As Ho Chi Minh City rang in the 2018 Lunar New Year with a spectacular firework display on Friday, Tuoi Tre News invites our readers to have a look back at the Tet tradition through this collection of archive photos of firework shows in the southern metropolis over the past two decades.

Though Vietnam has since 1995 banned the selling and using of fireworks and other explosive pyrotechnic devices among the public over safety concerns, it has not dampened the eagerness of residents in Ho Chi Minh City for the annual firework show put up by the municipal government to celebrate Tet, or the Lunar New Year festival.

There were some gaps in the yearly tradition, however, such as in 2017 when the Secretariat of the Communist Party of Vietnam asked all provinces and cities not to hold firework displays for Tet after the nation had been hit by an environmental crisis involving mass fish deaths along its south-central coast the year earlier.

Nevertheless, the tradition resumed this year as celestial fireworks lit up the skies at seven different locations across the southern hub, heralding a peaceful and prosperous lunar Year of the Dog for the Vietnamese people.

Check out these archive photos by Tuoi Tre to see how pyrotechnic shows in the city have evolved over the past 20 years.

Firework displays in Ho Chi Minh City during the 1998 Lunar New Year. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Firework displays in Ho Chi Minh City during the 1999 Lunar New Year. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Firework displays in Ho Chi Minh City during the 2000 Lunar New Year. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Firework displays in Ho Chi Minh City during the 2003 Lunar New Year. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Firework displays in Ho Chi Minh City during the 2004 Lunar New Year. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Firework displays in Ho Chi Minh City during the 2005 Lunar New Year. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Firework displays in Ho Chi Minh City during the 2005 Lunar New Year. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Firework displays in Ho Chi Minh City during the 2005 Lunar New Year. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Firework displays in Ho Chi Minh City during the 2005 Lunar New Year. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Firework displays in Ho Chi Minh City during the 2005 Lunar New Year. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Firework displays in Ho Chi Minh City during the 2007 Lunar New Year. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Firework displays in Ho Chi Minh City during the 2009 Lunar New Year. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Firework displays in Ho Chi Minh City during the 2011 Lunar New Year. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Firework displays in Ho Chi Minh City during the 2013 Lunar New Year. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Firework displays in Ho Chi Minh City during the 2014 Lunar New Year. Photo: Tuoi Tre

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