Deputy Minister Ta Quang Dong: Encouraging young people to bring Vietnamese culture to the world

Cultural diplomacy is an important part of Vietnam's foreign policy, to promote relations, enhance understanding and cooperation with other countries, thereby enhancing Vietnam's position in the international arena, bringing Vietnamese culture closer to the global public. In particular, young people play an important role in promoting Vietnamese culture to the world, through social networks.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ta Quang Dong spoke with Vietnam News Agency reporters about this issue.

- What is your assessment of the fact that young people, including foreigners, are actively promoting Vietnamese culture on social networks? In your opinion, what should Vietnam do to have more and more influential people become Vietnamese cultural ambassadors?

Deputy Minister Ta Quang Dong: The trend of young people, especially those with influence, sharing cultural values, traditions and images of Vietnam and its people on social networks is currently very encouraging. Short videos, images, and creative articles combining traditional culture with modern elements of cuisine, tourism, music and customs... not only attract domestic viewers, but also create a strong appeal to the international community.

Like the MV “Bong bong bang bang” by the group 365 or “Noi nay co anh” by Son Tung M-TP and most recently the MV “Bac Bling” (Bac Ninh) by the group of artists Hoa Minzy, Tuan Cry and Xuan Hinh have created a huge buzz not only domestically but also internationally, with over 100 million views on YouTube and other social networks.

In order to have more and more influential people become Vietnamese cultural ambassadors, Vietnam needs to implement a number of solutions such as soon completing a synchronous institutional system, including building new Laws on performing arts, Decrees on encouraging literary development; amending and supplementing the Laws on Advertising, Cinema, Intellectual Property, Press, Cyber Security... in the direction of creating many new policies, guiding and constructive spaces for artists to have conditions to freely create, especially policies on tax support, public-private partnership, copyright protection, and works in cyberspace.

Create a favorable environment, support creativity, international cooperation and promote the participation of Vietnamese businesses and communities, thereby building a strong force of "cultural ambassadors", contributing to raising the level of Vietnamese culture in the international arena.

Support creativity and encourage online cultural activities. Providing grants, creative competitions, or training programs on communication and promotion skills will give young people more motivation and tools to develop cultural activities on social networks.

Strengthening education and promoting awareness of cultural values through implementing educational programs at home and abroad to help young people understand and appreciate national cultural values. Providing documents and training programs on communication and promotion skills for young people will also help them become more confident in sharing Vietnamese culture on social networks.

The State can support overseas Vietnamese communities to organize cultural activities locally, thereby helping to connect and spread Vietnamese cultural values to international friends.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ta Quang Dong. (Photo: Van Ty/VNA)

- Currently, a number of cultural and entertainment programs have created a strong wave not only in the country, but also with the Vietnamese community abroad, especially the youth. For example, the programs "Anh trai say Hi", "Anh trai vu ngan cong gai"... According to the Deputy Minister, what are the factors that make these programs successful in their role of connecting young Vietnamese people abroad and the culture of the homeland?

Deputy Minister Ta Quang Dong: 2024 witnessed more than 50 large and small music events with the participation of both Vietnamese and international artists. The number of audiences ranged from a few thousand to 40,000 people per event. This is a clear demonstration of the potential of the Vietnamese music industry.

The two most prominent events - “Anh trai say Hi” in Hanoi and “Anh trai vu ngan cong gai” in Hung Yen, with an audience of nearly 100,000 people for each event, have left a strong mark both artistically and economically. “Anh trai say Hi” reached 18 billion listeners and viewers worldwide (as of May 15, 2025), having a great influence on online social platforms.

In my opinion, the success of these shows is the harmonious combination of entertainment and education, conveying meaningful messages about life, family, love and national cultural identity. Many new performances, combining traditional art with modern elements, with creativity in staging, costumes, lighting, interaction, games... have created a strong connection between artists and audiences, bringing viewers many unique and new artistic experiences.

In addition, the effect of creating attraction on social networks such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Threads... Social networking platforms have hundreds of millions of followers, so it is understandable that concert tickets immediately sold out when they went on sale.

