Lao Cai Province Preserves and Promotes Ethnic Cultural Identity

      After more than two years of implementation, a project on developing, preserving and promoting the cultures of ethnic minority groups in the Northeastern Mountainous Province of Lao Cai in the 2006-2010 period has contribute to changing people’s awareness and has had positive effects on provincial socio-economic development.
The project has set objectives until 2010. Accordingly, the province will obtain the rate of 80% cultural families, 40% cultural villages, 90% cultural agencies and schools and 80% advanced residential areas by 2010.
Backwards customs in the community of ethnic minority groups used to be a barrier for socio-economic development. When implementing the project, the steering committees for building cultural life at all levels was based on the psychology, customs, conditions in daily life and production of each ethnic minority group in order to provide information and encourage them to register for cultural titles.
In addition, the project also helped to provide 50 training courses for 2,350 cultural workers and build 615 communal houses.
It also helped to make profiles on the trade marks of four specialties in the province; collect and record 1,500 folk songs of ethnic groups; publish three VCDs on folklore songs and the musical instruments of ethnic groups.