SIEM REAP — On January 19, the second Angkor Dictation competition was held in the Angkor Archeological Park on the causeway of the Angkor Wat temple where gathered around 1,000 participants of all ages from across the country and also abroad.

Following the first Angkor Dictation competition in 2024, the topic for this second one focused primarily on the cultural and economic side of Angkor Park.

The text of the dictation was read by the Minister of Education, Youth and Sport Hangchoun Naron. This took him about one hour during which he stood at the podium in front of the participants.

This is an unofficial English translation of the dictation’s original Khmer text done by the staff of Cambodianess. While some sentences were slightly reworded to better reflect the meaning expressed in the Khmer version, efforts were made for the English translation of the text to be as close as possible to the original Khmer-language version.

Siem Reap-Angkor: The Gem of Cultural Economy

“One should at least visit Angkor Wat once in a lifetime.” This is the dream of every Khmer citizen. Gradually, this dream has spread across the world as the reputation of Angkor Park gains its popularity on the global stage.

Angkor Park, the soul of every Khmer, was listed as a UNESCO’s World Heritage Site on Dec. 14, 1992. This national park encompasses a land area of 401 square kilometers. Lately, this unique world heritage site has become one of the most popular tourism destinations in the world.

For over a century, heads of state, foreign prime ministers, artists and many others have all visited Angkor Park, especially the notable Angkor Wat temple originally known as Preah Baroma Vishnuloka. Visitors have appreciated the talent of the architects and the Khmer ancestors who built uncountably numerous temples during what archaeologists consider to span from AD 802 to AD 1431.

Each year, Siem Reap province receives millions of domestic and international tourists. The diversification of tourism activity in this former city of Yasodharapura [the ancient name of the city of Angkor] has contributed to the creation of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues where tens, if not hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created directly and indirectly.

Siem Reap-Angkor is considered a wealthy granary of culture, nature, and history. The cultural landscape in the Angkor region includes ancestral forests, moats, reservoirs, animals, people, biodiversity, ceramics, etc. These things are priceless both in terms of culture and economy.

Because of this interconnection, Angkor Park is generally dubbed a “Living Heritage.” Overtime, this small city of Siem Reap, covered with large trees and comfortable shade, has been coined by a number of experts as a “hydraulic city” or a “temple city,” testament to the zenith of the Khmer civilization.

The life and the traditions of the people of Angkor include Bon Chlorng Chedei, Kor Chuk, Bongkak Chh’mab, Mahajataka, traditional cuisines, the beauty of the monuments, sculptures of Apsaras, sculptures of the Thousand Lingas on Mahendraparvata [one of the Khmer-empire capitals located on Phnom Kulen mountain], the equinox phenomenon at the Angkor Wat temple, and the livelihood [from fisheries] on the Tonle Sap lake. These are the cultural treasures that never disappear, different from the revenues from oil wells, which one day may fade away.

Angkor is not just a park for leisure activities. Actually, Angkor is a very active place of worship. The stones can speak because of the bas-reliefs and the inscriptions that tell the story of the Khmer people and chapters of history.

Sanskrit-poem inscriptions etched during the Angkorian period have reached the top of the world. These inscriptions describe the Khmer monarchs who reigned with “tenfold qualifications of a king,” in addition to the “four Buddhist virtues” of kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity.

The Nokor Reach inscription, testimony to patriotism for the nation of the Khmer, states that “[i]f the result born from my good deeds is real, in my afterlives, I wish to be reborn again in Cambodia.”

During one’s stay in this sacred land, the lovers of the Angkor region do not only receive emotional refreshment, but also new knowledge from this gigantic warehouse of knowledge.

After the visit, the body of the visitors may be far away from Angkor Park, but the good memories, the unique cultural landscape, the images of the temples, and the legacy of the ancestors will remain in their memories.

Please come and visit Angkor Park, a sacred world where humans meet deities.

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