VN cameraman strikes gold in Italy and Turkey competitions

Vietnamese photographer Truong Huu Hung has been awarded gold medals for his works Tren Duong Ra Cho (On the Way to the Market) and Ngu Phu (Fisherman) at international photography in Italy and Turkey.

The Italian contest was sponsored by FIAP, an international federation which links national photography associations.

Hung's work was based on the theme "Women in Society". He also won an honorary certificate for his work Nhip Dieu Lang Chai (Rhythm of a Fishing Village).

Hung's fellow photographers Ha Van Dong, Le Chau Dao, Nguyen Vu Phuoc and several others were awarded silver medals and honorary certificates by FIAP, the organisers said.

The awards ceremonies for the two contests will be held in Montevarchi, Italy on March 15 and in Mersin, Turkey on March 22.

Annual carnival to bring colour to Ha Long City

The Ha Long Carnival 2014 will be held on April 30 in the northern coastal province of Quang Ninh.

The carnival, themed "Quang Ninh – Convergence and Pervasion", will feature art performances, a fireworks show and a street parade of colourful costumes.

Last year's event attracted the participation of 4,000 actors and more than 25,000 tourists.

The Ha Long Carnival 2014 will take place from 8pm to 9.30pm on Hoang Quoc Viet Street in Ha Long City.

Unique installation art exhibition in Hanoi

An installation art exhibition kicked off at Hanoi’s Manzi Art Space on March 2, casting the spotlight on the works of young Vietnamese artists Le Giang and Le Hoang Bich Phuong.

The event themed – Below and above the sky –  is being co-sponsored by the Prince Claus Fund Award and the Danish Vietnamese Cultural Development and Exchange Fund (CDEF),  seeking to answer the question of how perfect the world is.

Visitors to the event, which runs until March 15, have a rare chance to look at people from various walks of life through the eyes of the artists and mull over philosophical concerns about the impact of people’s ignorance on society.

Born in HCM City in 1984, Le Hoang Bich Phuong is considered one of Vietnam’s most promising young artists whose study of Vietnamese and Japanese silk painting traditions has greatly influenced her own unique style and technique.

She was awarded an artist-in-residence in Sapporo, Japan, as part of the JENESYS Program: Invitation Program for Creators of the Japan Foundation and was also one of the finalists for the DOGMA Art Prize in self-portraiture in 2011.

Le Giang, born in Hanoi in 1988, graduated from Camberwell Art University in London and returned homeland in 2012. She earned her reputation thanks to various forms of arts, from painting, installation, to sculpture.

Renowned Japanese writer visits Vietnam

An exchange with Japan’s leading writer Takahashi Genichiro will take place at the Hanoi University of Social Science and Humanities (USSH) on March 10 and HCM USSH on March 12.

During the exchanges, he will introduce his novel “Farewell gangsters” and discuss other hot issues pertaining to contemporary literature.

“Farewell gangsters” was first published in 1982 and has won the Japanese Gunzo awards for the first outstanding works.

It was initially translated into English, Italian, Brazilian and Portuguese and then into Vietnamese in 2013 with financial support from the Japan International Exchange Fund.

Takahashi was born in 1951 in Onomichi, Hiroshima prefecture. He studied economics at Yokohama National University and began teaching at Meiji University’s International Studies faculty in April 2005.

The meetings are part of cultural exchange activities between Vietnam and Japan in 2014.

Japanese park opens in HCM City

Tung Son Thach Park (Rin Rin Park), a Japanese-style garden, was officially inaugurated on March 2 in Ho Chi Minh City, with the hope of promoting cultural exchange and mutual understanding between the two countries’ people.

Covering an area of 20,000 sq.m in Xuan Thoi Dong commune, Hoc Mon district, the park is the first of its kind in Vietnam. Many Japan ’s art forms like Bonsai and stone sculpture works are displayed here. All the trees, rocks and fish raised in an outdoor pond are brought from Japan.

The park was built by an overseas Vietnamese who has lived in Japan for more than 30 years.

According to La Quoc Khanh, Deputy Director of the Municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism La Quoc Khanh, the opening of the park contributes to diversifying the city’s tourism products.

The city has set a target of 4.4 million foreign visitors, earning 94 trillion VND ( 4.4 billion USD) from tourism activities in 2014.

Last year, more than 4.1 million foreign tourists, generating revenue of 81.97 trillion VND (3.85 billion USD).

Ho Chi Minh Trail recognized as national relic

Southern Binh Phuoc province held a ceremony on March 1 to officially recognize Truong Son range-Ho Chi Minh Trail as a special national relic, testament to Vietnam’s revolutionary past.

The event kicked off with a colourful procession along the legendary range marking the 55th anniversary of the Ho Chi Minh Trail formerly known as Truong Son mountain range, and the 60th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu victory.

