Lives of Cống ethnic people in Điện Biên Province

Lả Chà Village in Nậm Pồ District, one of the few villages in the northern mountain province of Điện Biên where the ethnic Cống people live. VNA/VNS Photo Xuân Tiến

ĐIỆN BIÊN — Lả Chà Village in the northern mountainous province of Điện Biên’s Nậm Pồ District is home to a Cống ethnic community, one of the five ethnic minority communities in the province with 79 households and nearly 400 inhabitants.

Cống children in Là Chà Village have fun during their extracurricular school hours. — VNA/VNS Photo Xuân Tiến 

The living conditions of the Cống people in the village have improved in the past few years due to support from the Government and local authorities.

Investment projects on infrastructure construction, agricultural production, and cultural preservation in the district have helped change the lives of local people.

A traditional dance featuring the manual farming works of Cống ethnic people in Lả Chà Village, Điện Biên Province. VNA/VNS Photo Xuân Tiến

The village is now connected with the electricity network, while roads, schools, and bridges have been built, creating convenient conditions for people to develop all aspects of life.

An old woman of the Cống ethnic group doing some manual cultivation work in the garden. VNA/VNS Photo Xuân Tiến

In the past, Cống people had very difficult lives as they depended a lot on self-sufficiency and migration.

They earned their living just by manual cultivation on slash-and-burn fields, so crop productivity was very low. — VNS

Some festivals, cultural rituals and spiritual beliefs of families and clans in the village are performed by a shaman. VNA/VNS Photo Xuân Tiến