A cultural-tourism village highlighting Vietnam’s ethnic groups will open on September 19 in Hanoi.
Covering an area of 1,544 hectares in Dong Mo, Son Tay Town of Hanoi, the village is a complex of traditional Vietnamese architecture, including architectural replicas of various ethnic groups homes, temples, pagodas, communal houses and more. The replicas are all furnished with their daily production tools, arts, crafts and so on. All these works and items exhibited highlight the unique cultural characteristics of each ethnic group.
According to Ho Anh Tuan, manager of the village, they have invited artisans and local people from ethnic groups to manage their own cultural spaces in the village as well as to guide visitors.
He shared, “No one can preserve cultural values as well as their creators.We have invited representatives, artisans, village chiefs and professionals from ethnic groups to discuss ways of managing and operating the village properly and efficiently. The village is still under construction so we have not decided on the number of ethnic people coming to live here yet. However, they are all ready to introduce their own culture to visitors at the finished houses.”
At present, 34 out of the 54 ethnic villages and other major works have been finished for the opening. The rest will be completed by 2015.
Besides these cultural works, there are also functional and service quarters with malls, restaurants, hotels, resorts, sporting grounds, parks, and lakes.
A series of activities are being held for the opening day including a ceremony honouring some famous craft villages, an exhibition on special items and customs of the 54 ethnic groups, a fair introducing their specialties, a food festival, folk games, cultural and art performances, and sports activities.
Construction began in 2003 and was scheduled to be completed by 2015. The Cultural-Tourism Village is expected to be an attractive destination for local and foreign tourists who want to discover the unique life and culture of Vietnam’s ethnic groups.