Running from March 1 to 12, the tour will include entertainment from 300 performers from 13 provinces and passes through Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Dac Nong and Binh Phuoc.

Binh Phuoc People’s Committee Vice President Nguyen Huy Phong said the recognition of the site will help young people get a better understanding of national contributions by generations of Truong Son soldiers.

This decision along with 13 others to recognize well-known places as special historical sites was issued in 2013 by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

RoK supports Huong River planning scheme

The Republic of Korea has pledged a non-refundable official development assistance (ODA) aid package for the central province of Thua Thien-Hue to detail a planning scheme on the poetic Huong River.

The US$6 million project signed in Hue City on February 28 will be carried out within two and a half years by the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) after the success of a similar project for the city.

It aims to promote eco-friendly developments along the river and maximise local historical and cultural values in economic growth.

The Korean agency has helped Thua Thien- Hue province in economics, healthcare, cultural preservation and environmental protection.

Running through the city centre, 80 km long Huong (Perfume) River owes its name to its path through aromatic forests. The river, with its shimmering blue colour, is like a pearl in the sun. Dotted with rowing boats, the citadel, gardens, pagodas, towers and temples, the poetic landscape has long mesmerised travellers.

Khanh Hoa marks Alexandre Yersin’s death anniversary

The 71st death anniversary of Swiss-French physician and bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin was commemorated in the central coastal provinces of Khanh Hoa on March 1.

The anniversary was marked in accordance with local custom at his last resting place in Suoi Cat commune, Cam Lam district, by members of the Alexandre Yersin Admirers’ Association and local people.

Yersin (1863 - 1943) came to Vietnam in 1891 and lived in Khanh Hoa’s Nha Trang city for more than half of a century. He was most remembered as the co-discoverer of the bacillus responsible for the bubonic plague in 1894.

He discovered Liang Biang Plateau, the site for Da Lat city, in 1893 and founded the Nha Trang Pasteur Institute in 1895.

He was also the founder of the Indochina Medicine School, which later became the Hanoi Medical University and the Hanoi University of Pharmacy.

In 2013, Yersin was posthumously conferred with the Vietnamese Honorary Citizen title.

Japanese artifacts on display in Hanoi

As many as70 artifacts depicting Japan’s historical events and its traditional culture are on exhibit at 25 Tong Dan Street in Hanoi.

Featured attractions include archeological items, paintings, statues, handicraft products and documents from the Jomon dynasty (around 12,000-2,400 years ago) to the Edo dynasty (1603-1868), organised into nine themes.  

They illustrate Japan’s ancient ceramic and bronze products, Buddhist sculpture, Buddhist rituals tools, Japan with a struggle against the Mongol Empire, historical exchange between Vietnam and Japan, Japanese Edo ceramic products (during the 17-18th centuries), Samurai arts and collection of cultural exchange.

The exhibition aims to help visitors gain a better understanding of Japan’s traditional culture and historical exchanges between Vietnam and Japan.

On the occasion, a book featuring Japanese culture has been published, marking a new progress in bilateral cooperation ties in promoting cultural heritages of two countries.

Vietnam and Japan have a deeply rooted cultural and trade relationship, which dates back to the 14th century.

Since then the two governments have incrementally increased national diplomatic ties and have initiated policies designed to encourage business expansion.

In recent times, the Vietnam National Museum of History and the Kyushu National Museum officially put several cooperative organisations in place to promote cultural exchange and ties.

They also partnered in organising exhibitions promoting bilateral relations with Vietnam at Kyushu Museum from April to June, 2013, which attracted more than 70,000 visitors.

Hanoi promotes culture to international friends

Ambassadors, their wives and representatives from more than 20 embassies and international organisations joined a spring tour of the traditional craft village of Bat Trang in Hanoi on March 1.

The trip was co-organised by the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) and the Hanoi Union of Friendship Organizations with the aim of promoting Vietnam’s culture to international friends and deepening mutual understanding between Vietnamese people and foreigners.

Participants visited places of interest of the ceramics village, such as an exhibition site, ancient village, ancient path, artisans’ houses and made ceramic products by themselves.

The trip ended with a cultural exchange, helping to tighten the ties of friendship between Vietnamese and international friends.

El Houcine Fardani, head of the diplomatic corp. and Moroccan ambassador, expressed his sincere gratitude to VUFO and Hanoi for their warm hospitality during the trip.

He spoke highly of VUFO and Hanoi’s initiatives to organise such activities which, he believes, will contribute to further strengthening cooperation between Vietnam and foreign countries, shaping a brighter future for Vietnam and raising its international status.

Upgrading the ancient citaldel of Quang Tri

The second phase of a project to conserve and upgrade the historic relics of Quang Tri citadel has gotten underway.

