President Truong Tan Sang on Feb. 4 visited the Vietnamese ethnic culture-tourism village in Hanoi ’s outskirt district of Son Tay.

The President wished the communities of ethnic people living in the village a happy new year, saying that the site will be a centre of ethnic cultural research and preservation activities.

He witnessed the Long Tong or Going to the field ceremony of the Thai and Nung ethnic groups and joined in their traditional New Year cerebrations. For the ethnic groups in the northern mountainous provinces, the Long Tong is the most important spring festival during which they wish for good harvests.

He spent some time to watch the traditional wedding ceremony of the Dao ethnic group enacted by artisan Phan Van Phu and young people from Tuyen Quang province.

The State leader also stopped by villages of the Cham and Khmer ethnic groups where he showed interest in their architecture.

Located on a 1,544-ha area, the site is a complex of traditional Vietnamese architectures, highlighting unique characteristics of the nation’s culture.
Apart from typical architectural work of each ethnic group, like houses, communal houses, pagodas, many production tools, fine arts and craft, rice cultivation techniques will be introduced.

There are also functional and service quarters with malls, restaurants, hotels, sports, parks, and resorts.

With its construction starting in 2003, the village that features values of the distinctive cultures of each of Vietnam ’s 54 ethnic groups, is expected to be an attractive destination for local and foreign tourists.

Later on the day, President Sang attended a tree planting festival organised by the Party committee of central agencies./.