VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism recently opened an exhibition of flowers and held a referendum on choosing the national flower in the central city of Da Nang. Over 97 percent of the votes supported the pink lotus.

Of 2,022 votes delivered at the exhibition alone, up to 1,955 or 96.98 percent chose pink lotus.

On two official websites for national flower voting (www.cinet.vn and www.quochoavietnam.com.vn), over 60 percent select pink lotus, in comparison with 25 percent for peach flower, and over 14 percent for yellow apricot.

A similar exhibition and poll will be held in HCM City from June 1-5.

At a similar exhibition and referendum held in Hanoi on March 2011, over 40 percent voted for the pink lotus as national flower, the highest rate.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will report to the Government, the results of the three referendums in the three largest cities in Vietnam, and propose for the National Assembly to recognize the national flower of Vietnam.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism set six criteria for selecting Vietnam’s national flower, including: being sourced from Vietnam or grown in Vietnam for a very long time; being adaptable to Vietnamese weather and grow everywhere in the country, blossoming year round or for a long time in the year; showing the culture and traditional, will, manner and aspiration of Vietnamese, and being beautiful and fragrant.

Many species of flowers have been suggested, such as peach, areca, yellow apricot, rose, bamboo, etc. However, most of people support lotus.

PV