Hanoi museum to display thousand-year-old jades   
 
A royal seal made of jade from the Nguyen Dynasty.

An exhibition of historical jade statues will open in Hanoi on August 2.

The collection, entitled Vietnamese Antique Jade, includes more than 140 items, some of which are over a thousand years old.

They include jewelry, tools, royal seals, Buddha statues, swords and paintings studded with gems.

According to Dr. Nguyen Dinh Chien, the museum's assistant director, the items were part of collection owned by the Louis Finot Museum before 1954.

Many came from the the royal treasure of the Nguyen Dynasty, Vietnam's last monarchy. Vietnam’s last royal family handed the artifacts to the Vietnamese government in 1945.

The exhibition, however, is only a small part of the large collection that includes thousands of artifacts collected by the museum, said Chien at a conference held at the museum on July 25.

The rest of the museum’s collection will also soon be on display at the site, located at 1 Trang Tien Street.

Hanoi store puts live models in window

A fashion shop in Hanoi has come up with an unusual marketing ploy and got young women to pose in its store window instead of mannequins.

Every evening at 7 pm Tran Thu Huong, a freshman at the Hanoi Tourism College, starts her shift by changing into selected clothes and sitting behind the window glass.

It began when she came to apply for a shop assistant’s position, Huong recalled, and the owner suggested she wanted some live models for her window display.

For posing two hours every evening, the salary offered was VND 1 million (US$49) a month.

“The job sounded new and interesting and I could get to wear beautiful clothes everyday. So I accepted her offer.”

Huong’s first day at work was not easy because of the curious stares of passers-by. “But you get used to it after some time.”

The live mannequins can talk to each other, drink, use their phones, or do whatever they want as long as they can attract shoppers’ attention.

Quach Minh Hang, a 12th grader at Phan Huy Chu High School in Hanoi, said the job was helping her earn money during the summer and realize how hard it was to do so.

“This is the best way to promote my store and differentiate it from others,” Tran Huong Ly, the owner, said.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported, Milan-- a world’s fashion capital- has seen its public go angry as models appeared in shorts and bikinis in the window of a department store in the city center.

Italy's trade unions denounced the work, calling it the mechanization of the human body.

"Let's be clear, we're not against the sale, or a free-market economy, or against consumers. But we want to defend the decency of workers and the intelligence of customers," the union said to Reuters.

However, according to the news agency, Stefano Beraldo, chief executive of the department using live bikini mannequins said they had provided an employment opportunity for young people.

"We have given these kids a job and we paid their costs. They prefer to work rather than staying idle on the streets,” he said.

HCMC opens free 3D cinema for children

The People’s Committee and the Youth Union of District 2 have opened a 3D cinema to serve children free of charge at the district’s Children House at No 200 Nguyen Duy Trinh Street in Ho Chi Minh City.

There will be 2 sessions per weekday and 3 sessions everyday at the weekends.

The cinema has 105 seats and was built at a cost of VND1.5 billion from the district’s budget.

170-year-old bridge marker could fall into river

Digging to lay underground cables threatens to push an old stone marker on Hue’s Kim Long Bridge into the Ke Van River below.

The marker, which carries the legend “Loi Te Bridge,” was made during the reign of King Minh Mang of the Nguyen Dynasty in 1840.

Loi Te was the precursor to the 25-meter Kim Long Bridge.

In 1990, when Kim Long was being built, the marker had fallen into the river and local residents made donations to retrieve it.

Hoi An set for Vietnam-Japan cultural festival

Hoi An will host the 9th annual festival to boost cultural exchanges between Vietnam and Japan this month.

“Vietnamese – Japanese Culture Exchange Festival” will comprise a haiku poetry competition, music performances, ao dai and kimono shows, folk games from the two countries, a forum titled “The youths and the bad habit of littering,” and others.

The two-day festival, to be organized by Hoi An and the Japanese embassy in Hanoi, will take place at the An Hoi Garden of Statue along the Hoai River from August 20.

Vietnam’s folk music well received in Finland

Vietnam ethnic traditional music performed at a recent international music festival in Finland has gained warm feedback from audiences and the press.

The local newspaper Kuhmolainen dedicated its first page to discuss its overwhelming impression of Vietnam’s traditional music at the International Folk Music Festival held from June 29 to July 6.

Titled “Not daring to look at the artists’ eyes,” it praises Vietnamese musicians for their captivating performances and a distinctive musical heritage.

“No one dared to look at their eyes,” the newspaper wrote. “There was an air of excitement and attractiveness that made it irresistible and tempted all of the audiences to join hands and dance on stage.”

The festival attracted nearly 300 traditional musicians from 9 countries, including 6 artists from Vietnam who showcased the country’s Central Highland traditional music.

Traditional wind instruments of the ethnic minorities E De and M’Nong such as the ding nam, or sao lut were the highlights of Vietnam’s performances, as local audiences were very interested in the way they were played.

These flutes weren’t played on their own, but were combined with other instruments such as drums or alternative sources of sound such as clapping and patting.

Vu Lan, a folk researcher who joined the festival said Vietnam’s performances were always well received in Finland, especially in the two cities of Kuhmo and Kajanin.

At the festival, the audiences didn’t just give rounds after rounds of applause, but approached musicians to ask more about the instruments after each performance, Lan said.

“It is a happy feeling to know that a part of our Central Highland culture and heritage has been shown to the world,” Lan said. “I think more opportunities to promote and introduce it to the international music community will come in the future.”

Macbeth Opera to be performed in Vietnam

The UK TNT art troupe will perform a Macbeth opera in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City in late October and early November.

The art troupe has performed at famous theatres in Tokyo and Berlin as well as at palaces in Verona and Stockkholm.

Since early this year it has been presented in three European and three Asian countries.

Macbeth opera, written by Shakespeare and directed by Paul Stebbings, has won several prizes.

Exhibition spotlights agriculture and nature in mountainous regions

A fine art exhibition entitled ‘Industry, Agriculture and Nature in Mountainous Regions’ opened on July 26 at 16 Ngo Quyen street in Hanoi, to mark the International Year of Forests 2011.

On display are 67 works by 49 members of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association in various media, including oil painting, lacquer, acrylic, pastel and monoprint, reflecting production, natural beauty and lifestyle in the country’s remote areas.

The works are the result of the artists’ field trips to Ha Giang, Lao Cai and Yen Bai provinces to explore agricultural production and customs in those areas.

The exhibition, which will last until August 5, aims to raise people’s awareness of and interest in the forests and lives of people living in mountainous regions.