Nui Phao Mining preserves the cultural beauty of Cao Lan ethnic minority people

After almost 10 years, we had the opportunity to return to Suoi Cat hamlet, Ha Thuong commune, Dai Tu district. The road to the hamlet’s Cultural House is now widened and concreted with two lanes. On both sides of the roadways we saw lush green rice fields, and nice large houses. What impressed us the most during this visit is the cultural exhibition corner of the Cao Lan ethnic minority people, a distinctive cultural space supported by Nui Phao Mining Company. 

Cultural exhibition corner of Cao Lan ethnic minority, Suoi Cat hamlet, Ha Thuong commune.

Keeping the past culture from being lost

Back in March 2014, we participated in the launching ceremony of the cultural exhibition corner of Cao Lan ethnic minority in the Cultural House of hamlet 6 (currently Suoi Cat hamlet). To have an exhibition corner with more than 20 exhibits of many types (including Chinese-transcribed Vietnamese books, costumes, scarves, bags, plows, harrows, knives, wooden bell for buffalos, millstones, and many more), Nui Phao officers together with some elderly people in Suoi Cat hamlet spent six months traveling to communes and towns within and outside of Thai Nguyen province to research and collect. Most of the exhibits were donated by the people in local communes of the district. Nui Phao officers then consulted the district and provincial authorities, and held study tours to learn about exhibition models from museums and galleries in Thai Nguyen province, Hoa Binh province and Hanoi.

Launching ceremony of the cultural exhibition corner of Cao Lan ethnic minority in 2014.

“Even though this exhibition corner is quite small, we have put a lot of love, energy, and effort into setting it up." Mr. Vu Ngoc Cuong, Nui Phao Mining’s community liaison officer shared.

The cultural exhibition corner of the Cao Lan ethnic minority at Suoi Cat Cultural House suffered severe damage and deterioration over time. Therefore, Nui Phao Mining decided to provide 69 million dong for the locality to renovate and repair the exhibition corner. We were astounded to see how neatly and visually appealing all of the exhibits were arranged when we returned to the place after the renovation.

Promoting traditional values

"Cao Lan ethnic minority group accounts for 45% of the commune's population. Along with the propaganda and mobilization for people to actively develop the economy, eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, we also actively propagate among the people in the commune to preserve the traditional cultural beauty of our country to contribute to the preservation and promotion of traditional values. Nui Phao Mining has been supporting us a lot in this project." Mr. Tac Van Loi, Chairman of Ha Thuong Commune People's Committee, said.

Nui Phao Mining not only provides financial support but also assigns employees to accompany the commune in collection or construction of the exhibition corner. We hope that the cultural exhibition corner of the Cao Lan ethnic minority can help the young generation, surrounding communities and tourists understand more about the cultural values of ethnic minorities and the quintessence of ethnic people, which has been cultivated over thousands of years to form the unique features of the ethnic minority community of Thai Nguyen province and Vietnamese people. 

“Since 2023, we have worked with numerous Cao Lan elderly people, including Hoang Van Duong, Tac Van Ngan, Nguyen Van Son and Dao Thi Tam, to complete the diversified cultural space of Cao Lan people. We visited various locations within and outside the province in search of documents, gathering images and cultural artifacts of Cao Lan ethnic minority. Following that, we went to a few museums and cultural exhibitions to gain insight into the exhibition process and to obtain advice for setting up the cultural space in Suoi Cat cultural house.”, Mrs. Phung Thi Mui, community liaison officer of Nui Phao Mining shared.