Preserving and promoting cultural heritages

With a favorable geographical location, diverse natural resources, sea, plains, mountainous areas…, Phu Yen province has had over 30 ethnic groups living together, such as: Kinh, Cham, Ba Na, Ede, Tay, Nung… It is this richness that has created diverse and unique cultural heritages for the land of “yellow flowers, green grass”, which is not popular in the central land.

The Art of “Bai choi” – the representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity

Currently, in the province’s localities, there have been  many traditional festivals, such as Go Thi Thung Horse Race, O Loan Lagoon Traditional Boat Race, Da Rang River Boat Race, Da Nong River Water Festival, Xuan Dai Bay Festival, Dong Cam Festival, Tu Quang Pagoda Festival, Nguyen Tieu Poetry Festival, Le Thanh Phuong Temple Festival, Luong Van Chanh Temple Festival, buffalo-stabbing festival, fishermen festival… and many festivals related to religion and beliefs. Over time, these festivals have deeply rooted, converged and spread cultural and historical values ​​in community life.

Mr Huynh Tu Nhan, Deputy Head of Department of Cultural Management (Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism), said: “Currently, a number of monuments have been planned to expand by the province to facilitate festival activities such as: Luong Van Chanh Temple and Tomb relic, Le Thanh Phuong Temple and Tomb relic… Many national and provincial monuments are invested in renovating, embellishing, promoting their values, become a tourism destination, a place for traditional education, cultural activities, and entertainment of the community. In which, the scenic spots of Da Dia reef and Dai Lanh Cape – Mon Beach have been collected entrance fee since 2016”.

According to Mr Nhan, since 2016, each year, there has been an average of 5 ranked monuments. As of July 2020, the province had 90 ranked relics (including 1 special national relic, 21 national monuments and 68 provincial monuments); 185 intangible cultural heritages; 4 heritages included in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, including: “Bai choi” Art in Phu Yen province (2014), Phu Yen Fisherman’s Festival (2015), Couple-drum Performance Art, Gongs art of the Ba Na ethnic group in Dong Xuan district (2016), Maturity ceremony of the Phu Yen E De people (2018). In particular, the “Bai choi” Art heritage of Phu Yen province together with the Central Vietnam “Bai choi” Art has been registered by UNESCO as the representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

Recently, the PPC issued the project to protect and promote the value of the intangible cultural heritage of Central Vietnam in Phu Yen province in the period of 2021-2023. Accordingly, the general goal by 2023 is to well perform the task of protecting, preserving, inheriting and promoting the heritage value; raising community awareness and responsibility, mobilizing resources for heritage conservation and promotion; effectively exploiting the “Bai choi” Art heritage of Phu Yen province, serving socio-economic development, building and developing Vietnamese culture and people to meet the country’s sustainable development requirements.

According to Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, comrade Nguyen Ngoc Thai, over the past time, Phu Yen province has focused on implementing Resolution 33-NQ/TW on building and developing Vietnamese culture and people to meet development requirements to sustainably develop the country associated with implementing resolutions, directives and conclusions of the Politburo and the Central Executive Committee on culture. Thanks to that, the cultural heritage values ​​are preserved and promoted; many tangible, intangible cultural heritages and natural heritages are intact and highly appreciated by domestic and international cultural researchers.

“The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism suggested localities continue to review, survey, and include the cultural heritage of each locality in the list in order to be continued to evaluate, research, and propose to be included in the list of national cultural heritage later to preserve and promote those cultural heritage; at the same time, to preserve and promote cultural heritage values ​​associated with tourism development, which helps to contribute to improving the lives of people, promoting socio-economic development of the province”, said comrade Nguyen Ngoc Thai.

Source: Phu Yen Newspaper

Translated by TRINH THUY