18/03/2024
Opening Of 2024 Female General Le Chan Festival
On March 17th evening, at Hai Phong City’s Statue of General Le Chan, the city’s Party Committee, People’s Committee, People’s Council, and the local Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee hosted a formal opening ceremony for 2024’s traditional Female General Le Chan Festival. The ceremony was attended by representatives from Vietnam’s Central Government and Ministries (Ms. Nguyen Thi Xuan My–Member of Vietnam’s Central Politburo and Head of the Central Inspection Committee, Ms. Vu Thanh Mai–Deputy Chief of the Central Propaganda Committee and Ms. Le Thi Thu Hien–Head of Vietnam’s General Department of Cultural Heritage) as well as Hai Phong City’s leaders, such as Mr. Le Tien Chau–Member of the City’s Party Committee and Head of Hai Phong City’s National Assembly delegation, and Mr. Nguyen Van Tung–Chairman of the city People’s Committee.
The traditional General Le Chan Festival was an annual event organized to promote the cultural beauty and traditional rituals regarding the life and great contributions of the Female General Le Chan - one associated with the foundation of the ancient An Bien commune (now Hai Phong City), via which the event aimed to awaken the local pride promoting the history, culture, and the national tradition of gratitude referred in the proverb “When you drink water, think of the source.” In 2016, the festival was recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage and has been taking place from Lunar February 7th to 9th every year.
Prior to the opening ceremony was a traditional walking parade with two troupes of over 1500 participants. The parade troupes walked from Nghe Temple and An Bien Communal House to the Statue of General Le Chan, which was succeeded by local authorities’ offerings of incense and flowers in front of the statue.
An art program themed “The Female General of the Estuary” was performed to the public in three parts: “The Once An Bien,” “The Female General of the Estuary,” and “Le Chan on a Bright Day” with intricate and artful stagings as well as music genres varying from modern, contemporary to the Vietnamese opera Tuồng and the tally card singing Ca trù to reimagine the epics of Le Chan.
Along with the city’s development, the Party, the authorities, and citizens in Le Chan District have strived for and surpassed many socio-economic targets assigned by the city in the past years. The scale of the district’s economy has extended considerably while maintaining a positive growth rate and exceeding yearly plans. Le Chan District has become a destination for major domestic and foreign investors and is one of the city’s hubs for medical services, education, and commerce. /.