After 16 vibrant days of wide-ranging activities, the Thang Long – Hanoi Festival 2025 officially concluded on the evening of November 16 at Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square.
The Thang Long – Hanoi Festival 2025 was held for the first time in the capital city and is expected to become an annual event organized by the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports.
Taking place from November 1 to November 16, the Festival featured more than 30 distinctive cultural, artistic, and tourism activities. It was a large-scale cultural and artistic event built around an open creative space, where traditional cultural values were connected with the spirit of the digital age. The Festival served as a meeting point between folk artisans and young artists and creators, fostering renewed expressions of Vietnamese cultural identity in an era of integration.
Key highlights included street festivals, performances of traditional and contemporary arts, heritage exhibitions, the Ao Dai Festival, handicraft showcases, thematic seminars, and creative business networking activities. These events were hosted across major heritage and creative venues of the capital such as the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, Hoan Kiem Lake pedestrian area, Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam, and the Hanoi Museum.
The Festival’s success lay in its ability to awaken the creative spirit of Hanoi’s residents, encouraging each citizen to become a creative contributor. Unique cultural heritages from Hanoi’s wards and communes were honored through 15 heritage performance activities, including Bai Bong dance, Bong dance, Thuy Linh wrestling festival, and various forms of traditional puppetry.
Beyond this, the Thang Long – Hanoi Festival 2025 successfully fulfilled its mission of linking a millennium of heritage with contemporary life, opening a new creative cycle for the capital. The event’s success stands as clear evidence of innovation rooted in tradition and provides a solid foundation for the Festival to evolve into an annual, internationally scaled cultural event.
The Festival attracted nearly 200,000 in-person visitors; reached close to one million people on social media; gained 40,000 channel followers; featured performances by eight domestic tug-of-war communities and the Gijisi Tug-of-War Association (Dangjin, Republic of Korea); brought together 19 puppetry troupes and nearly 800 artists, creating the largest puppetry festival ever held. Additionally, 25,000 visitors attended the Hanoi Tourism Ao Dai Festival 2025 at the Hanoi Museum, while 75,000 visitors experienced activities at the Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam. Notably, a 360-degree stage, appearing for the first time at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel during the opening night on November 7, accommodated 1,000 performing artists.
Building on this success, Hanoi will host the Thang Long – Hanoi Festival 2026 under the theme “The Quintessence of Hanoi – Global Connection,” affirming the capital’s aspiration to become a hub for gathering and spreading the heritage values of Vietnam and the world. More broadly, Hanoi aims to position itself as a heritage city, where the cultural essence of Thang Long – Hanoi and national heritages converge, interact, and connect with global heritage currents.
Hoang Minh