The project aims to helps educate the younger generation to learn about the national history and attract both Vietnamese and international visitors to the historical relics.

With a total investment capitalization of nearly VND200 billion, the project is being implemented in the 2009-2015 period.

In the second phase, many places such as bomb crater, citadel walls and the post-gate are being upgraded.

In addition, a zone to memorialize the battle of 81 days and night at Quang Tri citadel is being built, along with an upgrade to a museum and a monument.

The upgrade and conservation of Quang Tri citadel is also intent on promoting the value of Quang tri citadel and commemorate brave soldiers.

Hue holds online dialogue on heritage conservation

The People’s Committee of central Thua Thien-Hue province on February 28 held an online dialogue with local organizations, businesses and individuals on ways to preserve heritages, develop tourism and organise the Hue Festival 2014.

Regarding efforts to build Hue into a centre of culture, tourism and services and a festival city in Vietnam, Vice Chairman of the committee Ngo Hoa, said that Hue is the only ancient capital in Vietnam that still reserves the royal artistic architecture with a system of citadels, palaces, temples, pagodas and tombs.

In addition to a huge treasure of tangible cultural heritages, Hue is famous for diverse intangible cultural ones, including the folk and royal cultures.

The Complex of Hue Monuments was named in the UNESCO list of world cultural heritages in 1993 and Nha Nhac (Vietnamese royal court music) was recognised as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity in 2003.

In the past years, Hue’s cultural heritages have helped promote the image of the ancient capital to domestic and foreign tourists and investors, creating a strong growth for the tourism and service sector, Hoa said.

However, the development of tourism in combination with conservation and promotion of cultural heritage values in Thua Thien-Hue is facing many challenges such as poor awareness of protecting heritages, limited resources for preservation work, and poor tourism products and services, he noted.

In its development orientation, the vice chairman said the province will exert every effort to turn itself into an attractive destination for domestic and foreign visitors and a great tourism and service centre in the central region.

It will also strive to make Hue a world-renowned festival city, he added.

According to Pham Tien Dung, Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in the time to come, the province will focus on diversifying tourism products, including cultural and spiritual tourism, tours to craft villages, health care, MICE and adventure tours.

It plans to preserve and upgrade some festivals at Hon Chen and Huyen Tran Temples, Huong Van and Truc Lam Bach Ma Zen Monasteries as well as expand tours to tourist sites and local communities, he said.

In addition to conserving and developing traditional craft villages to serve tourism, the province will join hands with other localities in the region to build attractive tourism products, he added.

Writer launches new book with musical performance

Sweet childhood memories, amazing feelings of vital springs, nostalgia for her native land, and a great passion for charming Paris – those are the different emotions that female writer and poet Vi Thuy Linh reveals in her newly-published book, Ho Chieu Tam Hon (Passport of the Soul).

The three-part book features 34 essays, which the author wrote since 2012.

In the first part, entitled Lien Xuan (Spring), Linh exposes her endless emotions about the spring, which, according to the author, is "the season of love, hope, and belief".

Commenting on this part, literature critic Pham Xuan Nguyen said: "Linh was blessing by not only having all the very sensitive senses, which help her to feel full of the nature's quintessence, but also to have a writing talent that helps her to be able to preserve that natural essence with her words."

Comprised of 11 pieces, the second part – entitled Link – focuses on her tightened connection with different regions of Viet Nam.

Linh wrote about Ha Noi – her birthplace, her mother's homeland in Hai Phong, her father's native land in Trung Khanh in Cao Bang northern border province, about her most visited cities, Da Nang and HCM City, and the inviolable Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelago.

Especially, in this part, Linh has narrated her meetings with two famous late writers, Thach Lam and Nguyen Hong, in two fictional essays, Gap Thach Lam o Cam Giang (Meet Thach Lam in Cam Giang) and Nguyen Hong – Tren Chuyen Tau Doi (Nguyen Hong – On the Train of Life).

The female author said this is the first time that Vietnamese fictional essays have been presented to local readers.

In the third part, Linh presents 13 essays revealing her nostalgia about her childhood, her concern about the human future when people tend to be fake and selfish, as well as her strenuous journey in searching for the true values of the soul.

"Unlike the legal passport issued by authorities, the Passport of the Soul is created by its owner. For me, literature is my soul's passport. Each story in this book unveils a part of my soul. I hope any reader reading this book can feel and understand my emotions. Once they can do that, I believe that they will have a new ‘visa' in their soul's passport," Linh said.

She has not only attracted readers with her passionate words, Linh's book also impresses them with beautiful illustrations.

Linh said she wanted to offer a chic publication to her readers, which is why she invited seven famous painters to produce illustrations for the Passport of the Soul.

