Nguyen Hue Flower Street opens in HCM City hinh anh 1The highlight of the street will be its tiger mascot, the zodiac animal of the upcoming lunar new year. (Photo: VNA)

HCM City (VNA) - Nguyen Hue Flower Street in Ho Chi Minh City opened on January 29 as the Tet (Lunar New Year) - the biggest and longest festival of the Vietnamese people - is nearing.

The flower street, with the theme “Xuan Que Huong, Am Tinh Nhan Ai (Homeland Spring, Full of Love”, opens from 7pm from January 29 to 5pm on February 4. 

The purpose of the flower street is to pay tribute to frontliners in HCM City's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, especially medical workers.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Vice Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Duong Anh Duc said the flower street marked an unforgettable period of the city that is steadily recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The highlight of the street will be its tiger mascot, the zodiac animal of the upcoming lunar new year. Another image of a tiger that stands at 4.6 metres is placed in the middle of the flower road

Several environmentally-friendly and reusable materials such as metal, foam, rattan, bamboo, and bricks are used as decorations, while roughly 97,000 flower baskets of all kinds are on display during Tet (Lunar New Year). This year, in particular, is the first time that gravel has been utilised as a decorating material.

Nguyen Hue Flower Street opens in HCM City hinh anh 2The 2022 Lunar New Year's book street festival began on Nguyen Hue, Ngo Duc Ke, Mac Thi Buoi, and Nguyen Van Binh Streets on January 29. (Photo: VNA)

The same day, the 2022 Lunar New Year's book street festival began on Nguyen Hue, Ngo Duc Ke, Mac Thi Buoi, and Nguyen Van Binh Streets.

Approximately 50,000 book titles are presented with a wide range of genres and topics to fulfill the demands of readers.

Other activities are also held on the book streets including a calligraphy street, and exhibitions of paintings, photographs and publications focused on Ho Chi Minh City and the fight against COVID-19 last year as well as an exhibition on Vietnam's seas and islands with the introduction of two sets of stamps "Homeland sea and islands" and "Vietnam on world stamps."

The book street is open to the public from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm from January 29 to February 4 or from the 27th day of the last lunar month to the fourth day of the Lunar New Year./.

VNA