Awakening the cultural potential of ethnic minorities

The culture of ethnic minorities is an inseparable part, contributing to the richness and diversity of the unified Vietnamese culture. Realizing that, in recent times, Quang Ninh province has focused on investing a lot of resources in the work of preserving and promoting the cultural values of ethnic minorities. Thereby, not only contributing to preserving national identity but also arousing valuable potential for tourism development, creating a driving force to promote comprehensive socio-economic development of ethnic minority areas.

Binh Lieu organizes a space to perform and introduce the culture of ethnic groups in Binh Lieu district within the framework of the Culture - Tourism Week, Golden Season Festival 2024.

As a locality with over 96% of the population being ethnic minorities, Binh Lieu district with hundreds of years of history has formed a unique cultural treasure. Each ethnic group here has its own unique language, costumes, customs and festivals, contributing to creating a culturally diverse Binh Lieu. The restoration and annual organization of traditional festivals such as Luc Na Communal House Festival, Wind Abstinence Festival, Soong Co Festival, along with new festivals such as So Flower Festival, Golden Season Festival, Cultural - Sports Festival of ethnic groups in Binh Lieu district... have become highlights in the work of cultural preservation associated with tourism development in the locality.

On the basis of traditional culture, Binh Lieu has gradually built tourism products with its own identity, such as: San Chi women's football, Then Binh Lieu discovery tours, or homestays with traditional architecture providing resort services, cuisine, and experiences of local people's lives... Thereby, contributing to positioning the local tourism brand.

Not only Binh Lieu, many other localities such as Ha Long, Uong Bi, Van Don, Tien Yen, Mong Cai ... also actively implement tourism development models associated with preserving the culture of ethnic minorities. Typical examples include Ky Thuong Am Vap Farm tourist area (Ha Long city), Thanh Y Dao cultural village (Uong Bi city) ...

In addition, festival activities and traditional cultural festivals are regularly held, contributing to promoting the cultural and tourism images of localities, such as: Ban Vuong Festival, Lang Da Communal House Festival of Ba Che District; San Chi Ethnic Culture and Sports Festival of Dai Duc Commune, Dong Dinh Festival, Tay Ethnic Culture and Sports Festival of Phong Du Commune of Tien Yen District; Dai Phan Festival of San Diu People of Van Don District, etc.

San Chi ethnic living space on display at San Chi ethnic cultural house (Dai Duc commune, Tien Yen district).

The province has piloted a model of building, preserving and promoting cultural values associated with community tourism development in 4 ethnic minority villages, including: Tay village in Ban Cau (Luc Hon commune) and San Chi village in Luc Ngu hamlet (Huc Dong commune) of Binh Lieu district; Dao Thanh Y village in Po Hen hamlet (Hai Son commune, Mong Cai city); San Diu village in Binh Dan commune (Van Don district). Of which, San Diu Ethnic Culture and Tourism Village in Binh Dan commune has officially come into operation since December 2024. The remaining localities are also actively planning, restoring houses, craft villages, rituals, festivals, traditional cultural and sports activities, thereby raising community awareness in cultural preservation, while increasing the attractiveness of destinations.

In particular, many cultural heritages of ethnic minorities in the area have been ranked and included in the list of national intangible cultural heritages, which have aroused the potential for tourism development, such as: Soong co folk performance art of San Chi people; Soong co folk performance art of San Diu people; Kieng gio custom of Dao people in Dong Van commune, Binh Lieu district; Cap sac ceremony of Dao Thanh Y people; New rice celebration ceremony of Tay people. Among them, Then heritage of Tay people Quang Ninh is one of 11 provinces with Then Tay, Nung, Thai Vietnam recognized by UNESCO in the list of representative intangible cultural heritages of humanity.

The coming-of-age ceremony of the Dao Thanh Phan people in Khe Vang village, Don Dac commune, Ba Che. Photo: Nguyen Tuyen (Department of Culture and Information of Ba Che district) — The coming-of-age ceremony of the Dao Thanh Phan people in Khe Vang village, Don Dac commune, Ba Che. *Photo: Nguyen Tuyen (Contributor)*

In order to continue to restore, preserve and promote the cultural values of ethnic minorities associated with the development of community tourism, the Provincial People's Committee has issued Plan No. 125/KH-UBND on the implementation of Project 6 "Preserving and promoting the fine traditional cultural values of ethnic minorities associated with tourism development" under the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the period 2021-2030. In particular, it is determined that surveying, inventorying, collecting and documenting the traditional cultural heritage of ethnic minorities; organizing the preservation and promotion of typical traditional festivals of ethnic minorities, exploiting and developing products for tourism development are among the key tasks that need to be implemented immediately in 2025.

Preserving the culture of ethnic minorities not only contributes to enriching the cultural identity and people of Quang Ninh but is also a valuable resource for developing tourism and cultural industry, aiming at the goal of sustainable development.

Duy Khoa

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