Hai Duong: A land of cultural convergence and brilliance
WVR - Hai Duong, with its rich and diverse cultural heritage, is fully committed to preserving, promoting the value of its cultural heritage, and developing tourism to promote the legacy of ancient Kinh Bac.
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| The Kiep Bac Temple Festival is one of the biggest festivals in Viet Nam. |
Located in the northeastern part of the Red River Delta, Hai Duong province, with an area of 1,668 km2 and a population of over 1.9 million people, is a part of the key economic region of the Northern Delta (Hanoi - Hai Phong - Quang Ninh). With convenient road and water transportation due to its proximity to seaports and airports, Hai Duong is ideally positioned for economic and tourism development.
Cultural heritage treasury
Today’s Hai Duong, ancient Kinh Mon, has many landscapes of long-standing renown such as Con Son - Kiep Bac, Phuong Hoang red maple forest (Chinh Linh), An Phu - Kinh Chu - Nham Duong (Kinh Mon), scenic Huong River with fruit gardens (Thanh Ha), and the Co Island (Thanh Mien) - a wetland ecosystem with thousands of herons and egrets, the only one remaining in the Red River Delta.
For generations, Hai Duong has been a place where national heroes and cultural celebrities like Khuc Thua Du, Tran Hung Dao, Chu Van An, Mac Dinh Chi, Pham Su Manh, Tue Tinh, Nguyen Trai, Nguyen Thi Due, etc., had been born. It is a region with a rich history and distinctive cultural heritage, boasting 3,199 historical-cultural relics and scenic spots. Among them, Hai Duong features four clusters of relics ranked as special national monuments: Con Son - Kiep Bac, An Phu - Kinh Chu - Nham Duong, Van Mieu Mao Dien, and ancient temples and pagodas; alongside 142 national monuments and 271 provincial-level monuments; 11 national treasures and 11 national intangible cultural heritages.
In addition to many picturesque landscapes and fascinating ecological zones, this land also preserves many rare artifacts such as prehistoric human and animal bones, fossilized labor tools, and ancient ceramics and coins, confirming continuous human habitation in the Kinh Mon region from 30,000 to 50,000 years ago.
Hai Duong is renowned for its numerous traditional crafts such as Dong Giao wood carving (Cam Giang), Chu Dau pottery (Nam Sach), Chau Khe jewelry (Binh Giang), Hong Luc Lieu Trang printing blocks (Hai Duong City), Xuan Neo embroidery (Tu Ky), Tam Lam footwear (Gia Loc), Tien Kieu mat weaving (Thanh Ha), and many others. The province is also rich in traditional performing arts like Cheo (traditional opera), Tuong, Ca tru singing, ceremonial singing, and water puppetry, which all are recognized as intangible cultural heritage.
Visitors to Hai Duong can also enjoy numerous famous culinary specialties both domestically and internationally such as green bean cake - top 10 Asian specialty gifts; Hai Duong rice cake, rolled cake (Hai Duong City), sticky rice cake (Ninh Giang), Ke Sat rice crackers (Binh Giang), sausages (Gia Loc), golden flower sticky rice and garlic (Kinh Mon), Thieu lychees (Thanh Ha), sandworms (Tu Ky, Kim Thanh), and more.
With over 800 festivals, including major ones like Con Son - Kiep Bac (Chi Linh), Cao Temple (Kinh Mon), Tran Temple (Ninh Giang), Hai Duong has significant potential and strengths in cultural tourism, contributing to the development of the province’s tourism industry and the Northern Delta region.
Strive to honour heritage and develop tourism
With a treasure trove of cultural heritage, in recent years, Hai Duong has focused considerable resources on the conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage and the development of tourism.
Particularly notable is the Yen Tu - Vinh Nghiem - Con Son - Kiep Bac complex across three provinces: Quang Ninh, Hai Duong, and Bac Giang, currently being surveyed and evaluated by UNESCO for consideration as a World Heritage site. The importance of this complex is confirmed through a series of historical, architectural, archaeological, and scenic landmarks ranked at provincial, national, and special national levels.
