The City’s Codes project is not merely an impromptu concept. The narrator of the project’s video clips Nguyen Truong Sang, a doctoral candidate and Master of Cultural Studies at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City), revealed that the initial inspiration stemmed from the film “The Da Vinci Code”, where the protagonist leverages profound knowledge to unravel mysteries while simultaneously guiding viewers through the cultural landscape of Paris. This realization sparked a pivotal question: why not narrate the captivating story of Saigon – Ho Chi Minh City utilizing this exact immersive methodology?
In March 2025, the City’s Codes was officially launched as a media series for cultural experience programs seamlessly integrated with puzzle-solving. Participants do not simply “watch” or “listen”; instead, they directly immerse themselves in roles, meticulously tracing “codes” to unearth the unique historical and cultural facets of this over 300-year-old metropolis.
A profoundly noteworthy aspect is the project’s adeptness at swiftly capturing the contemporary “taste” of the younger generation. Forsaking lengthy, traditional lectures on history, the City’s Codes project embraces a concise, highly visual storytelling format, seamlessly weaving in interactive elements and formidable intellectual challenges.
This ingenious strategy generates a natural magnetism, rendering history, often perceived as “unapproachable”, remarkably vivid and easily accessible. Evolving from a simple media series, the City’s Codes project is progressively expanding into a robust multi-platform initiative, encompassing educational content production, cultural event consultancy, experiential activity design, and the development of distinctive publications.
According to Nguyen Truong Sang, this transcends a mere creative endeavor; it’s a brilliant effort to fulfill the youth’s escalating but underexploited demand to explore history and culture through a genuinely captivating lens.
However, as the project team delves deeper into the historical and cultural domain, it confronts a substantial challenge: the multi-dimensional and occasionally contradictory nature of historical data. Confronting this reality, the team adopts a meticulously cautious approach, diligently cross-referencing numerous official sources, consulting diverse perspectives, and presenting information with rigorous objectivity.
Notably, the City’s Codes project predominantly extracts information from officially published physical books, particularly specialized academic research. Nguyen Truong Sang noted that much of this invaluable material is virtually undiscoverable online, possessing profound revelatory value. Furthermore, exploiting this resource significantly contributes to disseminating the inspiration for reading throughout the community.
Amidst an era where artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming a ubiquitous tool for content creation, The City’s Codes series proactively say “no” to AI within its production process. The rationale, as articulated by Nguyen Truong Sang, resides in the classic “human essence” indispensable to the historical and cultural sphere.
“Emotion is the vital element that breathes life into the content. Only human beings can genuinely comprehend and powerfully convey profound sentiments such as national pride or an enduring love for one’s homeland,” he passionately shared.
The project conscientiously refrains from “imposing” a singular conclusion upon its audience. Instead, individuals are actively encouraged to engage in independent contemplation and formulate their own nuanced perspectives.
A typical example is the explanation of why Southerners refer to the eldest son as “anh Hai” (literally meaning Second Brother) rather than “anh Ca” (meaning Eldest Brother) as in the North. Rather than descending into historical debate, the project opts for a profoundly humanistic narrative. This arrangement is deeply intertwined with the historical southward expansion, conveying a profound underlying message of enduring solidarity, affirming that regardless of being from the North or South, the Vietnamese people remain an inseparable family.
As a dedicated cultural researcher, Nguyen Truong Sang also receives invaluable support and profound appreciation from esteemed colleagues and field experts. Over the forthcoming three-year roadmap, the project ambitiously anticipates expanding its scale, further elevating content quality, and strengthening collaborative partnerships with researchers and organizations sharing the mutual objective of contributing to Vietnamese education and culture.
Within the increasingly rapid and overwhelmingly saturated stream of digital content, the City’s Codes project deliberately selects an arduous path of slowing down to delve deeper, narrating stories woven with knowledge and emotion, while masterfully maintaining a delicate balance between captivating appeal and unwavering reliability. This is precisely how today’s brilliant youth “decode” the past to profoundly understand, bridge, and maintain their heritage.
