An act featuring fishing activities in the show. Photo from the organisers.
Farmers planting rice on fields, fishermen fishing on peaceful rivers, students preparing for national exams, or children playing folk games and singing folk songs are among various activities featured in an open-air entertainment show in Hanoi.
The Quintessence of Tonkin, which is held three times a week in Hanoi's outlying district of Quoc Oai, has become a good choice for visitors who want to learn about the lives and culture of local people in the northern region.
With a stage built entirely on water using state-of-art technologies and decorated with a setting and items often seen in northern village life, the live show, which is performed by more than 250 performers who are mostly local farmers, offers the audience a chance to explore local history and culture from a contemporary perspective.
An act featuring children playing a folk game.
Throughout the 60-minute entertainment show, the audience will be brought back to an old countryside typical of the Red River Delta region where people were working on the fields, visiting pagodas, attending rituals, watching water puppetry performances, and joining in festivals, among many other activities.
The acts were performed along with cheerful rhythms, lively melodies or poem chanting. Besides, the show also brings peaceful sounds of the rural northern region of Vietnam including those from wooden drums, boat rowing, crowing of roosters, or rice harvesting activities, among others.
In one of the acts, the audience are taken to visit the Thay Pagoda, which is one of the country's oldest Buddhist establishments and lies next to the show's venue, and watch a water puppet show there.
A water puppet performance at Thay Pagoda introduced in the show.
Coming to the show, visitors have chances to visit the Thay Pagoda nearby as well as enjoy the specialities of the northern region prepared by the villagers, many of whom are also actors and actresses in the show.
Local farmers sell some specialities at the site. They are also actors and actresses in the show.
“We're very happy to perform in the show to introduce our lives and culture to visitors," a group of villagers shared. "Through the show, we also understand more about the work and valuable traditions of our older generations and will try to preserve them."
The trailer of The Quintessence of Tonkin show.
The Quintessence of Tonkin has received many prizes and recognitions including two Vietnamese records for the performance with the biggest water stage in Vietnam and the largest number of peasant actors. The US Cable News Network also suggested the show as a must-see for anyone visiting Hanoi.