On the Lantern Festival (the Full Moon of the First Lunar Month) more than 15 years ago, the most “pure Hue native” friend I know, architect Nguyen Trong Huan, and I put on thin raincoats and walked together through the light, drifting drizzle to search for Hue’s culinary specialties. Having lived in this city for many years, Huan still longed for the flavors he once tasted.

After more than 10 days of activities, Hue Spring Festival of the year of the Horse 2026, themed “Identity and Integration” organized by the People’s Committee of Hue City, officially concluded on the afternoon of February 21 (the 5th day of the Lunar January) at Ly Tu Trong Park (Le Loi Street, Thuan Hoa Ward).

I visited An Dinh Palace on a warm, sunny early spring day. Not counting the respectful foreign visitors pausing before each artifact, I figured that among the more than 20 young people bustling about in ao-dai, with flowers, striking various poses for photos, few knew that they were standing very close to the remnants of a famous theater from the end of the Nguyen Dynasty that has now completely disappeared: Cuu Tu Dai.

On February 12th, the Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation Mobilization of Phong Thai Ward, in coordination with the Hematology and Blood Transfusion Center - Hue Central Hospital, organized the 2026 Xuan Hong Blood Donation Festival under the theme “A Drop of Blood - A Gift of Life”.

On the afternoon of February 10th, the Department of Education and Training organized the preliminary round for the city-level “Secondary English Debate Competition” to select outstanding students for the 2025-2026 school year at Nguyen Tri Phuong Secondary School.

On the afternoon of January 31st, the Department of Education and Training (DOET) organized the preliminary round to select outstanding students for the City-level English Debate Competition for High school students in the 2025-2026 academic year, held at Nguyen Tri Phuong Secondary School.

On the morning of January 30th, Hue Association for Protection of Child's Rights held a conference to review its activities in 2025 and deploy directions and tasks for 2026.

In 2025, Ho Chi Minh Museum collected and received 35 artifacts, contributing to enriching the source of documents and artifacts serving exhibition activities, scientific research, and long-term preservation. In addition, the unit digitized more than 1.000 documents and artifacts.

In 2025, Hue City Library served more than 1.2 million readers both in person and online. The library also issued over 5,700 library cards to readers.

According to initial statistics released by the Department of Tourism, during the 2026 New Year holiday, Hue was estimated to welcome around 85,000 visitors, representing an increase of 25% compared to the same period last year. The number of staying guests reached approximately 45,000 arrivals, up more than 15% year on year.