We must take strong action to stop the cultural "invasion" of "strange" stone lions.

Mr. Vi Kien Thanh shared about the resolute actions to remove from life "artifacts" that are not suitable for Vietnamese customs and traditions.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has just issued an official dispatch on not using symbols, products and mascots that are not in accordance with Vietnamese customs and traditions. This official dispatch was issued due to the current situation in many localities of displaying and using symbols, items and mascots (Chinese and Western-style stone lions and some other items) in shapes and forms that are not in accordance with Vietnamese customs and traditions at gates, doors, relic sites, communal houses, pagodas, offices, agencies and units, causing aesthetic, cultural and spiritual displeasure in public places.

On this occasion, VOV.VN reporter interviewed Mr. Vi Kien Thanh, Director of the Department of Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibitions - the unit advising the Ministry to issue this document.

Mr. Vi Kien Thanh

Reporter: Sir, the appearance of foreign stone lions as well as strange mascots and symbols has long caused public outrage, and the press has also mentioned it a lot. Why is there only now an official warning?

Mr. Vi Kien Thanh:I strongly agree with the media agencies that have mentioned this issue in the past. The Department of Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibitions has also had forms of propaganda in the Magazine, on the Department's website to influence public awareness in choosing items and mascots used in decoration and beliefs. In the face of the increasingly widespread use of mascot statues and items in relics and offices, agencies and units, on August 8, 2014, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued Official Letter No. 2662 / BVHTTDL-MTNATL to the Committees, Ministries, Branches, Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism, agencies and units regarding the Do Not Use Symbols, Products and Mascots that are not in accordance with Vietnamese customs and traditions. This document aims to create synchronous coordination among agencies, departments, branches, units and individuals to be able to remove mascots and items that are not suitable to Vietnamese customs and traditions from historical and cultural relics and public places.

PV: The Department of Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibitions is the unit that manages national symbols. So can you tell us the reason why there are so many strange symbols and mascots?

Mr. Vi Kien Thanh:The proliferation of strange symbols and mascots comes from many reasons. We are currently in a period of opening up and integrating with the world, so there is influence, even cultural “invasion”. That affects the spiritual life, aesthetic concepts, spirituality, and culture of the Vietnamese people.

Nowadays, as we know, in historical and cultural relics, offices, etc., people offer and display stone lion statues modeled after Chinese ones. The forms of these statues are very similar, they think that they are mascots of Vietnamese origin without knowing that they are statues of Chinese origin. Meanwhile, in our country, many places still preserve traditional mascot statues with beautiful, pure Vietnamese shapes. This proves that many of us still lack understanding of the traditional culture and art of our ancestors. When we see a foreign statue model for sale, we compete to use it without regard to culture and spiritual meaning, leading to the widespread use of foreign mascot statues as it is today.

PV: With its functions and duties, what will the Department of Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibitions do next after the dispatch of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism?

Mr. Vi Kien Thanh:According to the content of the document, it can be seen that this requires the participation of Ministries, Departments, Branches, People's Committees of provinces/cities, Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and coordination in the advisory and direction work of the Department of Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibitions and the Department of Cultural Heritage. Our responsibility at the Department of Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibitions is to advise the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in order to bring a common cultural aesthetic to society, absorb new cultural values ​​in the world, while still creating a cultural and artistic environment that is true to Vietnamese cultural traditions.

In this regard, the Law on Cultural Heritage has regulations and sanctions for strange items, mascots, and symbols that affect historical and cultural relics. Currently, not only historical relics and temples but also offices, agencies, and units also have mascots and items that are not in accordance with Vietnamese customs and fine arts.

Official dispatch No. 2662/BVHTTDL-MTNATL directed and requested local Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism to strengthen inspection, propaganda, and propose handling of urgent and necessary cases related to this issue, while at the same time propagating and mobilizing people to be aware, to limit and remove items and mascots that are not in accordance with traditional customs.

On the side of the Department of Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibitions, we will coordinate with research agencies, central and local state management agencies and press agencies to strongly promote propaganda work to raise people's awareness of this issue. We will work with art research experts to select models of mascots and traditional Vietnamese items and introduce them for everyone to refer to and choose to use in accordance with purely Vietnamese aesthetic needs.

Chinese-style stone lions are replicated daily at Non Nuoc stone village

PV: What forms of review has the Department of Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibitions conducted to make recommendations, leading to contributing to the development of handling methods?

Mr. Vi Kien Thanh:The management, review and evaluation of relics, offices, agencies and units are under the responsibility of the Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism of provinces/cities; in the Fine Arts - Photography magazine of the Department, with the aim of disseminating and propagating to change people's awareness and concept on this issue, we have published a number of articles based on the opinions of researchers on culture and fine arts, not only talking about not arbitrarily using cultural symbols and strange mascots of countries, but also introducing the designs and symbols of our ancestors' mascots.

I think the problem cannot be solved overnight, but is a process that requires a change in the awareness of those who need to use symbols and mascots of units and agencies. At the same time, it is also a process of changing the awareness of those who create stone statues, which takes time. In relics, we can base on the Law on Cultural Heritage to remove or gradually replace what is not suitable as it is now. Meanwhile, in agencies and units, the process of awareness propaganda needs to be promoted so that they understand.

PV: According to the articles published in the Fine Arts - Photography magazine and what VOV has reported, it can be seen that there is a blurring of perception. In the stone villages, when mentioning Chinese-style stone lions, they all think that these are Vietnamese chimeras, which is alarming. So in terms of management, what specific actions will the Department of Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibition take, especially with places that mass produce these mascots?

Mr. Vi Kien Thanh:I want to emphasize that the first task is to propagate, mobilize, and explain to these places so that they can produce the correct models of symbols and items in accordance with Vietnamese cultural traditions.

At the same time, the role of the mass media is also very important in propaganda work in places where people are "cloning" these exotic lions and mascots, strengthening management and inspection work to preserve and popularize our cultural symbols more effectively.

PV: Thank you./.

According to VOV.VN