Dragon Bridge among world’s top 30 gorgeous bridges

Rong (Dragon) Bridge in the central city of Danang has been listed among top 30 gorgeous bridges over the world by a famous tourism website, Viralnova.

Some of the listed bridges are small, some are huge. Some are pinnacles of cutting-edge engineering technology. Some are ancient, but have stood the test of time. Some are deceptively simple, and some are incredibly intricate.

The Dragon bridge features 166 meters of undulating steel in the shape of a giant fire-breathing dragon flying towards the East Sea. The main span of the 37.5m-wide bridge is bookended by two 128m side sections, with a head and tail on each end of those. The whole construction weighs 8,164 tonnes and stretches 666m in length.

It is a bridge with unique aesthetic and creative characteristics, and incorporates complex technologies. Spanning the Han River, the bridge connects Danang International Airport with the city's most popular beaches and the downtown area.

Tops on the list are Infinity Bridge of the UK, Puente Nuevo of Spain, Moon Bridge of Italy, Dyavolski Most of Bulgaria, Banpo Bridge of the Republic of Korea, and Animal Crossing Bridge of the Netherlands.

Cua Van named a world top 10 beautiful coastline

Travel & Leisure Magazine recently cited Cua Van fishing village in the northern province of Quang Ninh amongst the top 10 most breathtaking coastlines in the world.

Located nearly 30km from the mainland, Cua Van fishing village, famous for the magnificent limestone mountains of Halong Bay, is home to nearly 200 households who enjoy a peaceful life on floating boats.

Rounding out the top ten are Vietnam, Polperro (UK), Saint George (Bermuda), Manarola (Italy), Camden (US), Kotor (Montenegro), Lunenburg (Canada), Sidi Bou Said (Tunisia), Cadaqués (Spain), and Ilulissat (Greenland).  

Princess Lockeroo to be chaired for Reunion Dance Camp

Princess Lockeroo, the world’s famous waacking specialist, will sit on the panel of judges for the first time in Vietnam’s Show Off Vol.4 – Reunion Dance Camp competition.

Born and raised in New York City, Lockeroo is a multi-faceted performance artist, with talents encompassing choreography and artistic direction and music production for stage and film, costume and makeup design. This dynamic diva has advocated bringing the popular and expressive 1970s disco era dance style waacking back into the spotlight.

The fourth season of the competition is a playground for Vietnam’s hip hop community to show their love for a street art. Show Off Vol.4 – Reunion Dance Camp features hip hop, popping, waacking and freestyle.

Part of the proceeds from the contest will go to the Learning Promotion Fund of Street Dance Team in order to open a dance class for street children who love hip hop.

Reunion Dance Camp will take place at An Nhon Cultural House, 259 Duong Quang Ham Street, Go Vap District, HCMC, on October 19.

Hanoi Craft Village Festival ready to kick off

Over 366 pavilions will showcase a wide variety of wares at this year’s four-day 2014 Hanoi Traditional Craft Village Festival set to get underway at the Quan Ngua Sports Palace on October 9.

The organising board has announced over fifteen stalls will feature food items from the Republic of Korea and tourist products from Malaysia, and ceramics, rattan, embroidery items, textiles and folk paintings from Vietnam.

Within the event, a ceremony to honour outstanding craft villages is planned and artists and artisans will stage a series of entertaining art and martial art performances along with folk games for all to enjoy.

Hanoi welcomes over 2 million international visitors

More than 2 million foreign tourists have flocked to Hanoi since the beginning of this year, up 15% against the same period last year, the Hanoimunicipal Department for Culture, Sports and Tourism reported on Oct. 6.

The Department cited fluctuations in the East Sea as one of hurdles, which however it said, failed to prevent the rising in number of international arrivals in the capital city. Hanoi also welcomed more than 14 million domestic tourists, up 8% compared to the same period last year.

The number of foreign tourists to Hanoi in the reviewed period was 1.5 time higher than the country’s average growth, it reported, adding that more international guests will visit the city in the remaining months of this year which is the peak tourism season.

The Department attributed the city’s tourism growth to effective promotion programmes and investment in diversifying tourism products and services in several attractions in the outskirt of Hanoi.

