'Making a Whore' Is Both Less and More Revealing Than Its Reputation Suggests
For the first time, Vũ Trọng Phụng’s novel Làm đĩ is available in English. Originally published in 1936, the novel has been translated by Đinh Ngọc Mai under the title Making a Whore and was released last year by Major Books, an independent publishing house dedicated to making Vietnamese literature more available for the English-speaking world.
Uyên Đỗ in Culture
The Surprisingly Global History of Monobloc, the Chair Vietnam Loves and the West Despises
In 2024, The New York Times published a list of the 25 most iconic pieces of furniture from the past century, selected by a panel of designers, artists, and curators from the world's leading museums. Unexpectedly, the Monobloc, a plastic chair found in almost every corner of Vietnam and across the globe, had somehow secured a seat.
How Richie Fawcett's Saigon Sketches Illuminate a Decade of Change
It’s been hidden right there in the heart of Saigon for over half a decade.
Water as a Metaphor for Trauma, Memories and Unspoken Histories in Quế’s Art
Through installations and animated films, Quế traces the flow of water as they move through personal memories and collective histories, carrying generational trauma amidst urbanization, and even natural disaster.
Insights, Polished History Lessons Await in Hanoi's Massive, Brutalist Military Museum
When I pitched a review of Hanoi’s massive new Vietnam Military History Museum to the Saigoneer editorial staff, I expected to find the museum somewhat boring. After all, although I am a historian, I am not really that interested in military stuff, and I’d been to the original location on Điện Biên Phủ Street several times — how could this new museum improve on the old one? What could this new museum say that the old one didn’t? What could I learn here that I haven’t already learned at Saigon’s War Remnants Museum and Hồ Chí Minh Campaign Museum, at Điện Biên Phủ’s war museum, at Hải Phòng’s naval museum, and at the countless other shrines to Vietnamese martial prowess across the country? Quite a lot, it turns out.
Tourists Generate Up to 3 Times More Plastic Waste Than Locals, UNDP Finds
A recent report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) warns that plastic waste pollution poses increasing pro...
Thi Nguyễn in Music & Arts
The Facetious Gender Politics of Gỗ Lim, Hanoi's Feminist Post-Punk Quintet
In an example of cruel irony, October 20 is when we celebrate annual Vietnam Women's Day, and also the anniversary of the passing of Mai Nga (commonly known as Nga Nhí), the lead singer of Gỗ Lim — a Hanoi-based female post-punk band that, albeit short-lived, struck a blow for women’s representation in rock and metal music in Vietnam in 2011 and 2012.
Paul Christiansen in Travel
'Chuyện Của Pao' Turned a Historic H'Mông Home in Hà Giang Into a Tourist Attraction
The photos don’t do it justice. That’s what you’ll often hear from people who visit Hà Giang to cruise its famed highway loop.
Paul Christiansen in Music & Arts
In Hội An, Artist Nguyễn Quốc Dân Breathes New Life Into Scrap Materials
The several dozen family altars that formed a hodgepodge pile had each been abandoned in graveyards. For many, this would make them extremely inauspicious. But to artist Nguyễn Quốc Dân, they are perf...
Enlightening Misery Under French Rule Explored in 'Light Out and Modern Vietnamese Stories'
Light Out and Modern Vietnamese Stories, 1930–1954 offers the contemporary reader an honest glimpse of a period in Vietnam history characterized by corruption, exploitation, dehumanization, pover...
What Shipwrecks Can Teach Us About Vietnam's Centuries-Old Maritime History
Deep beneath the ocean surface, colorful ceramic fragments have been scattered and stacked upon one another for centuries. Some remain whole, others broken, many still covered with corals and ocean du...
Local Designers Create Entire Family of Mascots for Vietnam's 63 Provinces, Cities
If given the opportunity, what would each of Vietnam's provinces select as a mascot?
