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| Performance of Hue royal court music (Nha nhac) in front of Kien Trung Palace. Photo: Vi Minh |
Looking back at the efforts to safeguard and promote intangible cultural heritage, it is clear that Hue has made a significant shift from inventorying and documenting to developing programs for its protection, transmission, and heritage education, while linking it with tourism and digital transformation. But today’s demands are greater: It is no longer enough to preserve individual heritage elements but to manage an entire ecosystem of living heritage.
Hue currently has Nha nhac (Hue Royal Court Music), Bai choi card game, and the practices related to the Mother Goddesses of the Three Realms, all recognised by UNESCO; as well as numerous elements included in Vietnam’s National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, such as Hue-Singing, the Hue Nam Palace Festival, knowledge of making and wearing the Hue ao-dai, Deng weaving, Van Cu rice-noodle making, and traditional knowledge surrounding Hue beef noodle soup…
What is particularly noteworthy is that Hue recognized early on that official recognition was not the final destination. After Nha nhac was inscribed by UNESCO in 2003, the Project for the Preservation and Promotion of Hue Royal Court Music was implemented over four years. It produced important results in research, collection, the restoration of musical repertoires, training of younger practitioners, performance, and promotion. This foundation has helped sustain Nha nhac’s vitality for more than two decades.
Subsequently, Bai choi, Hue-Singing, the Hue ao-dai, and the Hue Nam Palace Festival each received their own protection and promotion programs. This represented a necessary transition from ‘inscription’ to ‘post-inscription responsibility’.
Hue also inventoried its heritage, including intangible heritage, before Vietnam’s 2024 Law on Cultural Heritage came into effect. However, the new context requires a new approach. It is no longer enough to ask, “How much heritage does Hue have?” We must know who holds that heritage, how many master practitioners are elderly, how many people still practice it, which young people are learning, which spaces are disappearing, and which traditions are at risk of disappearing.
In other words, Hue needs a ‘heritage health map’. Only by accurately understanding the vitality of each tradition can policies reach the right places, the right people, and the right moments.
Preserving the people
In Nha nhac, Hue-Singing, Bai choi, the Mother Goddess practices, ao-dai tailoring, and many other traditions, deeply knowledgeable master practitioners are increasingly elderly, while the next generation of apprentices remains small. This is an even greater concern than a lack of funding.
When a master practitioner dies before their knowledge has been documented, digitized, and passed on, part of the heritage may disappear forever. Therefore, policies concerning master practitioners should not stop at honoring and supporting them. They should establish a ‘master-apprentice’ mechanism, identifying those who hold core knowledge and creating conditions for them to train successors.
One direction that needs to be strengthened is bringing heritage into schools. Bai choi and Hue-Singing have already been introduced through teacher training and instruction for students, with clubs being established; the Hue ao-dai is also becoming part of educational and experiential activities.
The important thing is not simply for students to know how to sing a tune of Hue-Singing music or play a round of Bai choi, but to cultivate a generation of people who understand, appreciate, and value heritage. For heritage to survive over the long term, it needs both practitioners and audiences. Therefore, heritage education should be regarded as a long-term strategy, rather than merely a short-lived extracurricular activity.
Preservation and the market
Hue-Singing needs tourism to expand its audience and create livelihoods for artists, but catering too heavily to market tastes can diminish artistic quality. The ao- dai needs creativity in order to remain relevant in modern life, but arbitrary modifications can blur its identity. The Mother Goddess practices and the Hue Nam Palace Festival need promotion, but excessive commercialization and theatricalization can distort their values.
This is the paradox of living heritage: without active promotion, it can easily fade away; promoted too aggressively, it can easily become distorted. Therefore, it is necessary to determine which core values must be protected and which space can be made for creativity. Tourism and the market must serve the vitality of heritage; they cannot turn heritage into ‘raw material’ for commercial exploitation.
Nor can the heritage of mountainous communities be left outside this process. Dzeng, Ada Koonh, and Bhuoih Haro Tome among the Ta Oi, Pa Co, and Co Tu communities are closely connected to language, beliefs, the living environment, and community structures. Protecting Dzeng is not simply about preserving weaving techniques; protecting festivals is not simply about reconstructing rituals. What must be preserved is the entire cultural ecosystem that gave birth to these forms of heritage.
Digital transformation must also be substantive. Filming and photographing heritage and then storing the files cannot, by itself, be considered digitization. Hue needs an integrated database of intangible heritage, linking information on master practitioners, active practitioners, repertoires, techniques, spaces of practice, audio-visual materials, levels of risk, and transmission activities. Only then can data truly become a management tool.
More importantly, Hue needs to move from being a ‘city with a great deal of heritage’ to becoming a ‘city of living heritage’. Nha nhac and Hue-Singing can become high-quality artistic products; the ao-dai can develop a value chain spanning from training, designing, tailoring to performing, and promoting tourism; Dzeng can generate sustainable livelihoods; and Hue beef noodle soup and Van Cu noodles can become resources for the culinary industry.
No longer standing on two sides
The ultimate measure is not how many additional titles Hue receives. What matters is how many people, 10 or 20 years from now, still understand its heritage, how many still practice it, how many young people want to learn it, and how many communities still regard heritage as an indispensable part of their identity.
That is when Hue will be more than a city rich in heritage. It will truly be a city of living heritage - heritage that is being passed down and continues to create new value for the future.