Nguyễn Văn Chung: Central Highlands inspire a lifelong artistic journey

Authorities in Gia Lai province have finalized extensive preparations for the opening ceremony of National Tourism Year - Gia Lai 2026, scheduled for March 28, as the locality gears up for a major influx of visitors.

Authorities in Gia Lai province are completing final preparations for the opening ceremony of National Tourism Year 2026, with officials emphasizing safety, logistics and coordination ahead of the nationally televised event.

Gia Lai will launch National Tourism Year 2026 with a large-scale opening ceremony and mega concert on March 28, combining traditional cultural elements with modern performance technology in one of the country’s most ambitious tourism events.

The Pleiku Museum in Vietnam’s Gia Lai province will stage a reenactment of the Jrai people’s traditional “victory celebration” ceremony on March 31 at the communal Rong house in Bek village, Ia Grai commune.

A two-day festival featuring traditional rituals, cultural experiences and a ceremonial buffalo sacrifice will mark the inauguration of a new communal house in Kép 1 Village, Ia Ly Commune, Gia Lai Province, from March 21 to 22.

French has become the fourth most spoken language in the world, with the number of speakers rising sharply from 321 million in 2022 to 396 million in 2025, according to a new report.

Gia Lai province has unveiled a new initiative to strengthen reading culture and lifelong learning, as its Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Education and Training agreed to implement a joint library cooperation program for 2026–2030.

A village in Vietnam’s Central Highlands marked the inauguration of a new communal Rong house on March 22, combining traditional rituals with efforts to boost community-based tourism.

Festivals held during the first and second lunar months across eastern communes and wards are drawing large numbers of visitors, as communities celebrate the new year while showcasing traditional cultural heritage during the National Tourism Year 2026.

The National Tourism Year - Gia Lai 2026 will officially open on March 28 with a large-scale live art performance, a mega concert featuring leading young artists, and a fireworks display, organisers said.

Gia Lai’s signature dried phở (Vietnamese noodle soup) and traditional dishes from the Jrai and Bahnar ethnic communities will take the spotlight at the Gia Lai Culinary Festival, part of the opening week of National Tourism Year 2026, bringing the culinary heritage of Central Highlands to visitors.

The steady rhythm of handlooms continues to echo through villages in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, where Jrai and Bana women are preserving centuries-old brocade weaving traditions while adapting them to modern tourism and markets.

A series of community cultural events including folk dance performances, an áo dài fashion show and a free outdoor film screening drew crowds to Cho Nho Night Market in Pleiku Ward, Gia Lai Province, on March 7.

A series of cultural activities are taking place across the province as agencies, organizations and local communities mark “Ao Dai Week” 2026, part of celebrations for the 116th anniversary of International Women’s Day on March 8.

Gia Lai Province in Vietnam’s Central Highlands is marking Lunar New Year with vibrant traditions upheld by northern ethnic minority communities who migrated south decades ago.

Phú Thiện commune in Gia Lai is home to four Meritorious Artisans from ethnic minority groups, all of whom have devoted their lives to safeguarding forms of intangible cultural heritage, rituals, music, weaving and traditional crafts, that still shape daily life in the Central Highlands.

An art program celebrating the 24th Vietnam Poetry Day opened on 2 March at the Twin Towers Relic Site in Quy Nhon Ward, drawing provincial leaders, artists and a large audience.

A charity concert in Gia Lai Province raised more than 300 million VND (approximately 12,000 USD) on March 1, generating funds for community development, education support, and disaster relief efforts in the region and other localities.

The anniversaries of the Tây Sơn peasant movement and the Ngọc Hồi–Đống Đa victory have renewed attention on Emperor Thái Đức Nguyễn Nhạc, the leader who initiated the 1771 uprising and laid the political foundations for the Tây Sơn dynasty. 

Beneath long-standing bamboo groves in Nhơn Hòa, a commune in An Nhơn, memories of village life linger in the aroma of Bàu Đá rice wine, an enduring symbol of a land shaped by centuries of change.

Traditional bài chòi performances energized spring festivals across Tuy Phước commune and Quy Nhơn city during the Lunar New Year, drawing crowds of residents and tourists to the region’s rustic bamboo huts, poetry-infused melodies and rhythmic bamboo clappers.

A rare 11th-century Cham sandstone relief unearthed in the south-central province of Bình Định is offering fresh insight into the region’s martial past, featuring one of the most dynamic portrayals of war horses found in Champa art. 

The decisive speed of Emperor Quang Trung’s spring 1789 campaign, culminating in the victory at Ngọc Hồi–Đống Đa, owed not only to his strategic brilliance but also to the powerful mobility of the Tây Sơn cavalry, a force that became a symbol of the military heritage and the martial tradition.

A grassroots podcast launched by a group of young creators in Gia Lai is emerging as a rare space for local youth to speak candidly about pressures, ambitions and the uncertainties of early adulthood.