Vietnam’s 2021 stamp issues are modest at 5 series. They issued more last year, so there’s a chance the Vietnam Post Office will sneak in a few more. I’m hoping they do. I’d like to see another issue similar to the 2020’s Folk Games.  This is a charming, warm set by artist To Minh Trang, who has designed a number of Vietnamese stamps. He used traditional Vietnamese art styles for this set.  

…with folk pens using the Hàng Trống style. The image of children’s characters is drawn strongly with the shape of the shape to create an impressive space with a little cube with self-light creeping in each character figure. The gaps of the background between the strokes and shapes have created a folklore convention space that we often encounter in rice-paddy civilization. The naïve but expressive expression of each character’s facial expressions has created visual impressions of a childhood world in each contemporary human being. 
VNPost | Stamp Set Introduction: “Folk Games”

You can see more about Vietnamese art styles here A Glance at Vietnamese Folk Painting – History and Types (vietnamdiscovery.com). It covers Hàng Trống used in the Folk Art stamps above. It’s fascinating to see how many ways art can represent a country’s culture. I really hope Vietnam puts out another series like this. 

Vietnamese Cuisine, issued October 2020, by To Minh Trang and Pham Trung Ha, did a magnificent job capturing the beauty of Vietnamese foods. I love the combination of angles used to capture the bowls. And now I’m hungry. 

I’m a sucker for food stamps. But so far, doesn’t look like we’ll be treated to either subjects for 2021.  No sign of interesting postmarks so far, but if I find them, I’ll drop them in below. 

January

13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam

Part of a long running series celebrating each National Congress meeting

1 stamp, FDC, cancel, booklet

Designer: Tô Minh Trang

Release date: January 22, 2021

Living Safely with the COVID-19 Pandemic

2 stamps, FDC, cancel, 2 maxi cards

• Masks – Disinfection – Distance – Non-gathering – Medical declaration
• Covid-19 vaccine

Designer: Tô Minh Trang ‎‎

Release date: April 29, 2021

100th Anniversary of the Birth of Diplomat Nguyen Co Thach (1921-1998)

1 stamp, FDC, cancel

Diplomat Nguyen Co Thach, whose real name is Pham Van Cuong, was born on May 15, 1921 in Lien Minh commune, Dong Ban district, Nam Dinh province, a land rich in revolutionary traditions. More than 60 years of revolutionary activities in many important working positions, of which more than 40 years of dedication to the diplomatic service, Comrade Nguyen Co Thach has made many outstanding contributions to the revolutionary cause of the nation. As a prominent diplomat, comrades were instrumental in proposing and implementing the renewal of foreign thinking during turbulent times. For these great contributions, comrades were awarded the Ho Chi Minh Medal, the Order of the Gold Star and many other noble titles by the Party and the State. Anniversary of the birth of diplomat Nguyen Co Thach (1921-1998) (vietnamstamp.com.vn)

Designer: Nguyễn Du 

Release date: May 14, 2021

Ho Chi Minh Pioneer Youth Team

2 stamps, one souvenir sheet, 2 FDCs, cancel, maxi card

Designers: Phạm Trung Hà and Nguyễn Du

Release date: May 15, 2021

June 

Legend of Mai An Tem (Watermelon Accumulation) 

4 stamps, souvenir sheet, 2 FDCs, cancel

Legend of the Water Melon (vietnam-culture.com)

Designer: Tô Minh Trang

Release date: June 1, 2021

July

Vietnam National Treasure II – Gold Items

4 stamps, FDC, cancel, 4 maxi cards

• Indian Destiny   (1827)
• Golden Press “Dai Viet Quoc Nguyen The Lord of The Eternal ChiBao ”  (1709)
• Ngoc Van – Yen Tu gold box (Dating: XIV century )
• Swallow Tower container (7th – 8th centuries)

Designer: Nguyễn Du

First set in this series came out in 2018

Release date:  July 31, 2021

August

Vietnamese native chickens

4 stamps, FDC, cancel, 4 maxi cards

• Multi-toed chicken Gà nhiều ngón – Phu Tho province, northern Vietnam.
• Dong Tao Chicken Gà Đông Tảo – also called the Dragon chicken. – Dong Tao commune, Heizhou district, Hung Yen province. Known for their distinctive large legs.
• Chicken H’Mong Gà H’Mông – northern mountain regions, popular breed with the H’Mong people the dark black features, bones and meat of the Gà H’Mông are the result of a gene that creates excessive black pigment.  Black chicken a tasty speciality of the Mông ethnic group – Vietnam Daily News
• Lac Thuy Chicken Gà Lạc Thuỷ – Lac Thuy district of Hoa Binh province 

