Preserving village features in building new rural areas

(Baonghean) - The ultimate goal of new rural construction is to improve the material and spiritual life of the people.

How to ensure the goal of building modern new rural areas while still preserving the beautiful traditional cultural features of the countryside is of concern to many localities.

Preserving and promoting the art movement in Bong Khe - Cong Cuong commune. Photo: PV

In the 19 criteria for building new rural areas, in addition to the criteria for developing production to increase income, many localities have attached importance to the criteria for building culture, preserving and promoting the good values ​​that have existed and are existing in the villages.

Ky Son Commune (Tan Ky) is striving to reach the NTM target by the end of 2017. Talking about preserving and promoting traditional village culture associated with NTM construction, Mr. Vo Van Quyet - Secretary of the Commune Party Committee said: The locality determined that first of all, it is necessary to build cultural institutions so that people have places to meet, play, and organize traditional sports. Therefore, up to now, 17/17 hamlets have suitable cultural institutions that meet standards, basic equipment and tools for cultural activities have been invested; all hamlets have concrete yards for sports activities, and outdoor stages for mass art performances. Since then, all hamlets have established art clubs, men's and women's volleyball teams that regularly practice, in addition to serving the festival days, also to improve health and preserve the traditional culture of the locality. The commune also has places for entertainment, recreation and sports for children and the elderly.

Nam Thanh Commune (Yen Thanh) is the locality that reached the NTM finish line early in the province (late 2014), the rural appearance here has changed significantly, along with that, the spiritual life of the people has been improved. Mr. Nguyen Sy Tuan - Head of the Culture Department of Nam Thanh Commune said: After reaching the NTM finish line, the local government paid special attention to the development of culture and mass sports to preserve the unique cultural features of the locality. Every hamlet has 1-2 volleyball courts. On holidays and Tet, art clubs practice with Nghe folk songs, many folk games: tug of war, stick pushing, human chess... are also organized regularly. The commune has also built a multi-purpose sports area, attracting children with talent in traditional sports: badminton, table tennis to participate in training. In particular, the commune's elderly association established clubs: Volleyball, Thuc Vu Kinh, Nhat Nam... attracting the elderly to participate in activities.

The Gong Club in Yen village, Mon Son commune (Con Cuong) regularly performs at local festivals. Photo: Xuan Hoang.

Cultural, artistic and sports activities have created a joyful and healthy atmosphere, strengthening the solidarity of the village. The countryside of Nam Thanh commune has also been restored, preserving a number of village wells to highlight the traditional beauty.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Y - Member of the Elderly Association in Loc Thanh hamlet, a member of the Nam Thanh commune volleyball club, shared: Nam Thanh is a land with a traditional village culture. After building the new rural area, local cultural and artistic movements have more conditions to develop, many new sports such as volleyball, badminton... create an environment for the elderly to participate in practice. Building the new rural area here not only cares about material things but also improves the spiritual life of the people. I hope that, on the new rural roads, the locality needs to arrange to plant more trees on both sides of the road.

Ky Son Commune (Tan Ky) is making great efforts to improve rural traffic, striving to reach the NTM target by the end of 2017. Photo: Xuan Hoang.

In many villages today, besides building roads and investing in infrastructure, communes also maintain many good customs and practices with cultural values ​​such as respecting family relationships, neighbors, order in the village, respecting the elderly, living together in hamlets, solidarity, helping each other in production and in life...

These are important cultural factors that contribute to fostering and inspiring the spirit, self-awareness and consensus of the people in building the new rural areas. Some localities have also built cultural villages and new-style residential areas.

In reality, the landscape and architecture with strong rural characteristics in many places are on the decline as localities strive to build new rural areas. The green spaces of the village bamboo hedges and tree roots are gradually giving way to concrete blocks and bricks in the village. Then there is the main road that stretches out to the fields but has no shade...

In my opinion, building a new rural area is carried out on the basis of existing cultural traditions and cultural identities of the village, so in addition to paying attention to improving the lives of the people, we must also preserve the character of the village. This issue must be in our initial thinking when we start building a new rural area. Preserving the beauty of village culture not only preserves what our ancestors have worked hard to cultivate, but also educates the younger generation about the traditional cultural features of the homeland as well as preserves the "soul" of the Vietnamese village.

Mr. Hoang Nghia Hieu - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief of the Office of the National Target Program on New Rural Construction of the province, said that the first goal and also the final destination of new rural construction is that people have high awareness and proactively build their own lives, which is deeply to build a cultured person. New rural construction through many years of perseverance, from requirements has become needs, from hopes has become aspirations of people, localities, levels, sectors...

Xuan Hoang