Vietnam fights to preserve village culture amid administrative reforms

Vietnamese leaders have highlighted the need to protect cultural identity during grassroots restructuring. Party General Secretary and State President Tô Lâm stressed that culture forms the foundation of development and national unity. National Assembly member Bùi Hoài Sơn also warned against overlooking social and cultural ties in administrative changes. A village represents more than an administrative unit. It serves as a cultural space, a social institution, and a place where collective memory and character are shaped. Merging villages without care risks breaking these connections and erasing cultural identity.

The proposed solutions include five key measures. These are conducting cultural impact assessments, retaining traditional names, ensuring genuine community consultation, linking restructuring with cultural facility upgrades, and digitising village heritages. Before any merger, five cultural factors must be reviewed: founding history, heritage, social structures, cultural facilities, and community consent.

Officials argue that cultural criteria should be mandatory in village decisions, alongside administrative ones. Local residents’ voices must be central from the start of any proposal. The process should avoid severing cultural fabric by not disrupting collective memory, denying identity, or dismantling traditional institutions. The debate underlines the balance needed between administrative efficiency and cultural preservation. By making cultural assessments a formal requirement, Vietnam aims to protect village identities while modernising governance. The focus remains on keeping communities intact and their histories alive.