The role of youth and digital technology

VHO - Having been recognized twice by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage, Ha Long Bay is a priceless asset at many levels: cultural, natural, economic and social. In particular, cultural values ​​are the factors that contribute to the unique appeal of the heritage. The question is: how to preserve and effectively promote this "treasure" in sustainable development?

Author with American writer Robert Olen Butler - winner of the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for his work “A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain” - the book focuses on the lives of Vietnamese people and has had a great influence on his career.

"Treasure" of intangible culture in Ha Long

During a recent field trip to Cua Van Fishing Village, we were especially excited to visit the Cua Van Floating Cultural Center - a place known as a "floating museum" with over 1,500 documents, images, and vivid artifacts describing the material and spiritual life of fishermen in Ha Long Bay, past and present.

While we were soaring with the sea songs of Cua Van fishermen, in the distance, foreign tourists were excited about the experience of being fishermen, making fishing gear, racing dragon boats... Voices, laughter, the sound of oars splashing water spread out on the deep blue water.

Having time to experience Ha Long Bay, long enough, deep enough, you will see that Ha Long Bay has a special attraction for domestic and international tourists not only because of the shimmering, magical shape of the mountains, the color of the water, the color of the sky; the caves with their own beauty; the specimens associated with the "cradle of the ancient Vietnamese", but more than that, Ha Long Bay is also attractive because of its intangible cultural values, which make up the "soul", the cultural depth of one of the most beautiful bays in the world .

When mentioning Ha Long Bay, we cannot help but mention the folk tales associated with the places of Hon Trong Mai, Sung Sot cave...; the seafaring experiences and traditional occupations passed down from generation to generation; the festivals and beliefs that express the spiritual life and spirit of the coastal people (Ba Men Temple Festival, Duc Ong Tran Quoc Nghien Temple Festival, Bach Dang Festival, Boat Lifting Ceremony, Rowing Festival...)

In particular, out of a total of 1,969 islands in the Ha Long Bay archipelago, there are 40 islands with people living there, forming a population with many valuable traditional cultural identities preserved from ancient times, such as: Ho bien, ve, wedding singing, giao duyen singing (especially Cheo Duong singing and Giao Duyen singing on Ha Long Bay)...

Cua Van Floating Cultural Center attracts international tourists with its unique intangible cultural values.

Youth and Digital Technology - a bridge to transfer intangible cultural values

Recognizing the intangible cultural values ​​of Ha Long Bay, in recent years, the conservation of intangible culture in Ha Long Bay has had positive movements from central to local levels.

However, attracting resources and enthusiastic participation from the community to preserve and promote the intangible cultural heritage values ​​of Ha Long Bay in a sustainable and worthy manner... remains a challenge.

In addition to the dedication and responsibility of researchers, collectors, scientists , managers, organizations and individuals working in the fields of cultural conservation, tourism, etc., it is time to properly recognize the role of the "pioneering force" of young people and the impact of digital technology on the preservation and promotion of the value of intangible cultural heritage of Ha Long Bay.

Updated data from the National Committee on Vietnamese Youth in 2023 shows that currently our country has more than 22.1 million people of youth age, accounting for about 22.5% of the country's population. Of which, Quang Ninh province alone has more than 267,000 young people aged 16-30, accounting for 18.9% of the province's population.

With their acumen in technology and communication, young people can be considered the strongest and most powerful force in using modern media to strongly promote propaganda and advertising activities of traditional culture on digital platforms.

Instead of simply recreating traditional cultural forms, with the creativity of youth, this force can combine modern elements to integrate intangible cultural heritage into tourism, building new tourism products such as: recreating fishermen's weddings or performing folk songs on boats to serve tourists...

Modernizing folk melodies, incorporating traditional motifs into fashion or handicraft products, helps heritage have new vitality and creates economic value...

In fact, to bring Ha Long Bay closer to tourists around the world, many Mobile Application and Smart Tourism platforms have been deployed by Quang Ninh. In these applications, tourists can not only find news introducing destinations, itineraries, and services, but can also look up information about festivals, customs, folk performing arts; images, and videos illustrating related intangible cultural heritages, etc.

However, to renew and develop intangible cultural heritage in line with modern life and sustainable tourism, increasing the application of digital technology and creating a permanent "data bank" for intangible cultural heritage in general and Ha Long Bay in particular needs to continue to receive attention.

One of the closest approaches is to incorporate it into the school curriculum to create a driving force to promote public awareness of the value of intangible cultural heritage. From there, promote and introduce it to the community, especially to peers.

In particular, methods such as: Digitizing folk songs, traditional rituals and legendary stories. Creating 3D digital profiles for artifacts, costumes, traditional labor tools related to intangible culture.

Build a scientific database to inform and classify heritages by theme (performing arts, festivals, traditional crafts) and integrate them into a Big Data management system. Attach QR codes to each heritage to easily look up detailed information right at tourist attractions or cultural reproduction areas.

Along with that, applying technology to turn heritage into attractive tourism experience products such as: developing virtual tours so that tourists can "visit" festival spaces, fishing villages and watch love duet performances right at home or at the experience center.

Using Augmented Reality (AR) at relic sites to visually and vividly recreate historical events, legendary characters or festival processes; designing E-learning lectures or online courses on cultural history, fishing traditions of Ha Long Bay and prehistoric cultures (Soi Nhu, Cai Beo, Ha Long) to include in local curriculum and widely disseminate; gradually attracting the attention of young people and international visitors...

With the above digitalization requirements, more than anyone else, the youth - those who are living in the digital age and have daily access to digital technology - are the best force to take on. If the previous generation is the creator and preserver of heritage, then they will be the ones to apply digital technology to continue and promote it creatively, ensuring that Ha Long Bay heritage exists sustainably in the modern flow.

To do this, it is necessary to have policies and strategies to mobilize and encourage the participation of young people; at the same time, there must be assessment and comments from researchers and management agencies to ensure a balance between the application of technology and the preservation of originality, avoiding distortion or commercialization of the unique and distinctive intangible cultural values ​​of the World Natural Heritage - Ha Long Bay.

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/van-hoa/vai-tro-cua-gioi-tre-va-cong-nghe-so-172819.html