Bắc Giang culture and tourism week will be held from February 1-6, expectedly attracting about 500,000-600,000 visitors. Photo yendung.bacgiang.gov.vn

BẮC GIANG A series of activities to promote the cultural values and tourism potential of the northern province of Bắc Giang will be held during a culture and tourism week from February 1-6.

Buddha Music Night is one of the highlights of the culture-tourism week, which is reorganised in the province after a three-year pandemic hiatus. With the theme Vĩnh Nghiêm - Hào Quang Trí Huệ (Vĩnh Nghiêm - Aura of Wisdom), the event is held at Vĩnh Nghiêm Pagoda in Yên Dũng District, the cradle of Việt Nam’s indigenous Trúc Lâm Yên Tử Zen Buddhist sect. 

According to Vũ Trí Thống, head of the Culture and Information Department of Yên Dũng District, the programme has an innovative and distinctive form, telling stories through music about the life, background and the enlightenment process of Buddhist King Trần Nhân Tông (1258-1308), together with the formation and development of the Trúc Lâm Yên Tử Zen Buddhist sect that he founded. Hundreds of actors, monks and students will participate in the programme.

“Besides setting up many decorative miniatures, booths to introduce typical agricultural products of the district and printing woodblock displays, the organisation board is also planning a space in which tourists themselves could try printing woodblocks of Vĩnh Nghiêm Pagoda, which UNESCO recognised as a Documentary Heritage of the World Memory Programme for the Asia-Pacific region in 2012,” Thống said.

Another highlight of the culture-tourism week is the procession of the printing woodblock set Cư Trần Lạc Đạo Phú, one of the famous works by Buddhist King Trần Nhân Tông, from Vĩnh Nghiêm Pagoda to Thượng Tây Yên Tử (Sơn Đồng) Pagoda.

According to Venerable Thích Thanh Vịnh, deputy abbot of Vĩnh Nghiêm Pagoda, the printing woodblock set was selected among more than 3,000 woodblocks of the pagoda. It includes inscriptions of Buddhist Law, thoughts and philosophies of monks, particularly those throughout the enlightenment process of Buddhist King Trần Nhân Tông, who was also a prominent military leader and poet. Over 100 festival floats will take part in the procession of the woodblock set.

The culture and tourism week will include many sideline activities, including the exhibition "Buddhist sacred mark of Tây Yên Tử - Relics from the ground", displaying 200 artefacts unearthed in Western Yên Tử relic; the opening ceremony of Yên Tử Spring Festival; folk games; a painting contest; traditional singing and ritual performances of local ethnic groups and a marathon to conquer the sacred Mount Yên Tử.

Bắc Giang Province is home to hundreds of architectural sites dating back to the Trần dynasty and more than 2,000 historical and cultural heritage sites, especially pagodas such as Vĩnh Nghiêm, Am Vãi or Bình Long.

Located in the Lạng Sơn – Hà Nội – Hải Phòng – Quảng Ninh economic corridor and bestowed with stunning natural landscapes like the Western Yên Tử Nature Reserve, Bắc Giang has huge potential for tourism development.

The province is expected to receive from 500,000-600,000 visitors this culture-tourism week and has set a target of welcoming a total of two million tourists this year. VNS