The in-vogue artists of Vietnamese contemporary painting, including Vi Kien Thanh, Dao Hai Phong, Bui Mai Hien, Dang Xuan Hoa, Nguyen Thi Hien, Pham Ha Hai, and Pham An Hai, contributed 17 of their works for the book.

To promote the book, as well as to honour literature, Linh will organise a performance of different art genres, including drama, opera, quan ho (love duet), concert music and prose readings, at L'Espace on Thursday night.

Entitled Linh's Night – Passport of the Soul, the event will bring together several talented artists to perform, including drama actor Hoang Dung and actress Thu Ha, soprano Vanh Khuyen, quan ho artist Thuy Huong, pianist Nguyen Thu Dong, violinists Le Tuan Anh and Duong Minh Chinh, cellist Doan Huong Khanh and flutist Le Thu Huong.

This is the second time an art performance honouring literature is being held. Earlier, in December 2012, Linh hosted a similar performance when she introduced her debut prose collection, ViLi's Essays, at the same time as her sixth poetry collection, ViLi&Paris.

Additionally, the writer hasn't hidden her intention to become a playwright, as she has produced the script for both performances.

Tickets for Linh's Night cost VND120,000 and can be purchased at L'Espace, 24 Trang Tien Street.

Creating a literature phenomenon with her 1999 debut poetry collection, Khat (Thirsty), Linh gained more fame when her poems were performed in diva Tran Thu Ha's live show in 2002.

Born in 1980, Linh has been considered one of the most accomplished writers of her generation.

Gallery offers sneak peek at Hong Kong-bound artworks

The Craig Thomas gallery will offer a three-hour preview of selected works by 10 artists that are headed for an art exhibition in Hong Kong later this month. The preview will be held at the gallery on March 7.

The works comprise figurative and abstract, mixed media, oil and acrylic paintings, wood-burning, sculptures, and installation works by Lim Khim Ka Ty, Bui Thanh Tam, Lieu Nguyen , Pham Huy Thong , Nguyen The Hung, Bui Tien Tuan, Tran Quoc Tuan, Luong Luu Bien, and Ngo Van Sac.

The paintings will be shown at the Affordable Art Fair held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from March 21 to 23. The exhibition has attracted the participation of 121 galleres from many countries.

Craig Thomas Gallery, founded in 2009, represents numerous award-winning contemporary Vietnamese artists.

The gallery is focused on supporting the development of young and mid-career artists and providing them with a platform to present their work to a wider audience.

It is located at 27i Tran Nhat Duat Street, District 1.

Hoi An celebrates arrival of six millionth foreign tourist

The ancient city of Hoi An celebrated the arrival of the 6 millionth foreign tourist who visited the old quarter at the Japanese Bridge, on Thursday.

German tourist Erika Wilskie, 85, who joined the tourist group Studiosus, was identified as the 6 millionth foreign visitor and received gifts from the city's People's Committee.

"I'm so happy today to find out that I am the 6 millionth tourist to visit the old streets in Hoi An. I've been retired for years and have visited many destinations around the world. But this is my first visit to Hoi An," Wilskie said.

"I was told that Hoi An is the best visitor site as it's so friendly, and tourists can enjoy the peaceful town and its people."

The old town started selling package tickets for tourists to visit the old street in 1995.

The city's tour service office offered free tickets to the German tourist group as a gift on the occasion of the arrival of the 6 millionth tourist in the old quarter.

According to Quang Nam Provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, more than 1.6 million foreign visitors had visited the province in 2013.

Hoi An had already successfully launched community tourism activities, such as farming, fishing, boat rides and biking. Other community festivals, sites and art exhibits such as the silk village, lantern festival and pottery display have also been launched.

The province is the only location in Viet Nam with two UNESCO-recognised world heritage sites, Hoi An and the My Son Sanctuary, as well as the world biosphere reserve of the Cham Islands.

Vietnamese movie to be screened at Francophone Film Festival

The Vietnamese movie, ‘Nhung Nguoi Viet Huyen Thoai’ (The Legend Makers), is to be screened at the 2014 Francophone Film Festival, taking place at the French Culture Centre in Hanoi from March 11-27.

The film, by young director Bui Tuan Dung, is about the people – the heroes – who joined the construction of an oil pipeline to transport oil and petrol to the southern front during the national resistance war against the US in the 1960s.

Other 11 movies from France, Belgium, Romania, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Republic of Chad will also be shown during the 17-day festival.

The Chad Republic’s movie ‘Grigris’ will open this year’s film festival. It tells the story of a poor boy, harbouring dreams of becoming a professional dancer despite his paralysed leg.

The annual festival is an ideal opportunity for the capital’s audience to explore the world’s foreign cultures.