Chairman of Hà Nội People's Committee Chu Ngọc Anh (right) and his delegation visit a stall of Hòa Bình delicacies at the opening ceremony on Friday. — Photo baovanhoa.vn

HÀ NỘI — Various cultural features of ethnic minority groups in the northern province of Hòa Bình were showcased in Hà Nội’s pedestrian area around Hoàn Kiếm Lake over the weekend.

Dubbed Hòa Bình Province’s Culture and Tourism Festival, the event gathered thousands of representatives from the province performing art, gongs, offering cuisine and local delicacies, folk games and displaying artful photos.  

Addressing the opening ceremony on Friday night, chairman of Hòa Bình People’s Committee Bùi Văn Khánh said Hòa Bình Civilisation is famed all over the world and the province also hosts an honourable revolutionary tradition and diverse natural resources.

Women of Mường ethnic group from Hòa Bình Province perform gongs around Hoàn Kiếm Lake on Saturday. — VNS Photo Việt Thanh

“The province is home to six ethnic minority groups, who have made up distinctive indigenous cultural features,” he said.

He called Hòa Bình a beautiful land created by mountains, hills and the magnificent Đà River. Hòa Bình Hydropower Lake offers a romantic landscape with hundreds of green islands, which help produce a stable source of electricity for the whole country.

“Through this event, the province wants to introduce domestic and foreign tourists to its tourism products and the profound humane beauty of the land,” he said.

Artists perform at the opening ceremony of the event on Friday night. — Photo baovanhoa.vn

“We hope to connect investors, enterprises and travel agencies in Hà Nội to enlarge domestic tourism market while the country is still closed to foreigners due to COVID-19,” he said.

Khánh pledged the province will offer the best conditions for enterprises and tourists visiting and investing in the province.

The event, which finished on Sunday, attracted a sizable crowd.

The pedestrian area around Hoàn Kiếm Lake was livened up by the sound of gongs over the weekend. — VNS Photo Việt Thanh

“I like such an event,” retiree Lê Thị Đức, who often walks around Hoàn Kiếm lake as a morning exercise, told Việt Nam News. “I have been to Hòa Bình several times. Yet I still want to return to visit beautiful landscapes. The food there is also good and people are warm-hearted.

“Such an event stirs up the pedestrian zone and lures tourists like me to the land. I like the gong performance by ethnic people from Hòa Bình around the lake. It’s impressive.” — VNS