The đàn nhị, a bowed two-string instrument, is a multi-purpose fiddle in the vast treasury of Vietnamese traditional music.

 If rice is Vietnam’s staple crop, xoi (steamed sticky rice) is the nation’s choice dish, as much as the famous pho (rice noodle soup), if not more so. 

Tran Phuong My is fast establishing a reputation as an emerging international designer with luxury designs that are elegant, modern and feminine.  

 The annual love duet singing festival will be organised on February 27 and 28 in Lim Town, Nội Duệ and Liên Bão Commune, Tiên Du District in the northern province of Bắc Ninh.

 A famous novel by the late author Doàn Gioi, winner of the State Awards for Literature and Arts in 2001, has been adapted into a movie and will be filmed this summer.  

 Retired police officer Dang Minh Tam is passionate about preserving the artefacts of ethnic groups in the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) region.

 Young artists are joining hands with others to preserve traditional culture. Painter Nguyễn Xuân Lam and a retailing company are one example. They are conducting a project to bring folk painting to fashion.

On every 4th day of the Lunar New Year, Dong Ky villagers hold a firecracker procession to commemorate the day when general Thien Cuong gave order for soldiers to march into battle defeating enemies.

 The Tay Ninh Province People’s Committee on Feb 19 opened the Bà Đen (Black Lady) Mountain Spring Festival.

 Thousands of Buddhist monks, nuns and followers and visitors flocked to the Keo Pagoda festival that opened in Vu Thu district in the Red River Delta province of Thai Binh on February 19 – the fourth day of the lunar New Year.

Vietnam boasts a wide range of intangible cultural heritages recognised by UNESCO. 

 The spring book street opened in December 19 street, Hanoi, on February 18 (the third day of the Lunar New Year), introducing books of different genres to visitors. 

 The Muong Culture Space Museum is located in a small limestone valley in Hoa Binh city, about 70km from Hanoi. 

 The northern province of Bac Ninh is well-known for hosting a number of architectural, religious and cultural heritage.

 Big festivals in first lunar month

 The three main regions of Vietnam are characterized by different climate and soil conditions that result in different traditions and customs.

For generations, Vietnamese have preserved a traditional New Year custom of collecting calligraphic words written in ancient Vietnamese-Chinese script. The practice reflects their respect for knowledge and learning.  

 The list of national treasures has been expanded with the addition of 24 new national treasures under a recent approval decision of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

 If rice is a staple of Vietnamese daily meals, then Gio (Vietnamese sausage) is considered the staple of special occasions, such as Tet (the Lunar New Year), wedding parties and ancestors’ death anniversary.

 Researchers fear the epics of ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands might get lost into oblivion. So they are spending their time and energy to record epics, and are even hiring people to translate and print the lyrics for preservation.