Code women on show
‘Code women’ by Nguyen Than and Ki-Em opened on Saturday at HCMC Museum of Fine Arts, 97A Pho Duc Chinh in District 1.

The show features 10 paintings of lacquer and oil on wood by Than and eight paintings of oil on canvas by Ki-em.

Than depicts images of women with lines of spaces and geometric graphic depict. He said: “To me, women are the most attractive things and inspire me during this life. I can see images of women in everything I see.”

Vietnamese-French artist Ki-em brings to the show rustic images of daily life, including ceramic vases, flowers and the moon. “Although I live and work in France, my motherland is always the most sacred place in life and to me the Vietnamese countryside is peaceful, beautiful and engraved in my heart,” said Ki-em.

The show runs until March 4.

Kiteboard Tour Asia ends in Binh Thuan

Nearly 100 professional and amateur kitesurfers from 39 countries competed at the second round of the 2012 Kiteboard Tour of Asia (KTA), which wrapped up in the central province of Binh Thuan on February 19.

The competition included the three disciplines of Freestyle, Big Air and Old Skool for both men and women and is run under the International Laws on Kitesurfing.

Held annually, the KTA attracted millions of athletes and spectators from around the world. The 2012 KTA visited five countries and territories, namely the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan and Sri Lanka.

This year’s event provided Vietnam and Binh Thuan province in particular with the opportunity to promote local tourist attractions, the good climate and the beauty of Mui Ne beach.
 
Japanese writer to meet local readers

Japanese writer Masatsugu Ono will meet with Vietnamese fans in Hanoi and HCMC this week to talk about contemporary Japanese literature.

As a young and rising name with many literature awards, Masatsugu Ono has been actively working in many fields including translation and literary criticism.

In Vietnam, he has been known for his work “Tieng hat nguoi ca” (Mermaid’s Songs) which was published this February and a series of traveling lectures on Japanese contemporary literature in Hanoi, Hue, and Ho Chi Minh last March.

Having a Ph. D in Literature at the University of Paris VIII, Ono wrote his first novel “Mizu ni Umoreru Haka (Graves Buried in Water), in 2001, which went on to win the Asahi New Writer’s Award.

His second novel, “Nigiyakana Wan ni Seowareta Fune” (The Ship Piggybacked by Jolly Bay) won the Mishima Yukio Prize.

Until now, Ono has been nominated twice for the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, and his sharp criticisms on Japanese contemporary literatures have frequently appeared on newspapers, magazines, and websites. Ono told Tuoi Tre that Murakami Haruki wrote about globalization and it made his works easier for many readers, especially young people, to identify with.

But he himself likes to write about pre-modernized communities and old people in Japan.

The meeting in Hanoi will take place at 9 am on February 22 at Trung Nguyen Creative Café, 36 Dien Bien Phu Street, Ba Dinh District, and in HCMC at 9 am on February 23 at Hoa Sen University, 93 Cao Thang, District 3.

Admission is free.

Old Tet newspapers feature in City display
 
More than 100 Tet (Lunar New Year) issues published by newspapers and magazines during the 1930s and 40s are on display at an exhibition in HCM City.

The publications on show at Nha Nam Thu Quan Coffee Shop include prestigious dailies and weekly magazines like Dan Ba (Women), Sai Gon, and Phong Hoa (Customs and Mores).

Among the most impressive for their layout and variety in contents are issues of Phong Hoa and Sai Gon published in 1935 and 1939.

Phong Hoa has a cartoon on its cover lampooning some bad customs originating in northern villages.

The popular weekly was published by Tu Luc Van Doan (Self-reliance Literature Group), a literary club founded in 1933 in Ha Noi by a group of well-known writers under Nguyen Tuong Tam, also known as Nhat Linh.

The group published many important literary works by famous authors including Khai Hung, The Lu and Xuan Dieu.

Sai Gon features a series of reports about the families of revolutionaries Ta Thu Thau, Duong Bach Mai, Nguyen An Ninh, Nguyen Van Tao and Nguyen Van Nguyen, who were incarcerated by the French colonial regime.

All the exhibits belong to city-based collectors Duong Thanh Hoai, Hoang Minh, Vu Ha Tue, Nguyen Huu Triet and Vu Dinh Dau.

The exhibition is being organised by the Nha Nam Publishing House which also owns the coffee shop at 43 Ho Van Hue Street, Phu Nhuan District, where customers can read old books for free.

The exhibition, which opened this week, runs until late March.

Book on prominent statesman published

A pictorial book about Chairman of the Council of Ministers Pham Hung containing nearly 300 valuable photos of his life and works has been published by the Vietnam News Agency on the 100th anniversary of his birth this year.

The photos were collected from the Vietnam News Agency photo archive, museums nationwide, his family and many other sources.

It is expected to help readers learn more about Hung, an excellent disciple of President Ho Chi Minh, from his teenage years when he was studying at College de My Tho, to his revolutionary activities up until the time the country gained peace and reunification.

Hung, whose birth name was Pham Van Thien, was born into a farming family in southern Vinh Long Province on June 11, 1912.

He devoted nearly 60 years of his life to Viet Nam's revolutionary cause. He was arrested by French colonialists, sentenced to death and exiled to Con Dao, an island that housed political prisoners. For nearly 15 years of being detained in colonial prisons, Hung never ceased his struggle.

With his unyielding will, creative thought and burning revolutionary enthusiasm, Hung was entrusted with many important tasks during the struggle for national liberation and reunification, as well as during the national reconstruction and development period.

He held many important posts including the Chairman of the Council of Ministers in 1987.

Readers will have the opportunity to see images of the revolutionist in prison, his trips together with President Ho in the northernmost Viet Nam resistance base and with leaders of the southern party committee steering the fight against the French in the southern region.

The book also highlights the portrait of a revolutionist as "a steel man" in the face of enemies and a dedicated leader who sacrificed himself for the country and people.

SGGP charity programme kicks off second phase  

A gala ceremony to introduce the second phase of the SGGP charity programme ‘Sentimental Attachment for Truong Son Road’ will be held at the Ho Chi Minh City Opera House on February 24.  
 
The SGGP charity programme aims to help war heroes, war invalids, martyrs’ families, youth volunteers and the poor ethnic people that live along the provinces on Truong Son Road. During the resistance war against US invaders, the provinces along Truong Son suffered heavy losses and lost many human lives.

During the second phase of the charity programme, SGGP will build 800 houses for the poor, three commemorative temples, Truong Son Martyrs’ statues and offer scholarships to children of war martyrs.

In the first phase, SGGP built 683 houses in 14 cities and provinces nationwide, three local dispensaries, two commemorative temples, offered 1,330 scholarships and donated money to flood victims, spending a total of VND52 billion.

The gala ceremony will be broadcast live on HTV9 channel at 8.30 pm.

The event is being co-organised by Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper and VietinBank.