Franco-Portuguese circus troupe performs in Hanoi, HCM City

A circus drama titled “What is left” will be performed by two acrobats specialized in the Chinese pole, Paulo Dos Santos and Guillaume Amaro, in Hanoi’s Youth Theater and Ho Chi Minh City Drama Theater on May 14 and 16 respectively.

The show directed by Olivier Antoine takes its inspiration from the The Lost Mariner, one of the essays in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat written by Oliver Sacks.

The performance depicts a man without memory, stuck in the constantly changing and meaningless time.

“What is left” goes beyond the Chinese pole, using other elements such as dance, acrobatics, the wooden post, music and video, which are harmoniously interlinked.

The O Ultimo Momento is a Franco-Portuguese circus troupe founded in 2004 by Portuguese artist João Paulo Dos Santos and French musician Guillaume Dutrieux .Based in France, the company travels all over Europe, and also Asia, North and South America and Africa.

Hanoi to host Books & Kids Fair 2015

Books & Kids Fair 2015 is set to get underway in Hanoi from May 29 to June 1 to mark International Children’s Day.

Books will be displayed on 60 stalls with discount up to 50%.

Diverse activities will be held within the fair, including a workshop on child care and education, a painting contest, a kids fashion show and a book donation for children in mountainous provinces.

The British Council will talk about English learning skills for children.

Besides, free counselling on child nutrition and dental care will also be provided.

Publisher unveils books on late President Ho Chi Minh’s birthday

Books about the late President Ho Chi Minh have been introduced by the Kim Dong Publishing House on the 125th birthday anniversary of the founder of modern Vietnam and its first President (May 19, 1890-May 19, 2015).

The ‘Parting moment on the Dragon House Wharf’ book by writer Son Tung, based on the screenplay ‘See You Again Saigon,’ depicts Uncle Ho’s young life.

‘Our Uncle Ho’ writen by Bich Thuan portrays the simple life of President Ho Chi Minh through memoirs and historic materials.

‘Father and Son’ features emotional stories about President Ho Chi Minh’s childhood and his father Nguyen Sinh Sac; ‘Telling Uncle Ho stories’ features tales about the revolutionary life of Uncle Ho; and ‘Uncle Ho’s Portrait’ contains humanitarian stories, among other books released on the occasion.

Exhibition spotlights contemporary Singaporean art

Six young Singaporean painters will introduce their artworks at a contemporary art exhibition scheduled to open on May 25 in Art Exhibition House in 16 Ngo Quyen Street, Hanoi.

The event is jointly organised by the National Arts Council of Singapore, the Singapore International Foundation, and the Vietnam Fine Arts Association.

The young painters will include Li Xin, Kai Lam, Lu Yifei, Yuzuzu Maeda, Jason Lee and Ben Puah. Ben Puah has previously held an exhibition in Vietnam in 2002.

Each artwork reflects the beauty of contemporary life in Singapore, giving visitors an insight into the changes of a generation, with the new art trends.

Phu Tho looks forwards to an epitomised Hung Kings Temple festival

Concerted efforts were made by the northern midland province of Phu Tho to hold a successful Hung Kings Temple festival in 2015 and make it an epitomised festival nationwide, as heard at a conference to review the festival’s organisation on May 13.

According to the organising board, comprehensive measures were effectively employed to ensure security, food sanitation, order and safety for the festival. Although the number of visitors to the festival saw a significant increase from previous years, there was no traffic congestion or blocked communication.

The results were underpinned by meticulous preparations, said Ha Ke San, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee and Head of the organising board.

He added that the province collaborated with Son La, Phu Yen, Dak Nong, Bac Lieu and Tien Giang to organise ceremonies and cultural activities paying tribute to the nation’s founders.

During the festival, nearly 1,000 policemen were mobilised to ensure security and 21 cameras were arranged to control the flow of traffic.

In addition, the successful festival was also spurred by a good promotion campaign. About 63 central and local press organisations attended and reported activities in the festival. Hundreds of pieces of news and reports were broadcasted on mass media, many of which featured Phu Tho’s two world cultural intangible heritages: the worshiping rituals of the Hung Kings and Xoan singing.

Vietnamese legend has it that Lac Long Quan, son of Kinh Duong Vuong, married Au Co, daughter of King De Lai. Au Co gave birth to a sack containing 100 eggs from which 100 children were born. The couple then decided to separate in order to populate the land and propagate the race, so half the children followed their mother to the highlands and the remaining went with their father to the sea.

The first child went with mother Au Co to Phong Chau, now Phu Tho province. He then became King Hung and founded the first nation in the history of Vietnam, called Van Lang.

Ruling the country over 18 generations, the Hung Kings taught the people how to grow wet rice. They chose Nghia Linh Mountain, the highest in the region, to perform rituals devoted to rice and sun deities to pray for lush crops.

To honour the great contributions of the Hung Kings, a complex of temples dedicated to them was built on Nghia Linh Mountain, and the tenth day of the third lunar month serves as the national commemorative anniversary.

Sai Gon's soul up for discussion

Fashion critic and writer Trac Thuy Mieu, journalist Nguyen Hau and young author Nguyen Ngoc Thach will speak at a monthly panel discussion on literature in HCM City on Sunday.

