Ha Giang preserves culture associated with tourism development

Positioning Ha Giang culture

As a mountainous border province in the Northeast region, with a particularly important strategic position, the process of forming the culture of the northernmost land of the Fatherland is closely linked to natural and social conditions. This is also a land with a long cultural history, home to many ethnic groups with very few people such as: Pa Then, Lo Lo, La Chi, Pu Peo, Phu La... Each ethnic group possesses its own unique cultural values, associated with traditional customs, practices and festivals. Along with that, the characteristics in writing, language, oral folk literature, costumes, architecture, and production tools also create a unique culture for Ha Giang.

Experiencing historical ups and downs and unique natural conditions, the traditional cultural values ​​of ethnic groups in Ha Giang are expressed in material culture, social relationships and spiritual life. Differences create diversity, and the highlight in the national cultural picture is the Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark. In particular, the cultural nuances of the Mong people create a uniqueness for this land. The Mong people's tangible heritages are expressed in the process of conquering nature, cultivating, creating livelihoods on rocks, building houses with rammed earth architecture, stone fences... In the living conditions in the high mountains from 800-1,700m above sea level, the Mong people created the method of cultivating rock holes and cultivating rock fields for production. They are also very good at weaving, weaving linen, and especially the art of Khen dancing.

Ha Giang culture is diverse, with special appeal through many traditional festivals. Many of these festivals are Ha Giang tourism brand festivals, typically: Buckwheat Flower Festival, Mong Panpipe Festival, Ban Vuong Festival, Quya Hieng Festival (Qua Nam Festival), Phong Luu Khau Vai Love Market Festival... Each festival has its own characteristics of each ethnic group, natural conditions and living environment have created its own uniqueness. Ha Giang cultural treasure is also vividly demonstrated with 131 tangible cultural heritages, 446 intangible cultural heritages. Notable are the heritages of very small ethnic groups with a population of less than 10,000 people such as: Bo Y, Lo Lo and Pu Peo, Co Lao... All of these cultural values ​​have created a harmonious and unified picture of Ha Giang culture with its own unique features.

Cultural preservation helps tourism "take off"

In the Vietnam Tourism Development Strategy to 2030, Ha Giang is oriented to develop into a National Tourist Area. In the context of commercialization, preserving and conserving the unique cultural identity of ethnic groups is the "key" to creating value and attractiveness for Ha Giang tourism. With the policy of "Using culture to develop tourism, using tourism to preserve and develop culture", in recent times, Ha Giang province has concretized the Party's policy on cultural work, strengthened the direction of sectors to organize heritage inventories, inspect and evaluate the current status of ranked relics and scenic spots in the area for restoration and embellishment. Thanks to that, the site after being restored has become an attractive tourist destination, attracting visitors.

Implementing the strategy of building green and unique tourism, Ha Giang focuses on developing tourism based on natural values ​​associated with exploiting the heritage values ​​of the Global Geopark as a spearhead, cultural tourism as a foundation. The province focuses on identifying the advantages and priority conservation objects, which are the majestic natural landscape of Dong Van Stone Plateau and the cultural diversity of 19 ethnic groups. Ha Giang has issued many policies to preserve traditional cultural values, such as: Specialized resolutions on preserving and promoting the value of cultural heritage; eliminating bad customs; preserving, restoring and promoting the typical cultural values ​​of the Mong ethnic group; educating life skills and bringing traditional culture of ethnic minorities into schools...

From the policy of "Using culture to develop tourism, using tourism to preserve cultural values", conservation work has created for Ha Giang unique, attractive and highly competitive tourism products. Notably, solutions to improve the quality of services in community cultural tourism villages. The whole province currently has 35 community cultural tourism villages, many of which have received ASEAN Awards and 3-star OCOP recognition. The province has invested in building and improving the quality of services at 106 tourist destinations. The tourism area is planned according to 3 main spaces: low-mountain tourism space; Northern rocky mountain tourism space and Western soil mountain tourism space. The spaces are associated with commercial, agricultural, ecological, spiritual, community tourism and resort tourism products.

Actively preserving traditional cultural identity, Ha Giang Department of Culture coordinates with localities to organize classes on embroidery of costumes, teaching folk songs, folk dances and techniques of using traditional musical instruments. Identifying the core in preserving and promoting national cultural values ​​is the team of folk artisans, therefore, Ha Giang is interested in establishing and maintaining over 190 Folk Artisan Associations with over 9,000 members. Key members are the elderly, prestigious people who are very knowledgeable about the customs and practices of ethnic groups. They preserve and pass them on to the younger generation and actively mobilize people to eliminate superstitions and bad customs, and build a civilized lifestyle.

It can be affirmed that preserving and promoting traditional cultural values ​​associated with tourism development is a suitable direction, helping Ha Giang tourism to grow strongly. In the coming time, the province will continue to pay attention to and invest in promoting the unique cultural values ​​of ethnic minorities associated with socio-economic development, creating sustainability of cultural values ​​and unique identities to serve tourism development./.