Vietnamese Cultural Festival Highlights Heritage in Paris

The third edition of the “Bonjour Vietnam” cultural festival was held on June 13‑14 at the Vietnam Cultural Centre in Paris. The two‑day programme featured a photo exhibition titled “Vietnam through five senses”, a street‑food market, workshops on Dong Ho folk paintings, calligraphy, conical‑hat and paper‑fan making, and the youth‑led art show “Colours of Vietnam”. Vietnamese officials – including Ambassador Trinh Duc Hai and UNESCO Representative Nguyen Thi Van Anh – attended alongside representatives of diaspora organisations and young participants aged 14‑20 from Vietnam, France, the United States, Australia and China. Organisers said the event aims to strengthen ties between overseas Vietnamese and their homeland while introducing Vietnamese culture to French and international audiences.

The Paris festival is part of a broader push to showcase Vietnam’s heritage abroad. Recent events include an Asian cultural festival in Sofia’s South Park that gathered diplomatic missions from Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and China, UNESCO’s addition of Vietnam’s Wind Yam‑Gep Bong National Park to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, and exhibitions of Vietnamese photography and heritage in France, Japan and Cambodia. These activities underscore Vietnam’s effort to promote its cultural assets, traditional crafts and natural sites on the global stage.