Affirming the role of Nghe An culture in the development process

Core values

Writing about Nghe An, many authors’ old books highly appreciated the land and people of Nghe An. Scholar Phan Huy Chu in “Historical Records of Dynasties” evaluated Nghe An as a place with “high mountains, deep rivers, respectful customs, bright scenery”, “people are harmonious and studious”, “gives birth to many famous and wise people… It is truly a dangerous place like a copper citadel or a hot pond of the country and is the key to the dynasties”.

Bui Duong Lich in the book “Nghe An Ky” also said that, although Nghe An has bad land and the people’s lives are still poor, “the people are happy with the work they are ready to do for the country, have respect for the king and the emperor, and know etiquette and integrity. The customs are pure and honest, and have never been interrupted.”

Preserving culture contributes to developing community tourism in Con Cuong district. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Associate Professor Ninh Viet Giao - "Vietnam's foremost Art scholar" - who has made great contributions to collecting, compiling, and researching, always affirms the great value of Nghe An's folk culture. In his studies on Nghe An, he highly values ​​the factor of "talented people". According to him, talent is partly due to innate talent, but mostly due to the will to practice, the spirit of effort to study, cultivate, work, and fight of the individual, combined with the training in the struggle and the help of the masses.

It can be said that, in general, about the land and people of Nghe An, there is a common opinion that this is the "fence" land of the country, the "base" in different periods and also the "spiritual land" that created many "talents", but the decisive factor for the victories is the human factor, the will and spirit of the people.Nghe An is also famous as a land of culture, the cradle of mandarin exams, which in every era has shown the spirit of studiousness, hard work, diligence and respect for human morality. All of these create a unique appearance of the culture and people of Nghe An.

Vomiting running custom in Con Temple Festival in Quynh Phuong (Hoang Mai Town). Photo: Thanh Cuong

Cultural values ​​are important elements

Resolution No. 33-NQ/TW, the 9th Conference of the Party Central Committee (11th tenure) on building and developing Vietnamese culture and people to meet the requirements of sustainable national development, emphasized: "Building a comprehensively developed Vietnamese culture and people, aiming for truth - goodness - beauty, imbued with national spirit, humanity, democracy and science.

Culture truly becomes the solid spiritual foundation of society, an important endogenous strength to ensure sustainable development and firmly protect the Fatherland for the goal of a rich people, strong country, democracy, equality, and civilization"; "culture is the spiritual foundation of society, the goal and driving force for sustainable national development. Culture must be placed on par with economics, politics, and society".

Asking for the first calligraphy of the year at the Opening Calligraphy Ceremony at Dai Tue Pagoda. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Thoroughly implementing the Party's viewpoint on culture, in Nghe An, most recently in the Resolution of the 18th Nghe An Provincial Party Congress, term 2015 - 2020, culture is considered an extremely important element; therefore, in the general goal, it was determined to build the province "with an advanced culture, imbued with Nghe identity". Implementing the resolutions of the Party, the Provincial Party Committee, Nghe An always attaches importance to developing Nghe culture, considering it an important foundation and driving force in the development process of the province.

In September 2019, the 5-year review of the implementation of Resolution No. 33 in Nghe An province showed that the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee has focused on leading and directing the completion of cultural and human value standards of Nghe An; issued many programs, projects and introduced standards and regulations on building cultural people; at the same time, created conditions for the development of personality, ethics, intelligence, creativity, physical strength, soul, social responsibility, civic duty, and awareness of law compliance; promoted patriotism, national pride, conscience, and responsibility of each person.

Talking to reporters, folklore researcher Dao Tam Tinh - former Director of Nghe An Library shared about the core values ​​that need to be promoted of Nghe culture and people; at the same time, he said that it is necessary to pay attention to overcoming the limitations in Nghe people's character; as well as having solutions to overcome the erosion and inappropriate impact on the culture and lifestyle of Nghe people today.

Folklore researcher Dao Tam Tinh (left) talks with reporters. Photo: TD

Mr. Dao Tam Tinh pointed out some examples such as, the characteristic of traditional villages is the solidarity of people in a hamlet, a village is very clear, people are attached to each other, help each other. Solidarity is shown in bamboo fences, tree fences, if there is anything, they can call each other and run to each other. However, nowadays, many rural areas are urbanized, every house has high walls, high gates, green fences are also gone; this is no different from urban areas with crowded people and cramped houses. This is an issue that needs attention to overcome in building new rural areas.

Paying attention to the cultural element of Nghe An in the development process is also something that Comrade Nguyen Xuan Son - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council paid great attention to during the discussion and contribution to the first draft of the Political Report of the 18th Provincial Party Executive Committee to be presented to the 19th Provincial Party Congress, term 2020-2025.

At the meeting of the Provincial Party Standing Committee to give opinions on this content, the Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee agreed on one of the three breakthroughs of the next term: Continuing to develop human resources, especially high-quality human resources, associated with fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education and training; associated with promoting traditional values, arousing aspirations, strong will to rise up dynamically, creatively innovate and develop; promoting the application of science and technology in management, direction and development of fields. However, in this breakthrough, according to him, it is necessary to study and add the element of "promoting the cultural values ​​of Nghe An".

Folk games at Con Temple Festival. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Thus, it can be said that culture plays a very important role, being the core values ​​that guide sustainable development. Therefore, in the process of building documents for Party congresses at all levels, in addition to the contents on economy, society, and Party building work, the Party Committee and all classes of people need to pay special attention to contributing ideas on the content of preserving and promoting cultural elements; in line with the Party's viewpoint that "culture must be placed on par with economy, politics, and society".