Lack of funds has thus far precluded the stated aim of establishing a culture and information centre in every rural hamlet (xã) and a cadre with responsibility for the development of cultural activities in every urban ward (phường), but in many poor rural, mountainous, remote and island areas an ingenious alternative has been devised. Run by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), the 'post office of culture' (bưu điện văn hóa) scheme pools resources by combining the provision of postal and telephone services with access to cultural materials, including a reading room with a book cabinet provided by the local library (see Libraries - sectoral profile). The typical 'post office of culture' comprises a post office, a telephone box and a newspaper/book reading room. It has been reported that approximately 10 per cent of the country's outlying districts have now been provided with these new centres, around 7,000 of which had been established at the time of going to press.

Over the past decade the 'family of culture' campaign has been implemented on a national scale, in both rural and urban areas. By the year 2000 it was reported that at least 30 per cent of Vietnamese families in rural villages or urban wards (20 per cent in mountainous districts) had sought recognition by their local People's Committee as 'cultural families'. This meant that they lived a civilised, healthy existence, sending their children to school, making use of local library facilities, joining a prescribed number of cultural clubs and following the advice laid down in the government's 'Stop at Two Children' family planning campaign.

The national programme to establish 'villages of culture' (làng văn hóa) is aimed at promoting traditional Vietnamese cultural values in rural areas and encourages villagers to live a good economic life, contributing collectively towards the abolition of poverty and the improvement of living standards. In order for a village to qualify as a 'village of culture' at least 60 per cent of its family units must be recognised as 'families of culture'. Originally launched as a pilot project in Bắc Ninh Province during the early 1990s, this programme has since been extended to many other parts of the country, with a particular focus on the 41 border provinces where security issues are paramount and the material and cultural lives of local people have always been poorest. In the Red River Delta a typical 'village of culture' incorporates a communal house and/or temple, a library, an exhibition hall for the display of the village's historical and cultural artefacts, and a centre for broadcasting government propaganda over the village loudspeakers, together with educational and healthcare facilities. Traditional annual festivals are encouraged and at least six different forms of cultural activity are organised through the ongoing activities of various clubs and societies.