The Dong Da festival opened in Hanoi on February 9 or the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, marking the 230th anniversary of Ngoc Hoi – Dong Da victory over the Chinese Qing invaders. 

As part of the festival, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc offered incense at a  ceremony on the morming of February 9 to celebrate the victory.  Dong Da mound in Hanoi’s inner district of the same name, where corpses of Qing invaders were buried, stands as a symbol of the long-lasting tradition of patriotism of the Vietnamese people and the Prime Minister issued a decision on December 4, 2018, recognizing it as a special national relic. At this year’s ceremony, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc handed a certificate on this effect to representatives of the city and the district.-VNA