To attract more tourists, the capital is building up plans to upgrade a number of cultural and historical relic sites, such as Ngoc Son Temple, Hoa Lo Prison, Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam (the first university in Vietnam), and Giong festival space.

Paper horses explain French connection

People who visited the L'Espace cultural centre in downtown Ha Noi recently may have witnessed a peculiar sight, a herd of seven horses made of paper mache that appear to be grazing peacefully in a field.

The horses arrived at L'Espace, 24 Trang Tien Street, as part of artist Trieu Tuan Long's first installation: Information Transmitted by Horse Riding.

Photos pasted onto the horse figures depict the relationship between French and Vietnamese culture. The exhibition will run until October 26.

"The art works well with the fact that this is the year of horse," Long said. "But I was inspired by people making paper horses in Phuc Am Village on the western outskirts of Ha Noi."

Long spent about a year crafting the statues, he said. They are similar, but differ in size and decoration. To make them, he first fashioned a skeleton out of bamboo, and then covered it in layers upon layers of paper – like the traditional process for making paper masks.

Thousands of photos gathered by Long and his friends were then pasted to the outermost layer of paper. The largest horse weighs about 30 kilograms and is made from 300 layers of paper.

Each horse's photo reflects a particular theme or place, such as Ta Hien old street; French colonial buildings; French performances in Ha Noi; examples of French architecture, such as the Opera House, the Cathedral and Hang Dau Post Office; French and Vietnamese children; and cultural exchanges between France and Viet Nam.

"I wanted to express the long term relationship between the French and Vietnamese people in a more friendly and casual way," Long said. "It's the way that ordinary people talk to one another, not the way of diplomats."

Long said he wanted visitors to think about the messages the animals conveyed, instead of learning by sitting in front of a television or computer.

"Although the photos were printed in a random way, I find the most interesting pictures under the horses' bellies and legs," said student Vu Thu Phuong.

She bent lower and lower to see the pictures farther down the horse. "The photos tell me a vivid story about French people's feelings toward Vietnamese people and vice versa."

Quang Nam resident wins ‘good people' contest

Nguyen Thanh Ba, a native of Quang Nam Province, has won first prize in a writing contest launched by HCM City's organisations to introduce "good people".

The organisers of Hat Giong Tam Hon Viet (Vietnamese Soul Seeds) contest announced last Saturday that Ba and other winners had displayed writing skills, and conveyed emotion as well as an understanding of literature and social issues.

Ba's work Ong My Va Duong (Mr My Repairs Road) is a true story of an old bicycle mechanic Nguyen Van My, who lives in a poor village of Quang Nam Province's Dien Ban District.

The mechanic My spent three years alone to repair local roads in his Dien Nam Bac Commune. Using his pick and shovel, he began work from early morning till late evening to repair village roads.

The organisers named five other winners of second and third prizes.

Organised by the city's Tuoi Tre (Youth) Newspaper in co-operation with the publishing house First News and Bibica Company, the competition began in July and was aimed at amateur writers nationwide.

Over 200 participants, many of them from remote areas, submitted essays on various people, who are ordinary people but make great contributions to their community.

All the best works will be published this year.

Cellist star's video fetes Ha Noi Liberation Day

A music video Huong Ve Ha Noi (Toward Ha Noi) featuring cellist Dinh Hoai Xuan and the Viet Nam National Symphony and Orchestra has been released to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the capital's Liberation Day on October 10.

Xuan, from Hue central city, was inspired to produce the video by the popular song Huong Ve Ha Noi (Toward Ha Noi) by veteran composer Hoang Duong.

The song was arranged by musician Luu Ha An for cello, piano, clarinet and orchestra.

Directed by Le Ha Nguyen, it tells the story of young soldiers and the peaceful beauty of Ha Noi.

French pop singer Maurin to perform in VN cities

Noted French pop singer Sophie Maurin will perform songs from her first album, Far Away, in HCM City's IDEACAF on October 10 and at Ha Noi's L'Espace centre on October 11.

Her debut album won the Coup de Coeur award from the Academie Charles Cros in 2013 as well as the best debut award from France Inter, a major public radio channel and part of Radio France, and Telerama, a French weekly magazine of TV and radio listings.

Classically educated Maurin took her country by storm with her lyrics and the sweetness of her voice.

The shows will start at 8pm.

