Thanh Hoa restores relics

The People Committee of the central province of Thanh Hoa has just approved a VND7billion (US$350,000) plan to continue restoring its important historical and cultural relics.

These include Binh Khuong Temple within the Ho Dynasty Citadel, the temple of Tran Dynasty’s General Tran Khat Chan and Luong Ngoc Cultural Village.

Last month, Thanh Hoa already spent VND1.2 billion (US$60,000) to restore the temple of the province’s founding father Trinh Kha and Tuong Van Pagoda.

General Giap to be honored in musical program

General Vo Nguyen GiapA musical program to honor Vietnam’s legendary military commander Vo Nguyen Giap will be held in his hometown in the central province of Quang Binh at the end of May.

Celebrating the general and his command of the victorious Dien Bien Phu Battle against the French in 1954, the program, titled “General Vo Nguyen Giap and the Symphony of Dien Bien” will feature highly cinematic performances.

The program’s chief director Nguyen Quang Vinh said it took him three years to finish the script which he hopes will do justice to General Giap’s life and career.

“We want audiences to feel history once again,” Vinh said.

Over 300 actors and singers will take part. The program will be held at 8 pm on May 28 in Dong Hoi City and broadcast live on national television VTV1.

Hue celebrates Buddha’s birthday with festival

Seven floating lotuses have been lit up on the Huong River in Hue City to kick off the 2011 Buddhist Festival Week organized to celebrate Buddha’s 2555 birthday.

The lotuses, which represent Buddha’s seven steps, will be kept lit until May 17, or the full moon day in lunar April.

The festival was also launched with a Buddhist chanting ceremony at Tu Dam Pagoda on May 10 and an exhibition at Lieu Quan Buddhism Culture Centre.

Other events to take place include a vegetarian cuisine festival at 15 Le Loi and a music show at Tu Dam Pagoda on May 14, a Buddhist procession from Dieu De Pagoda to Tu Dam Pagoda on May 16, and a citywide parade on the evening of May 17.

Overseas Vietnamese painter depicts Apocalypse

An exhibition of paintings by Vietnamese-American artist and academic Tomas Vu – Daniel will open in Ho Chi Minh City Thursday.

The works in “Flat lands” explore the painter’s ideas of Apocalypse and purgatory.

Vu-Daniel layers drawing and collage into his works to create cascades where paper and paint morph into fantastic landscapes.

Vu – Daniel was born in 1963 in Vietnam and moved to the US at the age of 10. He received his BFA from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1987, and his MFA from Yale University in 1990.

He is now the director of printmaking and artistic director of the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies at Columbia University School of the Arts.

His works have won awards in Australia, Austria, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, and across the US.

The works, previously exhibited in Italy, China, and the US, will be on show at Gallery Quynh, 65 De Tham, District 1, until June 6.

HCMC café says bonjour to photo buffs

A photography enthusiast has set up a café in Ho Chi Minh City for photo lovers to gather and exchange ideas and obtain advice on shooting photos.

Tran Thai Hoa, one of its owners and a well-known photographer himself, said Bonjour Vietnam would regularly organize and sponsor photo exhibitions, competitions, and seminars within and outside Vietnam.

One of the first things it did upon opening on May 7 was hold an exhibition of 30 award-winning photos by famous local and international photographers.

The café, is in an attractive French colonial building situated in an alley off crowded Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in the downtown area.

Its relaxed ambiance is heightened by the aroma of coffee and gentle music.

Cai Luong Theater opens in city 

The Kim Chau Cai Luong Theater was inaugurated in a ceremony held at No.15-17, Nguyen Thai Binh Street in District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City. 

The theater will stage Cai Luong plays for devotees and children every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The theater will be a place for keeping the tradition of Cai Luong alive in the community and will foster love for folk opera amongst the young people in the south, besides discovering and training more young talent.

ASEAN countries to meet at traditional music festival

Troupes from a selection of countries will perform at the Traditional Music of ASEAN Countries Festival held on June 23-26 in Tuy Hoa City, situated in the southern province of Phu Yen.

The event is expected to attract participation from a variety of art troupes drawn from across the ASEAN region as well as from China, Japan and East Timor, according to Cao Huu Nhac, head of the Sao Bien troupe run by the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The international cultural event is one of the highlights of the National Tourism Year of 2011 held in Phu Yen Province in efforts to promote the region's tourism potential to international guests. The festival offers an additional opportunity for cultural exchange amongst ASEAN countries in order to strengthen cultural co-operation through performance art.

Phu Yen will be the first province to run the National Tourism Year, a programme which will form an integral part in tourism development over the next decade.

Lao school holds contest on President Ho

The Laos-Vietnam Friendship Secondary School in Vientiane held a contest on Vietnam ’s founding President Ho Chi Minh on May 11 in celebration of his 121 st birth anniversary.

Four teams representing 700 students at the school took part in the contest, answering questions about the late President’s biography, especially his revolutionary life, in accurate and fast Vietnamese. In a competition on Ho Chi Minh songs, the Lao students sang in a very good Vietnamese accent, winning loud applause from audiences.

The Laos-Vietnam Secondary School was a gift from the former Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary, Nong Duc Manh. The fully-equipped 21-classroom school was put into operation in 2010, accommodating some 800 students.

Saint Giong festival displays strength and solidarity

The Giong Festival in Phu Dong commune, Gia Lam district, Hanoi stepped into its main day on May 11 (the ninth day of the fourth lunar month), re-enacting outstanding cultural rituals that represented the strength, humanity and sacred nature of a traditional Vietnamese festival.

This year’s festival was organised on a larger scale, marking the first year since the festival was officially recognised by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as an intangible heritage of humankind.

The main day of the festival was highlighted by the re-enactment of combat against the Chinese Yin invaders by the legendary hero, who was said to use bamboo as his weapon.

Earlier, a flag procession from the Mau (Mother) Temple to the Thuong (Upper) Temple and a tiger capture show were held.

Two battles against the invaders at Dong Dam and Soi Bia were symbolised by flags dances and victorious feasts.

The Giong Festival is held annually in Phu Dong commune from the 6 th to the 12 th day of the fourth lunar month to commemorate Saint Giong, one of the immortal quartets in the Vietnamese legends.

Exhibition on late President Ho opens

An exhibition themed, “President Ho Chi Minh on a national liberation path” was opened at Ho Chi Minh Museum in Hanoi on May 11.

The event, jointly held by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Party Central Committee Office and the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, aims to celebrate the 121 st birthday of late President Ho Chi Minh and 100th anniversary of the day President Ho left the country to seek a way for national liberation.

The exhibition is showcasing nearly 200 documents and items, which provide an introduction to the process of seeking a pathway for national liberation by the late President Ho and marks his affirmation that only proletarian revolution could save the country and liberate the nation.

The exhibition also highlights the late President Ho’s role in the national construction cause as well as his contributions to the common struggle for peace, national independence, democracy and social progress.

Also on show at the event are major achievements in all fields recorded by the country’s Party and people during the renewal process.