An Giang’s festival hoped to become part of world’s heritage
The administration of Chau Doc city, the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, is asking for the Government’s opinion on the compilation of a dossier seeking UNESCO’s recognition of the Ba Chua Xu Temple Festival on Sam Mountain as part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
A dragon dance in the Ba Chua Xu Temple Festival on Sam Mountain (Photo: VNA)
An Giang (VNA) – The administration of Chau Doccity, the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, is asking for the Government’sopinion on the compilation of a dossier seeking UNESCO’s recognition of the BaChua Xu Temple Festival on Sam Mountain as part of the intangible culturalheritage of humanity.
The annual festival takes place at Ba Chua XuTemple on Sam Mountain from the 23rd – 27th days of the fourth lunar month tohonour Ba Chua Xu – a local tutelary goddess.
It is said that the temple of Ba Chua Xu wasbuilt with leaves and bamboo in the 1820s. It was rebuilt and is now abeautiful site on Sam Mountain.
The festival was named national intangiblecultural heritage in 2015.
Located in the That Son (Seven Mountains) area,Sam Mountain is also home to many other cultural heritage sites, including theancient Tay An Pagoda and the tomb of Thoai Ngoc Hau (1761 – 1829) – a militarygeneral of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802 – 1945).
An Giang is working to turn the national tourismarea of Sam Mountain into a hub of spiritual, community-based and ecologicaltourism of Vietnam by 2025.
The province records an annual increase of800,000 – 1 million in the tourist number. It looks to welcome 9.2 millionvisitors and earn over 5.5 trillion VND (235.4 million USD) from this industryin 2019.–VNA
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The preparation for the 2018 Gong Cultural Festival slated for November 9 - 11 in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai has been basically completed.
Vietnam has added six more cultural icons to the list of national intangible cultural heritages under a recent decision by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
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The event, part of Vietnam’s cultural diplomacy strategy through 2030, was jointly organised by the Vietnamese Embassy in Venezuela and USM’s Faculty of International Relations. It attracted thousands of students from universities across Venezuela.
For the first time, Vietnamese audiences will have the opportunity to experience the ballet masterpiece "Don Quixote" in its original version by renowned choreographer Marius Petipa.
The contest carried deep meaning as it was the first time the life of Vietnamese women abroad had been highlighted as the central theme, said poet and writer Nguyen Quang Thieu, Chairman of the Vietnam Writers’ Association.
The event formed part of Vietnam’s ongoing campaign to seek UNESCO World Heritage status for the complex at the 47th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, scheduled to take place in Paris in July.
Creative cultural festivals are fast emerging as a new catalyst for tourism development in Vietnam, as localities increasingly invest in these vibrant events on a more systematic and larger scale.
This marks the first time Vietnam has hosted a continental-level Muay event which will feature competitions across 28 weight categories in combat and eight performance categories.
Coming to the Vietnamese booth, visitors had the chance to take part in a bamboo dance, a workshop on painting woven bamboo or rattan, or quizzes about Vietnam.
These are impressive achievements, not only showing the efforts and prowess of Vietnamese paddlers but also serving as proof of the sports sector’s strategic and systematic investment.
The cultural event in Canberra not only fostered cultural exchanges between Vietnam and Australia but also contributed to promoting Vietnam’s image internationally
A dragon dance in the Ba Chua Xu Temple Festival on Sam Mountain (Photo: VNA) 
