“I write to you, from this island. Cuba, the island of fire, the island of passion”. The poem “From Cuba” by To Huu has stayed with me since my school days. Ever since, I have held a special affection for Cuba - a distant land possessed a beauty both nostalgic and intense, where culture, music, and history blend into a rhythm uniquely of its own…

In 2000, in the short piece entitled “Hue Diary,” written when he returned for the first Hue Festival, musician Trinh Cong Son wrote, “When you have a place to return, or to visit from time to time, you are very fortunate. There, you have a river, a mountain, and you can find again your old friends whose hair used to be black has now turned grey. You might suddenly meet a Hue girl on the street and ask her, ‘Is there anything new in Hue now?’ And immediately, or perhaps by chance, she will recite the two lines from a poem by Bui Giang: “Da thua xu Hue bay gio/ Van con nui Ngu ben bo song Huong” (“Yes, sir, Hue now/ Still has Ngu Mount by the Huong river…”)

The song “Tinh ca Mua xuan” (“Spring Love Song”) by Tran Hoan, set to a poem by Nguyen Loan, was born in the spring of 1979 and spread quickly in life in the early years after the reunification. Nearly half a century later, the song still resonates, becoming one of the most beloved songs about spring in the treasure of Vietnamese music.

Mossy temples, royal mausoleums, ancient pagodas and the beautiful scenery granted to the former capital city all together form an “urban poem.” And that beauty of Hue is even more gorgeous through eyes of talented painters.

On October 23, the Department of Education and Training held a session to assess the works participating in the competition for composing new lyrics based on Hue folk melodies; painting about Hue culture and collecting local games, folk songs, and folk poems appropriate with preschool education.

On October 1, Quang Dien District, along with relevant agencies and units, organized the inauguration ceremony of a stele engraved with the poem titled “Viet Bac”, by the poet To Huu in both Vietnamese and Tay languages, at the Cultural Park and Memorial Site of To Huu (Quang Tho Commune, Quang Dien District).

From June 16th to 18th, the following activities will take place: the Vietnam’s landscape exhibition on the Nine Dynastic Urns; the exhibition of royal performance heritage and painting inspiration; the exhibition “The Capital’s 20 most striking landscapes and Poems of Emperor Thieu Tri” through traditional Taiwanese calligraphy.