(HBO) – Over the past years, Hoa Binh province has prioritised resources for cultural heritage preservation and optimisation so as to create a strong impulse for tourism development.
Preserving
and optimising ethnic groups’ cultural heritage are hoped to help with tourism
development. Photo: A ritual performed at the Khai ha (going to the field)
Muong Bi Festival.
Statistics show that there were about 600
historical and cultural relic sites in Hoa Binh by the end of 2021, including
41 national and 61 provincial, with nearly 100 sites in the list of those
needing protection.
Meanwhile, the province is home to 786 tangible
cultural heritages and two national intangible ones, namely Mo Muong and the
gong art of the Muong ethnic group. At present, a national-level dossier is
being compiled to seek the UNESCO recognition of Mo Muong as part of the
intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding.
All the relics and heritages are an important
resource helping with local tourism development over the past years.
On October 19, 2021, the provincial Party
Committee’s Standing Board issued Resolution No. 04-NQ/TU on the preservation
and optimisation of local ethnic groups’ cultural heritage values for the 2021
- 2025 period, with a vision to 2030. This resolution continued attaching importance
to preserving and bringing into play historical and cultural values so as to
develop tourism. It also devised many measures for capitalising on cultural and
historical values for tourism development.
However, it is a fact that there remain
shortcomings in this work, leading to a lack of high-quality tourism products
and services.
Luu Huy Linh, Deputy Director of the provincial
Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said to effectively tap into
cultural heritage values, the sector needs to prioritise collection and
research activities so as to identify the values of ethnic groups’ cultural
heritage; step up dissemination to raise authorities, people, and businesses’
awareness of the role, importance, and benefits of heritage; attract private
resources to building tourism infrastructure; and develop the tourism brand of
Hoa Binh in a professional manner, thereby helping turn tourism into a key economic
sector./.
As a land deeply intertwined with human history and Vietnam’s millennia-long journey of nation-building and defence, Hoa Binh is often revered for its epic tales and legends.
Residents of Hoa Binh boast a rich cultural identity, reflected in their unique language, traditional attire, customs, and folk melodies – described as "sweet as honey, clear as a mountain stream.”
Lac Son district’s Vu ban town held the 2025 Truong Kha temple festival on April 12–13 (the 15th–16th days of the third lunar month). Since its revival in 2019, the festival has been organised every three years, preserving valuable intangible heritage while meeting the community’s cultural and spiritual needs.
The clothing of women reflects the culture of the Muong, Thai, Tay, Dao, and Mong ethnic groups in the northern province of Hoa Binh.
Gongs hold a special place in the cultural and spiritual life of the Muong ethnic people in Hoa Binh province. More than musical instruments, they are an indispensable part of community rituals and collective memory, echoing through generations as a spiritual thread linking the past, present, and future.
Preserving and promoting the cultural values of the Muong ethnic group has become an urgent task in the current context, as many traditional values face the risk of fading away. This effort requires not only protecting the cultural identity but also eliminating outdated customs and developing a modern cultural lifestyle, contributing to sustainable values for the Muong community in Hoa Binh province.
The Muong ethnic culture, deeply rooted in Vietnam’s mountainous north, continues to be preserved and revitalised by dedicated individuals and communities determined to safeguard their ancestral identity.
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