Tourists will be shown around the site which legend says is the birth place of the Vietnamese ancestors and enjoy the legend through an art programme which kicked off in the northern midland province of Phu Tho on February 14.

The programme, officially named “Back to Roots”, is a joint action by Phu Tho province and two adjacent northwestern mountainous provinces of Yen Bai and Lao Cai to promote cultural values in service of the tourism industry, and the flagship of Phu Tho’s socio-economic masterplan up to 2015.

The move will bring tourists to colourful temple festivals filled with rituals typical of different ethnic minorities and beauty spots.

Phu Tho is considered the “Birth place of Vietnamese ancestors” where Father Lac Long Quan and Mother Au Co gave birth to a package of 100 eggs, which later on hatched into 100 children. Half of the children followed their father to the sea while the rest followed their mother into the mountains. In the mountains, Au Co and her children developed rice farming, sericulture and weaving, which became popular means of living for people in the northwestern mountainous region.

Phu Tho has been finalising a compilation of Hat Xoan (folk songs of Phu Tho province) and King Hung’s Worshipping Ritual to apply to UNESCO for Cultural Heritage of Humanity status as a practical step to conserve cultural identity and develop tourism./.