"I'll have my fifth Tet in Vietnam this year," Dung said.

"I'll perform in several concerts in HCM City and in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang, my birthplace," she said.

Dung was one of the top singers in southern Vietnam before 1975 when she left to live in the US.

But middle-aged people remain her devoted fans.

Like in past years she will also take part in charity activities organised by HCM City authorities.

"I will open a food shop selling com tam (broken rice) in Binh Duong a few days after Tet," she said.

Profits from the shop will go to a fund to help needy students around the country, she said.

Giao Linh, who returned home for the first time in 2001, was back in HCM City last week for her eighth Tet in Vietnam.

"I like Tet in Vietnam where I again meet many of my relatives and friends.

"In the US, often Tet falls on working days and we only have a simple celebration."

Last week she and her friends visited children at an orphanage in HCM City and gave them gifts.

Last year she had celebrated Tet and sung in several concerts in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang.

"I'm moved that audiences still love my voice," she said.

"This year I'll celebrate Tet in central Vietnam and sing in some charity concerts to raise funds to build houses for the poor."

Well-known cai luong (renovated theatre) artists Phuong Lien and Phuong Hong Thuy said they spent weeks to prepare for their trip back to the country for Tet.

"We'll perform in a HCM City concert to celebrate the 64th anniversary of Thanh Minh-Thanh Nga cai luong troupe, which will be organised next month by Meritorious Artist Bao Quoc and his family," Thuy said.

Thanh Minh-Thanh Nga was one of the most wellknown cai luong troupes in Sai Gon, now HCM City, in the 1960s.

Lien said: "My mother will turn 90 this year and I'm very happy that I'll be with her at her birthday party a few days after Tet."

In HCM City, Lien will perform in two cai luong dramas, as Quynh Nga in Ben Cau Det Lua (Weaving Silk by a Bridge) and as Trung Trac in Tieng Trong Me Linh (Me Linh Drums).

The first is about love between a husband and wife and the second is about the Trung Sisters – national heroines who fought the Chinese aggressors in 40CE.

"I hope audiences still like my performance in the dramas to be staged in HCM City next month to raise funds for the poor, " Lien said.

Minh Trang, who now lives in Singapore, will be back to Viet Nam next week for Tet.

She will act in Doat Hon ( Soul Being Seized), a horror film to be made in HCM City a few days after Tet.

She left Viet Nam a decade ago but returns often during Tet and to act in films and plays.

She and Viet kieu artist Mai The Hiep, who also act in Doat Hon, said they are happy they would be celebrating Tet with the film crew in Vietnam.

Cai luong artist Hoai Thanh and his wife Do Quyen, who came to HCM City from Australia this week, said they would perform in several shows to be organised by city authorities during Tet to raise funds for poor people and old cai luong artists.