In the evening of November 30th, Central Highlands Gongs Culture Festival 2018 officially began at Dai Doan Ket square, Pleiku city, Gia Lai province.
Open Ceremony of Central Highlands Gong Culture Festival 2018
The Open Ceremony witnessed the attendance of Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc – Member of Politburo, Prime Minister; Mr. Vo Van Thuong – Member of Politburo, Secretariat Member of Party Central Committee, Head of Central Department of Propaganda; Mr. To Lam – Member of Politburo, Minister of Police; together with many senior officers of central ministries and departments; representatives of embassies and consulates of Russian Federation, Korea, Cambodia; domestic and international researchers; leaders of provinces in the Central Region and Central Highlands.
Mission of preserving the precious heritage of mankind
Speaking at the Open Ceremony, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasized that the Party and the Government entrust the Central Highlands’ community and ethnic groups to protect preserve and promote the values of the space of gong culture.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc giving speech to kick off the Festival
The Prime Minister reckoned that the Central Highlands – a region characterized by intensive sunlight and wind with the company of simple and countryfied people has created a community that possesses unique and exciting culture.
Therein, Gia Lai is known as an ancient land, which has maintained the featured traditional culture with inclusion of a large number of historical places and priceless and doughty epic repertory. As the time goes by, the sound of gongs has always resonated down the heart of the people living on Truong Son mountains. Its influence has also gone beyond the Vietnamese territory, making itself become precious property in the Vietnamese culture in particular and the humankind’s culture in general.
This Gong Culture Festival acts as honoring the exclusive values as well as strong and everlasting vitality of the Central Highlands’ gong culture. At present, there are more than 10,000 gongs remaining in the Central Highlands.
With regards to the vision towards a new form of the Central Highlands, the Prime Minister has determined that this region must become a unique icon of the Vietnamese tourism that is deeply characterized by the legendary theme of Asian heritage of the 21st century. It is highly necessary that the Central Highlands and Gia Lai always remain as a favorite destination of investors and also customers both inside and outside the country.
“I strongly believe that cultural tourism and heritage tourism is a strength if Central Highlands’ provinces in support of the powerful socio-economic development, which creates a better and increasingly prosperous life for the people across different ethnic groups all over the region”.
Gongs are known as a cultural herald that connects the visitors with the Central Highlands
Presenting at the Open Ceremony, Ms. Huong Tran Kieu Dung – Vice Chairwoman cum General Director of FLC Group has stressed the necessity of further promoting exciting cultural events like the Gong Festival since this is considered as a kind of activity that has practical meaning to bring the culture of the Central Highlands closer to the people around Vietnam.
“Throughout the Festival, the visitors will be able to enjoy the diverse vernacular cultural features and spiritual living of the Central Highlands’ people, and that is one of the vital contributing factors forming the attractiveness of the Central Highlands’ tourism in the upcoming time”.
As a companion of the Gongs Festival 2018, FLC Group expects to make joining efforts in protecting, preserving and promoting unique cultural values associated with the space of the gong culture, which thereby attracts more and more domestic and international visitors to Gia Lai and also other provinces of the Central Highlands.
Building foundation for tourism development
On the occasion of attending the Open Ceremony of the Gongs Festival, the General Director of FLC Group indicated that Gia Lai in the recent years has been showing the fastest and the most comprehensive socio-economic growth in the Central Highlands.
As a province that has the highest area in the region and the second highest area in the country, besides the rich cultural identity, Gia Lai possesses diverse natural resource including primitive forest, waterfalls, lakes, a range of famous historical and cultural sites as well as favorable climate throughout the year. This is an important characteristic on which Gia Lai can rely to develop to be a prospective tourism market of the Central Highlands.
“That is the reason why FLC Group decided to choose Gia Lai as the first destination among the provinces of the Central Highlands to invest in the large-scale hospitality complex project, which encompasses a golf course, entertainment area, hotel and resort. Following the proper and comprehensive investment, FLC Group expects that FLC Gia Lai will become a new and attractive destination, which meets the demand for tourism of both domestic and international visitors. Correspondingly, this will effectively promote the potential of the local area, building the foundation for tourism development of Gia Lai in particular and the Central Highlands in general”, affirmed Ms. Huong Tran Kieu Dung.
The Central Highlands Gongs Culture Festival 2018 will take place from November 30th to December 2nd, containing various activities such as street festival, traditional festival/ceremony display; art performances including wood sculpturing, knitting, brocade weaving and embroidery; and folk literacy activities.
Not only considered as an activity in support of protecting and honoring the value of the gongs culture, the Central Highlands Gongs Culture Festival 2018 is also an occasion to connect and exchange culture among the people across different ethnic groups, as well as an opportunity for the visitors and businesses to learn about investment opportunities in Gia Lai and the Central Highlands.
