Vietnam has got some 50 national music instruments, in which the
set of percussion instruments is the most popular, diverse and
long-lasting such as trong dong (copper drums), cong chieng
(gongs), dan da (lithophone), dan trung... The set of
blowing
instruments is represented by flutes and pan-pipes, while the set of
string instruments is specified by dan bau and dan day.
The Vietnamese folksongs are rich in forms and melodies of regions
across the country, ranging from ngam tho (reciting poems), hat
ru
(lullaby), ho (chanty) to hat quan ho, trong quan, xoan, dum, vi
giam, ca Hue, bai choi, ly. Apart from this, there are also other
forms like hat xam, chau van, and ca tru.
Traditional performing arts include cheo and tuong.
Water-puppet
shows are also a special traditional art that was ignited in the Ly
dynasty. At the start of the 20th century, cai luong (reformed
theatre) appeared in Cochinchina with melodies of vong co.
The Vietnamese acoustic arts generally have symbolic, expressive
and emotional features. Traditional stage relates closely to the
audience and is a combination of music and dance forms. The
Vietnamese dance has few strong and tough actions, but contains
many smooth and curling features with closed feet and a lot of
arm-dancing actions.
In Vietnam, the arts of sculpturing on stone, copper and baked clay
came into existence very early, dating back to the 10,000 B.C.
Later, enameled ceramics, wooden statues, shell-encrusted
pictures, lacquers, silk-made pictures and paper-made pictures all
attained high degree of artistic development. The Vietnamese plastic
arts focus on expressing innermost feelings with simplified forms
uses many methods of stylization and emphasis.
There have been 2014 cultural and historical relics have been
recognized by the State and other 2 relics, namely, the Old Capital
of Hue and the Ha Long Bay, have gained international
recognition
as the world heritage site. The remaining ancient architectures are
mostly pagodas and temples of the Ly-Tran dynasties, palaces and
stelas of the Le dynasty, the 18th centurys community houses,
citadels and tombs of the Nguyen dynasty and Cham towers.
In the 20th century, in contact with the Western culture, especially
after the national independence, many new categories of arts like
plays, photography, cinemas, and modern art had taken shape and
developed strongly, obtaining huge achievements with the contents
reflecting the social and revolutionary realities. Up to 1997, there
have been 44 people operating in cultural and artistic fields honored
with the Ho Chi Minh Award, 130 others conferred with Peoples
Artist Honor, and 1011 people awarded with the Excellent Artist
Honor. At the start of 1997, there were 191 professional artistic
organizations and 26 film studios (including central and local ones).
There have been 28 movies, 49 scientific and documentary films
receiving international motion picture awards in many countries.
The traditional and national culture in the time of industrialization
and
modernization is facing tough challenges posed by the market
economy as well as the tendency of globalization. Some cultural and
artistic branches have been seeking for renovation. The preservation
and development of the national culture, the selection of the
traditional values and the construction of the new ones have turned
the most important than any time in history. The traditional cultural
values should be preserved but should be also enriched by the
advanced cultural values of the mandkind. Culture should be
modernized but should not be separated from the nation . The
process of cultural reform is still under way...