Awakening the heritage of the “white cloud land”

In the capital of Hanoi, besides the Thang Long culture, there is also the Xu Doai culture, which is believed to be majestic like the Ba Vi mountains. Xu Doai culture merges with Thang Long culture, making the capital’s culture even richer. Amid the general culture of Hanoi, Xu Doai culture still retains its own characteristics, as it has done for thousands of years. Its value has been preserved and promoted, becoming an important resource for building the cultural industry.

Xu Doai is the word referring to the land west of the capital, where Ba Vi peak has white clouds all year round. Poet Quang Dung, a son of this land, wrote: “I miss Xu Doai with white clouds/ Do you ever miss it?” In Vietnamese culture, not every land is considered a civilised land. Civilised land is used to refer to lands with long-standing historical-cultural traditions, lands that have seen many famous people who made great contributions to the country. Xu Doai is one of the few lands that has been considered a civilised region.

For a long time, Xu Doai belonged to former Ha Tay Province, so many people identified Ha Tay with Xu Doai. But in fact, Ha Tay includes several localities belonging to Xu Doai and a number of localities belonging to Son Nam Thuong. Xu Doai used to be a large area located to the west of Thang Long Citadel. After many administrative changes, the area of former Xu Doai now corresponds to the administrative boundaries of the districts of Quoc Oai, Thach That, Dan Phuong, Hoai Duc, Ba Vi, and Son Tay Town and a part of the provinces of Vinh Phuc and Phu Tho today.

After many administrative changes, the area of former Xu Doai now corresponds to the administrative boundaries of the districts of Quoc Oai, Thach That, Dan Phuong, Hoai Duc, Ba Vi, and Son Tay Town and a part of the provinces of Vinh Phuc and Phu Tho today.

Xu Doai is identified as the cradle of ancient Vietnamese civilisation, where there is a legend about Tan Vien Son Thanh, one of the four immortals of the Vietnamese people. The legendary stories about Tan Vien Son Thanh are associated with the Hung King era, the beginning of Vietnamese history.

Along with the development of history, Xu Doai has become a cultural land, the birthplace of many heroes and talented people of the country such as Kings Phung Hung, Ngo Quyen, Grand Tutor To Hien Thanh, Third Rank Scorer Giang Van Minh, and Laureate Bung Phung Khac Khoan.

The cultural depth of Xu Doai is also reflected in the number of monuments and heritages. Xu Doai concentrates a series of special national relics: Thay Pagoda, So Communal House (Quoc Oai District); Tay Phuong Pagoda (Thach That District); Hat Mon Temple, Tuong Phieu Communal House, and Ha Hiep Communal House (Phuc Tho District); Tay Dang communal house (Ba Vi District); and Dai Phung communal house (Dan Phuong district). Besides their historical value, these works are also “museums” of traditional architecture and sculpture; at the same time, they are also places to preserve many beautiful features of ancient Vietnamese villages, most notably the communal house system. 

Xu Doai also has “unique” relics, such as Son Tay Citadel — the only laterite citadel in Southeast Asia; Duong Lam ancient village — one of two ancient villages in the country recognised as a National Architectural and Artistic Relic; Mia Pagoda (Son Tay town) —with 287 worship statues, currently holding the Vietnamese record for the largest number of Buddhist statues in a pagoda; and Son Tay Temple of Literature — a place to honour the tradition of studiousness and mandarin examinations in Doai, the relic system worshiping Tan Vien Son Thanh.

Xu Doai is also home to many valuable intangible cultural heritages, Notably, the worship of Tan Vien Son Thanh covers a large area at the foot of Tan Vien Mountain, Hat Mon Temple Festival (Phuc Tho District), Va Temple Festival (Son Tay Town), Do singing (Quoc Oai District), Trong Quan singing (Phuc Tho District), Chang Son water puppetry, Binh Phu water puppetry (Thach That District), Muong dance in Van Hoa Commune (Ba Vi District), Ngai Cau ca tru (Hoai Duc District), Thuong Mo ca tru (Dan Phuong District), and so on. In particular, Xu Doai is famous for many handicraft villages. 

Professor Vu Minh Giang, Vice President of the Vietnam Historical Science Association, affirmed: “Xu Doai is a miniature picture of Vietnamese culture, but contains unique features that cannot be found anywhere else. Xu Doai culture is a priceless treasure in the flow of Vietnamese culture.”

The Son Tay Ancient Citadel pedestrian streets (Son Tay town) has been operating for more than two years so far, and its appeal has never diminished. Many cultural and artistic performances are regularly held on the streets on weekends. The pedestrian streets are also a space for organising art exhibitions, handicrafts, folk games. All these activities turn the walking space around Son Tay Ancient Citadel into an attractive cultural and tourist space. On average, the walking space attracts about 10,000 visitors each night. On major holidays or when organising major events, the pedestrian streets around Son Tay Ancient Citadel attracts from 25,000 to 30,000 visitors. The activities of the pedestrian streets also help people earn more income, contributing to the development of the inner-city economy.

Implementing Resolution No. 09-NQ/TU of the Hanoi Party Committee on "Developing cultural industry in the capital in the 2021-2025 period, with orientation to 2030 and a vision to 2045", many cultural heritages of the land are being exploited, promoting their values and becoming important resources in developing cultural industry, with the pedestrian streets around Son Tay Citadel being one of the activities. Along with Son Tay Citadel, relics such as: Duong Lam Ancient Village, Thay Pagoda, Tay Phuong Pagoda, and Hat Mon Temple have all become attractive tourist destinations.

Intangible cultural heritages have been also “awakened” to participate in cultural industry development activities, particularly in forms such as festivals, folk performing arts, and cuisine. Vietnam’s first outdoor real-life show, “The Quintessence of Tonkin”, is a prime example of creativity that brings new values to folk arts.

“The Quintessence of Tonkin” features a grand stage, modern effects, and a cast of 200 actors. Set in the countryside of the Doai region, the show recreates the rural life of the past, from scenes of labour, production, and festivals to everyday life. This allows the audiences to clearly feel the simplicity and genuineness of Doai culture. Interwoven into these scenes are various forms of folk performing arts such as water puppetry and chau van (spiritual singing) performed by artist-farmers themselves. This has maintained the show’s appeal to audiences in recent years, especially among tourists.

In addition to the aforementioned heritages, the ‘gong’ performance art of the Muong ethnic people has been incorporated into many tourism tours. Other forms of folk performing arts such as water puppetry, ca tru (ceremonial singing), and hat do have been being presented on major stages. Moreover, craft villages like Chang Son (carpentry), Son Dong (statue carving), and Thach Xa (bamboo dragonfly making) have become both tourist destinations and producers of many handicraft products as souvenirs, generating significant economic value.

Despite facing numerous challenges, especially regarding manpower and solutions to transform heritage resources into cultural industry products, the cultural heritage of Doai has begun to be tapped in the right direction. This not only contributes to improving local residents' lives but also ensures better preservation of many heritages through cultural industry development, thereby fostering the enduring vitality of Doai culture.