The 22nd Central Region Age Group Western Chess and Chinese Chess tournament - 2026 opened on the afternoon of February 26 at 24 To Huu Street (Vy Da Ward, Hue City), attracting nearly 700 players from 16 units and localities across the country.

In the National Excellent Student Examination for the 2025-2026 academic year, Hue City won four First Prizes. Notably, Geography recorded its first-ever First Prize winner, while French returned to the highest podium position after many years, earning two First Prizes. These results reflect the sustained efforts of students from Quoc Hoc - Hue High School for the Gifted, further enriching Hue’s distinguished educational record.

With the finalization of the North-South high-speed railway, Hue’s transportation network will encompass five principal modes: road, rail, inland waterways, aviation, and maritime transport, paving the way for the city’s breakthrough development.

On February 25th, the Social Charity Committee of Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, in coordination with the Youth Union of the Party Agencies of Hue City, the People’s Committee of Long Quang Commune, and the Long Quang Commune Youth Union, organized a Lunar New Year “lucky money” and gift-giving program for students of Thuong Quang Primary School.

On the morning of February 24, at Thuy Tien Lake Park, the City People’s Committee held the launching ceremony of the “Tree-Planting Festival in Eternal Gratitude to Uncle Ho” for Binh Ngo Spring 2026.

On the morning of February 24, the City Labor Federation announced that more than 98% of workers have returned to work following the Lunar New Year of the Horse 2026 holiday. Specifically, in economic zones and industrial parks, this rate reached 99%.

On the morning of February 23, the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee held a conference to evaluate the situation before, during, and after the Lunar New Year of the Horse 2026; and to review adjustments of Hue City’s Master Plan for the 2021 - 2030 period, with a vision to 2050, to meet the development requirements in the new phase.

No one has captured the Vietnamese sense of living away from one’s homeland better than poet Nguyen Khoa Diem when he wrote: “They carry the names of their communes and villages on every migration journey.” In the highland city on the Lang Biang Plateau, this sentiment holds true as well. Many people from Hue left their ancestral land to settle here nearly a century ago. Though four or five generations have now been born on this new land, the “Hue spirit” in these distant Hue communities has never faded.

On February 22, Hue City Police reported that they had promptly returned a lost handbag containing important documents and valuable property to a foreign tourist at Phu Bai International Airport.

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.