(VOVworld) - The central province of Quang Ngai on Saturday held a traditional ceremony commemorating the sailors of the Hoang Sa Archipelago and a week long festival of local maritime culture. The event honored sailors who set sail to Hoang Sa and erected stele marking Vietnam sovereignty on the archipelago. Chairman of Quang Ngai provincial people’s committee, Cao Khoa, was addressing the ceremony:“The ritual helps local people and tourists to understand more about invaluable value of the Hoang Sa Soldier Feast and Commemoration Festival, which 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. Local government and people commit to preserve the ritual and its maritime heritage as an effort to serve national construction and defense.”