Preserving and upholding cultural values of Ninh Binh

 Striving to preserve and uphold cultural values

 Thousand-year history has granted Ninh Binh abundant treasures such as relics, festivals, folk games, food, traditional customs and heroic figures.

By the end of 2020, Ninh Binh has 1,821 relics, including churches, pagodas and temples, 466 intangible cultural heritages and 260 traditional festivals.

Of which, there are 298 provincial-level historical and cultural relics; 81 national relics, especially the world cultural and natural heritage of Trang An; three special national relics including Hoa Lu ancient capital; Trang An - Tam Coc, Bich Dong cave system, and Non Nuoc mountain.

Ninh Binh boasts three national treasures: Two royal stone beds at the temple worshiping King Dinh Tien Hoang and other relics, artefacts inside King Dinh Tien Hoang and Le Dai Hanh temples.

The province has also paid heed to preserving and promoting traditional arts, cultures of localities.

From 2018 to date, the Ninh Binh provincial People's Committee has approved and steered the implementation of the project "Preserving and upholding values of intangible cultural heritage of practising the worshipping of Vietnamese Mother Godness in Ninh Binh" and the project 'Restoring, preserving and promoting Xam singing in Ninh Binh in the 2019-2022 period".

Muong ethnic minority group in the mountainous district of Nho Quan gradually use "Cong chieng" drums in their cultural activities and speak their own language in the daily life.

Studying history, tradition of localities, especially historical values related to Dinh dynasty, and Hoa lu culture ambience have received special attention.

The province has successfully organised seminars at national and provincial levels to explore the history, land and people of Hoa Lu ancient capital in its long history of formation and development.

Turning culture values into soft power

With its endless efforts in preserving and maintaining systems of tangible and intangible heritages, the province has striven to utilize cultural values as precious sources to boost its economy and culture exchange.

These values have helped the province to develop its tourism sector effectively.

According to Ninh Binh's Department of Tourism, the reality shows that, both tangible and intangible cultural heritages have contributed to Ninh Binh's tourism growth.

In the period of 2009-2019, the average growth of tourist arrivals was 13.11 percent. In 2019 alone, it welcomed 7.65 million visitors, up 4.79 percent compared to that of 2018 with turnover of 3.67 trillion VND.

The tourism sector has provided jobs for 21.500 labourers. Tourism development has effectively enabled local economic restructuring, of which the share of the service sector is rising.

Ninh Binh has marked its name on the region and national tourism maps. In three consecutive years, it has been named as the top attractive destinations in Vietnam by international travel magazines like Telegraph, Tripadvisor, and Business Insider.

This has proved the effectiveness of exploiting culture values in serving the locality's socio-economic development.

The restoration of cultural values has enriched cultural products, arts, folk games, festivals and helped educate history and tradition for younger generations, thus raising the spiritual life of local people.

In the time to come, Ninh Binh will continue to carrying out synchronous measures to develop culture and people who have rich knowledge about traditional and modern values, and the characteristics of Hoa Lu ancient capital.

Ninh Binh will try to ensure the close connection between culture, politics, economy, society, and environmental protection; develop culture in line with tourism, turning tourism into a spearhead economic sector, and at the same time, protecting cultural heritages for the next generations.

The province will improve the spiritual life and the cultural enjoyment and consumption demand of local people, thus turning cultural resources into a spiritual foundation, an inner strength, and an important impetus to maintain political order and promote the province's socio-economic development fast and sustainably.

Translated Nguyen Thuy