Chairman of Ha Noi People's Committee Chu Ngọc Anh (right) and his delegation visit a stall of Hòa Bình delicacies at the opening ceremony on Friday. — Photo baovanhoa.vn

HÀ NỘI — Various cultural features of ethnic minority groups in the northern province of Hòa Bình were showcased in Ha Noi’s pedestrian area around Hoan Kiếm Lake over the weekend.

Dubbed Hòa Bình Province’s Culture and Tourism Festival, the event gathered thousands of representatives from the province performing art, gongs, offering cuisine and local delicacies, folk games and displaying artful photos.  

Addressing the opening ceremony on Friday night, chairman of Hòa Bình People’s Committee Bui Văn Khanh said Hòa Bình Civilisation is famed all over the world and the province also hosts an honourable revolutionary tradition and diverse natural resources.

Women of Mường ethnic group from Hòa Bình Province perform gongs around Hoan Kiếm Lake on Saturday. — VNS Photo Viet Thanh

“The province is home to six ethnic minority groups, who have made up distinctive indigenous cultural features,” he said.

He called Hòa Bình a beautiful land created by mountains, hills and the magnificent Đa River. Hòa Bình Hydropower Lake offers a romantic landscape with hundreds of green islands, which help produce a stable source of electricity for the whole country.

“Through this event, the province wants to introduce domestic and foreign tourists to its tourism products and the profound humane beauty of the land,” he said.

Artists perform at the opening ceremony of the event on Friday night. — Photo baovanhoa.vn

“We hope to connect investors, enterprises and travel agencies in Ha Noi to enlarge domestic tourism market while the country is still closed to foreigners due to COVID-19,” he said.

Khanh pledged the province will offer the best conditions for enterprises and tourists visiting and investing in the province.

The event, which finished on Sunday, attracted a sizable crowd.

The pedestrian area around Hoan Kiếm Lake was livened up by the sound of gongs over the weekend. — VNS Photo Viet Thanh

“I like such an event,” retiree Le Thị Đuc, who often walks around Hoan Kiếm lake as a morning exercise, told Viet Nam News. “I have been to Hòa Bình several times. Yet I still want to return to visit beautiful landscapes. The food there is also good and people are warm-hearted.

“Such an event stirs up the pedestrian zone and lures tourists like me to the land. I like the gong performance by ethnic people from Hòa Bình around the lake. It’s impressive.” — VNS