(VOV) – ‘Over the past 60 years, we’ve been worried about the fatherland so we hold the Vietnamese nationality to be able to come back whenever we have an opportunity.’ This is the aspiration of 70-year-old Ngo Thien Hon who is living and working in Toulouse, France. Beginning as a teacher, he then worked in radio, and over the past 30 years his family has cooperated with French people who know the Vietnamese language to develop a radio program in Vietnamese for Vietnamese living in France.

(VOVworld) – The cheerful atmosphere of Christmas is overwhelming the capital city of Hanoi. Christmas carols echo from churches and twinkling lights illuminate main streets and shopping centers. Here’s a glimpse of Hanoians preparing for Christmas.

(VOVworld) – Visitors to bustling Hang Buom street in Hanoi’s Old Quarter should take notice of a coffee shop whose front is designed to look like an army tent. It has a plain signboard that reads “Soldier”. Inside, it appears to be a small museum preserving war items. VOV reporter To Tuan checked out this one-of-a-kind coffee shop.

(VOVworld) – UNESCO has recognized Vietnam’s Hung Kings worshiping ritual in Phu Tho province as part of the world’s intangible cultural heritage. This is a great honor for Vietnam and Phu Tho province Vietnamese spiritual culture has now been acknowledged globally. VOV’s Le Phuong reports:

(VOVworld)- Water puppetry is a unique art that originated in Vietnam’s wet rice civilization. Along with traditional theaters like Tuong and Cheo, water puppetry has raised its role on the traditional stages that need to be preserved. Puppeteer Phan Thanh Liem has become the vanguard in preserving and promoting this folk art after opening a stage for water puppetry performances in his house.

(VoVoworld) – Over the past 70 years, “Adventures of a Cricket", written by To Hoai, has become a close friend of many generations of Vietnamese children. Every sentence, every paragraph, and every image in the work is filled with love, praising peaceful ideals and noble friendship. To mark the 70 anniversary of this literature work, let’s listen to opinions of some people talking about the beloved children's tale through a report by Lan Anh.

(VOVworld) – The custom of chewing betel and areca nut is one of Vietnamese people's fine traditional cultural features in the past. Areca splitting knife, pots of slaked lime, cylindrical lime holders, and betel-trays are among indispensable tools for chewing betel leaf and areca nut. Visiting the Vietnam National History Museum these days, you can see these tools which are gradually fading outof Vietnamese people’s life along with the betel and areca chewing custom.

(VOVworld) – The Old Quarter of Hanoi is a must – see place for any tourist to the capital city which is well-known for ancient houses, rows of shops, stores offering handcraft items, and typical cultural customs. After touring the capital’s tourist sites, tourists can seek out numerous street eateries to sit, have food, drink any kind of beverage, and chat at reasonable prices. Draught beer is the drink that particularly attracts foreign tourists. Let’s join on a tour of the Old Quarter with VOV’s reporter To Tuan.

(VOVworld)- Xam singing known as streetcar singing appeared in the north of Vietnam long ago. In Hanoi, there’s a unique style of Xam singing, called Xam tau dien, which was performed on trams or streetcars by mostly itinerant blind artists accompanied by dan nhi (two-string violin) or dan bau (monochord), used to charm commuters daily. After 20 years falling into oblivion, the strains of Xam tau dien were heard again in the capital city over the weekends, with a series of concerts at the Women's Museum.

(VOVworld) - Thang Long – Hanoi ancient dances is the elaborate combination of many cultures, which was an essential folk art in the daily life of the capital city’s dwellers. Ancient dances have disappeared from the modern life. In order to revitalize the ancient dances, artists and researchers have traveled to localities to meet senior artists and seek for historical documents. Our program today introduces artist Le Hong Thang who devotes her life to ancient dances of Thang Long – Hanoi.