Folk dances by local ethnic people are among the special cultural activities to be held at the Red River Festival 2025 in Lào Cai Province. Illustration photo baovanhoa.vn

LÀO CAI — The Sông Hồng (Red River) Festival 2025 is set to make a splash next month in the northern mountain province of Lào Cai, offering tourists a special attraction through a series of unique cultural and art activities.

The Lào Cai Province People's Committee has released an organising plan for the festival with the theme Nơi Con Sông Hồng Chảy Vào Đất Việt (Where the Red River Flows into Việt Nam). The event will be held from November 18 to 24 at Nam Cường Square, Cam Đường Ward, with the opening ceremony scheduled for 8pm on November 19 and broadcast live on Vietnam Television.

A special performance art programme and a 15-minute low-altitude fireworks display will also feature during the opening ceremony. About 500 delegates are expected to attend, including Party and State leaders, ministerial representatives, and foreign guests such as ambassadors from France, China, Denmark, India, Thailand, Laos and a delegation from China's Yunnan Province.

The Red River Festival 2025 celebrates the success of the 1st Lào Cai Province Party Congress and welcomes the 14th National Congress of the Party. Within the festival, special activities will take place in the national cultural space from 18 to 24 November at Kim Tân Square. Thirteen exhibition spaces will be built to reenact cultural rituals, folk songs, dances and handicrafts, while typical OCOP products will also be displayed.

Documents and artefacts about Red River culture and cooperation in developing the river’s basin with Yunnan Province are also introduced to visitors. A recreation of the old Cốc Lếu Market will be set up in its current area and on An Dương Vương Street, showcasing the ancient market cultural space, daily life, trading and folk games. A Việt Nam-China sports competition and exchanges will be held for business and youth teams from Lào Cai and Yunnan at Lào Cai Province Stadium.

Other activities include the Red River Festival Golf Tournament 2025 and an international cycling race themed Một Đường Đua Hai Quốc Gia (One Track, Two Countries), which will take place between November 28 and 30, while the 2025 Lào Cai Shan Tuyết tea festival, themed Hương Trà Trên Mây (Tea Scent In The Clouds), will be held in Văn Chấn Commune.

The Red River Festival 2025 carries essential political, diplomatic, economic and cultural significance, contributing to economic growth and expanding cooperation and foreign relations between Lào Cai and provinces in the Red River basin of Việt Nam with Yunnan Province, according to organisers.

At the same time, it affirms the strategic position of Lào Cai, honours the unique cultural values of the Red River civilisation, educates on national solidarity and arouses pride in the province’s history.

Originally planned for October 2024, the festival was postponed due to damage caused by the deadly Typhoon Yagi, allowing Lào Cai to focus on recovery. At a working session with the Standing Committee of Lào Cai’s provincial Party Committee in December, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính assigned the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MoCST) to coordinate with Lào Cai to study and propose the organising plan.

Speaking at a meeting with Deputy Minister of MoCST Trịnh Thị Thuỷ in April, Vice Chairman of Lào Cai provincial People’s Committee Giàng Thị Dung said: “The province is a convergence of 25 ethnic groups with diverse cultural identities and customs. This is a rich cultural tourism resource serving its development orientation of unique cultural tourism.”

The Red River Festival 2025 will symbolically highlight the cultural identity of ethnic groups in Lào Cai, connected to the historic Red River, while promoting tourism development in the province in the future. — VNS