Rooted at the Border: HMG Supports the “Border Bamboo Rampart” in Lai Châu

On 29 September 2026, at Huổi Luông Border Guard Station in Lai Châu, in Vietnam’s far northwest, HMG Pop Up Paper joined a cooperation agreement to plant bamboo along the national border.

Our company, registered as Viet Nam Popup Cards and Handicrafts Joint Stock Company, contributed VND 50 million to the Lũy tre biên cương (“Border Bamboo Rampart”) model. Together with a matching contribution from VIMAXFAN GLOBAL, the funding covers 3,505 bamboo seedlings to be planted at five Border Guard stations, along with fertiliser, transport and technical support.

We did not just send the funds. Our team travelled to Lai Châu for the day, signed the agreement, and then went up the hillside with the Thanh Âm Xanh volunteers and the soldiers of Huổi Luông station to put the first seedlings into the ground ourselves.

HMG hands over its VND 50 million contribution to the Lai Châu Provincial Border Guard at the signing ceremony.

What the model is

The bamboo will be planted at five stations of the Lai Châu Provincial Border Guard: Huổi Luông, Pa Vệ Sử, Pa Ủ, Thu Lũm and Mù Cả. Each site was chosen for its soil, available land and the station’s capacity to plant and care for the seedlings.

The agreement brings together several partners, each with a defined role:

• Women’s Association of the Political Department, Vietnam Border Guard — supports implementation and outreach, and oversees how funds are used.
• Thanh Âm Xanh volunteer group — sources the seedlings and fertiliser, arranges transport, provides technical guidance and helps draw up the annual planting plan.
• Political Office, Lai Châu Provincial Border Guard Command — receives and manages the funds and reports on progress.
• DigiGrowth — connects donor businesses and handles communications.
• HMG Pop Up Paper and VIMAXFAN GLOBAL — the two sponsoring companies, VND 50 million each.

Planting is only the start. The Border Guard will work with local authorities and residents to look after the bamboo for at least three years, tracking survival and growth, fertilising, and replacing any seedlings that fail. Results are reviewed every year to decide on maintenance and whether to expand.

Partners and volunteers at the planting site under the banner launching the model: 3,505 bamboo seedlings, 29 September 2026.

Why bamboo

In Vietnamese villages, a ring of bamboo, the lũy tre, has long marked the edge of home and protected what lies inside it. The name of this model borrows that image for the country’s border.

It is also a practical choice. Bamboo grows fast, bends in a storm without breaking, and its dense roots help hold soil on steep hillsides. Planted at Border Guard stations, it will be tended by the soldiers who live alongside it.

Why a paper company plants bamboo

Everything we make starts as plant fibre and ends in someone’s hands. Our cards are cut, folded and assembled by people in our workshop in Hanoi, and the paper they work with comes from the land. Giving something back to that land, in a part of Vietnam that most of our international clients will never see, felt like a natural extension of the work.

Our mission has always been to inspire happiness. Most of the time that happens when someone opens a card. Sometimes it happens on a hillside in Lai Châu, a few years from now, when a line of bamboo is standing where there was none.

We spend our days turning flat paper into something that stands up on its own. Helping a row of bamboo stand up on the border is the same idea, on a much larger scale.

— [Founder Name], Co-Founder, HMG Pop Up Paper

One seedling down, 3,504 to go.

The rest of the day

The signing was part of a wider visit. On the same trip, the Women’s Association, the Thanh Âm Xanh volunteer group and a Hanoi family presented gifts to students at Huổi Luông Border Guard Station and at PetroVietnam – Phong Thổ Boarding School. The students are supported by programmes that help children in border areas stay in school, including one in which Border Guard stations sponsor individual students.

Officers, partners, volunteers and students at the gate of Huổi Luông Border Guard Station.

What happens next

The seedlings go into the ground at the five stations, and the three-year care period begins. We will share updates on how the bamboo is doing as reports come in.

Our thanks to the Lai Châu Provincial Border Guard, the Women’s Association of the Political Department, Thanh Âm Xanh, and our fellow sponsor VIMAXFAN GLOBAL for making this possible.

Read the official report from Báo Biên Phòng (Border Guard Newspaper): Thống nhất quy chế phối hợp triển khai mô hình “Lũy tre biên cương”. Also covered by Quân đội Nhân dân (People’s Army Newspaper): Bộ đội Biên phòng triển khai mô hình “Lũy tre biên cương” tại Lai Châu.