The dossier for the Yen Tu - Vinh Nghiem - Con Son - Kiep Bac complex, the first cultural heritage dossier to span over three provinces in Vietnam, is being compiled in collaboration with the People’s Committees of Quang Ninh and Bac Giang. If recognized by UNESCO, it will become Vietnam’s first inter-provincial World Cultural Heritage site, showcasing the dedication to heritage preservation of the three provinces, including Hai Duong.
In the realm of intangible cultural heritage, following the inscription of Ca tru singing as an urgently protected intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2009, Hai Duong has made significant, responsible contributions to protecting and promoting the heritage values of Ca tru singing, passing them down to future generations and helping protect the cultural identity of the nation.
Currently, Hai Duong, along with other provinces in the northern midland and delta regions, has completed a dossier for Cheo art, submitting it to UNESCO for recognition as a Representative Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Along with conservation efforts, Hai Duong is also focusing on developing tourism products linked to the province’s cultural strengths. Many unique tourism products have become “brands” for the province.
Visiting Hai Duong means exploring its cultural tourism and scenic spots such as Con Son - Kiep Bac, An Phu - Kinh Chu - Nham Duong, Chu Van An Temple, Tran Temple, Mao Dien Temple of Literature... This region is also famous for its festival tourism associated with prominent festivals like the Con Son - Kiep Bac Spring and Autumn Festivals, An Phu Temple Festival, Nham Duong Pagoda Festival, Mao Dien Temple of Literature Festival, and Tran Temple Festival.
Hai Duong’s ecological tourism is also appealing to visitors, including the community tourism area at Co Island in Chi Lang Nam (Thanh Mien) and the riverside region along the Huong River (Thanh Ha).
Recognizing that the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage must be linked with the traditional community culture and ensuring the livelihoods of local people, Hai Duong focuses on developing craft village tourism: Chu Dau pottery (Nam Sach), Hoang Dieu footwear (Gia Loc), Hung Dao embroidery (Tu Ky), Dong Giao wood carving (Cam Giang), Hoi Yen rice crackers, green bean cakes (Hai Duong City), sticky rice cakes, and jackfruit cakes (Ninh Giang)…
Along with the development of agriculture-related tourism products linked to provincial landmarks, agricultural tourism has been exploited by Hai Duong at localities with typical agricultural products such as Thanh Ha (lychees, guavas, grapefruits, sandworms), Kinh Mon (oranges, onions, garlic, ostriches), Chi Linh (custard apples, longans), Nam Sach (onions, garlic, carrots), Gia Loc (grapes); Tu Ky (sandworms)…
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| A Cheo performance by the Chi Linh municipal folk arts team at the 2023 Hai Duong Amateur Theatre Festival. |
Keeping pace with trends in sports and entertainment tourism, the province also has numerous venues to meet the diverse needs of tourists such as the Chí Linh Golf Course (Chí Linh City); indoor sports events at the Provincial Gymnasium (Hai Duong City)…
With a vision for the future, the province has been developing eight unique tourism products under the “High-Quality Tourism Development in Hai Duong Province 2021-2030, Vision to 2050” project. Examples include “Back to the Water Puppetry of the Red River Delta” (Bo Duong village, Hong Phong commune, Ninh Giang district), “Chu Dau Pottery - The Essence of Vietnamese Culture” (Chu Dau village, Thai Tan commune, Nam Sach district, connected to Hai Duong Provincial Museum), “Vietnamese Rural Retreat Tourism” (Huong River area, Thanh Ha district), “Eastern Province Culinary Culture” (An Thanh commune, Tu Ky district), etc.
In the context of international integration, Hai Duong actively connects with the international markets, particularly focusing on the Asia-Pacific region like China, Japan, The Republic of Korea, and ASEAN. Cooperation is carried out through exchanges and the organization of regional or international cultural and tourism events showcasing traditional arts (Ca tru, ceremonial singing, Cheo, water puppetry…).
As a land of “extraordinary people and sacred earth,” modern Hai Duong, formerly known as Kinh Mon, continues to be proud of its rich cultural heritage and is making efforts to inherit and promote these cultural traditions, reinforcing the province’s role and position on Vietnam’s cultural and tourism map.
