On August 21, at the meeting hall of Quang Minh Commune People’s Committee, the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports organized the opening of the preliminary round of the Hanoi Children’s Competition on Book Promotion; Collective Singing and “Mang Non” Songs 2025, under the theme “Vietnam, My Homeland.”
Director of Hanoi Center for Culture and Libraries Tran Tuan Anh delivering the opening speech – Photo: Huu Cuong
In the nationwide atmosphere of celebration toward the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution (August 19, 1945 – August 19, 2025) and the National Day of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (September 2, 1945 – September 2, 2025), the competition provides an opportunity for Hanoi’s children to express their love for their homeland, country, and national pride.
This year, despite being organized amid the recent administrative mergers in the city, the competition still attracted participation from 97 out of 126 communes and wards.
The competition consists of two parts: Book Promotion and Introduction; and Collective Singing and “Mang Non” Songs.
Part 1: Book Promotion and Introduction: Teams compete on stage, with each team consisting of three main presenters (excluding supporting illustrators), including:
Opening Presentation: A brief introduction about their locality, library activities, reading movements in the area, Youth Union activities, and personal information of team members.
Book Promotion: Teams can choose forms such as book introduction, book highlights, storytelling, or presentations of books about the Party, President Ho Chi Minh, homeland, country, Vietnamese people, Thang Long – Hanoi, or exemplary figures in the struggle for national protection and development.
Part 2: Collective Singing and “Mang Non” Songs. Each unit prepares a program around a central theme: Hanoi children singing about the glorious Party, beloved President Ho Chi Minh; praising Vietnam – the country – the people; honoring Hanoi – the City for Peace – the Creative City “Cultural – Civilized – Modern”; celebrating family, teacher-student relationships, friendship, love for school, and the dreams of youth reaching toward the future.
Collective Singing and Dance: Perform one collective singing and one collective dance piece.
“Mang Non” Songs: Perform two pieces.
Organizers presented commemorative flags to the units participating in the Preliminary Round at Cluster 1 – Photo: Huu Cuong
In his opening remarks for the Preliminary Round, Director of Hanoi Center for Culture and Libraries Tran Tuan Anh – Deputy Head of the Competition Organizing Committee – emphasized that the competition is an opportunity to reflect on the nation’s great and glorious history, thereby inspiring revolutionary traditions, patriotism, self-reliance, national solidarity, and pride in the country and the Vietnamese people.
Through these educational and engaging contest activities, children have the opportunity to spread their passion for reading, promote a reading culture, develop artistic talents, and enhance their understanding of national history and traditions, thereby fostering the responsibility of the younger generation in building a sustainably developed country.
According to the schedule, the preliminary round will take place from August 21 to 28, 2025, at four locations: Cluster 1: Quang Minh Commune People’s Committee; Clusters 2 and 3: Thanh Tri Commune Centers for Culture – Information and Sports; Clusters 4 and 5: Dong Da Ward Centers for Culture – Information and Sports; Clusters 6 and 7: Phu Dien Ward Centers for Culture – Information and Sports.
At each cluster, the Organizing Committee and Judges will select the two teams with the highest scores in the Book Promotion section and the two teams with the highest scores in the Collective Singing and “Mang Non” Songs section to advance to the City-level Final Round.
Some performances from participating units at Cluster 1 (August 21) – Photo: Huu Cuong
The Final Round is expected to be held in mid-September 2025 at the Hanoi Center for Culture and Libraries (No. 7 Phung Hung, Ha Dong Ward, Hanoi).
The opening of the Preliminary Round marked the start of an exciting series of events for Hanoi children, promising many outstanding performances, affirming that the competition is a culturally and educationally valuable activity, contributing to the development of Hanoi’s young generation to be well-behaved, studious, and patriotic.
Thao Nhi