Designer: Nguyễn Du

Release date: August 25, 2021

September

Road Traffic Safety
2nd in series

4 stamps, FDC, cancel, 4 maxi cards

Designer: Phạm Trung Hà
Previous series issued 2020

Release date: September 5, 2021

100th Anniversary of the Birth of Luu Huu Phuoc (1921-1989)   

1 stamp, FDC, cancel

Biography of author Luu Huu Phuoc – Chord Viet (hopamviet.vn) 

Designers: Tô Minh Trang and Phạm Trung Hà

Release date: September 12, 2021

100th Anniversary of the Birth of Admiral Giap Van Cuong (1921-1990)

1 stamp, FDC, cancel

Admiral Giap Van Cuong – General of Truong Sa – | Đăng trên báo Bắc Giang (baobacgiang.com.vn)

Designer: Nguyễn Du

Release date: September 13, 2021

October

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the UPU International Letter Writing Competition (1971-2021)

1 stamp, FDC, cancel, maxi card

Designer: Phạm Quang Diệu 

Release date: October 9, 2021

UNESCO Global Geological Park – Dong Van Stone Highlands and Cao Bang Non Nuoc 

3 stamps, 1 stamp on souvenir sheet, 2 FDCs, cancel, 4 maxi cards

The UNESCO Global Geopark is located at an extension foot mount East of the Himalayas. Geoheritages date from the Cambrian (about 550 million years ago) to the present in seven different stages and include palaeobiology, stratigraphy, geomophology, tectonics, karst, caves and also important faults. The geology in this UNESCO Global Geopark reflects important events in Earth history, like of two mass extinction boundaries of Frasnian-Famennian (360 million years ago) and Permian-Triassic (250 million years ago). This includes 3 groups of sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks, as well as stratigraphic, lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic specificities. Its paleontological diversity shows 19 groups of valuable ancient organisms like ancient fish, ancient flora, brachiopods (eurispirifer tonkinesis), bivalves, trilobites, foraminifera, corals, conodonta, crinoidea and fossilized paths of molluscs.  DONG VAN KARST PLATEAU UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK (Viet Nam)

• UNESCO Global Geopark Dong Van Rock Plateau”: recognized by UNESCO on October 3, 2010,
• “UNESCO Non-Cao Bang Global Geopark”: recognized by UNESCO on April 12, 2018
• “UNESCO Dak Nong Global Geopark”: recognized by UNESCO on July 7, 2020
• Dong Van Rock Plateau (Ma Pí Lèng Pass, Tu Sản Gorge, Nho Que River).

Designer: Nguyễn Du

Release date: October 30, 2021

December

Lunar New Year – Year of the Tiger Tết Nhâm Dần

2 stamps, souvenir sheet, 2 FDCs, cancel, 2 maxi cards, stamp packs

The tigers are painted in the Hang Drum / Hàng Trống folk style. 

The background shows the image of the Tiger family is happy together to welcome the new spring under the forest of plum blossoms, peach blossoms, apricot flowers are blooming every Tet, spring. VNPost | Introducing stamps: “Tet Tram Phat”

Designer: Nguyễn Quang Vinh

Release date: December 1, 2021

Vietnam put out a fun a Lunar New Year stamp for Year of the Ox in 2020. Take a look at it here: 

Vietnam’s delightful Year of the Ox stamps

Vietnamese Cuisine

4 stamps, FDC, cancel, 4 maxi cards, 3 booklets

• Miến lươn Nghệ An Burma – Nghệ An Eel Burma. This is dish comes from the rural areas of the province Nghệ An
• Bún bò Huế  – Hue Beef Vermicelli. Huế is a province in central Vietnam. Bun is a Vietnamese style soup. 
• Mỳ Quảng  – Quang Noodles. Rice noodles from the Quang province are at the heart of this dish.
• Phở khô Gia Lai – Gia Lai Dried Pho. The province of Gia Lai brings another soup to the series. If you’ve never had Phở, then you need to head out right now and find some. 

Previous issues in this series appeared in 2020. The dishes were Chicken Pho, Rolls and 2 Vermicelli dishes.  

Images provided by Culinary Artist Phạm Thị Tuyế
Designer: Tô Minh Trang

Release date: December 25, 2021