The Mong Khen (panpipe) Festival - To Day Flower Festival 2026 opened on January 3 in Mu Cang Chai commune, the northwestern province of Lao Cai, featuring a mass performance by 500 artists.
The festival provides an opportunity for Mu Cang Chai to showcase and further promote its potential, strengths, natural beauty and distinctive cultural identity to visitors from within and beyond the province. Through this, the locality is gradually realising its aspiration to become a flagship tourism destination of the northwestern region.
At the opening ceremony, Chairman of the Mu Cang Chai commune People’s Committee Tran Ngoc Hiep stressed that Mu Cang Chai has long been known for its majestic terraced rice fields, landscapes that change with the four seasons, and a rich cultural heritage of local ethnic communities, factors that have helped make the area an attractive destination for tourists.
Notably, in 2023, the art of the Mong khen (panpipe) was recognised as national intangible cultural heritage. This recognition affirms the historical and artistic value of the khen in the community life of the Mong people in Mu Cang Chai. The Mong khen is not merely a musical instrument but also a means of communication and a “bridge” that connects relationships within the local community.
In the early days of spring, To Day (wild peach blossoms), a species characteristic of the highland forests, bloom brilliantly across mountain slopes. The flower is not only a symbol of spring in the highlands but also a source of inspiration for Mu Cang Chai to develop tourism products imbued with local identity, closely linked to nature-based and cultural experiences.
Hiep affirmed that this year’s Mong Khen Festival and To Day Flower Festival continues to be organised on an increasingly larger scale, with richer and more diverse content. The event is implemented through strengthened linkages and close coordination among communes in the Mu Cang Chai area, aiming to honour ethnic cultural heritage values and create a unified cultural–tourism space for the entire region. This serves as an important foundation for developing distinctive and sustainable tourism products for Mu Cang Chai and neighbouring localities in the new period.
A wide range of activities are being held within the framework of the festival, including a street parade, the 2025 sticky rice cake pounding contest, a Mong khen contest, exhibition and sales booths for local products, recreations of ethnic cultural spaces, an art photo exhibition, and traditional folk games. These activities help widely promote the intangible cultural heritage values of khen performing arts, the art of beeswax pattern-making on fabric, and other intangible cultural practices associated with the daily life of the Mong people.
The festival also coincides with the peak blooming season of To Day flowers, when they are at their most beautiful. Mu Cang Chai promises to offer a vibrant, culturally rich space with immersive experiences, leaving a lasting impression on visitors from near and far./.
