At 8:00 a.m., four free tours of “Bac Ninh Cultural Quintessence - Heritage Colors” had just departed, but all eight tourist buses were full of passengers early. From Bac Ninh Museum, the buses rolled along to the music of the song “Bac Bling” which has become familiar to all the locals, as well as anyone who loves this land.
Diversity of heritage colors
Nguyen Huu Chien, a young tour guide from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Bac Ninh, is the leader of tour number 4, passing through craft villages in Thuan Thanh, Que Vo and some other interesting heritage sites.
Having led many important delegations and having a thorough knowledge of the heritage area of Bac Ninh-Kinh Bac, Chien still has a different feeling today because the tour "Bac Ninh Cultural Quintessence - Heritage Colors" is the first brick for a new journey, opening up the heritage value of Bac Ninh in tourism development and cultural industry.
Taking a deep breath, Chien greeted the guests in the way that the Quan Ho singers always start their stories: “Today, the Quan Ho singers are very happy to welcome guests to their homes. We cannot offer tea or betel on the bus, so we would like to start with a cultural story about the land of Bac Ninh-Kinh Bac. Bac Ninh is not only the land of Quan Ho, the land of Buddha, but also the land of pottery and painting. Today, we will visit the pottery village, the painting village and places containing historical mysteries, related to the life and career of General Cao Lo, Grand Tutor Le Van Thinh or National Hero Nguyen Trai…”.
The 30-minute journey passed quickly with the first stop being the Cao Lo Vuong Temple located on the alluvial land along the Duong River in Gia Binh District. In the legendary stories, Cao Lo was the famous general who helped An Duong Vuong create the magic crossbow, which led to Trieu Da's defeat many times when invading Au Lac. Cao Lo was from Gia Binh, and his temple is a place that many tourists visit. After hearing the story about the crossbow, the next two places are both associated with historical figures who carried injustice to the other world: the temple of Grand Tutor Le Van Thinh and the Le Chi Vien temple, associated with the massacre of three generations of Nguyen Trai.
After the historical contemplation, the atmosphere of the tour was filled with the vibrant colors of the Dong Ho painting village. Next, there were the brown colors of the jars, pots, vases…; the talented strokes of the craftsmen at the wheel in Phu Lang pottery village along the Cau River.
The day passed by seemed too short. Nguyen Huu Chien was constantly "surrounded" by guests with many questions. Everyone was surprised. It turned out that Dong Ho painting village, which one had seen on television and in books and newspapers, was still very different when they came. As for Phu Lang pottery village, no one expected that right on the road with vehicles going back and forth like a loom from Bac Ninh to the key economic zone of Quang Ninh, there was an ancient village where when one came here, one felt as if one had returned to the past.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Nga, a tourist from Thai Binh, excitedly shared: “I have been to Bac Ninh many times, but the heritage discovery tour still makes me curious, I did not expect the registration to be so convenient. Today, I learned about the history and process of making a Dong Ho painting. I personally participated in making some paintings, when I brought them back, everyone must have been very surprised. I think if it is well organized, there is no need to make it free, tourists will still come to Bac Ninh to explore.”
Turn potential into strength
Although Bac Ninh is one of the smallest provinces in the country, it has nearly 1,600 relics of all kinds, including 5 special national relics and 4 world intangible cultural heritages recognized by UNESCO: Bac Ninh Quan Ho folk songs, Ca Tru, Huu Chap tug-of-war rituals and games, and the practice of worshipping the Mother Goddesses of the Three Realms of the Vietnamese people. The beauty of Bac Ninh heritage does not lie in the numbers. If you want to find the birthplace of Vietnamese Buddhism, there is Dau Pagoda, which marks the history of Man Nuong, in the early days when Buddhism was introduced and integrated into indigenous beliefs.
From that origin, until now, Bac Ninh has become a Buddhist land with the most famous pagodas in the country. Not only Bac Ninh has Quan Ho, but only Bac Ninh has its ancestral land, which is Diem village, where there is Ngoc well, Cung temple worshiping the Queen, where the tree roots and water wharves are all imbued with legends. And of course, we all know that the dynasty that expanded Dai Viet, shaping its prosperous development for a thousand years, was the Ly dynasty that originated in this very land of Bac Ninh.
However, the spread of Bac Ninh heritage is still limited. Recently, the MV Bac Bling by singer Hoa Minzy was like a surprise gift for the people of Bac Ninh when it was in the top three Vietnamese youth music videos to reach 100 million views the fastest, at one point rising to the top of the YouTube Charts' impressive global debut MV category. Not only Vietnamese people but many people around the world were impressed by the unique heritage values of Bac Ninh shown in the MV.
The Bac Ninh tourism industry has taken advantage of this gift to “activate” tourism by offering free tours and experiences to visitors. Director of the Bac Ninh Museum and Tourism Promotion Nguyen Huu Mao said: “After half a month of implementation, the demand from tourists is quite large. We do not want any visitors to register for a tour without experiencing it, so we have increased the number to four routes/day and mobilized more vehicles from units in the province. To ensure the quality of the tour, we have implemented online service registration to serve the maximum number of registered visitors with the best service quality”.
Some businesses also quickly coordinated with the Bac Ninh Department of Culture and Tourism to deploy heritage tours. Notably, Newstar Tour Company (Hanoi) designed three sets of tourism products "Bac Ninh Cultural Quintessence - Heritage Colors", with 11 different options, both similar to the free tours designed by the Bac Ninh Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and having their own characteristics.
Of which, there are 6 tours departing from Hanoi. The biggest difference is the two-day, one-night tour that helps tourists experience the "full package" of the best things in Bac Ninh, including: Buddhist heritage (Dau Pagoda, But Thap Pagoda), craft village heritage (Dong Ho painting village, Dai Bai bronze casting village, Phu Lang pottery village), Quan Ho heritage (Bac Ninh Quan Ho Folk Song Theater, Lim Pagoda relic associated with Lim festival) and visiting Ly Bat De temple in Dinh Bang. This two-day, one-night tour will officially open for sale from the end of April 2025.
One suggestion that many businesses have made is to build a tour to experience Quan Ho culture and recreate Canh singing because this is Bac Ninh's strength but has not been properly exploited.
Source: https://nhandan.vn/tinh-bac-ninh-trien-khai-nhieu-giai-phap-danh-thuc-mien-di-san-post873366.html
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