Bai choi playing is a typical cultural activity in the villages of the South – Central region. Since this type of folk arts has been restored by Khanh Hoa Provincial Cultural Center, bai choi festival, often held at the beach park, Tran Phu Street, has attracted a large number of locals and tourists and become a cultural entertaining place in Nha Trang City.
Bai choi playing is a typical cultural activity in the villages of the South – Central region. Since this type of folk arts has been restored by Khanh Hoa Provincial Cultural Center, bai choi festival, often held at the beach park, Tran Phu Street, has attracted a large number of locals and tourists and become a cultural entertaining place in Nha Trang City.
Bai choi playing has been a “spiritual food” of people in the South – Central region in general and in Khanh Hoa in particular. However, after many ups and downs of the history, bai choi has gradually faded into oblivion. In 2013, in order to prepare for the sea festival, Khanh Hoa Provincial Cultural Center invited the artisans in Binh Dinh Province to come to Khanh Hoa to restore bai choi festival. During the sea festival, there were a lot of locals and tourists visiting and joining bai choi festival. Bai choi festivals were also held in the time of Lunar New Year 2014 and 2015. Being aware of bai choi’s attraction, since early 2015, Khanh Hoa Provincial Cultural Center has associated with artisan Nguyen Thanh Dung (Dien Khanh District) to hold bai choi festival on Saturday and Sunday nights to serve the locals and tourists.
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| Bai choi festival, a cultural destination in Nha Trang City. |
Although not being organized in the special occasions, these bai choi festivals have also drawn the attention of many people. The festivals have been carried out properly in order to keep the folk characteristic of this type of arts.
Visiting bai choi festivals, people can also enjoy symphonies and some excerpts of bai choi songs performed by the traditional orchestra and artisans.
Bai choi festivals held at the beach park, Tran Phu Street has become an interesting destination for people who love bai choi. Some foreign tourists tried to play bai choi. According to Kathy Griffin, a tourist from USA, it is interesting to play and listen to bai choi songs at the center of the city. The open space helps the tourists to join the festival easily. The festivals have created an opportunity for tourists to know more about the local culture.
“Bai choi festivals held in Nha Trang City have been carried out according to the original bai choi festival. The only difference is the size of the cards which have been increased in order to help the players to see the name and patterns on the cards. It can be said that bai choi has been restored quite successfully, partly contributing to promote the local culture and tourism,” said Nguyen Phuong Dong, Director of the provincial Cultural Center.
Reportedly, nowadays, some localities in Khanh Hoa Province like Dien Khanh and Ninh Hoa want to restore bai choi to serve the locals. The provincial People’s Committee has recently approved the plan on preserving and upholding the intangible cultural heritage, bai choi, in the province. Accordingly, in the future, Khanh Hoa will incorporate bai choi in the provincial public arts festival, thence organize bai choi folk art festival biennially. In the 2016 – 2020 period, bai choi will be included in the teaching program in schools. Restoring bai choi festivals will contribute to preserve bai choi folk art.
Xuan Thanh
Translated by H.N
