Speaking of Hoa Binh culture means talking about the Muong ethnic people. Quite a few academics have written lengthy essays affirming that the Muong are the indigenous people and masters of Hoa Binh culture (in the post-Neolithic Age) and Dong Son culture (in the Bronze Age).

The Chu Ru ethnic minority group, also called Cho Ru and Chu, has a population of more than 10,000. Chu Ru ethnic minority people mainly live in Don Duong district in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, and the rest in the south-central province of Binh Thuan. The Chu Ru language belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian group.

About 70 km northwest of Hanoi is the prosperous region of the Muong people. Together with Hoa Binh town, the four surrounding areas of Muong Yang, Muong Bi, Muong Thang and Muong Dong are described as the cradle of the Red River civilisation.

The Hue "Back to the Source" Cultural Village is located in Huong Ho Village, Huong Tra District of Thua Thien-Hue province, amid the greenness of the mountainous and hilly locality. A unique architectural complex made of wood, bamboo and thatch, it is the first cultural village in Vietnam built by the Hue Research Centre for Folk Culture, where traditional customs, festivals and daily activities of the ethnic Ko Tu group are re-produced and introduced to visitors.

An exhibition entitled “Dragon and Butterfly” is taking place at Vittoriano Square in Rome, Italy to display more than 80 works by over 30 Vietnamese painters of various generations from the time of two resistance wars until today.

Vietnamese children bagged eight gold, 17 silver and 26 bronze medals at an international painting contest titled “My Land and Rainbow” which was held in Tehran, Iran from June 22 to July 2.

The second International Experimental Stage festival is going to take place in Vietnam to provide opportunities for local and foreign art troupes to share experiences.

The Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT) selected the two sets of stamp “Vietnam ethnic community” and “streaked civet” to attend the 5th International Stamp Contest in China.

The general assembly of countries of the intangible heritage preservation treaty opened its first session in Paris, France with the participation of 45 member countries, observers and some international organisations.

Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Indonesian-language broadcast in Hanoi on June 30.

The Vietnam Committee on Population, Family and Children and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) held an awards ceremony in Hanoi on June 29 to announce the results of the recent painting contest on preventing, taking care, and helping HIV/AIDS children.

A festival will be organised at the Van Thanh Tourism Resort, Ho Chi Minh City, on July 8 and 9 to introduce special kinds of wine from southern France.

Vietnam has organised a short film show in Malaysia, which is due to close on June 30 after a week of screening.

Vietnam boasts more than 10 types of Dan Moi (Jew’s harps), which are made of steel, iron and leaves and used by various ethnic minority groups such as Mong, Dao, Thai, Khmu, J’rai, Bana, Sedang and H’Re.

A youth friendship camp has been held under an agreement between the Vietnamese Kien Giang province Chapter of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and the Cambodian Kampot province's Department for Youth, Health and Education.

As many as 26 artists from the Hue Theatre for Traditional and Royal Arts will perform Nha Nhac (royal music of Vietnam’s former imperial city of Hue) in ten Spanish cities during their attendance at an art festival.

Hoang Anh, one of the top Vietnamese culinary experts, introduced the country's distinctive culinary culture at an international chef conference, which opened in the Republic of Korea (RoK) on June 26.

An exhibition of more than 100 photos opened at the Lao National Cultural Palace in Vientiane on June 26 to feature the friendship between Vietnam and Laos.

All media workers should realise their journalistic rights and responsibilities to work in line with professional ethics, said participants of a workshop held by VOV in Hanoi on June 26.

The Vietnamese film “Song Trong So Hai” (Living In Fear) produced by young director Bui Thac Chuyen won a prize for the best film in the category of Asia Young Talent Film at the 9th Shanghai International Film Festival.

Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Dinh Bin on June 24 had talks with a group of Vietnamese alumni who studied at the French University of Polytechnique.

The tourism authority of central Da Nang city has prepared for another festival to open on July 14 at Ba Na-Suoi Mo resort in Hoa Vang district, some 40km west of the city.

The Ho Chi Minh City Fine Art Museum, the French Chamber for Cooperation and Cultural Activities and the Institute for Cultural Exchange with France launched the first "Photography Month" on June 23.

The Ministry of Information and Culture on June 23 presented a certificate of merit to the Moet Hennessy Asia Pacific (MHAP) for its efforts in bringing world classical music to the Vietnamese people over the last 10 years.

Vietnamese students joined many famous French singers in celebrating the 25th Music Festival held in France from June 21-22. The Trong Dong Club and CDP Band from the Association of Vietnamese youth in France came to the festival, titled "Francophone Year," with Vietnamese folk songs and dances.

Visitors to Doi Pagoda in Soc Trang province can learn many things about the culture of Vietnam’s Khmer people.

This is a great time to be riding around the country, with the summer rice season being harvested across Vietnam. But to Hanoians, the flat rice paddies of the Red River Delta can be too familiar. Therefore, it’s nice to see something else and this leads many visitors to Muong Lo, one of the largest rice growing areas in the mountainous northwest, located about 200 kilometres from the capital city.

On my first day in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai, I was told by Yang A Lao, a Mong ethnic man that if I did not go to the horse market in Bac Ha district, it meant that I had not yet properly visited the region.

It's getting easier in places like Hanoi or Saigon to buy anything, anywhere, anytime, but if you live in Vietnam's more remote regions, you might have wait weeks to stock up the kitchen. In the Han Viet or Chinese-Vietnamese language, cities are called thi thanh-literally, markets while people living in the highlands still organise their lives around cho phien, or periodic markets.

When spring comes, Lao ethnic people in northern Lai Chau province organise their traditional Cam Muong festival to pray to the gods of the rivers and mountains, as well as their ancestors, for blessings.