Preserving ethnic groups’ tradition culture – urgent task: minister

Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism always considers the management, preservation and promotion of traditional culture of ethnic minority groups one of urgent, strategic and long-term tasks, Minister Nguyen Ngoc Thien said at the Q&A session as part of the National Assembly’s ongoing third plenum on June 14.

Clearing up deputies’ questions regarding outcomes of preservation and development of traditional culture, especially folk arts, Thien said the ministry has deployed an array of specific solutions and projects to protect traditional hamlets.

Up to 25 hamlets of 19 ethnic minority groups like Cham, Ba Na, Muong and Thai have received support to preserve their cultural values, he noted.  

To protect folk arts, the ministry has helped localities open classes on intangible culture of ethnic minority groups with teachers being artisans, according to the official.  

He added that the ministry has carried out projects on preserving traditional costumes and languages, collecting and displaying traditional cultural heritage of ethnic minority groups, and organised regular meetings with village patriarchs, heads of villages and local prestigious people.

The Literature and Art Association of Vietnamese Ethnic Minorities has also boosted the production, collection and popularisation of quality works that reflect the land, people, culture and traditional art forms of ethnic minority groups, the minister said.

Chairman-Minister of the NA’s Committee for Ethnic Affairs Do Van Chien said the Party and State always pay heed to the work.

The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, the Culture and Tourism Village of Vietnamese Ethnic Groups, the Cultural Festival of Ethnic Minority Groups and many folk songs of ethnic minorities groups have been recognised as cultural heritages, he said.

After Nguyen Ngoc Thien, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien was the third Cabinet member to take the floor.-VNA