The Co Tu people in hamlet 5, Nam Dong commune (merged from Huong Xuan, Thuong Nhat and Huong Son communes) still call Village Elder Tran Dinh Lua (72 years old) the “living treasure” of their village. To this day, he is one of the few remaining people who preserve the sacred sound of the gong that has been intertwined with generations of the Co Tu people.

More than 11,000 Nguyen Dynasty artifacts preserved at the Hue Museum of Royal Antiquities constitute a priceless legacy - one that yearns for a modern museum worthy of its stature.

It was just another ordinary day at the Center for Nursing and Care for the Meritorious in Hue City - a place that welcomes revolution contributors, and policy beneficiaries each year. It is also a long-term home for dozens of war invalids, sick soldiers, and relatives of martyrs who have no one to rely on. The Center is currently caring for ten elderly women. Most of them live alone and have special circumstances, but here they are cared for with wholehearted attention and dedication.

The lotus is one of the beautiful symbols of serenity, peace, and tranquility. In Hue, the lotus blooming season usually begins in May and June, when the weather changes into hot and sultry days. This time also coincides with April of the Lunar year, the time marked with the significant event of the Grand Buddhism Celebration (Vesak).

In the festive atmosphere of the “Colors of Spring in the Highlands” celebration in A Luoi, amidst the “tung tung da da” dances and echoing gong sounds, I was fortunate to witness a special ritual of the Co Tu people - the An Ninh Pa Nua festival. This is one of their ancient traditional ceremonies, expressing the sacred feelings of the bride’s family toward the groom’s family after many years of being in-laws.

Flowing through the center of Hue City, the Huong River, a heritage river, is one of the iconic symbols of Hue Ancient Capital. Visitors to Hue will surely be enchanted not only by the Huong River but also by the peaceful, tranquil, and vibrant beauty of the Dong Ba River, the An Cuu River, and the Ngu Ha River, etc. This is why Hue is known as the “city of rivers”. Associated with over 700 years of history in expanding and developing the land of Thuan Hoa - Phu Xuan, each of these rivers is not just a natural landscape, but also a historical and cultural witness to this land.

With a period of operation for 6 years, the “Carbon Storage and Biodiversity Conservation” Project Phase 2 (CARBI 2) has successfully integrated conservation with sustainable development, aiming to preserve and restore forests in one of the world's biodiversity hotspots - the Truong Son Mountain Range between Vietnam and Laos.

The generation of national literary writers born in the Year of the Snake in Hue left a notable mark with many respected authors. Each one brought their own distinctive qualities, enriching and beautifying the literature of the region, making the cultural identity of Hue even stronger. This became even clearer and stronger when Hue became a centrally governed city.

At the time when everything can be ordered online and delivered to your door, in a cozy place by the Huong river (Perfume River), we still gather every year to cook a pot of banh tet and to sing songs to say our farewells to the old year and welcome the new one. (Banh tet is the symbolic food for Tet (the New Year Celebration).

The long Lunar New Year holiday combined with the rising number of cases has kept the doctors and medical staff at Hue Central Hospital (HCH) constantly on duty without rest. The signs of spring are seen in pots of chrysanthemums and peach blossoms, but the atmosphere remains one of urgency and dedication to patient care and treatment.

Tet is a time for families and loved ones to reunite. The celebration becomes even more meaningful with thoughtful and charming Tet gifts exchanged between family and friends.