Hanoi, April 12 -- Hanoi (VNA) - Although widely regarded as a cultural "speciality" attracting tourists, Vietnamese puppetry is facing multiple challenges in preservation and development, requiring renewed efforts to both safeguard its identity and adapt to contemporary cultural currents.

Amid rapid urbanisation, performance spaces for many traditional water puppetry guilds have gradually narrowed. People's Artist Nguyen Hoang Tuan, Chairman of the Hanoi Theatre Association, noted that while northern Vietnam had 27 puppetry guilds in 1986, only 14 remain today. Many traditional plays and original scripts have been lost, hurting restoration and preservation efforts.

Meanwhile, the severe shortage of researchers, theorists and critics in...