Various art and cultural activities were held from April 25-29 in
response to the Feast and Commemoration Festival for Hoang Sa Soldiers
and Quang Ngai Sea and Island Culture Week, which wrapped up in
central Quang Ngai province on April 29.
Addressing the closing ceremony, Deputy Chairman of the provincial
People’s Committee Le Quang Thich said the festival is held annually to
preserve and uphold tangible and intangible cultural heritages unique to
Quang Ngai.
He highlighted the success of events
like an international seminar on sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa
archipelagoes, photo and painting exhibitions, folk games and music
performances.
On the occasion, the Ministry of
Culture, Sports and Tourism granted certificates recognising the
festival as part of the nation’s intangible heritage and the An Vinh
communal temple as a national historical site.
According to Vietnam’s feudal state history, the Hoang Sa Flotilla
was set up when the Nguyen Lords began their reign in the south of the
country. Thousands of sailors overcame roaring waves and storms to
survey sea routes, plant markers and erect steles affirming national
territory in Hoang Sa and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos, and mine
marine resources ordered by Nguyen Lords. Their missions were full of
dangers, and many of them never returned to land.
To pay tribute to the men enlisted in the flotilla, the festival has
been observed for hundreds of years by families on Ly Son islands and in
Quang Ngai coastal areas.-VNA