Tours of heritage sites launched

A ceremony to launch tours of Viet Bac heritage sites was held in Bac Kan on November 7 with a special art performances.

Other activities scheduled for November 6 to 9 include sporting events, a photographic exhibition on Viet Bac’s land and people, a contest for presenters, a costume show of ethnic minority groups, a presentation of Bac Kan tourism site and a Bac Kan trade and tourism fair.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said developing tourism based on available resources in the region is very important. Viet Back has great potential for developing tourism with imposing landscape and diversified culture. However, to help Viet Bac become an attractive destination for visitors, local authorities should join efforts to exploit and develop tourism products in a sustainable manner for the sake of protecting nature and maintaining cultural identity.

Famous landscapes in the region include Ba Be Lake – one of the world’s 20 biggest natural lakes, Tan Trao historic relics, Lenin stream, Pac Bo cave, Dong Van Plateau Geopark. Viet Bac is also home to ethnic

minority groups with traditional folk songs, such as sli of the Nung ethnic minority, Soong co of the San Diu and Then of the Tay.

Province will take turns organizing the annual event to exchange experience and devise measures to support each other.

US children enjoy Vietnam’s mid-autumn festival

An exhibition on Vietnam’s mid-autumn festival entitled “Dragon and Fairies: Exploring Vietnam through Folktales” was held at the Long Island Children’s Museum on November 5-6.  

The event was jointly held by the New York Council for the Humanities and the Vietnam Permanent Mission to the United Nations.

US visitors enjoyed engaging folktales performed by Vietnamese actors and actress including Huyen Thoai Rong Tien (Legend of Dragon and Fairy) about the origin of Chung and Day (square and round glutinous rice cakes) and the resistance wars of two Trung sisters and Saint Giong against the Chinese invaders to gain national independence.

The visitors also listened to traditional Vietnamese music in Dan Tranh (16-chord zither) performed by Dr. Ngo Thanh Nhan, a scholar at the Center for Vietnamese Philosophy, Culture, and Society in New York, and tasted some typical Vietnamese dishes and fruit.

Vietnamese movie screened in US

A film by Nhue Giang, Tam Hon Me (Mother's Soul), is being shown in the US’s Universities of Hawaii, Harvard, and Princeton and Letelier theatre from now until December 1.

The 95-minute movie describes the life of a woman and her daughter on an island in the middle of the Red River in the capital. After every film show, visitors will have an opportunity to talk with the director.

The screenings are being organized by the Institute for Vietnamese Culture and Education in New York.

Vietnam-Japan charity concert to raise funds for tsunami victims

A “Journey to Vietnam 3” charity concert on the theme of “Vietnam-Japan: dream and nostalgia” was held in Japan on November 6 to raise funds for Japanese victims of the recent tsunami and earthquakes.

At the opening ceremony, former Japanese ambassador to Vietnam Suzuki Katsuya thanked the Vietnamese people for their sympathy with Japanese friends and expressed his admiration for Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements in recent years.

First Secretary in charge of education of the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan, Do Van Trung praised the Vietnam Youth and Student Association (VYSA) in Japan for its practical activities which have left a deep impression on both Vietnamese and Japanese communities.

Art program held to celebrate Buddhism

An art program themed “Vietnamese Buddhism accompanies the nation” has been held in Hanoi.

The program, which was one of the activities marking the 30th founding anniversary of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS), introduced a panoramic picture of the 2,000-year history of Buddhism in Vietnam highlighting

the Sangha’s inception and its social and charitable activities.

Moving stories were told about numerous pagodas across the country which offer shelter and care to hundreds of orphans, children with disabilities and HIV/AIDS and Agent Orange/dioxin victims, as well as kind-hearted monks and nuns who spent their whole life caring for the poor and the unfortunates.

Addressing the event, Vice President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Nguyen Van Pha said the VBS’s 30-year history provides strong evidence of Buddhism harmony and unity.

He said he hoped the VBS will continue bringing into play its role as a member of the VFF and actively taking part in movements launched by the VFF.

Ancient temple unearthed in Ha Tinh

An ancient temple was discovered under sand in Tien Thanh village, Ky Khang commune, Ky Anh district, the central province of Ha Tinh.

The temple was found by workers of Ky Anh enterprise while they were mining for titanium at the site, said Le Ba Hanh, Deputy Director of the Ha Tinh Museum.

