Covering an area of about 250 sq.m, the exhibition introduced hundreds of items collected from the subsidy period in Vietnam, which are divided into three parts – living room space, kitchen space and space for groceries shops in the past, with typical items such as curved tables and chairs, sewing machine, wooden cupboards, table fans, and black-and-white television, recalling memories of the tough years.

The typical living room of many families in the subsidy period was revived, with a picture of President Ho Chi Minh hung on the centre of the wall, a wooden cabinet, a set of tables and chairs with curved arms, an enamel tray containing cups of tea, a black-and-white TV, a "Toad" fan, an "Oriongtong” radio, a rice mess kit, which all came from a time when food, goods, and services were purchased with coupons or food stamps, that only those who were born in the 1970s and earlier know.

Through the exhibition, visitors will get an insight of the life in the struggling period of the nation, the historical situation and the operations of the society at that time, as well as the activeness and creativeness of normal people in tough time to stabilise their life. This dynamism and creativity were among the prerequisites for the construction of the modern life today.

The exhibition will last until December 15.