Many journeys back to old Hue begin with seemingly small details. For me, it was a visit to An Thu garden house in Gia Hoi old quarter - a contemplative Hue residence nestled behind lush green trees. Mr. Vo Chanh Tien, the current caretaker, led me through the rooms while sharing the house's history and stories of generations tied to the garden and the rhythm of the old Gia Hoi. But what made me linger the longest was actually… beneath my feet.

Organized within Boi Tran Garden space on Kim Son Hill (Thuy Xuan Ward), an exhibition that gathers many generations of artists, has evoked a wide range of emotions among art lovers.

Viewed from the realities of conserving and promoting cultural heritage, successive generations at the Hue Monuments Conservation Center have continually wrestled with a question: how can heritage be more than merely “preserved”…

Ba Bun Worship Ceremony was officially held on the morning of March 10 at Ba Bun Shrine (Van Cu - Nam Thanh residential area, Kim Tra Ward) in a solemn and reverent atmosphere. The ritual is a traditional cultural practice that embodies the Vietnamese principle of “honor the ancestors”, expressing gratitude to the forebears who founded and passed down the rice noodle-making craft to generations of residents.

In Bao Vinh Old Town, Ms. Tran Thi Minh Phung still carefully holds her brush each day to paint on glass, just as her family has done for generations. As most of the artisans from the old days have nearly disappeared, the hands of this woman in her fifties have become a place where a craft once closely associated with the royal art of Hue is being preserved.

The Huyen Tran Temple Festival, held on Ngu Phong Mountain in early spring, reminds later generations of the great contributions of Buddhist King Tran Nhan Tong and Princess Huyen Tran - historical figures who played a vital role in the work of expanding the border of Dai Viet toward the South.

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.

Since 2017, Ms. Nguyen Thi Dieu Hanh, Head of the Biology Department at Quoc Hoc - Hue High School for the Gifted, has been tirelessly seeking “seeds”, nurturing and guiding generations of students onto the International Biology Olympiad arena, contributing to the prestige of the century-old school.

Along the coastal regions of Central Vietnam, especially in the city of Hue, seahorses are not only a supplementary source of income for many fishermen but also an indicator of a healthy marine ecosystem. As seahorse populations continue to decline, reproductive research models and collaborations between fishermen and scientific institutions are opening up new hope: preserving this unique species for future generations.

The Heritage Education Materials developed by Hue Museum of Royal Antiquities were recently honored at the City Technical Innovation Contest, providing fresh impetus for bringing cultural heritage closer to younger generations.