The temple was built of baked bricks and a mixture of lime, oyster shells, resin and molasses. It has two 2.5m high pillars with a statute of Nghe (an imaginary animal from old times) on top of each. Researchers think the temple may be the worshipping place of the village’s tutelary god.

The provincial authorities have required the enterprise to stop the mining and plan to ask for permission to excavate the temple, Hanh said.

Life’s Rhythm and Contrast on display

Nguyen Thi Kim Chi and Trhas Gutsche’s ‘Rhythm and Contrast’ has opened at the Applied Arts Gallery, 5 Phan Dang Luu Street in Binh Thanh District.

The show includes 42 paintings from mixed media to oil on canvas. Although made in contrasting styles by different people from different cultures, the strong rhythm of life and contrast of colors, fate, people, sceneries and life, the artworks brings the exhibition alive.  

With meticulous and varied lines and patterns, Gutsche bewitches visitors with her vivid tones of yellow, orange, blue, green and red. There are also images from Cambodia of beautiful Apsara dancers and Bayon’s smile which appear fancifully amidst immense color layers. There are also portraits of Sapa ladies and lotus ponds which are memories of the artist’s recent travels.

‘My intention is to evoke a sense of diversity in a world full of contrasts and it is conveyed in my works in vivid color and rich flowing rhythm,” said Gutsche.

Chi’s works are created by bass tones of colors such as dark blue, dark red, dark green or yellow. Her rhythm of life and the contrast of destinies are present in puppet plays and puppet characters. “My character – the puppet behind the scenes - comes alive,” said Chi.

The exhibition runs until Friday.
 
Old tomb in southern Vietnam yields valuable historical data  
 
Cultural authorities in the southern province of Dong Nai Friday announced their findings about an ancient tomb that was found with little damage.  

Carbon analysis estimates the tomb complex to have been built between the 17th and 18th centuries for a woman around 50-60 years old, who was 1.5 meters tall and dyed her teeth black.

Most of the skeleton in the wooden coffin remains intact, scientists said at a meeting organized by Dong Nai Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Archeologists said the complex was one of the least damaged ancient tomb complexes found in Vietnam so far.

They said it was the tomb of an aristocratic person.

On the stele of the tomb were precious texts in Nom, a language that appeared around the 8th century as a simpler transcription of the Chinese language. Nom is considered a significant innovation in Vietnam's language history.

Many decorations and structures of the complex are typical of tombs built for nobility in southern Vietnam, archeologists said.

Some decorations were seen for the first time on tombs in Vietnam, they added.

The complex was discovered nearly two months ago in Cau Xeo area in Long Thanh District when contractors were clearing the ground for an expressway project.

Several artifacts were found buried with the body, including a brocade pocket, 20 buttons of gold and copper alloy, a black leather pillow, a pair of brocade shoes, some unhusked rice seeds, thousands of strange fruits at her feet, and a mortar for smashing areca nuts which are used to chew with betel leaves - a favored snack of women in the past.

The whole tomb has been moved to a local temple for further research and preservation.

Workshop to highlight heritage value of photographs  

A workshop on heritage and museum images that aims at encouraging communities to collect, store and protect heritage values will be held Nov 8 at the Picture Archives and National Photograph Exhibition Center in Hanoi.

The event is being held under the cooperation framework established between Vietnam and Wallonie-Bruxelles from 2010 to 2012 on “Building Protection for Heritage Photographs in Vietnam.”

It is jointly organized by the Wallonie-Bruxelles delegation, the Department of Cultural Heritage under the Ministry Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Photography Artists' Association.

The workshop will discuss the role of "heritage images" in contemporary life with the purpose of sharing international experiences in the identification of heritage in general and Heritage Photos in Vietnam in particular.

It will highlight photographs as part of the historical, cultural, scientific and artistic heritage of Vietnam.

Event organizers said in a press release that photographs have so far not been protected strategically.

It said Vietnam in particular and the world in general would lose out if such heritage was "eroded by forgetfulness or lack of protection from involved agencies and organizations."

