Artisans and cultural experts participate in providing information to support the heritage inventory.

Accordingly, working groups from the Son La Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism conducted inventories in many areas such as Phieng Khoai, Yen Chau, Yen Son, Muong Lan, Sop Cop… The inventory covered many types of intangible cultural heritage, from spoken language, written language, folk literature, folk performing arts to social customs, beliefs, traditional festivals, folk knowledge, traditional crafts and culinary culture.

To accurately reflect the life of heritage sites, the working groups focused on meeting and exchanging information directly with artisans, cultural experts, heritage custodians, and local communities. Through this process, information about the origin, value, practice space, transmission methods, and current state of each heritage site was collected, compared, and documented.

Survey and data collection work on intangible cultural heritage in the community.

According to the plan, for the Khơ Mú ethnic group, the inventory work will be carried out in the following areas: Chiềng La, Mường É, Mường Bám, Mai Sơn, Phiêng Cằm, Tà Hộc, Yên Châu, Mường Hung, Chiềng Khoong, Sốp Cộp, Huổi Một and Mường Lạn.

For the La Ha ethnic group, the areas include Quỳnh Nhai, Mường Sại, Chiềng La, Mường Khiêng, Mường La, Chiềng Lao, Chiềng Hoa, and Ngọc Chiến.

For the Xinh Mun ethnic group, the activities are carried out in Chieng Hac, Long Phieng, Yen Son, Phieng Khoai, Phieng Pan, Muong Hung, Song Ma, Chieng Khuong, Chieng Khoong and Chieng So.

In the coming period, working groups will continue to deploy in Song Ma, Chieng Hac, Phieng Pan, Muong Hung, Chieng Khuong, and several other areas. The inventory will be carried out in a focused and targeted manner, in accordance with the cultural characteristics of each community and the actual conditions at the local level.

Traditional cultural values ​​are documented and recorded during the inventory process.

Based on the inventory results, the cultural sector aims to assess the current state and identify typical heritage items that clearly reflect community identity, in order to gradually build scientific dossiers and propose their inclusion in the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. This is an important step in establishing a scientific basis for protecting the typical cultural values ​​that are being preserved and practiced by the community.

The inventory results simultaneously form a source of documentation to serve the development of plans, projects, and programs for protecting and promoting the value of heritage, especially in the development of distinctive cultural and tourism products of Son La. The integration of conservation with tourism development is placed in a harmonious relationship, ensuring that heritage continues to be present in community life instead of being preserved only in documentary form.

The heritage inventory contributes to identifying the unique cultural values ​​of the Khơ Mú, Xinh Mun, and La Ha ethnic groups.

Beyond simply gathering information, the inventory process also contributes to raising community awareness of heritage values. Through exchanges with artisans, experts, and cultural stakeholders, the role of the community in protecting, practicing, and transmitting heritage is highlighted; thereby encouraging the younger generation to embrace, practice, and promote traditional cultural values ​​in contemporary life.

In particular, the inventory process requires respect for the community's role as the main stakeholders; the information collected must be accurate, truthful, complete, and relevant to the intended subjects, without distorting or affecting the value of the heritage, while complying with legal regulations on the protection of state secrets, intellectual property, and related regulations.

With the coordination of management agencies, cultural researchers, artisans, experts, and the communities directly holding and practicing the heritage, the inventory work is gradually completing the documentation system on the intangible cultural heritage of the Khơ Mú, Xinh Mun, and La Ha ethnic groups in Sơn La province.

Artisans and cultural figures contribute to preserving and transmitting the community's heritage.

Based on the collected documents, Son La province has a foundation to develop a conservation roadmap suitable for each community, while also identifying ways to promote the value of heritage in cultural life and tourism development. More importantly, this process contributes to ensuring that communities continue to play a leading role in protecting and transmitting cultural heritage values ​​that have been nurtured over many generations.

This is also a way to preserve the source of traditional culture, so that the language, customs, festivals, folk art, indigenous knowledge, and unique cultural values ​​of the Khơ Mú, Xinh Mun, and La Ha ethnic groups in particular, and the ethnic groups of Sơn La province in general, are not only identified and documented but also continue to be practiced, passed down, and spread in contemporary life.