativeness of the capital to the whole country. Previously, Hanoian culture was associated with the phrase “elegant, civilized”, but now, right from the basic characteristics, new elements need to be added.

Based on practice and consulting with researchers, the Department of Culture and Sports proposed a draft of “Standards for building Hanoian culture”. As a participant in building the criteria, former Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports Tran Thi Van Anh said that from the criteria of “gallantry, elegance, humanity, and civilization”, the cultural sector proposed specific criteria with two options. Both options have common foundations of elegant, civilized, proud behavior, contributing to the construction of the capital and adding modern elements.

This factor in option 1 is: Creativity in thinking and action; modernity in lifestyle (mastering, applying technology to work and life, living healthily and scientifically); international integration (proficient in foreign languages, proactively approaching world civilization); responsibility in the community... The contemporary factors of option 2 include: The spirit of deep international integration (mastering foreign languages, promoting Vietnamese cultural values ​​to the world, integrating internationally while still preserving identity); awareness of building a modern-smart urban area; leading creative spirit; cultural spirit of hospitality and friendliness... If option 1 harmonizes traditional and modern elements, option 2 emphasizes the representative role of the Capital; demonstrating the leading role of the Capital's citizens in innovation and integration.

The construction of cultural standards for Hanoians in the new era is considered by many scientists and managers to be extremely necessary. Dr. Nguyen Viet Chuc, former Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children, said: "The construction of cultural standards for Hanoians needs to be implemented in conjunction with the value system and culture of the Vietnamese people. To adapt to the new era, it is necessary to add some new qualities.

For example, pioneering and creative qualities. Hanoians possess the greatest assets in the national cultural treasure, and have received the best material and spiritual conditions. Therefore, they must be pioneers in all areas of the new era, the digital era, the technological era. Therefore, creativity is the top quality to meet this requirement.

Many scientists believe that, in addition to the standards being built, Hanoi needs to pay attention to some virtues suitable for today's life such as the awareness of respecting the law, typically when participating in traffic; preserving and maintaining traditional culture to attract cultural resources and people from all over the country...

On the side of the cultural management agency, Deputy Director of the Department of Grassroots Culture (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) Luong Duc Thang proposed: “Recently, the Central Government and Hanoi have paid great attention to building a system of cultural values, a system of family values ​​and standards for Vietnamese people in the new situation. Building a system of values ​​for Hanoians today needs to be placed in the “Era of national growth” as directed by General Secretary To Lam.

This system of values ​​needs to be quantified specifically, close to reality, serving the development purposes of the capital in particular and of Vietnam in general. To build human development criteria, it is necessary to focus on leadership and direction from all levels; focus on communication and require coordination from all levels, sectors and people. Currently, the Hanoi cultural sector continues to record the opinions of experts and managers to perfect the standards, advise the city to officially promulgate, creating a new impetus in building the culture and people of the capital.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/xay-dung-van-hoa-nguoi-ha-noi-trong-ky-nguyen-moi-post855707.html