Meaning of New Year’s Eve in Vietnamese belief

 Tet, the Lunar New Year festival, is the most important holiday in Vietnam. As people believe Tet refreshes everything in their lives, they treasure the tradition of seeing off the old year and welcoming the new year.

Three footballers born in the year of Goat

 Nguyen Van Quyet, Tran Buu Ngoc and Duong Thanh Hao are three phenomenal Vietnamese football players who were born in the year of the Goat.

Vietnam to complete TV digitalization by 2020

 All cities and province across the country are scheduled to fully implement the TV digitalization programme by 2020, according to the Ministry of Information and Communication.

Hoi An to reopen ancient wells

  Hoi An ancient city, the central province of Quang Nam, plans to restore 80 ancient wells, most of them locate on the north bank of the De Vong River near the Thanh Ha pottery village.

Tomb-sweeping tradition in Vietnam

 Whenever the Lunar New Year (Tet) comes, normally from the 23rd of the lunar December to the New Year eve, Vietnamese families visit their ancestors’ tombs and clean gravesites.

Vietnam’s first quarter 2015 growth quickens

Vietnam's economic growth for the three months leading up to April 2015 will quicken to an annual rate of 5.4%, the National Financial Supervisory Commission (NFSC) forecast in a recently released report.

Government News

Party building is the main task for this year; Congratulations to new Prime Minister of Timor-Leste; Egypt, Vietnam foster all-sided cooperation; Wish of good health extended to Singaporean PM

President urges accelerating growth model renovation

President Truong Tan Sang has stressed the need to accelerate reforms, renovate growth models and facilitate economic restructuring to increase the competitiveness of the economy, boost rapid and sustainable development.

Vietnam to pursue loosener monetary policies in 2015

Vietnam has decided to loosen monetary policies in 2015 in an aim to hasten national economy recovery. However, the narrowing of the gap between the dong and US dollar interest rates will worsen the dollarization situation in Vietnam.

VN population growth presents challenges

 VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen Van Tan, vice chief of the Ministry of Health's General Office for Population and Family Planning, spoke with Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam about solutions to problems created by demographic changes.

The seven most famous Vietnamese dishes

Pho, bun rieu cua, and bun cha are street food dishes that captivate thousands of international visitors. Here are the seven dishes and drinks that have made Vietnam an attractive spot on the culinary world map.

Sugar import quota up for debate

 VietNamNet Bridge – Tenders might be invited for determining the sugar import quota this year, instead of it being allocated as in the previous years, to ensure transparency.

Change of heart strengthens love and resolve

 VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen Mau Duc walks briskly between the bikes in the parking lot of the Hue Central Hospital and lifts several to rearrange them.

National beach football team to be convened

 The national beach football team will be convened on February 25, ahead of their participation in the AFC Beach Football Championship in Doha, Qatar, from March 23 to 28.

Students have no time for play as life-skill lessons crowd the curriculum

VietNamNet Bridge – Educators have begun teaching teach life skills to students, but parents complain that the teachers do not know how to give instruction in such skills.

Scientists fear made-in-Vietnam chips will not sell

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese scientists have created high-quality chips but are less sure of how to sell and market them.

"Chicken soup for inmates' souls"

 VietNamNet Bridge – For many prison inmates, reading brings a sense of solace and helps them to get back on right track.

VN bankers who went downhill in 2014

 VietNamNet Bridge – In 2014, the banking sector was volatile, with many famous bankers arrested for serious violations.

Tour retraces a classic novel

 VietNamNet Bridge – When I visited Nhan Hau Village, I felt I was walking into the pages of Chi Pheo, the Vietnamese literature classic about northern farmers in colonial-feudal society.

Photos: The last bronze censer making village in Saigon

Many households on Nguyen Duy Cung Road in HCMC are pursuing a traditional bronze casting craft. One month before the lunar New Year, they are working day and night to meet the need of the market for bronze censers.

Legal Advice: Regimes of labor discipline regulated by new provisions from March

 VietNamNet Bridge - On January 12, 2015, the Government promulgated Decree No. 05/2015/ND-CP detailing the order of labour discipline, which shall come into effect on March 1, 2015.

VN must confront ‘plague' of corruption by tackling bribery

 VietNamNet Bridge – Bribes are sometimes given as gifts during Tet, but they are also a year-round problem, Dang Ngoc Dinh, director of the Center for Community Support Development Studies,

Solid waste piles up as country industrialises

 VietNamNet Bridge – Solid waste continues to increase rapidly throughout the country, and is expected to reach a high rate of 44 million tonnes annually, starting this year,

Symphony to light up Da Nang skies

 VietNamNet Bridge – Five teams from South Africa, Australia, Poland, the US and Viet Nam will perform in the 2015 Da Nang International Fireworks Competition on April 28 and 29.

Sweet potatoes, hard work: keys to a long life

 VietNamNet Bridge – Two Vietnamese sisters, Dinh Thi Xa, 102, and Dinh Thi Long, 94, have been recognised as Viet Nam's oldest sisters by the Viet Nam Book of Records (Vietkings).