Hanoi (VNA) – Though governmental funding forcultural promotion in Hanoi has expanded over the years, it has failed to meetthe need for the preservation of thousands of local historical relics,intangible cultural heritages and traditional festivals, heard a conference inthe capital on July 23.

The conference was held by the Hanoi Department ofCulture and Sports to discuss policies for cultural preservation and developmentafter the Law on the Capital City took effect five years ago.

The thousand-year-old city is home to the country’slargest number of historical relic sites – 5,928, of which thousands aredegrading and about 500 are in an alarming state of degradation, according tothe department.

However, most of the funding came from the two sources –the limited budget of local districts and communes and voluntary donations – soit has been far below the amount needed to restore the relics.

There is even a lack of funding required to urgentlyrepair those in danger of collapsing any time, particularly during the currentrainy season.

While the city’s inner districts have sufficient fundingfor relic restoration, many others on the outskirts, especially where a largenumber of relics are located, have been struggling to budget the cost and tomobilise investment from the private sector, said Le Cam Tu, head of thedepartment’s division of finance and planning.

Few degrading relics received enough funding but theystill had to go through a lengthy process of getting approval for restorationprojects from authorities. This has caused many difficulties for the districtand communal authorities in getting the work done, she noted.

Tu proposed measures to tackle these problems, forexample, diversifying the sources of funding which should include investmentfrom the state, the city and the society. For the relics in a very badcondition or at high risk of collapsing, communes and districts should ask forthe city’s financial support which may be sourced from its non-business budget,she suggested.

Director of the Centre for Scientific and CulturalActivities Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam Le Xuan Kieu added that to attract moreinvestment into restoration projects, the city needs to expand socialinvestment and remove barriers for investors.

Hanoi has 1,973 intangible cultural heritages and 1,206traditional festivals, including Giong Festival of Phu Dong and Soc temples recognisedby UNESCO as an Intangible Heritage of Humanity and Ca Tru singing inscribed onthe UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.

Many of these heritages are in danger of dying out, likeancient “tuong” singing in Coc Thuong village (Chuong My), “trong quan” folk singingin Khanh Ha (Thuong Tin) and Phuc Lam (Phu Xuyen) and “vi” singing in Ngoc Thanand Ham Rong (Quoc Oai).

There is a lack of spaces for the regular practices ofthe traditional arts largely due to rapid urbanisation and socialtransformation. Meanwhile, most of the artisans are getting older; some havedied without passing on their skills down.

The People’s Committees at district and communal levelswere urged to develop plans for the preservation of the city’s intangiblecultural heritages. –VNA