For more information and to register for the workshop (before Nov 7), contact:

Ms. Do Kim Oanh – Wallonie-Bruxelles Delegation in Vietnam
DAEHA Tower (5th floor – # 505)/ 360 Kim Ma, Ba Dinh, Hanoi
Tel : 3 831.52.41 – Email : oanhwb@walbruvietnam.org

Mr Nguyen Hai Minh – Heritage Department – Ministry of culture, sports and tourism
51- 53 Ngo Quyen, Ha Noi – Tel: (84-4) 39 43 61 32,
Email: ninh@dch.gov.vn

Mr Ha Huu Duc – Center for Picture Archive and National Photograph Exhibition
Email: Duchahuu72@yahoo.com
Center for Picture Archive and National Photograph Exhibition is located on D25, Dich Vong Hau, Tran Thai Ton Road, Cau Giay, Hanoi.

'From Hollywood to Hanoi' screened in Hanoi  

“From Hollywood to Hanoi,” a documentary by Tiana Thi Thanh Nga, was screened at the Goethe Institute in Hanoi on Saturday, Nov 5.

The fỉlm, released in 1992 and shown at Sundance, Teluride and other international film festivals, chronicles the efforts of the director, a Vietnamese-born American actress, who returns to the country of her birth to try and come to grips with her personal history and the history of Vietnam’s recent past.

In the course of her many trips between 1988 and 1991, Tiana manages to interview important dignitaries in the Vietnamese government, track down relatives and interview survivors of the My Lai massacre.

Daughter of South Vietnamese notables, the director uses archival footage showing the brutality of the war the West waged to keep the country divided.

The screening, which was subtitled in both English and Vietnamese, was held for studies and research purposes.

Cinematographer Jamie Maxtone-Graham was in attendance.

A Q&A session was held after the screening.    

HCMC plans tablets installation for New Year celebrations  

Ho Chi Minh City plans to install free tablets in the downtown for people to send messages and wishes during the New Year 2012 celebrations and during the Lunar New Year festivities later in January.

The tablets will be installed along Le Duan Street in District 1.

It will also hold 10-minute firework displays at several locations on both occasions.

Other activities planned include sound and light performances and outdoor concerts on Nguyen Hue Street, where no vehicle be allowed from the evening of December 31 to early morning January 1.

Details of this project are still being worked out.

A film by Nhue Giang, Tam Hon Me (Mother's Soul), is being shown in American universities and theatres now until December 1.   

They include University of Hawaii, Harvard, Princeton and Letelier theatre.

The 95-minute movie describes the life of a woman and her daughter on an island in the middle of the Red River in the capital. After every film show, visitors will have an opportunity to talk with the director.

The screenings are organised by the Institute for Vietnamese Culture and Education in New York.

Exhibition highlights skills of Southern Vietnamese housewives
 
A unique exhibition titled “Cuisine art of Southern women” is being held at the Southern Women’s Museum in Ho Chi Minh City until December 10, aimed at honoring and highlighting the skills and responsibilities of women in a household.

More than 200 subjects and photographs feature cooking material, utensils and also a 19th century dinner set of folk dishes from a middle-class family at the exhibition. There is also a model of a fruit orchard and a fresh water jar on display in the backyard.

The exhibition presents traditional cultural values, southern specialties and household lifestyles of southern Vietnamese women, said Nguyen Thi Tham, director of the museum.

The event also introduced documentary films on traditional cake making and cooking the local cuisine of the southern region.

The exhibition at 202 Vo Thi Sau Street in District 3 will run until December 10.
 
Cocktail contest searches for outstanding bartenders  

The National Cocktail Competition 2012 was launched nationwide on November 4, aimed at discovering talented bartenders and bar managers in the country.  

Contestants must be above 20 years of age and with 2 years of  experience in bartending or managing bars, restaurants, hotels and resorts anywhere in the country.

The contest began in Hanoi on November 4, where in several rounds candidates were short-listed. The contest will be held in Da Nang on November 11 and in Ho Chi Minh City on November 15. The final round will be held in Ho Chi Minh City on November 16.

Vo Tan Si, president of the Saigon Bartender Sommeliers’ Guild Association is presiding as chief judge. The other jury members include, Ngo Van Hoan, Head of Food and Beverage Department of Saigon Tourist Hospitality College; Richard Shin, financial director of Bacardi-Martini Asia Pacific Ltd; Paul Dibbawayan, sale director of Bacardi-Martini Asia Pacific Ltd; and Bong Ha Kim from South Korea, brand ambassador of Bacardi.

The competition is being organized by Bacardi Vietnam LMT and Saigon Bartender Sommeliers’ Guild Association, co sponsored by   Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Association.