If you're in Hà Nội on October 10, there's a family-friendly cultural event worth knowing about. Nhân Dân (People) Newspaper is staging Chắp Cánh Tuổi Thơ (Nurturing Children's Dreams) at the National Convention Centre, timed to mark the 72nd anniversary of Hà Nội's Liberation Day.
This isn't a sit-quietly-and-watch show. Organisers have built the programme around audience participation: kids move from spectators to co-creators, joining activities and helping shape key moments in the story. The performance unfolds in three chapters — The Land of Memories, The Magical Forest Garden and The Sky of Dreams — taking children from the values of family and homeland out into the wider world and finally to their own ambitions. Music, theatre, circus acts, choreography and projected visuals mix together, with a flexible LED screen and lifting platform used to transform the stage and spring surprise appearances. Paper, drawings, folds and watercolours recur as visual motifs, and the finale sees paper planes folded by the children lifted into the air alongside images of wings across the stage.
The line-up mixes established names with young performers. Singers Hoàng Bách, LyLy, Izara Thiên Nga and Phương Thảo appear alongside a roster of child artists including 13-year-old Ali Thục Phương, who said she hopes to bring positive energy to young people chasing their own paths. Comedians and TV regulars Xuân Bắc and Tự Long will engage with the audience as special guests, and freestyle footballer Nguyễn Ngọc Phát — a four-time national champion who ranked in the world's top 10 in 2018 — will perform and talk about persisting with a passion.
The playful spirit starts before the curtain rises. Tickets are designed as boarding passes, and families arriving early can join the Childhood Journey activities in the lobby: games, prize quizzes, lion-dance drumming and fairy-tale and cartoon characters. The show will also be livestreamed on Nhân Dân's social platforms for families elsewhere in Vietnam, and a dedicated page at nhandan.vn/chapcanhtuoitho carries details.
Why should travellers care? October 10 doubles as Hà Nội's Liberation Day, so the city tends to be in celebratory mode — flags, events and a lively atmosphere. For visiting families, this kind of large-scale local production is a rare window into contemporary Vietnamese culture aimed squarely at children, far more interactive than a typical tourist show. If you don't read Vietnamese, the visuals, circus and football elements still carry the experience, and the lobby activities are easy for anyone to enjoy.
ForNhân Dân Newspaper, the event is also about cultivating a next generation of readers and arts audiences — Deputy Editor-in-Chief Quế Đình Nguyên framed it as nurturing curiosity and a love of learning from an early age. Either way, it's a nicely made excuse to plan a family day out in the capital.