The ripple effect from the events has contributed to enhancing the image of Vietnam as a unique cultural tourism destination, while affirming the ability to build a national cultural brand, through high-quality performances, creating opportunities for young people and the overseas Vietnamese community to understand and feel about the traditions, customs, history and people of Vietnam, helping to connect young Vietnamese people abroad and with the culture of their homeland.

- Vietnam has implemented a number of cultural promotion programs through UNESCO and international media channels. Could you please tell us about the effectiveness of these promotion methods? In the near future, what plans does the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism have for implementing cultural and artistic activities to further promote the image of Vietnam as well as strengthen connections with the Vietnamese community abroad?

Deputy Minister Ta Quang Dong: Over the years, Vietnam has successfully built a dossier and campaigned to have more than 60 titles recognized by UNESCO. Vietnam was the first country to propose that UNESCO move "Phu Tho Xoan Singing" from the "List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding" to the "List of Representative Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity," demonstrating our pioneering, proactive, and responsible spirit towards our ancestors' heritage, which is now a world heritage.

Foreign cultural work is closely linked to communication work, according to Conclusion No. 57-KL/TW dated June 15, 2023 of the Politburo on continuing to improve the quality and effectiveness of foreign information work in the new situation. Every year, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has welcomed, guided and managed about 30 international film crews and international news agencies such as BBC (UK), CNN (USA), NHK (Japan), KBS (Korea)... to Vietnam to make films, report news, write articles introducing and promoting Vietnamese culture, country and people based on the proactive funding of international film studios or socialization.

The concert “Anh trai vu ngan cong gai” has unprecedented appeal in Vietnamese showbiz. (Photo: Yeah1)

In order to spread Vietnamese cultural values to the world, in the coming time, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will prioritize the implementation of cultural diplomacy through a number of solutions such as strengthening research, policy consultation, learning, connecting prestigious international cultural institutions, potential foreign investors with cultural agencies and domestic authorities to cooperate, joint venture, associate, co-produce and develop a number of typical cultural industrial products and brands; promote opportunities to introduce Vietnamese cultural products and brands in foreign markets (in the form of exhibitions, displays, fairs, events that attract the attention of politicians, media, and society in the host country, promote through platforms, etc.); lead and facilitate the organization of performances by Vietnamese artists abroad; Promote Vietnam's presence at world-class cultural and artistic events (Oscars, Cannes Film Festival, EXPO World Exhibition, Venice Biennale International Cultural Exhibition...), seek resources for development cooperation.

Promote cooperation with governments of other countries, training institutions, international funds, international corporations, etc. to consider granting scholarships to train and develop high-quality cultural and artistic human resources for Vietnam; create conditions for overseas Vietnamese to receive information and cultural products in the country; discover, attract, and gather talented Vietnamese cultural and artistic people abroad to contribute to the development of national culture; create conditions, support, and promote the sending of Vietnamese cultural and artistic talents at home and abroad to participate in regional and international competitions and art festivals, etc.

Research and connect with foreign governments, corporations, and cultural institutions to transfer technology, introduce technology applications, and digital transformation in cultural and artistic fields such as museums, cinema, visual arts, design, etc. Promote research and application of platforms to carry out foreign information and public relations work in the digital environment, increase interaction with the younger generation in introducing and promoting traditional and contemporary cultural and artistic values of Vietnam on a regular, continuous, and up-to-date basis.

Proactively propose international initiatives that are suitable to Vietnam's organizational capacity, connect to host prestigious international cultural and artistic events, introduce the world's leading artists to Vietnam; nominate, recommend and continue to advocate for international recognition and recognition of Vietnam with prestigious international titles and awards; expand the network of Vietnamese cultural centers abroad, further enhance cultural and artistic activities serving the overseas Vietnamese community - the subject of Vietnamese culture abroad...

- Thank you very much!./.

(Vietnam News Agency/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/thu-truong-ta-quang-dong-khuyen-khich-nguoi-tre-dua-van-hoa-viet-ra-the-gioi-post1046044.vnp