Bac Ninh (VNA) – Over the past years, the northern province of Bac Ninh, knownfor its rich and long-standing culture, has taken steps to preserve and bringinto play local cultural heritage, with the engagement of the political system,organisations, and locals.

Bac Ninhis home to 1,589 relic sites, of which 643 havebeen ranked, including four special national, 204 national, and 435 provincial relic sites. It also owns 14 objects andgroups of objects recognised as national treasures.

The Quan ho Bac Ninh folk songs were inscribed in therepresentative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity by theUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).Meanwhile, eight others were also named as part of the national intangiblecultural heritage. In 2021, the Prime Minister agreed to submit a dossierseeking the UNESCO inclusion of the Dong Ho folk paintings in thelist of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding.

Topreserve and bring into play cultural heritage, the province has worked tocomplete the policies on cultural heritage preservation and promotion, basingon which it has identified rather comprehensively the values of local culturalheritage.

It hasbeen implementing several policies, including the regulations on the managementand use of historical and cultural relic sites, the rules on benefits forartisans of intangible cultural heritage, benefits for artists and staff of theQuan ho Bac Ninh Folk Song Theatre, and the regulations on artefact andnational treasure management.

In recent years, local authorities have allocated hundredsof billions of VND to help restore nearly 700 relic sites. From 2011 to 2022,the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has carried out 22restoration projects at total cost of over 450 billion VND (18.8 millionUSD). Localities in Bac Ninh have alsoraised thousands of billions of VND from private sources for relic protection.

Therestoration has been carried out basically in line with the Law on CulturalHeritage and related legal documents.

In terms of intangible cultural heritage, Bac Ninh hasimplemented many plans, projects, and programmes to uphold the values of the Quanho Bac Ninh folk songs in conformity with Vietnam’s commitment to UNESCO.

Hundreds of billions of VND has been spent on boostingcommunications about local heritage, building a film production plan topopularise heritage, and assisting the construction and upgrading of culturalcentres and related facilities.

Bac Ninh was the first province in Vietnam tohave a particular policy on benefits for those who directly maintain, practice,and teach cultural heritage. Accordingly, artisans will receive a lump-sumreward that is seven times higher than the basic wage level regulated by theState. Those of the UNESCO-recognised Quan ho Bac Ninh folk songs will gainmonthly allowances.

Since 2010, it has bestowed the artisan titles thrice,honouring 202 artisans, of whom four have been granted the People’s Artisantitle, 18 the Meritorious Artisan title, and 180 the Provincial Artisan title.

Despite major achievements, there remain certain shortcomingsin heritage preservation and promotion, including insufficient funding foraddressing relic degradation, infringement of rules on relic restoration, thetheft of antiquities, and the shortage of professional restoration personnel.

In the time ahead, the province is set to continue perfectingrelevant policies; improving awareness of authorities, localities, andorganisations and sense of responsibility towards the work; stepping uptraining for heritage management and restoration personnel; increasing investmentin the implementation of national programmes on culture; and boosting thecollection, research, and recovery of the intangible cultural heritages at riskof disintegration./.