Building a Heritage City with the Soul of 'Trang An Culture': Spreading Core Values

Implementing Resolution No. 16-NQ/TU in 2023 on the arrangement of administrative units at district and commune levels in the period of 2023 - 2030, Ninh Binh province strives to complete the merger of Ninh Binh city with Hoa Lu district to become Hoa Lu city and build a type I urban area with the characteristics of a "Millennium Heritage Urban Area" by 2025.

The construction and development of the Heritage City is determined to take people as the center, the goal of sustainable development, and culture as the guiding torch. Ninh Binh province determines that the cultural heritage and people of Trang An are eternal values, the foundation to promote in the process of building a millennial heritage city. VNA reporters wrote 2 articles on the topic: Building a Heritage City with the soul of "Trang An Culture".

Photo caption — Tam Coc - Bich Dong tourist area, Hoa Lu district, will later be completely merged into Hoa Lu city. Photo: Duc Phuong/VNA

Lesson 1: Spreading the core values of Ninh Binh, the ancient capital with a thousand years of history, a sacred land with outstanding people, associated with many famous landscapes and landscapes of national and human stature. This place has preserved and kept many unique cultural and historical values, expressing the identity and spirit of Dai Co Viet. In recent years, Ninh Binh province has implemented many solutions to promote the value of "Trang An Culture" to apply for socio-economic development; build Hoa Lu people "elegant, gentle, friendly, hospitable" thereby spreading the core values of people and land. Unique values of "Trang An Culture" 30,000 years ago, Ninh Binh was home to prehistoric people, traces of which are still preserved in archaeological sites such as Thung Lang, Tam Diep city, Dang Dang cave in Cuc Phuong commune, Man Bac in Yen Mo district and many other sites in Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex. In the 10th century, Ninh Binh's history with Trang An culture created an important milestone that opened the source of the formation of Dai Viet civilization - Vietnam today. The archaeological traces, palace architecture, temples, bricks printed with the national name of Dai Viet, stone pillars, Thai Binh Hung Bao coins... discovered and preserved are vivid evidence for the development of this culture of the ancient Vietnamese people. Associate Professor, Doctor Nguyen Minh Tuong (Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences) said that using the term "Trang An Culture" instead of "Hoa Lu Culture" is because in terms of time, "Trang An Culture" does not only exist within the 42 years of existence of Hoa Lu Capital but also lasts forever. In terms of space, "Trang An Culture" is not only limited to the Hoa Lu Capital but also extends to the surrounding areas of Ninh Binh province. The most prominent aspect of "Trang An Culture" is the cultural period in the 10th century - the pivotal century. The 10th century is a very important milestone in Vietnamese history, the century that permanently closed the period of more than 1000 years of Chinese domination and opened a long-term era of independence. The 10th century is also the transition from the 9th century of the slave culture under the Tang Dynasty to the 11th century of the revival of national culture, on the foundation of traditional folklore. "Trang An Culture" has a clear folk character; bearing the mark of the spirit of national autonomy. According to Associate Professor, Doctor Nguyen Minh Tuong, the pride of the people of Ninh Binh province is that "Trang An Culture" has not been lost but is still preserved and inherited in today's cultural life. It can be said that not only is it preserved and inherited, but "Trang An Culture" has been revived and developed many times more brilliantly than before. Accordingly, on the existing foundation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, Hoa Lu city in the future will have enough necessary theoretical and practical foundations to soon build itself into a Millennium Heritage City. Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Van (Hanoi University of Culture) shared that Trang An is an ancient land, a continuous residence of indigenous peoples from prehistoric times until receiving political - social - cultural influences from the North in the first centuries AD. The Trang An prehistoric cave relic cluster has contributed to proving the presence of humans here from very early on, dominating and conquering nature. Trang An land, right from the dawn of history, has held an important position in terms of national security and defense and has a particularly important role in politics, economy and culture; it is the place where the first capital of Dai Co Viet state was built in the early days of independence. During the process of existence and development, the people of Trang An have formed and nurtured for themselves valuable traditions, turning them into endogenous strength, creating a solid foundation in the cause of building, protecting and developing the country. Spreading core values

The cultural creativity of the community over thousands of years has left Ninh Binh with a huge source of monuments, heritages, relics, and antiques with unique scientific, historical, and aesthetic values. This is one of the foundations for Ninh Binh to build a sustainable and distinct brand. The province has focused on investing in culture with specific tasks and solutions and a long-term vision. Projects for planning, embellishing, and restoring relics have received investment to develop tourism. Cultural and artistic events are held regularly, enriching the spiritual life of the people. With the potential and advantages of cultural heritage, in recent years, Ninh Binh province has been aiming to build "Ninh Binh Festival" into a major cultural event, a brand of national and international scale, a place to connect, converge, honor, and spread the typical cultural heritage values of the nation and humanity. The locality is currently rushing to prepare to organize the 3rd Festival in 2024 with the theme "Heritage Flow" which will recreate the glorious historical milestones, "decode" the brilliant quintessence of the ancient capital of Hoa Lu. Mr. Nguyen Manh Cuong, Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Ninh Binh province, said that this is an important cultural and tourism event that contributes to building and positioning the brand of the Millennium Heritage City of the province, while promoting the image, culture and people of the locality to domestic and international tourists. Through the organization, Ninh Binh Festival contributes to arousing love for the homeland, pride in the long history and rich heritage of the ancient capital of Hoa Lu. Ninh Binh is striving to enhance the image and position the local brand from the cultural identity of the Imperial Capital, gradually making culture the spiritual foundation of society, both a goal and an endogenous strength, an important driving force for national development. In the coming years, the province will continue to implement measures to promote cultural resources such as: Regularly conducting scientific research, investigating, inventorying, and classifying tangible and intangible cultural heritages in the area to assess cultural resources, moving towards developing a plan to research, preserve, and promote cultural heritage values on the basis of promoting scientific and artistic values. The provincial Department of Culture will improve the effectiveness of the work of restoring and embellishing relics, preserving and restoring intangible cultural heritages to ensure the requirements of protecting and promoting the values of cultural heritages associated with socio-economic development. At the same time, building cultural products, harmoniously resolving the contradiction between preserving cultural heritages and exploiting values for development in the province. Source: https://baotintuc.vn/van-hoa/xay-dung-do-thi-di-san-mang-linh-hon-van-hoa-trang-an-lan-toa-cac-gia-tri-cot-loi-20241110134135698.htm