(TITC) - Vi and Giam folk songs of Nghe Tinh occupy an important position in the cultural and spiritual life of people of Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces (abbreviated as Nghe Tinh). This is a type of art that has long lasting life, imbued character and manner of Nghe Tinh people and is the precious heritage in Vietnamese cultural treasure.   Characteristics of Vi and Giam Folk Songs of Nghe Tinh   Originated from two Nghe Tinh folk forms of Vi singing and Giam singing, Vi and Giam folk songs are practiced inalmost daily activities of local people such as lulling children to sleep, cultivating rice in the fields, rowing boats, making conical hats…   Vi songs are named according to different performing contexts, such as ‘rice-seedling transplanting Vi’, ‘conical-hat making Vi”, or ‘weaving Vi’. Vi is performed in three styles:...

(TITC) - Buddhist Sutra Woodblocks at Vinh Nghiem Pagoda (Tri Yen Commune, Yen Dung District, Bac Giang Province) is the only original woodblocks of Truc Lam Zen Buddhism preserved at the pagoda.   Since founding Truc Lam Zen Buddhism (the late 13th century), King Tran Nhan Tong (1258-1308) had some important texts, sutras edited, engraved, and published to popular ideology of Buddhism in general and master monks of Truc Lam Zen Buddhism in particular. However, most of the woodblocks were destroyed or lost due to war and weather.      In the late 19th and the early 20th century, Vinh Nghiem Pagoda was chosen to be one of the training centers of Vietnamese Buddhism Association where store records of Buddhist monks and nuns nationwide and major publishing house of Vietnamese Buddhism. The collection of woodblocks engraved in this period includes 3,050 woodblocks, most of which are Buddhist texts, sutras, writings of...

Under the Nguyen Dynasty, due to the need to popularize social standards, compulsory articles of law, Kings’ and Lords’ life and career and historical events... the Imperial Court allowed to carve many sets of history books and literature work for delivering. During the past activities, it helped to form a special type of record, which are the woodblocks. These are the unique original records.   The Woodblocks of Nguyen Dynasty was assessed in the heritage records as follows:   The 34,555 plates of wood-blocks of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945) helped to record official literature and history as well as classic and historical books. Their value is at once documentary and artistic. Their technique furthermore represents a landmark in the development of woodblock carving and printing in Viet Nam. Their importance and high value led feudal dynasties and state authorities to pay considerable attention to preserving these records through the...