Uong Bi: Orientation for sustainable heritage development

Uong Bi owns the Yen Tu relic and scenic area with many outstanding values, currently located in the Yen Tu - Vinh Nghiem - Con Son - Kiep Bac Heritage Complex, which is being nominated by UNESCO for recognition as a World Heritage Site. This land also has many other unique scenic spots and tangible and intangible heritage values, which are well preserved and maintained by the locality, gradually promoting their values to serve the goal of sustainable development.

Yen Tu relic and scenic area (Uong Bi city) attracts a large number of tourists to visit and worship every year.

The system of tangible and intangible cultural heritages in Uong Bi has formed unique cultural features for this ancient land rich in tradition. Since ancient times, Yen Tu has become the capital of Truc Lam Dai Viet Buddhism with a series of pagodas and towers on the Yen Tu range along with cultural and ideological values that still exist today, attracting millions of Buddhists, people, and tourists to come and worship every year...

According to statistics, Uong Bi currently has 2 special national-level relics, 7 provincial-level relics and 22 relics in the inventory and classification list. These relics are all associated with unique festivals, imbued with the cultural identity of the local residents. The city also has 32 intangible cultural heritages of various types, creating great potential for developing products and types of historical-cultural tourism, spiritual-cultural tourism, etc.

This place still preserves stories and traces of the first businessman of Vietnam, Bach Thai Buoi; the revolutionary struggle tradition of the working class in the Mining Region with the priceless spiritual heritage of "Discipline and Unity". The scenic spots in Uong Bi area have natural beauty that attracts tourists, such as Yen Trung Lake tourist area, Lung Xanh eco-tourism site, natural landscapes such as Phuong Hoang hill, Binh Huong, Khe Song - Thac Bac, Phuong Nam river area...

Phoenix Hill is a beautiful landscape, loved by tourists in the area.

Identifying cultural heritage as a valuable asset, a bridge between cultural activities and the community, the core of the cultural identity of the region, in recent years, the city has focused on investing in preserving and promoting the value of heritage; harmoniously combining the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage values with local tourism. Thereby, a number of festivals, folk melodies, games, traditional sports... have been restored; many relics have been recognized as relics, restored spaciously and sustainably from resources mobilized from the whole society on the basis of promoting traditional cultural values, with creativity, absorbing new cultural values, becoming attractive destinations for people and tourists from all over the world.

In order to continue to identify, preserve and promote the heritage value of Uong Bi land in the direction of sustainable development of the locality, in early July, the city organized a relatively large-scale workshop on this content.

Thereby, with 32 presentations by scientists at the central and local levels, the historical - cultural and scientific values hidden in the rich cultural heritage of Uong Bi have been further affirmed and clarified. Scientists also have accurate assessments of the work of protecting and promoting the value of cultural heritage associated with local tourism development in recent times and propose appropriate solutions and models to improve the effectiveness of heritage conservation activities, contributing to promoting the development of local cultural industry.

The cultural beauty of the Dao Thanh Y people in Thuong Yen Cong commune (Uong Bi) is exploited to serve the development of local community tourism.

Notably, these issues were discussed by scientists and researchers in the direction of expanding the vision of conservation and development on the historical and cultural background of the province and the prospect of rising within the framework of the economic growth triangle of Hanoi - Hai Phong - Quang Ninh. The conservation of the city's cultural heritage is associated with sustainable tourism development in the connection between Uong Bi and localities belonging to the spiritual cultural tourism center of the province (Uong Bi - Dong Trieu - Quang Yen) and the capital Ha Long, as well as the connection with localities owning heritages belonging to the Yen Tu - Vinh Nghiem - Con Son, Kiep Bac relic and scenic complex which are being nominated by UNESCO for recognition as World Heritage, namely Bac Giang, Hai Duong...

Attending the above workshop, Associate Professor, Dr. Dang Van Bai, Vice Chairman of the National Cultural Heritage Council, expressed: We hope that the results of the workshop will be practically applied to the conservation of cultural heritage associated with sustainable tourism development of Uong Bi City. From there, Uong Bi will make worthy contributions to the implementation of Resolution No. 17-NQ/TU dated October 30, 2023 of the Provincial Party Executive Committee "On building and promoting cultural values, human strength of Quang Ninh to become an endogenous resource, a driving force for rapid and sustainable development".

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