Cultural industry ignites national spirit

The consecutive successes in tourism, performing arts, cinema, and cultural exhibitions in Hanoi recently not only affirm the great potential in developing the cultural industry of the capital but also create a strong spillover effect for the overall development of Vietnam's cultural industry.

Notably, cultural activities with great appeal and imbued with national spirit have opened up more opportunities for Vietnam to form a cultural industrial market rich in identity.

The political art program “Fatherland in the Heart” took place on August 10, 2025 at My Dinh National Stadium. Photo: Nhan Dan Newspaper

Resilience from key sectors

After the explosion of programs such as “Anh trai vuon ngan cong gai” (The brother who overcomes thousands of obstacles) and “Anh trai say hi”, Vietnam has gradually formed an increasingly professional and larger-scale entertainment industry. As the cultural center of the country, Hanoi has become the focal point for many large-scale performances. Over the past month, Vietnam’s musical life has witnessed an unprecedented phenomenon, which is the proliferation of large-scale political art programs - called “national concerts” by young people - on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day September 2.

Revolutionary music nights filled with love for the Fatherland and national pride have a special appeal, making millions of people line up and wait to enjoy them, typically "Vietnam in me", " Hanoi - Forever shining Vietnamese aspiration", "Fatherland in the heart", "V Concert - Radiant Vietnam", "V Fest - Radiant youth", "8Wonder", "Rock Concert - Heart of Vietnam"...

Many experts have assessed that the recent “national concerts” have not only created a grand stage but also opened up a new approach in shaping the Vietnamese entertainment industry. Previously, entertainment was often limited to commercial factors, competing with market music, but with “national concerts”, music is placed in the context of culture, history and national aspirations, thereby forming a new standard. Vietnamese audiences are not only interested in taste but also aim for profound spiritual values.

Along with music, cinema has also shown a strong rise to become one of the key areas of the cultural industry. In recent years, Vietnamese films have significantly dominated theaters. Many works have become "hot" topics on social networks with "huge" revenue, typically "Mai", "Bo gia", "Dat phuong nam", "Lat mat" ...

In particular, the genre of political and revolutionary films, which used to be associated with the prejudice of “putting it away after it is made”, “putting it aside”, and only serving propaganda purposes, has now made a strong change in the way of making films and creating art, to become popular works, touching the hearts of millions of viewers. A series of films such as “Peach, Pho and Piano”, “Tunnel”, “Red Rain”… have set an amazing record in box office revenue.

Creating a cultural value chain

The success of the film “Red Rain” in recent days can be considered a special phenomenon. Not only was it successful in theaters when it set a new revenue record for Vietnamese films, the film also helped the novel of the same name by writer Chu Lai, which was published many years ago, suddenly “sell out”. This chain effect brings double value to the cultural life of the whole country, when the Publishing industry also made its mark after a rather quiet period.

A representative of Fahasa Bookstore said that before the film was released, the novel's sales were only stable, but then increased dramatically. As of September 4, the number of books sold nationwide and through e-commerce channels had exceeded 13,000 copies, reflecting the special appeal of this literary and cinematic phenomenon.

“The push from the screen has led to a surge in demand for reading novels, helping the work quickly become one of the most prominent titles in stores and on e-commerce platforms. It can be affirmed that “Red Rain” is Fahasa’s most notable book-selling phenomenon in recent years. This fever shows the strong resonance between literature and cinema,” the representative of the unit shared.

According to Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung, the cultural industry can only be truly successful when cultural fields complement and interact, creating a continuous value system. This value system will become the foundation for culture to not only have spiritual meaning but also be a driving force for economic development, bringing in large revenues for society.

This is clearly demonstrated at the National Achievements Exhibition, taking place from August 28 to September 15, 2025 at the Vietnam Exhibition Center (National Exhibition Fair Center - VEC, Dong Anh, Hanoi).

With the theme “80 years of Independence - Freedom - Happiness journey”, the exhibition brings together thousands of artifacts, documents, display models, and applies modern technology to vividly tell the story of Vietnam's history, culture, economy and society.

In more than 2 weeks, the event attracted more than 6.5 million visitors - an unprecedented record number for an exhibition in Vietnam, and is expected to continue to increase until the closing day. This huge number of visitors not only brings direct revenue to the exhibition but also creates a big boost for tourism and services in Hanoi, contributing to the number of visitors to the capital on the occasion of National Day September 2 increasing 3 times compared to the same period last year. This is clear evidence that, if organized properly, exhibitions and fairs can completely become profitable cultural industrial products, while contributing to education and raising social awareness.

The art program “Hanoi - Forever Vietnam's Aspiration” took place on August 31, 2025 at the National Exhibition Center. Photo: Pham Manh

Building a cultural industry market rich in identity

Resolution No. 03-NQ/TW dated July 16, 1998 of the Central Committee determined: "The general direction of our country's cultural career is to promote patriotism and the tradition of great national unity, the sense of independence, self-reliance, self-reliance to build and protect the socialist Fatherland, build and develop an advanced Vietnamese culture imbued with national identity...".

Resolution No. 33-NQ/TW dated June 9, 2014 sets out the goal: "Building a healthy cultural market, promoting the development of cultural industries, and enhancing the promotion of Vietnamese culture".

The strategy for developing Vietnam's cultural industries to 2020, with a vision to 2030, issued by the Government in 2016, also affirmed that cultural industries are an important component of the national economy. The main goal by 2030 is to strive for revenue from cultural industries to contribute 7% of GDP. The strategy requires the sustainable, synchronous and modern development of cultural industries, the application of advanced technology, the building of cultural products and services with prestigious brands in the region and internationally, meeting the standards of developed countries and participating deeply in the global value chain.

At the National Conference on the Development of Vietnamese Cultural Industries on December 22, 2023, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized: Developing cultural industries must contribute to building an advanced Vietnamese culture, imbued with national identity, unified in diversity; associated with promoting and spreading the image of the country and Vietnamese people; at the same time contributing to preserving and promoting national cultural identity. Cultural industry products and services need to meet the factors of "Creativity - Identity - Uniqueness - Professionalism - Healthiness - Competitiveness - Sustainability", on the basis of "Nationality - Science - Popularity" according to the Outline of Vietnamese Culture (1943), gradually building a national brand and participating in the global value chain.

The impressive figures on the number of tourists, revenue from performing arts, cinema, exhibitions, publishing... in recent times are clear evidence of the strong vitality of Vietnam's cultural industry, in which Hanoi plays the role of "Creative Capital". This achievement affirms that when culture knows how to ignite the national spirit, nurture products rich in identity, it will not only conquer the public, expand the market but also become an important driving force to promote socio-economic development, contributing to realizing the aspiration of building a prosperous, civilized and integrated Vietnam.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/cong-nghiep-van-hoa-thap-lua-tinh-than-dan-toc-716096.html