Book Talk 5: Sai Gon, Sai Gon this month will be about the treatment of Sai Gon's soul in literature, how many people have achieved fame by writing about Sai Gon, and how Sai Gon impacts the life of immigrants and coaxes them to write about it much more than natives do.

"More and more works of literature in recent times have been about Sai Gon," a release from the organiser, Nha Nam Cultural and Communication JSC, says.

"They use Sai Gon as material as well as setting.

"They create a serene, nostalgic undercurrent about Sai Gon."

Mieu, real name Vu Hoai Phuong, is a leading fashion writer and currently writer, emcee, and judge for a number of newspapers, magazines, and television channels.

Hau, born in Hai Phong, moved to HCM City when he was 25 and is editor of Esquire magazine.

Thach has written many essays, short stories, and novels like Khoc Giua Sai Gon (Cry in Sai Gon), Lung Chung Co Don (Halfway to loneliness), Chenh Venh Hai Lam (Tottering 25-year-old).

Many of his works are set in HCM City.

The event will be held at Nha Nam Bookstore, 43 Ho Van Hue Street, Phu Nhuan District.

The four previous editions had a range of topics as diverse as "the benefits of literature" and "addicted to books, keen on films."

Lang Son all set for summer

The northern province of Lang Son will hold the Mau Son Summer Tourism Festival at the eponymous tourism site in Cao Loc and Loc Binh districts on Sunday.

The festival will feature art performances and showcase traditional dishes, special wines, and traditional costumes of ethnic minorities living on Mau Son Mountain. There will also be a bicycle race, a climb up Phat Chi Mountain, and a youth camp.

Located some 30km north-east of Lang Son City, Mau Son has lovely, pristine landscapes, pure air, and cool weather year round. The mountain, which sometimes gets snow in winter, also has many beautiful streams and waterfalls.

Mau Son has many specialities like peach, Tuyet Son tea, wine, and rare cocks with six spurs. It is home to the Tay, Dao, and Nung ethnic minorities.

Ben Tre to hold fruit festival

Cho Lach District, which has the largest fruit cultivation area in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Ben Tre, will hold the annual fruit festival at its Culture and Sport Centre from June 15 to 21.

The festival will feature a delicious and safe fruit contest, a cuisine contest, folk games, art performances, and a fair to showcase fruit seedlings, flowers, and ornamental plants.

A highlight will be four artworks in the shapes of four sacred animals (dragon, unicorn, tortoise, and phoenix) made entirely from fruits.

Situated between two major rivers – Co Chien and Ham Luong – and with a dense system of rivers and canals, Cho Lach is famous for its delicious fruit varieties like durian, Java rambutan, and mangosteen.

Cho Lach also has many tourism destinations like flower and ornamental plant villages, Cai Mon Church – one of the country's 10 largest – and the house of Truong Vinh Ky (1837-98), who was one of the world's 18 leading scholars in the 19th century.

Time to vist ‘Roof of Gia Lai'

Kon Ka Kinh National Park in the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) province of Gia Lai is an ideal destination for tourists with its beautiful forests, picturesque streams and waterfalls, and diverse range of flora and fauna.

The park has a number of endangered primates like the grey-shanked douc and yellow-cheeked crested gibbon.

Located some 50km from Pleiku city, the park covers an area of nearly 42,000ha on the Pleiku Plateau and has 2,000ha of mixed broadleaf and coniferous forests, the only place in Viet Nam to have this.

The national park, one of four in Viet Nam to be recognised as an ASEAN Heritage Park, has begun developing several eco-tourism services like trekking through forests to view beautiful landscapes, climbing the 1,748m Kon Ka Kinh Mountain (the roof of Gia Lai), and wild animal and bird safaris.

Exhibition on ASEAN held in Thai Nguyen

An exhibition on images, films and documents on ASEAN is held from May 14-17 in the northern province of Thai Nguyen.

The exhibition introduces 200 images and 50 films and documents on nations, people, traditional culture and environment in ASEAN.

The year 2015 will mark the establishment of the ASEAN Community and the 20th anniversary of Viet Nam’s participation in ASEAN, said Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son.

The exhibition not only asserts the status of Viet Nam in ASEAN but also calls up Vietnamese people to join hands to set up a peaceful, sustainable and developing ASEAN Community, he stressed.

National Folk Song Festival wraps up in Nghe An

The finals of the 2015 National Folk Song Festival took place on May 14 in Vinh city, the central province of Nghe An, as part of activities to celebrate 125th birth anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh.

The finals featured more than 200 artisans as well as professional and amateur artists from 15 arts troupes representing 31 ethnic groups from around the country.

The artists presented the 16 best performances of folk songs, folk dances and folk musical instruments that won at festivals in the Northern Midland and Delta, Northern Mountainous, Central Highlands, Southern Central and Southern regions.

Numerous arts forms that were recognised as intangible cultural heritages of humanity by UNESCO were also introduced at the festival, including Xoan singing, Quan ho ((love duet singing), Ca tru (ceremonial singing) and Nghe Tinh Vi-Giam folk singing.

The organising board presented 10 A and six B prizes to the most outstanding performances as well as awards to the most impressive artisan, oldest artisan and youngest artists.

The festival was held to honour the values of Vietnamese culture and national identity, particularly folk arts, contributing to the country’s sustainable development.

The annual event also aims to discover and foster new and promising talents, especially young people, to develop folk singing movements in modern life.