Xoan Village welcomes international tourists

International tourists are excited to be invited to participate in Xoan singing performances.

Representative Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

On December 8, 2017, at the 12th meeting, the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO officially removed Phu Tho Xoan singing from the state of urgent protection and became a Representative Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This is the first and only case in the history of UNESCO, not only demonstrating the international community's recognition of Phu Tho province's efforts in committing to protecting the heritage in a state of urgent protection but also affirming the value, vitality, and widespread spread of Xoan singing heritage in the community.

In April 2018, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Phu Tho in coordination with the People's Committee of Viet Tri City officially launched the tourism product "Hat Xoan in ancient villages" associated with the daily tour Hanoi - Phu Tho. Since its implementation, each year, the original Xoan villages have welcomed and served tens of thousands of visitors. Many travel companies have been interested in building tours associated with the Hat Xoan program: Asia Experience Travel, Vietrantour, Saigontourist, Golden tour, Neworient tour, Newstar tour, Nam Thanh travel, Fivestar tour, Vinatour...

Overcoming language and cultural barriers, Xoan singing connects people.

With specific and practical actions, the tourism industry in particular and Phu Tho province in general have turned Xoan singing into a spiritual food, a unique and special tourism product of Phu Tho province that domestic and international tourists cannot ignore. This is the basis for Phu Tho Xoan singing - a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity to be circulated and promoted to the world.

The ancient Xoan villages in the communes on the outskirts of the Hung Temple Historical Site are prosperous and bustling lands, but not in the style of large resorts, high-rise hotels, splendid garden villas, and bright lights... Instead, visitors can participate in many activities such as admiring ancient spaces such as Hung Lo communal house, Lai Len temple and more than 200 ancient houses in Hung Lo commune; visiting traditional craft villages, experiencing the stages of making traditional banh chung - banh giay.

In particular, visitors can enjoy ancient Xoan singing melodies at the historical sites: Lai Len Temple, Hung Lo ancient communal house, An Thai communal house, Kim Dai communal house (Viet Tri city) performed by the artisans and members of the four original Xoan troupes. Visitors, especially foreign visitors, will be guided and invited by the artisans to join in the Xoan singing. From enjoying a glass of wine in the worship singing part, to the surprise and delight in the festival singing part with warm feelings, ignoring the barriers of language and culture, only affectionate eyes, friendly handshakes and smiles remain. This further affirms that Xoan singing is like an invisible thread, connecting the feelings of visitors from all over the world with Phu Tho, the sacred land, the origin of the Vietnamese people.

People's Artist Nguyen Thi Lich - Head of Xoan An Thai guild said: I am very proud to perform Xoan singing to serve my fellow countrymen and tourists. This is my responsibility and passion to preserve, spread, promote and develop the value of Phu Tho Xoan singing cultural heritage to the people in the country as well as international tourists.

Spreading value

Xoan singing performance "Inviting wine"

According to statistics from the Phu Tho Province Tourism Promotion Center, since its operation, the "Xoan singing in ancient villages" sites have welcomed over 14,000 tourists, most of whom are international tourist groups from England, France, the Netherlands, the US, etc. In 2024 alone, there were 21 tourist groups with over 780 visitors coming to enjoy and explore the Xoan singing in ancient villages. On average, each month, Phu Tho province welcomes 2-3 foreign tourist groups coming on tours to visit and explore the unique traditional cultural heritages of Phu Tho.

Visiting Phu Tho for the first time, Ms. Carole Moens, a tourist from Belgium, shared that she felt very happy to experience and explore the cultural features from music, cuisine, architecture... that have existed for hundreds, thousands of years. "In particular, I not only got to listen and enjoy but also directly participate in performing a few simple movements in a Xoan dance, through which I felt the solemn atmosphere of the Hung King worshiping ceremony and understood more about the heritage value of Phu Tho Xoan singing", Ms. Carole Moens said.

Xoan singing used to only resound in ancient communal houses, but today, Xoan singing has been and is resounding everywhere in the Land of Ancestors. Phu Tho tourism associated with enjoying Xoan singing has become an indispensable schedule for every group of visitors when coming to the Land of Ancestors. Therefore, Xoan performance space is gradually expanding throughout the province. Xoan singing performances for tourists not only take place in the origin of Xoan, the areas around Hung Temple such as Hung Lo Temple or Lai Len Temple, but are also held at Dao Xa communal house (Thanh Thuy) and some ancient temple and communal house areas in other localities in Phu Tho province. Xoan singing is also a special performance at many important cultural and political events in the province as well as the country such as: Vietnamese New Year, International Tourism Fair...

LE HOANG

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/lang-xoan-don-du-khach-quoc-te-408335.html