Ho Chi Minh City

Initiated by educator and lover of history Phan Khắc Huy, ‘Thư Quán Cội Việt’ (‘Cội Việt Public Library’) was officially founded in 2013 based on Huy’s previous project ‘Lớp học một tô’ (‘Noodle bowl Class’) in which the participating fee for each class was 20,000VND – the same amount of money it would cost students to buy a bowl of noodle at the time. The missions of Thư Quán Cội Việt are: to encourage youths to study Vietnamese history by nurturing their passion for it; to circulate cultural and traditional values by highlighting human mutual dependence and care across different generations; and to emphasize our responsibility as contributors towards a more positive, better-informed cultural life for our society. Thư Quán Cội Việt currently has a library of more than 3,000 books freely accessible to the public, opened 6 days a week; in addition, they organize talks and workshops on topics of culture, music, and history. Targeting people aged 18 to 35, Thư Quán Cội Việt is committed to the the young demographic of Vietnam; acting as an intermediary bridging and creating dialogue between the community of intellectuals and the public.