Amid Saigon, a Traditional Lantern Craft Village Stands the Test of Time
Cellophane lanterns, the nostalgic anchors of our past full-moon festivals, are still alive thanks to the nimble fingers of craftspeople at the Phú Bình lantern “village” in Saigon.
'Lẽ Sống' Documentary Celebrates Strength, Resilience of Mekong Delta Women
Sometimes, just surviving is remarkable.
How 'Hãy Đợi Đấy!' Introduced a Generation Vietnamese to Glimpses of Russian Culture
It was an ordinary Saturday summer afternoon in the late 2000s, and I was sitting in my mom’s office while waiting for her to finish her work, watching YouTube on one of the computers in the room. It ...
Wartime Sketches, Stamps, Typography Transcending Time in ‘Collection+’
Fragments of history, whether through imagery or text, often feel distant in time, yet so familiar when encountered visually. Combat sketches, postage stamps, and typography from propaganda posters in...
Khôi Phạm in Culture
Uncovering the Mystery of 'Ai Ai Ai I'm Your Butterfly' on Chinese Toy Phones
There’s a particular sequence of sounds that many, if not all, of us would remember by heart: two rings of the phone, a high-pitched female voice saying “Can I help you?”, some dog barks, and then “Ai...
Vietnam’s Design Talents on Display at Gallery Medium’s Three Weeks of Design
When does a piece of functional design become art and vice versa? Gazing long enough at a hook on the wall, noticing its graceful curves, bright colors, and simple flourishes in shape, will have you u...
Review: Watch a Family's Trauma Unravel in Real Time in 'No Crying at the Dinner Table'
I had little to no expectation when I started watching No Crying at the Dinner Table, especially since the topic of generational distance in Vietnam has been discussed time and time again by many othe...
Destruction, Rebirth Enmeshed in Ngô Đình Bảo Châu’s Exhibition 'Projecting a Thought'
Darkness fills the space and a flame fiercely burns on the large screen, while dim lights and floating fabric linger behind. Ngô Đình Bảo Châu transforms domestic and bodily forms into works that expl...
Uyên Đỗ in Arts & Culture
Strangevisuals Is an Archive of Daily Life on Postcards of Rice and Dó Papers
What are our memories made of?
Paul Christiansen in Loạt Soạt
Within the Shocking Brutality of Queer Novel 'Parallels' Rests Poignant Poetry
Parallels by Vũ Đình Giang shocked me. While I refrain from spoiling its plot, allow me to share my experience when reading this novel, as translated by Khải Q. Nguyễn, to better explain how the ...
‘129BPM’ Carries the Contemporary Hip-Hop Heartbeat From Vietnam to Malaysia
Under the shared heartbeat of “129BPM,” the dancers channeled their emotions through movement, navigating between individuality and collectivity both on and off stage. Extending beyond Vietnamese audi...
Trần Dần, the Literary Maverick Teaching Us How We Should and Can Be an Artist
In the mind of many Vietnamese readers, the name of writer Trần Dần has been inextricably linked with artistic experimentation and innovation. His poetic voice feels nothing like those of writers I le...
In 1920s–1940s Paris, Vietnamese Artists Painted Through the Interwar Period as the 'Others'
How did Vietnamese artists navigate the complex tides of social and political changes, and mark their own position in the art world as the “Others” during interwar Paris — which was celebrated as the ...
Vietnam's Colonial Histories Reimagined as Fictional Adventure Tale in ‘The Year Is XXXX’
We often encounter adventure tales in books and through adaptations of films or television. But what if a newly imagined adventure tale can also be written as an exhibition — one that maps strange-yet...
Contemporary Hip-Hop Dance '129BPM' to Perform at Art Festival in Malaysia in August
After two successful nights in Saigon last year, a mesmerizing contemporary hip-hop dance performance is bringing its raw energy abroad.
Khôi Phạm in Film & TV
The Surprising Japanese Origin Behind the Vietnamese Term 'Ô Sin'
It’s not uncommon to come across words in everyday conversations that have roots in the French language. Albeit less frequently, a handful of Russian and English loan words have also made their way in...