“Xoe” dancers to perform at Yen Bai’s cultural week

More than 1,000 local artists are scheduled to perform s ix popular ethnic Thai “Xoe” dances during a “Week of Culture, Sports and Tourism”

organised in Nghia Lo town in the northwestern mountainous province of Yen Bai from October 16-20.

The dances, named “Om lom top nhu”, “Xe vong”, “Nhom Khan”, “Pha xi”, “Don hon” and “Kham khan moi lau”, were collected by Lo Van Bien, a local Thai dance master. They were performed once before by more than 2,000 local dancers in the largest-ever mass performance last year, setting a Vietnamese record.

“Xoe” is an important group dance performed by the ethnic Thai who developed around 30 variations of the dance.

The dance charms with its gentle and alluring rhythms. Dancers usually form a circle around a fire and move to the sounds of traditional music.

During the five-day event, a range of other activities will be run, including sporting contests, a “Xoe” folk dance competition, and buffalo fighting.

Traditional Thai, Muong and Tay cuisine from the locality will be available for visitors to explore in a food exhibition and cooking competition.

According to Vice Chairwoman of Nghia Lo town’s People’s Committee Hoang Thi Hanh, the cultural week is part of local authorities’ efforts to promote tourism development in the locality with a view to attracting more holiday-makers and investors in tourism to Yen Bai.

It is also expected to help boost cultural exchanges between ethnic communities living in the province and contribute to the preservation of local cultural values, Hanh said.

Bilingual pictorial popular with ethnic minorities

The monthly bilingual pictorial “Dan Toc va Mien Nui” (Nationalities and Mountainous Areas), a Vietnam News Agency (VNA) publication, has become indispensable to ethnic minorities, according to feedback received in conferences held in Ninh Thuan, Gia Lai and Dak Lak provinces from October 1-6 to review the magazine’s first two years of publication.

Up to 23,000 issues published in Khmer, Bhana, Jrai, Ede, Cham, Mong, K’ho and M’nong, along with Vietnamese, are sent to schools, villages, border posts and cultural centres each month, predominantly to poor and remote areas, VNA Deputy Director General Le Duy Truyen, who chaired the events, informed the participants.

Thanks to the concise articles and beautiful pictures, readers have found it easy to stay informed about the latest national developments, including current Party and State policies. Readers feel more motivated to join campaigns and contribute their time and efforts to the construction of new rural areas.

Featuring news that examine the socio-political situation and poverty reduction efforts, the magazine is now available in over 40 localities.

Conference participants provided feedback to improve content and suggested printing more copies to widen readership.

On the occasion, select individuals and organisations were awarded “For the cause of VNA” badges and certificates of merit in recognition of their contributions.

In working sessions with the VNA Deputy Director General, provincial authorities promised to continue to cooperate with VNA by distributing the pictorial and the daily paper Tin Tuc (News).

They will also help disseminate information via the V-News television channel and release bilingual publications in Vietnamese-Co Tu and Vietnamese-Xe Dang next year.-

New venue for football fans

A digital European football mobile and online platform of News Corp subsidiary NWS Digital Asia Pte Limited – has been launched on local website 24H.

The two-season partnership will be in force until June 2016. 24H will distribute exclusive football highlights under the BallBall brand and advertising content. Galaxy Media is BallBall’s exclusive distributor and sales partner in Vietnam.

News Corp’s BallBall is the platform in Vietnam where fans can watch official highlights of every goal from every game from the top five major European leagues, including the Barclays Premier League (England), La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy), Bundesliga (Germany) and Ligue 1(France). BallBall has four platforms – desktop,  laptop, mobile and tablet – which showcase this exclusive package of video highlights of two to three minutes.

The website’s contents also include real-time data feeds, infographics, written editorial coverage, commentary and analysis from News Corp’s globally recognized publications and engages with football fans on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

“Football is the most popular form of entertainment for daily consumption of Vietnam’s online citizens, and there is a clear trend and demand from users to improve it. Speed and quantity are not enough; the audience also has a growing need for better image and content quality from video clips of the top European leagues,” said Phan Minh Tam, CEO of 24H Online Advertising Joint Stock Company, the owner of the website.

All editorial content and social media is available in the local language by experts in Hanoi as well as in Jakarta and Tokyo for its Indonesia and Japanese versions.

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