Spring Flower Festival 2012 kicks off in HCMC  

The 32nd Spring Flower Festival was inaugurated at the Tao Dan Cultural Park in District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday, offering a colourful array of various kinds of flowers, ornamental plants, fish species and fossils and stones from different regions.

The festival will run until January 28 or the 6th day of the Lunar New Year and will present a spectacular display of 8,000 items that will include, besides flowers and ornamental plants, a vast variety of fish species and quarried stones.

The most outstanding items will be a Vietnamese map made from 4,000 quartz stones, the Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands Landmark created with fresh flowers and 100 year old fossils taken from Truong Sa Islands.

There will also be two dragons shaped from 15,000 flower pots and nearly one ton of golden everlasting daisies, two pairs of rare exotic ‘Arapaima fish’ originally from the Amazon River in South America.

The festival will also present a collection of 70 carnivorous plants from many countries, a 2x2m pink quartz stone and a dragon shaped chalcedony stone.

Visitors will have a chance to view Japanese aqua-landscaping, ornamental stones and orchids from Singapore.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Hua Ngoc Thuan, deputy chairman of the HCMC People’s Committee praised the festival’s organization committee and the skillful artisans for creating such a spectacular and colourful display which was sure to delight visitors during the festive Tet Lunar New Year holidays.
 
Hoi An to host traditional events for Tet

The ancient city of Hoi An will host traditional festival and cultural activities from January 17-Febuary 6 for the Lunar New Year festival (Tet).  

The highlights include a flower festival on Tran Hung Dao and Nguyen Hue streets and a New Year cake-making competition on Nguyen Truong To street.

A lantern competition at An Hoi Statue Garden, fireworks, traditional and modern dance performances, and a photo exhibition will also be held.

HCMC rings in year of Dragon with fireworks

Ho Chi Minh City will ring in the year of the Dragon with spectacular fireworks at six major locations on the Eve.

Numerous revelers are expected to view the 15-minute long dazzling display starting from midnight on January 22 to mark the end of the year of the Cat.

Two firework displays of high intensity will be set off at the entrance side of Thu Thiem Tunnel in District 2 and Go Vap Cultural Park.

Meanwhile, four low-range displays are expected to light up the city’s sky at Ben Duoc Memorial Temple in Cu Chi District, National Historical Cultural Park in Go Vap District, Can Gio District’s football ground and Dam Sen Cultural Park in District 11.

OVs book Tet-related tour

About 1,500 Vietnamese, including overseas Vietnamese, have booked Lunar New Year or Tet tours with Saigontourist Travel Service Co. to enjoy pre-Tet activities around the country.  

The tours of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta and other areas in central and northern Vietnam, allow holiday makers to learn about Tet traditions in these localities.

Saingontourist has introduced some 20 tours, around the country to witness traditional Tet preparations such as flower farming and get a taste of Tet specialities.

The tour operator has also sold Tet tours for some 500 foreign tourists.

The tour will end on New Year’s Eve (January 22).

President Ho Chi Minh exhibition opens in Thanh Hoa

Nearly 300 books, documents and objects related to life and career of late President Ho Chi Minh and his sentiments towards the Party Committee and people of Thanh Hoa province are now on display at the provincial library.

The exhibition also showcases around 100 books on the campaign to ‘Study and Follow President Ho Chi Minh’s Moral Example’.

Nearly 600 New Year issues of more than 300 national and local newspapers and 35 calligraphy works were exhibited at the library as well.

The Thanh Hoa provincial Journalists’ Association and the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism also opened another exhibition of 800 New Year newspaper issues and documentary photographs related to current affairs and the arts.

Vietnamese water puppetry play debuts in Paris  

"Le Maitre des marionnettes" (The Master of water puppetry), a Vietnamese traditional water puppetry play, will debut at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris on February 10.

This program is directed by Dominique Pitoiset, the director of Bordeaux National Theatre, in cooperation with the Vietnamese national water puppetry theatre.

Water puppetry is a distinctive Vietnamese art which has been recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage.

Through several stories of legendary dragons and farmer's lives in the countryside, the play will introduce traditional Vietnamese culture to French audiences, according to a press release by Quai Branly Museum.

Pitoiset,visited Vietnam for the first time two years ago. He was impressed by the water puppetry perfomances he saw and spent a lot of time learning about the origins of this unique art form.

The play will be performed until February 25.

Ethnic Culture Historical Park to have exciting activities for Tet  

Many interesting cultural activities during Tet Lunar New Year will take place at the Ethnic Culture Historical Park in District 9 in Ho Chi Minh City from January 19-25.  

The park will lure visitors with a Banh Tet (cylindrical glutinous rice cake) making competition on January 19 and a Banh Tet offering ceremony to King Hung Vuong on January 21.

A low-range fireworks display will be held on Tet Lunar New Year Eve on January 23.

Visitors will have a chance to enjoy various exhibits of bonsai trees, ornamental plants, orchids, cacti, apricots and peach blossoms in a flower fair from January 15-22.

There will also be folk games, music shows, kylin and dragon performances, besides painting, calligraphy and tea exhibitions.

National border markers, unique cultural heritage

An exhibition showcasing four original border markers that used to stand on the border line between Vietnam and China, opened in Ha Long city, the northern province of Quang Ninh on Jan. 19.

These markers were erected between the 1890-1893 period and were among over 40 markers built along the Vietnam-China borderline in former Quang Yen province, now Quang Ninh.

In early 2000, the four markers were replaced by new ones and then kept in the Quang Ninh Museum .

The markers were engraved with the words “China-Vietnam border” in French and Chinese scripts and “Dai Nam” in Chinese scripts below.

Each character in the markers was imbued with the sweat and even blood of Vietnamese fallen soldiers and represents the Vietnamese people’s pride of the national sovereignty, Director of Quang Ninh museum Tran Trong Ha said.

With their historical, political, diplomat and military significance, the markers are deserved to be classified as the national treasures, he said.

The exhibition, “National border markers in Quang Ninh province, unique cultural heritages,” will last until March 15.