Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (left) shakes hands with folk culture researcher Nguyen Hai Lien (Source: VNA)
During a ceremony to receive collectibles of intangible cultural research presented by folk culture researcher Nguyen Hai Lien to the Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Art Studies in Hanoi on November 23rd, PM Phuc praised the researcher for his great contributions to enriching Vietnam’s cultural treasure.
He said cultural identity is one of the core elements that make up the national identity and is considered a fundamental strength in building the great national unity bloc.
The diversity, richness and uniqueness of culture are not only advantages of the tourism sector, but also an important impetus to attract resources for the country’s development, he added.
The PM stated that the collectibles will be continuously preserved, developed and popularised widely in the community.
The State management work of culture urgently needs cooperation and contributions of dedicated individuals like Lien, towards conserving, upholding folk cultural values of the nation, he said.
PM Phuc asked the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to implement projects to preserve scripts of ethnic minority groups, and pay more attention to enriching the country’s folk culture treasure.
Researcher Lien was born in the central province of Quang Nam – the cradle of Bai Choi folklore-style singing.
Over the last 30 years, he conducted researches and collected intangible culture values of the Champa and Raglai ethnic minority communities.
By his tireless efforts, Lien contributed to restoring almost all festivals of Champa people, and promoting tourism development in parallel with the preservation of culture heritage through festivals in the My Son Sanctuary in Quang Nam.
Regarding Raglai culture, he collected six massive epics, especially the Sa-Ea epic.
During many years of searching, he discovered and restored traditional costumes of Raglai people which have been lost for decades./.