Art programme «Hướng về biên giới, biển, đảo Tổ quốc»

   For the first time, the programme opens a live television link to the Truong Sa special zone, so families on the mainland and the soldiers stationed in the Spratlys can see each other in real time on the stage of Hoa Binh Theatre. Ninety minutes, built as a gala rather than a concert: this is how Ho Chi Minh City says thank you to the people holding its borders, seas and islands.

   The programme is produced by the city chapter of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (Ủy ban MTTQ Việt Nam TP.HCM) together with the municipal broadcaster HTV, under the theme «Từ Thành phố mang tên Bác — Gửi trọn nghĩa tình đến tuyến đầu Tổ quốc» — «From the city that bears Uncle Ho's name, to the nation's front line». What the organisers have announced:

• — a cast led by Merited Artist Vân Khánh, singer and presenter Quỳnh Hoa, and singers Nguyễn Phi Hùng, Đông Triều, Thiên Phú, Tánh Linh, Trương Trần Anh Duy, Đạt Quảng and Thạch Thảo;
• — staged numbers built around the daily life of soldiers and of island and coastal communities;
• — a live broadcast link with Truong Sa Lon island in Khanh Hoa province;
• — interview segments on life-and-death rescues at sea, including that of fisherman Dương Ngọc Sơn from Cần Giờ, saved by Coast Guard Region 3;
• — presentations of long-running support schemes for fishermen and for border militia posts.

   The numbers behind the show are concrete. Between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026 the city raised and distributed more than 40 billion đồng, running supply voyages to the southwestern seas, Con Dao, the DK1 offshore platforms and the Spratly archipelago, with works and gifts worth over 17.3 billion đồng.

   The evening is hosted in Vietnamese, though roughly half of it is music, and the live link to the islands needs no translation to land. It is broadcast live on HTV1 and repeated at 20:45 on HTV9, so you can follow it from anywhere in the country.

   One practical caveat: the organisers have not published how seats in the hall are allocated — whether by ticket or by invitation. If you want to be in the room rather than in front of a screen, watch for announcements from the Fatherland Front committee. And if you have ever thought of Truong Sa as a distant name on a map, this is the night it speaks for itself.