The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and local authorities have pledged to join forces to boost the management and organisation of cultural festivities across the country, with the aim to prevent commercialisation and distortion of history. 

As a rule, pho Ong do (or street of calligraphers) opens in Ho Chi Minh City just a couple of weeks before the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival.

Some 85 percent of urban waste was gathered and treated last year, up 0.5 percent from 2016, according to the Ministry of Construction.

 Festivals featuring peach flowers and the culture of the H’mong ethnic group will be held in Meo Vac district, the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang from February 21 – 22 (the sixth and seventh days of the first lunar month).

 Cao Phong district is the cradle of the Muong Thang, one of four Muong branches in Hoa Binh province. Hoa Binh authorities have worked with local people to preserve the traditional culture of the Muong Thang.

 Vietnamese nationals and tourists alike will be entertained with dazzling fireworks shows at various sites across the country on the eve of 2018 Lunar New Year, reported Vietnam News Agency.

 A ceremony to plant Neu pole (a tall bamboo tree with red garment strips used to ward off evil spirits during Tet) was organised at Hue Imperial Citadel in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on February 8.

 The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has asked agencies to comment on its special project to control companies thought to be likely of polluting the environment - even industries not yet in operation, such as power plants. 

Events in Hanoi & HCM City on January 29-February 4 

 At the end of the year when rice ripens in terraced fields and the weather turn cold, people of the Pako, Ta Oi, and Co Tu ethnic groups celebrate the Aza New Year Festival to thank their genies for blessing them with a bumper crop.

 A large bookstore covering on an area of more than 3,000 square meters opened in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 10 on January 19.

 The Vietnam Students' Association (VSA) organised a ceremony in Hanoi on January 7 to honour outstanding students and organisations with “Students with Five Good Performances” title and January Star Awards 2017.

The Danang International Fireworks Festival (DIFF) 2018 will be held in the central coastal city of Danang from April 29 to June 30 next year.

 A concert performance by French conductor Nathalie Marin and the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra will take place at the Hanoi Opera House on December 15.

 The Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts and the Hanoi-based Goethe Institute on December 11 launched a training programme on preserving and restoring documents and items made of paper with the assistance of German conservator Monika Schneidereit-Gast.

Vietnamese beauty representative Nguyen Thi Lien Phuong won the first runner-up title at the World Miss Tourism Ambassador beauty contest which concluded on Saturday night in the Philippines.

 The Ministry of Transport (MoT) on Thursday rejected the Hanoi Taxi Association’s request to extend taxi licences for 12 months.

 Forest rangers in Quang Binh on Wednesday detained a man who was carrying two stripe-headed black langurs (Trachypithecus hatinhensis), listed by International Union for Conservation of Nature as an endangered species.

 An exhibition recapturing the traditional weddings of Hue people in 1960s opened at the Hue Culture Museum on November 30.

 Valuable documents are being displayed at an exhibition titled A Century Alongside The Nation’s History to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the National Library of Viet Nam.