Opening of the Red River Festival 2025

Where the mother river enters Vietnam – and its implications for history, culture and identity

The Red River has long been considered the cradle of ancient Vietnamese civilization, its red, silty flow nourishing vast plains before flowing into the sea. But Lao Cai , where the river enters Vietnamese territory, is a special cultural space: a convergence of 25 ethnic groups, a point of trade and cultural exchange for centuries. This is what makes the choice of Lao Cai as the starting point of the Red River Festival so symbolic.

The journey of the Red River carries the breath of the mountains and forests - where the Red River meets Lung Po stream at milestone 92, A Mu Sung commune, Lao Cai province, is also the starting point of the Red River's flow in Vietnam.

Exploiting the image of the Red River as a “civilization axis”, the opening ceremony recreated the historical journey of the river through music , light and modern stage language. This created an emotional cultural space, helping viewers see that the Red River is not only geography, but also the memory and soul of the land.

*Delegates attending the opening ceremony*

In his opening speech, Chairman of Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Tuan Anh emphasized: "The Red River Festival 2025 is not only a cultural and tourism festival, but also an important foreign and economic event of the province, demonstrating the new development aspirations of the upstream region." According to him, when Lao Cai is officially formed on the basis of merging with Yen Bai province, creating an event of national and regional stature is a way for the province to position itself as a cultural, trade and integration center of the northern midland and mountainous region.

Mr. Tuan said — Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh - Chairman of Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee said: Red River Festival 2025 is not only a cultural - tourism festival, but also an important foreign affairs and economic event of the province, demonstrating the new development aspirations of the upstream region.

On the Chinese side, speaking at the opening ceremony, Ms. La Binh - Deputy Secretary, Head of the Honghe Provincial People's Government, Head of the Yunnan Provincial Delegation - affirmed that the Red River is a "flow of friendship" connecting seven Chinese provinces and cities with eight Vietnamese provinces and cities. She emphasized that this Festival is an opportunity for the two sides to expand cooperation from trade, logistics, industrial parks to science - technology and humanities exchanges.

*Ms. La Binh - Deputy Secretary, Governor of Honghe County People's Government, Head of Yunnan Provincial Delegation spoke*

The presence of the Yunnan delegation, along with ambassadors and diplomatic agencies of many countries, shows that the event is not only a local festival but has become a regional cooperation forum.

Lao Cai – a turning point in development after the province's merger

One of the factors that created the weight of this year's Festival is the context of Lao Cai province entering a new stage of development, when it was established on the basis of merging Lao Cai and Yen Bai provinces. With a larger area, a larger population and more diverse cultural resources, Lao Cai is aiming to become the cultural - tourism - economic center of the entire region.

*Singer Tung Duong participated in the opening ceremony performance.*

The Red River Festival Project for the period 2025 – 2035 is considered a strategic project to create “soft assets” for the province: a national cultural and tourism brand. For a long time, Vietnam has had many big events such as Hue Festival, Hung Temple Festival, Ha Long Carnival… but lacks a large-scale event associated with an iconic river like the Red River. Lao Cai is seizing that opportunity.

Within the framework of the event, Lao Cai province will organize seamless experience routes: exhibition of photos - cultural artifacts of the Red River, cultural space of ethnic groups, folk performances, fashion show of "Lung lieng non cao" identity, re-enactment of "Ancient Coc Leu Market", Vietnam - China international trade fair with more than 600 booths... creating a vivid picture of a colorful festival.

A series of large-scale activities create a ripple effect

In particular, the Shan Tuyet Tea Festival “Tea Fragrance in the Clouds” in Van Chan commune – with a space for enjoying tea on ancient tea hills, a workshop on enhancing the value of tea trees, and a highland product fair – promises to become one of the highlights attracting tourists and experts.

The international cycling race “One track – Two countries”, the youth – business exchange programs between Vietnam and China, the Red River Festival golf tournament… show that the orientation of the event does not stop at culture, but expands to economic cooperation – sports – people-to-people exchange, creating a multi-dimensional connection network.

*Thousands of people attended the opening ceremony.*

The Red River Festival 2025 opens up opportunities for the province to introduce its image, potential and development vision in the new context. In addition to attracting tourists, trade and investment promotion activities are expected to create more development momentum for the service, logistics and border trade sectors.

One of the messages emphasized at the opening ceremony was the transformation of culture into an “endogenous force” for development. With 25 ethnic groups living together, Lao Cai possesses a rich heritage treasure, but it has previously been exploited mainly on a small scale. The Red River Festival is an opportunity for the province to reshape its approach to culture: not only preserving, but also creating, commercializing, creating new products and contributing to sustainable tourism development.

The art programs at the opening ceremony reflected that. Not only did they recreate the Red River civilization in traditional language, the stage also combined electronic music, lighting and modern performance techniques, creating an experience that was both rich in identity and contemporary.

*The opening ceremony was elaborately performed, recreating the Red River civilization.*

The Red River – Lao Cai Festival 2025 has officially opened, and from where the mother river flows into Vietnam, Lao Cai is embarking on a new journey – a journey of spreading cultural colors, connecting the region, expanding cooperation and repositioning its strategic role in the development flow of the upper Red River region and more broadly, of Vietnam.

Source: https://congluan.vn/khai-mac-festival-song-hong-2025-10318450.html