LookAtVietnam – Thousands of locals and foreign travellers flocked to My Son Heritage Site yesterday, June 4, for the Quang Nam Heritage Journey Festival, which will run through Sunday.

Smooth ride: A group of tourists riding in cyclos pass Hoai River in Hoi An.

The fourth biennial event was a chance for visitors to understand more about the central province of Quang Nam, which is the location of many ancient sites including the My Son ruins and Sa Huynh culture, said Dinh Hai, director of Quang Nam’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

“Apart from attracting foreign travellers, the festival aims to lure in the untapped domestic market, to help them discover more about Quang Nam province,” he said.

The five-day festival will also be held in many locations across Quang Nam, including Hoi An, Duy Xuyen, Dien Ban and Tam Ky, with many traditional and new activities such as art exchanges and traditional cooking fairs showcasing specialities prepared by the Viet (Kinh), Cham and Co Tu ethnic groups who live in Quang Nam Province. There will also be other family events to be enjoyed, such as watching artisans weave mats and silk in An Phuoc village, Duy Phuoc commune and Dong Yen village.

Cultural dances, performances and costumes will amaze visitors, with artists from Dien Bien, Lao Cai, Tuyen Quang, Bac Ninh and Phu Yen acrobatic and cultural troupes showing off their trades and skills throughout the week.

Other highlights of the festival include nights dedicated to each participating-major city, small and large festivals, folk games and events dedicated to communities and their histories within the region.

Many of the activities would take place in Hoi An, including an art festival called Painters and Ancient Hoi An, an exhibition showcasing prize-winning photographs about Hoi An, a Chu Dau ceramic show and an exchange on Vietnamese workers throughout the three regions, said Hai.

The festival will end in Hoi An with a gala of folk songs and dances performed by artists from the country’s three regions.

Hai said the festival would allow people from the region to meet everyone from tourists to artists to business people.

Work will also begin on building a statue of Polish-born Kazimieriz Kwiatkhowski (Kazic).

“A statue that can stand forever is the best tribute the people in Duy Xuyen district and Quang Nam province as a whole can pay to Kazic for his immense contributions to My Son,” the head of the district’s Department of Culture, Trinh Son Hai, said.

Polish statue

Ancient treasure: Foreigners visit My Son site, the capital of the Kingdom of Champa built over 500 years ago.

He stayed in the country for 17 years, until his death, during which he worked with other Polish and Vietnamese experts to compile the most comprehensive and synchronous investigation of the My Son relics of the Champa civilisation.

Kazic’s studies have been rated of great value for future generations’ understanding of the mystic structures, which had fallen into oblivion during decades of war, according to experts.

He and his partners braved wilderness, land mines, tropical diseases, shortages of funds and poor working conditions that complicated their tasks and took the lives of eight men in his team.

At a time when Viet Nam had little experience in restoring such vestiges, Kazic brought in his recognised expertise to carefully calculate every single touch on the relics.

Thus the ancient stupas were protected from crumbling while maintaining their original delicate structures.

When the bilateral treaty expired, Kazic had to raise funds by himself so that the team could continue their work.

“No matter how harsh it is, I will try to endure provided that I can live with the relics,” he once said to his partners.

The Cham people believe that Shiva, their supreme God, is the destroyer of all evil.

Perhaps this explains why My Son , the capital of the Kingdom of Champa built over 1,500 years ago by King Bhadravarman I, has survived numerous natural disasters and wars.

But the restoration of the erstwhile capital’s historic vestiges has not been easy.

My Son was re-discovered a hundred years ago by archaeologist MC Paris and his colleagues. But for about 80 years since then, the historic site had to suffer the ravages of war and a lack of any preservation efforts.

After Viet Nam was reunited in 1975, the youth of Duy Xuyen district, in Da Nang, risked their lives to remove mines planted in My Son before and during the war.

After more than a decade of restoration work under the guidance of Polish architect Kazic, My Son was handed over to district authorities in January 1996 for further preservation work and promotion as a tourist site.

The authorities built roads, repaired bridges and formulated a master plan for developing tourism in My Son. The road to My Son has since been widened and lined with trees.

Site recognised

My Son was recognised as a World Cultural Heritage site by UNESCO in 1999.

The Sa Huynh culture (1,000BC-AD200), could help identify the people residing in the central region at that time. The people of Sa Huynh, located primarily in central and southern Viet Nam, were most likely the predecessors of the Cham people, the founders of Champa.

The site at Sa Huynh was discovered in 1909, and was found to be rich in locally produced iron artefacts, typified by axes, swords, spearheads, knives and sickles.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News