2022 Central Highlands Gong Culture Festival opens on November 18, 2022

The gong is a musical instrument made of copper, sometimes mixed with gold, silver or black copper. There are gongs with or without knobs. The gongs can be used in sets from 2 to 13 pieces, or even from 18 to 20 pieces. 

The Central Highlands gong cultural space was recognized as an oral masterpiece and a world intangible cultural heritage in 2005, and a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2008.

The 2022 Central Highlands Gong Culture Festival is for the ethnic groups in the Central Highlands. The Organizing Committee has mobilized nearly 1,300 artisans and amateur artists.

A wide range of activities will take place during the festival including a street festival, gong exchanges and performances, and recreations of traditional festivals of local ethnic groups.

There are also showcases of traditional crafts of gong casting, wood carving, knitting, and brocade weaving, exhibitions and performances of Vietnamese ethnic musical instruments, and a photo exhibition of gong culture in the Central Highlands.

"This is my first time attending the gong culture festival. It is very exciting and has its own uniqueness. The festival helps me better understand the local culture,' said a festival goer. 

Organizers will also launch community tours and organize famtrips in Gia Lai province. Street food and coffee events, a fair of handicraft villages and a festival of wild sunflowers and Chu Dang Ya volcano will be held. The festival is expected to welcome 25,000 visitors.