Beautiful border culture colors

- Culture is the spiritual foundation, reflecting the identity of each locality and each region. Realizing this, in recent years, the provincial Party Committee and government have always been consistent in their viewpoint that development is not only based on economic potential but also on preserving and promoting traditional culture to create endogenous strength. Thereby, gradually promoting the soft power of culture, contributing to the general flow of national culture.

People and tourists participate in the Ky Cung - Ta Phu festival, Lang Son province in 2025

In the guiding viewpoints of our Party, the role of culture is always respected, especially the work of building and developing culture. Party and State leaders often emphasize the role of culture: "culture lights the way for the nation", "Culture is the soul of the nation, expressing the identity of the nation. If culture exists, the nation exists...". Lang Son is a land with a strategic geographical location, containing cultural depth. Throughout the history of the nation, generations born and raised in this land have always been proud of its long-standing cultural traditions and have promoted the heritage every day for the future.

Colorful cultural picture

As a gateway land, the headland of the Fatherland, Lang Son has a long history of formation and development; always holding an important strategic position in politics , economy, culture, national defense, security and foreign affairs of the country. During his lifetime, the late General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, during his visit and work in Lang Son in August 2023, emphasized: "It can be said without exaggeration that Lang Son is a land that is both poetic and lyrical, with a diverse and rich culture with rare unique characteristics".

Students of Cao Loc Boarding Secondary and High School for Ethnic Minorities are taught Then singing and Tinh lute by teachers in extracurricular lessons.

The highlight of Lang Son's cultural picture is the cultural diversity of the 7 main ethnic groups: Nung, Tay, Kinh, Dao, Hoa, San Chay, H'Mong... with extremely unique and diverse cultural heritages such as: Then, Sli, Luon folk songs, Lion and Cat dances; traditional handicraft villages. The whole province currently has 280 festivals, of which 247 are traditional festivals, over 90% are long tong festivals (going to the fields). In particular, the province has 9 intangible cultural heritages included in the list of national intangible cultural heritages by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (VHTT&DL); 2 representative intangible cultural heritages of humanity.

In addition to the intangible heritage system, the province's tangible heritage is also extremely diverse and rich. The whole province currently has 420 historical - cultural relics and scenic spots listed in the province's inventory. Of these, there are 158 historical relics, 183 architectural and artistic relics, 48 ​​archaeological relics and 31 scenic relics. This is an endogenous source of strength containing great values ​​that Lang Son province possesses.

Notably, Lang Son Geopark was officially recognized by UNESCO as a Global Geopark on April 17, 2025. With the theme "The flow of life in the sacred land", Lang Son UNESCO Global Geopark converges outstanding values ​​of geology and life evolution over more than 500 million years, along with fossil sites of international importance. In addition, Lang Son Geopark is also famous for the worship of the Mother Goddess of the Three Realms and Then practice, which have been recognized by UNESCO as representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

Promoting endogenous strengths

Recognizing the potential and role of ethnic culture, in recent years, the Provincial People's Committee has promoted solutions to preserve and promote this value. Accordingly, the Provincial People's Committee has issued many important plans and projects on cultural development such as Plan No. 117 (2019) on preserving traditional costumes, Decision No. 741 (2021) approving the Project on preserving Tay and Nung lion dances, and Plan No. 42 (2022) on preserving folk songs, folk dances, and folk music associated with tourism development.

Mr. Luu Ba Mac, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said: Every year, the Department directs and proactively guides localities to strengthen the dissemination of laws on cultural heritage. The Department has also inventoried, catalogued and updated the database on intangible cultural heritage of ethnic minorities; focused on preserving traditional cultural villages of the Tay, Nung, Dao people... In particular, we also focus on taking cultural heritage as the foundation for tourism development, through strengthening the organization of cultural, sports and tourism events, in which priority is given to performing the heritage of ethnic minorities.

Regarding tangible cultural heritage, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has proactively inventoried and published a list of 420 relics (Decision No. 302/QD-UBND approved by the Provincial People's Committee on February 5, 2025). The Department also guided localities to establish relic management boards and increase socialization of resources for restoration and embellishment. Thanks to that, from 2014 to present, the province has attracted nearly 300 billion VND, restoring and renovating nearly 100 relics. At the same time, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has organized training courses on the Law on Cultural Heritage for thousands of people across the province, gradually improving the quality of the staff working in cultural heritage conservation.

Ms. Nong Thi Thao, Deputy Head of the Department of Culture and Society of Van Lang Commune, said: Thanks to the training programs and guidance from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, we have been equipped with deeper legal knowledge and better skills in inventorying and evaluating relics. This helps us to be more proactive in advising local leaders, and at the same time mobilize social resources more effectively for the restoration and embellishment of relics.

Regarding intangible cultural heritage, from 2014 to present, Lang Son Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has organized nearly 10 seminars and training courses on cultural heritage management. The Department also coordinated to establish folklore teams and clubs and opened more than 200 heritage teaching classes. Every year, the Department also supports costumes and facilities for performing from 3 to 5 classes on intangible cultural heritage teaching at the grassroots level with a budget of hundreds of millions of VND.

Thanks to these efforts, the number of mass art clubs and teams has increased to more than 800, of which more than 600 clubs operate in the form of socialization. Each year, these clubs have organized more than 200 art performances, contributing to the preservation and promotion of intangible cultural heritage values ​​in a lively and widespread manner.

Not only teaching, all levels and sectors in Lang Son province also pay great attention to the restoration and organization of traditional festivals. Every year, about 90% of festivals held in the province mobilize social resources, demonstrating consensus and strong contributions from the community. With a scale of 30 to 400 million VND per festival, this is not only an occasion for people to be happy and connected, but also an opportunity for traditional cultural values ​​to revive and spread widely in modern life.

Focusing on improving the quality of cultural activities and promoting the role of people in heritage conservation has created a strong driving force for economic and tourism development in Lang Son. In the period 2014-2024, the average growth rate of tourists increased by 5.93%; revenue increased by over 12%. In the first 6 months of 2025, the total number of tourists to Lang Son is estimated at 3.1 million (up 4.7% over the same period in 2024). Tourism revenue is estimated at 2.9 trillion VND (up 12.6% over the same period in 2024).

This affirms the close relationship between cultural and economic development, demonstrating that when culture is properly promoted, it not only strengthens the ideological foundation but also creates material values, improves people's lives and strengthens confidence in the Party's leadership.

In the coming time, with the wise direction of the cultural sector's leadership team and the determination of cultural workers in Lang Son province, we believe that this field will continue to reap many important achievements, accompanying the nation on the path to building a prosperous and happy country.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/sang-mai-van-hoa-vung-dat-bien-cuong-5057131.html