Dong Nai’s cultural identity and vitality in the new period

Preserving cultural identity, promoting the values of traditional culture, and spreading a spirit of compassion, dynamism, creativity, and integration have become a consistent thread running through the development of the people and the land of Dong Nai.

In the new period, culture is not only the spiritual foundation of society but also an important endogenous driving force, contributing to the development of the Dong Nai’s citizens that are compassionate, creative, and well integrated.

Preserving Dong Nai’s cultural identity

As a land with a history of more than 325 years of formation and development, Dong Nai is home to a wealth of distinctive cultural values, shaped through the interaction of Vietnamese, Chinese, Choro, Ma, S'tieng, and other communities. This cultural identity is vividly reflected in its system of historical and cultural relics, traditional festivals, folk arts, beliefs, customs, and the compassionate way of life of the Dong Nai’s citizens.

Le Thi Ngoc Loan, Member of the Provincial Party Committee and Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that Dong Nai is a land of convergence and cultural exchange among many communities, forming a rich and diverse system of cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible. The province currently has more than 120 ranked relics, over 1,500 inventoried relic sites, and hundreds of traditional festivals that are maintained and preserved, many of which have been inscribed on the national list of intangible cultural heritage.

The Dong Nai Provincial Center for Culture and Cinema reenacts traditional dances of ethnic minority communities and stages performances for the public. Photo: My Ny

“Preserving, connecting, and effectively promoting cultural values not only helps safeguard identity and strengthen the spiritual foundation of society, but also creates an important endogenous driving force, opening up space for sustainable development and boosting tourism. Through this, traditions are passed on and the people of Dong Nai are nurtured to be compassionate, dynamic, creative, and well integrated in the new period”, Le Thi Ngoc Loan shared.

Dong Nai currently has nearly 400 traditional festivals distributed across localities throughout the province. Many festivals, such as the New Rice Festival of the S'tieng people and the Chol Chnam Thmay Festival of the Khmer people, have been reenacted, contributing to the preservation and promotion of community cultural values.

Recognizing cultural heritage as a spiritual foundation and an important internal driving force for sustainable development, Tam Hiep Ward has in recent years placed strong emphasis on the preservation and promotion of heritage values. The ward is home to several ranked relics, including Tan Hiep Prison; the tomb and temple of Doan Van Cu and 16 members of the Thien Dia Hoi militia; and the Hung Kings Temple. In addition, Tam Hiep Ward features a number of cultural spaces such as Long Binh Victory Park and Duong Tu Giang Park, which not only hold historical and architectural value but also serve as valuable resources for the development of cultural tourism.

To bring heritage closer to the community, according to Luu Thi Hang, Vice Chairwoman of the Tam Hiep Ward People’s Committee, the locality has implemented various measures through outreach programs, heritage education, experiential activities, return-to-roots programs, and the integration of local history into school curricula. Heritage content has also been incorporated into the cultural tourism development strategy and community education initiatives. Notably, Tam Hiep Ward has applied technology by deploying QR codes at relic sites, making it easier for people to access information about the value of local heritage.

Loc Ninh Commune is one of the localities that has preserved traditional cultural values closely associated with community life. Each year, the commune maintains and organizes traditional festivals, most notably the New Rice Festival of the S'tieng ethnic community. Loc Ninh currently has several ranked historical and cultural relics, including two national-level relics, three provincial-level relics, and one relic listed in the inventory. These relics are not only historical landmarks but also important cultural resources for traditional education and sustainable development.

Alongside efforts to preserve and promote heritage values, the Movement to Build a Cultural Life in Residential Areas across the province has increasingly deepened and spread widely.

According to Le Thinh, Vice Chairman of the Loc Thanh Commune People’s Committee, the locality has focused on investing in and completing the system of grassroots cultural institutions in recent years. Currently, all 15 hamlets in the commune have cultural houses that meet residents’ needs for communal activities, including two stilt-house cultural facilities built in accordance with standards set by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Notably, Loc Thanh Commune has a standard multi-purpose hall, badminton and table tennis halls, as well as outdoor fitness equipment installed at various locations to serve residents’ physical training needs. In 2026, the commune aims for more than 55 percent of residents to regularly participate in cultural and sports activities, and for 100 percent of hamlet-level cultural houses to operate effectively, becoming shared cultural spaces for the community.

Building a compassionate, creative, and well-integrated people of Dong Nai

According to cultural researchers, human development is the core and continuous objective of Dong Nai’s current cultural development strategy, because cultural identity is not only preserved through relics, festivals, or traditional practices but also nurtured and disseminated through people themselves. They are both the creators and the beneficiaries of culture.

Master Tran Quang Toai, Chairman of the Dong Nai Association of Historical Sciences, stated that Dong Nai is a land of diverse cultural convergence among many communities. It is precisely this diversity that has created the enduring values and long-lasting vitality of Dong Nai’s culture. In the current context, the challenge is not only to preserve traditional values but also to create spaces and conditions for culture to continue being creatively developed and widely disseminated in daily life.

Ethnic minority people in Tan Hung Commune perform musical exchanges during the 2025 New Rice Festival. Photo: Collaborator

“To achieve this, appropriate mechanisms and policies are needed to develop culture in line with its potential, while also promoting the role of the community and focusing on human resource training, especially among the youth. The process of promoting cultural values must avoid commercialization, ensuring that culture is both preserved and developed in a harmonious and sustainable manner”, Master Tran Quang Toai said.

As a province with a large area, a dense population, and a diverse demographic structure, Dong Nai also faces significant challenges in managing, preserving, and promoting its cultural values. The culture, sports, and tourism sector has been actively applying technology to improve service efficiency and expand residents’ access to culture. Many models, such as digital libraries, virtual exhibitions, and online tours, have proven effective, allowing people to engage with cultural and artistic spaces anytime, anywhere.

From the perspective of state management, Le Thi Ngoc Loan, Member of the Provincial Party Committee and Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that the sector continues to implement the construction and promotion of cultural values and human development in Dong Nai through a coordinated set of measures. These include diversifying cultural activities to serve political tasks and meet the growing demand for cultural and spiritual enjoyment among the people, as well as improving the quality of the “All people unite to build a cultural life” movement, striving to achieve and exceed the targets set each year.

“At the same time, Dong Nai prioritizes resources for the preservation and promotion of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage, investing in the construction of key cultural facilities. The province also promotes cultural exchange, cooperation, and international integration, contributing to the global promotion of the people and land of Dong Nai in particular, and Vietnam in general”, Le Thi Ngoc Loan emphasized.

With a culturally rich and distinctive foundation, combined with direction and synchronous measures, Dong Nai is gradually awakening and strongly promoting the intrinsic vitality of its culture. This serves as a solid foundation for nurturing Dong Nai’s compassionate, creative, and well-integrated citizens, providing an important driving force for the province’s rapid and sustainable development in the new period.

By Cam Thanh – Translated by Dang Huyen, Thu Ha