On December 17, 2022, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan delivered an impressive presentation on culture in rural new construction at the Culture Conference 2022 at Kinh Bac Culture Center, Bac Ninh Province.

COUNTRY IS A PLACE OF EMOTIONAL BALANCING

Agriculture is “agriculture,” Minister Le Minh Hoan said in English. Whereby “culture” also means “culture” in addition to the meaning of “cultivation and cultivation”. Therefore, Minister Le Minh Hoan is both committed to agriculture and concerned about culture.

“I want to point out one thing worth thinking about. This is the New Village Program – Saemaul Undong from Korea. Saemaul Undong has changed the face of the landscape and contributed to the resilience of the entire country of Korea. The special was recognized by UNESCO as a cultural heritage of mankind. Why does a rural innovation program have a global spillover value? This is the perception of culture as ‘soft power’, ‘soft resources’, pushing to transform a place and a country,” Minister Le Minh Hoan said.

According to Minister Le Minh Hoan, the National Target Program for New Rural Development has achieved “magnificent, comprehensive and historic” achievements after more than 10 years of implementation. The landscape is becoming more and more spacious, social facilities are being improved, and people’s incomes are gradually improving.

“Traditional architecture is based on local weather and culture. Each place has a different nature. Each ethnic group has its own cultural identities. However, it is difficult to face “copying”. Lack of choice. Streets, streets in the village, joy mixed with regret. The village is growing, the village is growing, but people are gradually moving away from each other,” Minister Le Minh Hoan thought.

Secretary-General Nguyen Phu Trong stressed at the recent National Culture Conference, “Many of the nation’s valuable cultural assets are in danger of being degraded, lost or even destroyed.” It is time we approach rural values ​​more comprehensively and deeply.

“The landscape is a place of emotional balance. Rural is a place where people live in harmony with each other, in harmony with the natural environment. The village streets are winding and wide, “trees intertwine, stones intertwine with flowers”. Clear ditches, rustic wooden fences with vine branches. As the temperature is balanced, the air and living environment are cleaner. People are happy when they live in a space full of emotions, with images so familiar,” Minister Le Minh Hoan confided.

When people strive for a better material life, it is inevitable that conflicts of interest will be inevitable, and community cohesion will gradually disappear. Back then, “the house light is on for everyone, everyone’s house works”, the comparison, jealousy tears apart the village friendship. People always have two emotional states: positive and negative. Culture helps to balance emotions, create positive emotions and limit negative emotions. Positive emotions help create a harmonious rural society.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development said that the countryside is also a cultural space. Culture includes both tangible and intangible. All create emotions for the villagers. The villagers reconnect with the village community, the village society. The “village code”, the code of conduct, should not surpass the “water magic”, but rather help the law to be accepted voluntarily. In a way, “village rules” are also a unique culture in the countryside.

“The rural area should be seen as a development resource. I was very impressed by the national slogan that made the miracle Saemuel Udong: “Farming is life. Rural areas are the future,” said the minister.

HAVE TO DECLARE THE CULTURAL CAPITAL OF THE COUNTRY

The rural new building pursues two main goals. First, let the villagers appreciate the traditional values ​​left by their fathers. Second, let the countryside become a resource for agricultural and rural tourism development. The village is rich in identity, rich in culture, will be a magnet for tourists from afar to discover the quintessence.

According to modern economics, development relies not only on economic capital but also on non-economic sources of capital: “cultural capital” and “social capital”. Such an approach is broader and deeper than the previous narrow approach.

The landscape should be considered as heritage. While urban areas represent the level of socio-economic development of each country, the country is the place where spiritual life, national cultural identity, cultural values ​​and core spirit are fully preserved. The landscape is not only a tangible living space, but also a spiritual space in which culture creates spiritual values. These are the factors that make rural areas a heritage.

Rituals for calculating beliefs and folk spirituality, if they know how to promote them, will create a flow of consciousness among the country folk. The festival of celibacy, the worship of the god of Nong, the gods of the village, the commemoration of the ancestors of the handicraft village, etc. are cultural traits with strong humanity, connecting people with historical traditions and helping people live more kindly. , more peaceful , more civilized.

“If it’s ‘people-centric’, it’s necessary to create a common living space for the rural dwellers. It is a place to introduce tangible and intangible culture, the history of village formation, a reading room, traditional agricultural tools, handicraft village products, etc. Association, etc. with similar functions. Community character from here, intellectualization of the villagers from here, here too a harmonious community of the villagers is emerging,” emphasizes Mr. Le Minh Hoan.

Minister Le Minh Hoan said that building a new landscape cultivates the human spirit. Only when people can learn, understand and feel can they themselves preserve and promote cultural values. If and only if culture creeps into every family, the titles “culture” will emerge and turn into capital for development. Culture will only endure forever if cultural values ​​are respectfully received by the younger generation and further developed in line with the trends of the time.

Faced with these concerns, Minister Le Minh Hoan put forward many proposals.

one is There should be a national target program on the topic of “preservation and promotion of rural cultural values ​​in the process of industrialization and modernization of the country”. The program aims to flesh out the cultural heritage law, according to the direction of Secretary-General Nguyen Phu Trong at the 2022 National Culture Conference.

two is It is necessary to have programs to teach rural culture in mass organizations and social organizations that focus on the group of students who are the next generation, and continuously maintain the flow of national culture. We are confronted with alarming phenomena in society lately, such as: domestic violence, child abuse, street conflicts. There were cultural rifts in the country.

three is With the meaning and importance of rural culture, it is necessary to think in systems and act in systems. Culture cannot be forced. There is a need to develop measurable criteria for rural culture. There is a need to empower people in mission to preserve and promote cultural values.