Preserving and promoting the value of cultural heritage, creating momentum for socio-economic development

The annual Phu Day Festival (Vu Ban) attracts a large number of locals and tourists from all over the world.

Cultural heritage - spiritual foundation and development advantage

Located in the center of the Southern Red River Delta, Nam Dinh province currently has a massive system of tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Regarding tangible cultural heritage, the whole province has 1,360 relics, of which 430 historical - cultural relics have been ranked by the State, including 2 special national relics (Tran Temple - Pho Minh Pagoda and Keo Hanh Thien Pagoda), 88 national relics, 340 provincial relics; 5 national treasures from the Ly, Tran, Mac, Le Trung Hung periods. Not only has a system of relics, Nam Dinh is also famous for over 100 traditional craft villages, typically: Tong Xa bronze casting, Cat Dang lacquer, La Xuyen wood carving, Van Chang forging, Co Chat silk weaving, Vi Khe bonsai...

Regarding intangible cultural heritage, Nam Dinh is the center of Mother Goddess Religion in Vietnam with “The practice of worshipping the Mother Goddesses of the Three Realms of the Vietnamese” recognized by UNESCO as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity. The province also has 13 national intangible heritages along with many types of art, folk performances (cheo singing, van singing, ca tru, water puppetry, dry puppetry, four-spirit dance...) and hundreds of traditional festivals such as: Tran Temple Opening Seal Festival, Phu Day Festival, Vieng Fair, Co Le Pagoda Festival... attracting tens of thousands of tourists every year. From the treasure trove of valuable cultural heritage, Nam Dinh province has the conditions to develop many typical types of tourism such as: cultural tourism, spiritual tourism, craft village tourism, festival tourism, experiential tourism... In 2024, the whole province will welcome about 1.9 million tourists, an increase of 5.2% compared to 2023. Social revenue from service tourism activities is estimated at 560 billion VND, an increase of 4.7% compared to 2023. It is estimated that in the first 6 months of 2025, the total number of tourists will reach 1,398,000, an increase of 18.5% over the same period in 2024, total revenue from tourism activities will reach 378 billion VND, an increase of 21.2% over the same period.
year 2024

Preserving and promoting heritage values associated with socio -economic development

Deeply aware of the role of culture in sustainable development, Nam Dinh province has thoroughly grasped and seriously implemented the Party's policies and resolutions on building and developing Vietnamese culture and people. In particular, Resolution 5 of the Central Committee (VIII term) on "Building and developing an advanced Vietnamese culture imbued with national identity" and Resolution 9 of the Central Committee (XI term) on "Building and developing Vietnamese culture and people to meet the requirements of sustainable national development" are identified as the guiding principles for action. In particular, at the 2021 National Cultural Conference, the late General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong emphasized: "Pay more attention to preserving, embellishing and promoting national cultural values, tangible and intangible cultural values of regions, areas, and ethnic minorities, combined with absorbing the cultural quintessence of the times".

Thoroughly implementing that policy, Nam Dinh has identified the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage values associated with socio-economic development as a major, consistent policy of the province. Party committees, authorities, and organizations from the province to the grassroots have focused on leading and directing, gradually building the culture and people of Nam Dinh; making many efforts to ensure harmony between the preservation of relics and heritage and the requirements of socio-economic development of the province.

Regarding tangible cultural heritage, the province has implemented many projects to restore and embellish relics, ensuring scientific principles, preserving original architecture, and combining with the development of spiritual cultural tourism. Thereby, many relics have become attractive destinations, actively contributing to the construction of new rural areas and improving people's spiritual lives. Regarding intangible cultural heritage, especially the "Three Palaces Mother Goddess Worship Belief of the Vietnamese", the province has directed all levels, sectors, localities, and the Management Board of Mother Goddess Worship Relics in the area to seriously and effectively implement the management and organization of festivals to ensure safety and health, creating favorable conditions for people to visit and experience; paying attention to the implementation of programs and projects to preserve and promote the value of intangible cultural heritage of the province, while supporting artisans and heritage practitioners to preserve and teach the heritage to the younger generation.

