Cultural heritage is an invaluable treasure and the pride of Vietnamese people. However, it is currently facing many difficulties, including financial issue.
In fact, businesses and entrepreneurs play an important role as heritage conservation becomes further socialized. So what is the role of businesses and entrepreneurs in preserving and promoting cultural heritage values?
How to preserve heritage
Conservation of cultural heritage is an urgent task, but currently the state budget for this work is still limited. For example, Hanoi has about 5,000 relic sites, and the state budget is not enough to preserve such a large number of them. Therefore, mobilizing businesses and entrepreneurs to participate in heritage conservation is an effective solution.
Businessmen organize a national costume performance.
According to information from the Department of Cultural Heritage under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, every year, entrepreneurs and businesses contribute a large amount of money to the conservation work of relics.
Moreover, in many temples and pagodas, most of the money for conservation work is contributed by entrepreneurs and businesses.
However, for not all businesses and entrepreneurs are knowledgeable about culture, experts worry that if the heritage is not properly preserved, it can be damaged. According to Professor Le Van Lan, a temple dedicated to Nguyen Minh Khong (the Ly Dynasty) in Ninh Binh province has been preserved by a businessman with a large amount of money, but the work has received controversial opinions.
Or the story about another work in Ha Nam province, where Princess Huyen Tran (under the Tran Dynasty) returned after leaving Champanagara. “This was an old, solemn, elegant temple on the side of an ancient mountain, emerging in the middle of the Nam Dinh plain. It was very beautiful. However, after a business spent hundreds of billions of Vietnamese dong rebuilding the construction, the temple eventually disappeared, and a modern construction was built instead. This was not cultural preservation because it did not contain national values,” Professor Le Van Lan underscored.
Raising knowledge about heritage preservation
Only traditional culture creates real and unique values in Vietnam. Preserving those values will both attract tourists and benefit the socio-economy. Businesses themselves also admit to benefit from the traditional cultural values of the nation.
Having been working in the field of tourism for many years, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lux Group Pham Ha shared that his business has revived the story of the “King of Ships,” Bach Thai Buoi, combining the elements of culture, art, cuisine, and architecture... to make a difference to attract travelers. “Vietnamese people should treasure national heritage instead of making something new that does not relate to the old ones. The mission of the business is to preserve the heritage,” Ha said.
According to Deputy Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage Tran Dinh Thanh, “We have a responsibility to preserve the original heritage to pass on to next generations. We do agree that we need to coordinate with businesses to invest in heritage conservation, and this has been mentioned in the draft Law on Cultural Heritage (amended). However, in addition to resources, we also need to pay attention to raising knowledge about heritage. The investment is then meaningful and contributes to preserving the core values of the heritage.”
So what do entrepreneurs and businesses need to do to effectively participate in heritage conservation? Vice President and Secretary General of the Vietnam Federation of UNESCO Associations Tran Van Manh suggested that State management agencies build suitable policies, disseminate, encourage, and raise the business community and enterprises’ awareness of the importance of national cultural resources. Therefore, they will promote their responsibility to protect and preserve the national heritage. To do so, they need to be equipped with knowledge to effectively participate in cultural heritage preservation under the guidance and management of the State.
Source: qdnd (translated by Minh Anh)
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