The opening ceremony was attended by Party and State leaders, leaders of ministries, sectors, State agencies, and representatives from the Embassies of Indonesia, Thailand, Czech Republic, Laos, China and the Republic of Korea in Vietnam.

The festivals attracted more than 700 artisans, artists, actors and actresses from 11 provinces.

In his opening remark, Chairman of Tuyen Quang Provincial People’s Committee Pham Minh Huan stressed that the time-honoured Vietnamese cultural heritages have brought about significant benefits to facilitate the national socio-economic development.

He stressed that the effective preservation and promotion of cultural heritages’ values is an important task of sectors and the entire society as it helps to hand down the country’s valuable traditions to younger and future generations.

On behalf of the Party and State leaders, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh hailed that the festivals are events of significance since they aim to realise Party and State’s guidelines and policies on developing the Vietnamese culture and people to meet the demand of sustainable development and national defence.

It also provided an opportunity to honour and pervade the country’s assorted intangible cultural heritages, he added.

Delegates at the opening ceremony were entertained with an arts programme featuring 12 heritages in 11 participating provinces, including the 'Cap Sac' ritual (a rite of passage declaring the coming-of-age of Dao ethnic men within the community) and Then folk singing of Tay ethnic people in Tuyen Quang Province.

A performance of Then folk singing of Tay ethnic people in Tuyen Quang Province.

The 'Cap Sac' ritual of Dao ethnic people in Tuyen Quang Province.