Water Puppetry at Thang Long: A German Delegation's Hanoi Afternoon

A Backstage Afternoon at Thang Long

On January 23, 2024, Mrs. Elke Budenbender, First Lady of Germany, sat with Mrs. Phan Thi Thanh Tam, First Lady of Vietnam's President Vo Van Thuong, at the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre in central Hanoi. The visit coincided with a state visit by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Before the performance, the two first ladies drank tea and ate traditional Vietnamese cakes — a small, unhurried prelude to what followed.

"Mua roi nuoc" (water puppetry) dates back over a thousand years in the Red River Delta. The form works simply: puppeteers stand behind a screen, controlling wooden figures across a water surface that serves as stage. Most performances show rural life, historical events, or folktales, underscored by traditional Vietnamese music. The puppets themselves — carved fish, ducks, farmers, dragons — are as much sculpture as prop.

After the performance, Budenbender and Thanh Tam went backstage. Budenbender examined the puppets close up, asked questions, and the theatre presented them both with gifts: traditional folk figures and a dragon mascot tied to the Year of the Wood Dragon, arriving in lunar calendar 2024.

Who She Is

Budenbender, 62, trained as a lawyer. She served as a judge at the Administrative Court of Hanover and later Berlin, then stepped back from the bench to focus on her role as First Lady. Her visit to Hanoi signaled Germany's interest in deepening ties with Vietnam beyond politics into cultural terrain.

Image by Daderot via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)

The Day's Other Stops

The German delegation also visited the Temple of Literature (Van Mieu), Hanoi's eleventh-century complex that housed Vietnam's first national university. They drank Vietnamese coffee—the strong, condensed kind served over ice or hot milk—and visited the Goethe Institute in Hanoi, Germany's cultural outpost in the city since 1997.

Image by Steven C. Price via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)

Thirty Years of Partnership

Vietnam and Germany established diplomatic relations on September 23, 1975. In 2011, they formalized a Strategic Partnership covering trade, investment, education, and conservation work. The Goethe Institute, founded in Hanoi in 1997, runs German-language courses and exhibits. Germany has also funded restoration projects for Vietnamese heritage sites, especially in Hue, the ancient royal capital.

Visits like Budenbender's underscore how cultural exchange works in practice—not as abstract policy, but as an afternoon watching puppets move across water, asking questions, shaking hands with artists.