ACV Proposes Moving 90% of Saigon's Overseas Flights to Long Thành
The Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) has proposed plans to transfer flight operations in Hồ Chí Minh City from Tân Sơ...
Khôi Phạm in Culture
US Presidents, Russian Mascot, and Tintin: The Surprising History Behind Vietnam's Dog Names
As Vietnamese society progresses, dogs and cats’ role in our families have gradually elevated to worthy life companions instead of mere animal help in previous generations. While the archive of pet names today seems endless and every day you can easily bump into pets bearing hilariously human names, tasty food dishes, or glorious adjectives, the naming conventions of Vietnamese domestic animals in the past had recurring themes that directly correspond to the cultural and historical atmosphere of when they were coined.
Paul Christiansen in Literature
5 Quixotic Books About Vietnam for When You're Craving a Little Quirky Read
There are too many good Vietnamese books to recommend, let alone read.
Far From Vietnam: A 1967 French Anti-War Film Grapples With Its Own Contradictions
French cinema experienced a creative renaissance in the 1960s with arguably the most influential movement in its history...
'Making a Whore' Is Both Less and More Revealing Than Its Reputation Suggests
For the first time, Vũ Trọng Phụng’s novel Làm đĩ is available in English. Originally published in 1936, the novel has been translated by Đinh Ngọc Mai under the title Making a Whore and was released last year by Major Books, an independent publishing house dedicated to making Vietnamese literature more available for the English-speaking world.
Uyên Đỗ in Culture
The Surprisingly Global History of Monobloc, the Chair Vietnam Loves and the West Despises
In 2024, The New York Times published a list of the 25 most iconic pieces of furniture from the past century, selected by a panel of designers, artists, and curators from the world's leading museums. Unexpectedly, the Monobloc, a plastic chair found in almost every corner of Vietnam and across the globe, had somehow secured a seat.
How Richie Fawcett's Saigon Sketches Illuminate a Decade of Change
It’s been hidden right there in the heart of Saigon for over half a decade.
Water as a Metaphor for Trauma, Memories and Unspoken Histories in Quế’s Art
Through installations and animated films, Quế traces the flow of water as they move through personal memories and collective histories, carrying generational trauma amidst urbanization, and even natural disaster.
[Photos] Stay Cool in Saigon's Ice Palace
It's sweater weather in District 7's Him Lam New Urban Area.
[Photos] Life in a Saigon Cemetery
When her youngest son was six months old, Kieu Thi Anh Lien's husband disappeared. They were never officially married but the couple had lived together for years, until one day the father of Lien's th...
The Renovation Generation: Meet Vietnam's Post-Đổi Mới Movers and Shakers
Thirty years after the inception of Đổi Mới, Vietnam is night and day compared to its former self. Following the tragedy of war, this 1986 economic reform wholly transformed the country into what it i...
[Video] The Story Behind Urban Vietnam's Graffiti Advertisements
Splashed across city walls and on the sides of buildings, urban Vietnam is awash with advertisements for khoan cắt bê tông (KCBT), or demolition services.
In Yangon, Myanmar's Cold War-Era Typewriters Are Still in Use
Southeast Asia is a study in the clash of tradition and innovation. Across the region, increasingly modern societies reconcile their traditional values with contemporary progress, and in some cases th...
'Farmers Got Power': A Satirical Look at Social Upheaval
Satire and humor have long been recurring tropes employed by artists to deal with uncomfortable topics, to challenge people to discover on their own the object and meanings of their satire. Nowhere co...
[Video] Recycle: Saigon's Uber-Cool Tattoo Parlor
Not only in Vietnam but around the world, tattoos are at once both embraced and misunderstood: older generations loathe them, younger generations view them as an important tool of self-expression.
[Video] See If You Can Spot Vietnam in This 'Skull Island' First-Look Featurette
As part of this year's MTV Movie Awards ceremony, which took place last weekend, the people behind Kong: Skull Island put out a nice little featurette teasing the forthcoming movie, which is set to pr...
Technology Has Officially Entered Saigon’s Art Scene
From the invention of farming to the advent of military drones, technology has shaped the economy, politics and culture of every society. It was inevitable that such a vital element of our lives would...
[Video] Travel the Length of Vietnam in One Minute
For those of us who prefer armchair travel, Vimeo user Riccardo Fasoli's stunning minute-long journey through Vietnam is the perfect mini holiday.
[Photos] Incredible Juxtapositions Show How China Has Changed Over the Past Century
In a country where cities rise from rice paddies, to say that China has developed rapidly over the past century is something of understatement. Self-described “photography and creativity enthusiast” D...
Animated Shorts Bring Vietnamese History to the Small Screen
In an effort to teach Vietnamese children (and perhaps adults, too) about their nation's past, one local channel has begun playing short, animated videos depicting famous moments in Vietnamese history...
[Video] Filmmaker Captures the 'Phantoms of Saigon'
In his latest short film, Phantoms of Saigon, filmmaker Pham Hong Chuyen juxtaposes poetic, almost alien angles of Saigon with the often faceless community of wandering scrap collectors who roam its s...
[GIFs] Character Building: Illustrator Brings Bitexco Tower's Personality to Life
British animator and illustrator Michael William Lester recently added some character to a few of the world’s most iconic buildings, including Saigon’s own Bitexco Tower, by way of a series of animate...
April Films at Saigon’s Alternative Movie Venues
A filmmaker fights censorship, an architect’s endeavors reassess the leftist ideology and documentarians raise awareness about contemporary capitalist practices as well as development. From fictional ...
[Photos] Hong Kong Illustrator Re-Imagines Star Wars Characters in Traditional Chinese Art
In case the memory escapes you, last year's Star Wars: The Force Awakens was kind of a big deal. While it didn't make the top box office spot during its opening weekend in Vietnam, the seventh install...
[Video] Instant Noodle Commercial Outtakes Make for an Incredible Short Film
Watch a few Vietnamese TV commercials and you wouldn't characterize most local advertising as sexy.
Michael Tatarski in Music & Arts
Contemporary Asian Art Program Turns Its 'Eye' to Vietnam
In 2008, British contemporary art collector David Ciclitira and his wife Serenella, an art critic, visited South Korea. Though they were struck by the modern art scene there, the couple struggled to f...
[Video] Watch a Vietnamese Worker Singlehandedly Put This Excavator on the Back of a Truck
Vietnam does things a little differently than the rest of the world.
'Tokyo, Blind': Eerie, Black-and-White Images From a Saigon Photographer
In Tokyo, Blind, the first solo exhibition in Vietnam by Saigon-based photographer Ryan Neilan, men and women emerge as ghostly bodies, depicted either as a composite of fragmented shadows or as isola...
