Vietnamese community propaganda, or tranh cổ động.
*While the word “propaganda” often carries a heavy political weight in the West, in Vietnam, it is frequently used by local wards (phường) for social mobilization and civic education.
“VÌ MỘT MÔI TRƯỜNG XANH”
(For a Green Environment)
😆 The wonderful irony: a mural pleading for a green environment serves as a shelf for a plastic takeaway cup of trà tắc (kumquat tea).
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Saigon, Vietnam 🇻🇳
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April 2026
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The main slogan:
“Đảng gắn bó mật thiết với nhân dân, dựa vào nhân dân để xây dựng Đảng!”
“The Party is closely bound to the people, relying on the people to build the Party!”
The small text at the top reads: celebrating the 96th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam (3/2/1930 – 3/2/2026). So this is a fresh one, printed this year for the February 3rd anniversary.
The cast of characters is textbook socialist realism: soldier, construction worker, businesswoman, farmer/worker woman, and a Young Pioneer child with the red scarf. The modern skyline behind them includes what looks like Landmark 81 and the Thu Thiem Bridge. Lotus flowers along the bottom, Vietnam’s national flower. The hammer and sickle on a red banner flying over all of it.
The message is the party’s core pitch: we exist because of you, we serve you, we need you. The reality is a one-party state where nobody voted for any of the people who approved this poster. But the lotus flowers are nice.
This mural depicts one of Vietnam’s most iconic architectural landmarks: the Khue Van Cac (Pavilion of the Constellation of Literature), located within the Temple of Literature (Văn Miếu – Quốc Tử Giám) in Hanoi.
Above: A shutter in Central Saigon.
Below: You see these xích lô drivers everywhere in Saigon, but I love how this one looks parked in front of the mural. It’s like a living gallery wall where the traditional meets the modern street scene.
March 2026
Cầu Ông Lãnh
Nếp sống văn minh
Góc gọn hẻm sạch
“Cau Ong Lanh / Civilized lifestyle / Tidy corners, clean alleys.”
Kids sweeping, recycling, picking up trash. A girl in a red áo dài holding a bell like a cheerful team leader. Balloons floating over blue apartment blocks. Everyone smiling. Nobody sweating. The city in the background is clean and geometric, a version of Saigon that exists only in paint.
March 2026
The first one was painted by university students from Đại Học Văn Lang in 2018 as part of Mùa Hè Xanh, the Green Summer campaign. Every year the government sends thousands of college kids into neighborhoods to clean, paint, and volunteer. It’s state-organized but the participation is real. The red sign reads “Công trình khu phố xanh sạch đẹp,” Green Clean Beautiful Neighborhood Project. The mural shows a family, village houses, trees. Pleasant. Harmless. Approved.
This one is deeper. It’s in a hẻm off Cách Mạng Tháng 8 street, managed by the local veterans’ association. The blue signs tell you everything. Left sign: “An toàn, xanh, sạch, đẹp, văn minh.” Safe, Green, Clean, Beautiful, Civilized. Right sign: “Hẻm hội cựu chiến binh tự quản.” Veterans’ Self-Managed Alley. “Xanh, sạch, thân thiện môi trường.” Green, Clean, Environmentally Friendly. A traffic cop guides schoolchildren across a crosswalk while a woman in a pink áo dài shepherds them from behind. Even the dog is behaving.
And then SOMA tagged right across the top of it.
March 2026