Promote propaganda, promote heritage, link tourism development

In recent times, the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has promoted the dissemination of policies to promote tourism associated with the preservation and promotion of traditional cultural values in many forms. The province's tourism promotion and advertising work has been focused on and implemented, such as: Organizing photo contests about Nam Dinh land and people, designing and composing Nam Dinh tourism logos, publishing Nam Dinh tourism photo books, Nam Dinh tourism maps, Nam Dinh province festival handbook...; organizing Nam Dinh Trade Tourism Fair, actively participating in Fair booths to promote and promote tourism in provinces and cities across the country; organizing Famtrip delegations to survey historical and cultural relics to form cultural and spiritual tourism routes and destinations; organizing seminars and cooperation programs for tourism development between Nam Dinh and other localities; Coordinate with central news agencies and press agencies of other provinces to promote and publicize the potential and value of cultural heritage, exploit and develop typical tourism products of Nam Dinh. In 2023, the province will coordinate with the Ministry of Information and Communications (now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) to build an electronic information portal to explore the land, people, culture and tourism of Nam Dinh province (thientruong.namdinh.gov.vn) to communicate and promote information about the province to businesses, people and tourists, contributing to attracting tourists to Nam Dinh. In addition, the province has signed a cooperation agreement on tourism development between provinces and cities in the extended Red River Delta region to maximize the potential and advantages of tourism resources of localities; improve the efficiency of connecting activities to develop regional tourism, exploit and develop typical tourism products, potentials and advantages of localities.

Making cultural heritage a driving force for sustainable development

In the coming time, after the merger of 3 provinces: Nam Dinh, Ha Nam and Ninh Binh into a new administrative unit - Ninh Binh province, according to the orientation of reorganizing the development space, the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage values is identified as one of the key tasks, closely linked to the strategy of sustainable tourism development and building regional cultural identity. With a rich heritage system such as: Phu Day relic complex, Tran Temple relic site - Pho Minh Pagoda (Nam Dinh), Tam Chuc Pagoda, Ba Danh Pagoda, Dia Tang Phi Lai Pagoda (Ha Nam), Bai Dinh Pagoda, Trang An scenic complex, Hoa Lu ancient capital (Ninh Binh) ..., this land possesses a unique cultural foundation, historical depth and strong tourism attraction.

To improve the effectiveness of heritage conservation and promotion in the new period, the province has identified a number of key tasks such as: Strengthening propaganda, raising public awareness of heritage values; improving the quality of human resources in culture and tourism. Promoting the application of science and technology in heritage conservation and promotion; digitizing and documenting tangible and intangible cultural heritages. Planning the space of relics in harmony between architecture - landscape - environment, in which, focusing on promoting the connection of tourism spaces between key areas according to themes such as: "Heritage Road", "Journey to the source", "Spring spiritual tour" ...; developing tourism - cultural products combining ecology, spirituality, relaxation, traditional preservation associated with sightseeing, education, learning, and experience. Building mechanisms and policies on heritage management, exploitation and promotion; diversifying resources, socializing restoration and embellishment activities; encourage community participation in preservation, especially with intangible heritages.

Promote the linkage of tourism and travel service businesses according to product chains, encourage the community to do tourism and attract investment in key cultural and tourism projects; thereby realizing the goal of sustainable development, harmonizing conservation and modernization, tradition and integration, opening up great potential for sustainable cultural and tourism development based on the foundation of conservation and promotion of regional heritage values, turning the locality into a unique cultural - tourism - festival center of the Red River Delta and the whole country.

Article and photos: Khanh Dung

Source: https://baonamdinh.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/202506/bao-ton-phat-huy-gia-tri-di-san-van-hoatao-dong-luc-phat-trien-kinh-te-xa-hoi-ebe20c1/