The capital, Thanglong, was conquered in 1788 but a few months later, the Chinese army was defeated and the invasion turned into a debacle due to the surprise attack during Tết by Nguyen Hue, the second and most capable of the three Tay Son brothers.

During the Tết Offensive, Trưởng led the 1st Division in the Battle of Huế as the communists were expelled from the old imperial city after three weeks of bitter street fighting.

Some examples include Diwali, Chinese New Year / Tết ( Vietnamese New Year ), Mid-Autumn Festival / Chuseok and Nepal Sambat.

* The Vietnamese New Year is the Tết Nguyên Đán which is for most times the same day as the Chinese New Year.

A Vietnamese calligraphist writing in hán tự in preparation for Tết, at the Temple of Literature, Hanoi ( 2011 )

Vietnamese New Year, more commonly known by its shortened name Tết or " Tết Nguyên Đán ", is the most important and popular holiday and festival in Vietnam.

Many Vietnamese prepare for Tết by cooking special holiday foods and cleaning the house.

During Tết, Vietnamese visit their relatives and temples, forgetting about the troubles of the past year and hoping for a better upcoming year.

Vietnamese people usually return to their families during Tết.

Although Tết is a national holiday among all Vietnamese, each region and religion has its own customs.

In Vietnamese language, to celebrate Tết is to ăn Tết, literally meaning " eat Tết ", showing the importance of food in its celebration.

Because of the idea that the beginning will affect the middle and the end of the year, Vietnamese people avoid doing bad things and try to do good things during Tết holiday.

That future offensive was launched during the lunar new year Tết holiday of 1968, and to prepare for it, 200, 000 North Vietnamese troops, including seven infantry regiments and twenty independent battalions made the trip south.

* Vietnam New Year ( Tết Nguyên Đán or Tết ), more commonly known by its shortened name Tết or " Vietnamese Lunar New Year ", is the most important and popular holiday and festival in Vietnam, the holiday normally falls between 20 January and 20 February.

In Vietnamese, the offensive is called Cuộc Tổng tiến công và nổi dậy (" General Offensive and Uprising "), or Tết Mậu Thân ( Tet, year of the monkey ).

* Tết or Tết Nguyên Đán, the Vietnamese new year, Lunar new year

* Vietnamese New Year ( Tết )

People try to pay off their debts in advance so that they can be debt-free on Tết.

Parents buy new clothes for their children so that the children can wear them when Tết arrives.

They consider Tết to be the first day of spring and the festival is often called Hội xuân ( spring festival ).

As the shops will be closed during Tết, everyone is busy buying food, clothes, and decorations for their house.

Also, some of the food is vegetarian since it is believed to be good luck to eat vegetarian on Tết.

On 1 February, Thiệu declared martial law, and in June, the National Assembly approved his request for a general mobilization of the population and the induction of 200, 000 draftees into the armed forces by the end of the year ; the bill had been blocked before the Tết Offensive.

The Lantern Festival in Taiwan ( also known as the Yuanxiao Festival or Shangyuan Festival in China ; Chap Goh Meh Festival in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore ; Yuen Siu Festival in Hong Kong, and " Tết Thượng Nguyên " or " Tết Nguyên Tiêu " in Vietnam ; corresponding Japanese event Koshōgatsu ); is a festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunisolar year in the lunar calendar, the last day of the lunisolar lunar New Year celebration.

* Chinese New Year ( also known as Lunar New Year or Vietnamese Tết ).

* Mid-Autumn Festival ( also known as Moon Festival or Vietnamese Tết Trung Thu ).

In Vietnam, kumquat bonsai trees ( round kumquat plant ) are used as a decoration for the Tết ( Lunar New Year ) holiday.

Tết is celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year, though exceptions arise due to the one-hour time difference between Hanoi and Beijing resulting in the alternate calculation of the new moon.

There are a lot of customs practiced during Tết, such as visiting a person's house on the first day of the new year ( xông nhà ), ancestral worshipping, wishing New Year's greetings, giving lucky money to children and elderly people, and opening a shop.

Sweeping during Tết is taboo or xui ( unlucky ), since it symbolizes sweeping the luck away.

The festival is still celebrated in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as the Duanwu Festival or Tuen Ng Festival ( Cantonese ), in Korea as the Dano Festival, and Vietnam as the Tết Đoan Ngọ on the traditional lunar calendar date.

On Tết and other occasions, Vietnamese men may wear an áo gấm ( brocade robe ), a version of the ao dai made of thicker fabric.

In Vietnam, Welsh onion is important to prepare dưa hành ( fermented onions ) which is served for Tết, the Vietnamese New Year.

Prior to 2011, an annual Tết Lunar Year Festival was held each year in Footscray, organised and run by the Footscray Asian Business Association ( FABA ).

Hán tự is still written by calligraphers for special occasions such as the Vietnamese New Year, Tết.

However, he was granted an amnesty on 31 January 2005 for Tết, the Vietnamese New Year, along with fellow dissidents Nguyen Van Ly, Nguyen Dinh Huy, and Huynh Van Ba.

A calligraphist writing in hán tự in preparation for Tết.

A calligraphist writing in hán tự in preparation for Tết, at the Temple of Literature, Hanoi ( 2011 )

A calligraphist writing in hán tự in preparation for Tết, at the Temple of Literature, Hanoi ( 2011 )

Usually, children wear their new clothes and give their elders the traditional Tết greetings before receiving the money.

* One should return all things borrowed, and pay debts before Tết.

The first semester begins in late August and ends some time before Tết, while the second one begins right after the first one and lasts until June.