VietNamNet Bridge – To celebrate the new year 2018, Urban Sketchers Hanoi group is going to organize a sketching exhibition about Hanoi, with the objective to collect 1,000 sketches for this event.

Aside from Nguyen Van Binh Book Street, book enthusiasts and budget-conscious readers will have a new choice this month as a 3,000-square-meter bookstore has come into operation on the second floor of the Garden Mall in District 5, HCMC.

 Vietnamese-born actress Le Thi Hiep, who starred in the war-themed movie “Heaven & Earth” directed by Oliver Stone, died in Los Angeles, U.S. on December 19 at the age of 46 due to stomach cancer.

An exhibition of installation art by two French artists - Pierre​ ​Larauza​ and Emmanuelle​ ​Vincent – and Vietnamese Belgian artist Thy Nguyen Truong Minh is openedat the HCMC Museum of Fine Arts.

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.

 The classical opera , “Die Fledermaus” (The Bat, or Revenge of the Bat) which was composed by Johann Strauss II, will be performed at Ho Chi Minh City Opera House on December 29.

 Free screenings of award-winning films of the 20th Vietnam Film Festival will be organized at National Cinema Center in Hanoi from December 25-29.

 A series of Christmas music and dance shows featuring hundreds of singers, dancers and theatre artists offering something for everyone in HCM City’s Dam Sen Park, District 11, will begin on Saturday. 

 Hundreds of domestic and foreign artists will stage stellar performances at a light festival held on Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street on December 31 to welcome the New Year 2018.

The Christmas market has been flourishing in every corner of Hanoi, seeing a flood of made-in-Vietnam goods hit the shelves.

 Pianist Nguyen Duc Anh, who earned a master’s degree at Freiburg Conservatory of Music in German, will hold a free piano concert at the HCM City Museum of Southern Women on December 27.

 The National Academy of Music will host a series of piano concerts on December 22-27, featuring talented artists from the Republic of Korea and Brazil.

 After nearly two years of construction, the Hoang Sa Museum in the central city of Da Nang will open to the public next month, celebrating the New Year and offering a new destination to tourists.

 The Belarus Embassy in Vietnam granted a collection of 21 volumes of books reproduced in the style created by Francysk Skaryna to the National Library of Vietnam on December 19.

A more than a century-old house in the southern province of Long An is famous for its 120 wooden pillars.

There is still one week left before Christmas but the festive atmosphere is hard to avoid with many streets colourfully decorated in the capital city of Hanoi.

 The Korean band GOT7 are set to liven up Ho Chi Minh City with a concert on January 19 along with the participation of numerous Vietnamese singers.

 Remnants of altars, carved letters in the old Nom script, carvings, architectural posts and beams have been collected together to honour dinh lang, the ancient Vietnamese communal houses that still dot the country. 

 Actress and film director Kim Khanh recently launched her new project, Hon buom (Butterfly Soul), a documentary on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in HCM City.

Construction of a giant Xmas tree of 5,000 earthen pots is underway in the Phu My parish in Tru Son commune, Do Luong district, the central province of Nghe An to welcome fast-coming Christmas season.