The Hoang Sa flotilla memorial service this year was the biggest so far. On this occasion, the government and the people of Ly Son island district received the national intangible cultural heritage certificate for the Hoang Sa flotilla memorial service and the certificate of national relic for the communal house of An Vinh village, where the Hoang Sa flotilla memorial service is held annually.

The traditional ceremony has been observed through hundreds of years by families in Ly Son island to pay tribute to local men enlisted in the Hoang Sa Flotilla to patrol the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes to mine natural resources and defend the national island sovereignty.

According to Vietnam’s feudal state history, the Hoang Sa Flotilla was set up when the Nguyen Lords began their reign in the south of the country. Troops were sent to Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes throughout the past three centuries, since the time of the Nguyen Lords and through the Tay Son and Nguyen dynasties. The Hoang Sa Flotilla was then assigned to control Bac Hai (Truong Sa).

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh (left) gave the national relic certificate to representatives of An Vinh village.

The rituals to commemorate the Hoang Sa flotilla.

Boat procession in the Hoang Sa flotilla memorial service.

Thousands of people stood on the shore watching the boats.

After the ceremony is a boat race.

The elders release lanterns at night in commemoration of the Hoang Sa flotilla.