Six people were seriously injured after a pick-up truck lost control and crashed into three motorbikes and a taxi on Wednesday afternoon in the central province of Thanh Hóa.

The pick-up truck was travelling from Phú Sơn Ward to Rừng Thông Town in Đông Sơn District when the accident took place. The truck crashed into three motorbikes, throwing off the six passengers riding them, who suffered serious injuries.

It then collided with a taxi before coming to a halt. The driver, whose identity could not be ascertained, fled from the scene. The victims were rushed to a hospital for treatment.

Provincial police are investigating the case.

Lang Son launches tree-planting campaign

A ceremony was held in Lang Son City, the northern border province of Lang Son, on February 21 to launch a tree-planting festival.

The event was attended by local authorities and hundreds of youths and residents of the city.

More than 300 peach blossoms trees were planted in the Mac Dynasty historical site.

The same day, trees were also planted in other places, including historical sites, scenic spots and schools. Fruit trees were planted for social policies beneficiaries.

In 2018, the province aims to plant more than 9,000 new hectares of forests, raising forest coverage to 62 percent.

Vietnam leaves impression at cultural festival in Egypt

Vietnam made strong impression on visitors at the 15th Sakia Exhibition for Cultural Services, which opened at the El Sawy Culturewheel centre in the Egyptian capital city of Cairo on February 21.

The two-day event drew the participation of more than 20 countries and territories across the world.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Egypt introduced many documents, books, photos and objects on culture, history, country and people of Vietnam, especially its outstanding achievements.

Besides books on tourism introducing exciting destinations and unique features of regions, there also were maps and documents on Vietnam’s islands and the country’s specialities of fried spring rolls and coffee.

At this year’s event, visitors could also enjoy a dance with conical hats performed by Vietnamese students wearing ao dai (traditional long dress), along with performances of the Vietnam Circus Federation.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Egypt Do Hoang Long voiced his hope that the event will provide more information on Vietnamese culture for international friends.

Vietnam and Egypt will mark the 55th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2018, and the event is part of the Embassy’s activities to celebrate the occasion, he added.

The Sakia Exhibition for Cultural Services is held annually and allows delegations to exchange cultural activities and boost unity and understanding.

Vietnamese students in Moscow celebrate Tet

Overseas Vietnamese at the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute in Moscow hosted an art show on February 21 to celebrate the traditional Lunar New Year (Tet).

The event was attended by Minister-Counselor Lai Ngoc Doan from the Embassy of Vietnam in Russia, President Vitaly Grigorevich Kostomarov and teachers of the institute and hundreds of Vietnamese students in Russia.

Addressing the function, on behalf of the Embassy, Doan extended Tet greetings to all participants and thanked to the institute’s leaders for organising the event.

For his part, the institute’s President spoke highly of Vietnam – Russia relations, saying that more than 100 Vietnamese students at the institute are enhancing the two nations’ friendship.

He expressed his hope that more Vietnamese will learn Russia, and vice versa.

Participants also enjoyed a photo exhibition and Vietnamese food during the event.

Hundreds more communes to become new-style rural areas in 2018

The number of communes meeting all criteria of new-style rural areas is expected to reach 3,300 – 3,400 (or 37 – 38 percent of the total communes across the country) this year, according to the Coordination Office of the national target programme on new-style rural.

At the district level, the number will reach at least 53.

A total of 3,069 communes and 43 districts earned the title of new-style rural area as of the end of 2017.

Also this year, the number of communes meeting less than five criteria is expected to fall below 100.

According to Nguyen Minh Tien, head of the office, the volume of rural roads built during the past six years was more than five times the volume built from 2001 – 2010.

As of the end of 2016, all communes nationwide were connected to the national power grid, 99.7 percent had primary schools and kindergartens, 99.5 percent had medical stations, 99.4 percent had concrete roads to communal centres, and 4,498 communes had concentrated water supply stations.

As many as 3,854 value chain-based production models have been established, helping form some large-scale production areas.

In particular, the programme on “One Commune, One Product”, successfully piloted in Quang Ninh province, has been expanded to many localities and become one of the focuses in rural economic development.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has coordinated with the Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU) to encourage women’s involvement in the new-style rural area building programme.

MARD Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong highlight the increasingly important role of women in agriculture and new-style rural building, pointing to the fact that male labourers tend to shift to non-agricultural sector and move to urban areas to work.

Women play the central role in socio-economic, cultural development, participate directly and actively and encourage their family members to join in infrastructure building and agricultural restructure, Cuong added.

Large-scale agricultural cooperatives and farms will be developed with application of science and technology towards connected and safe production.

Research will be conducted on developing climate change-resilient livelihood models for women, while the project on assisting women’s start-ups in agriculture and rural areas will be accelerated.

Prime Minister visits farmers in Nam Dinh

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc paid a visit to farmers in Hai Hau district, the northern province of Nam Dinh, encouraging them to promote agricultural production and tree planting.

Hai Hau is among the four districts in Vietnam selected to become the nation’s exemplary models of new-style rural building. Economic development as part of new-style rural building has given the area a facelift, with average production value per hectare of the local arable land amounting to 112 million VND (4,916 USD).

Talking to leaders of Nam Dinh and Hai Hau, the Prime Minister lauded local farmers’ working spirit from the beginning of the lunar year.

He urged Nam Dinh to strive for the goal of 100 percent of its districts meeting new-style rural standards and Hai Hau becoming an exemplary new-style rural locality.

The PM directed local authorities to continue with agricultural restructuring in the direction of creating favourable conditions for businesses to invest in the sector.

As part of his visit, PM Phuc and local leaders planted trees in Hai Hau’s Yen Dinh town to launch a new-year forestation festival that was set to see thousands of fruit and shade trees planted along roads and coastal areas across the district. 

The PM also toured paddy fields in Hai Hau’s Hai Dong commune and a waste treatment site in Xuan Truong district.

Spring festival to honour national ethnic cultures

A spring festival will be held at the Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism in Hanoi on February 24-25 to promote the rich and diverse cultures of ethnic groups across the country and strengthen national unity.

The event will feature a wide range of activities, with a highlight being the re-enactment of the Gau Tao festival of Mong ethnic people and wedding ceremony of Bo Y ethnic inhabitants in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang.

Gau Tao, held to thank gods for granting good health to families and villages, is one of the largest traditional festivals of Mong ethnic people. It combines almost all types of folk cultural activities of the group and has been recognised as part of the national intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Meanwhile, the Bo Y ethnic minority group has managed to preserve their traditional culture from costumes and house architecture to wedding and funeral customs despite a small population. In the past, Bo Y people could only get married to those from the same ethnic group. But now, men and women are able to choose their partners from different ethnic groups. The wedding ceremony is usually organized in spring to pray for happiness and procreation.

Another major activity will be a praying ceremony where monks from Khmer pagodas will pray for peace and blessing.

People from Thai ethnic group in the northern province of Son La will host a folk game namely ‘tung con’ (throwing a ball through the ring).

About 1 million tourists visit Hung Temple relic site during Tet

Nearly one million visitors came to pay tribute to Hung Kings and other ancestors who founded the country at the Hung Kings Temple Relic Site in the northern province of Phu Tho during the 2018 Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.

Director of the Management Board of the relic site Nguyen Duy Anh said the surge of visitors was attributable to favourable weather during the seven-day holiday, which fell on February 14-20. 

The Management Board has worked to ensure safety for tourists and restore some worshipping places, as well as arrange personnel providing guidance for visitors, he added.

Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Ha Ke San said that the annual festival honouring the Hung Kings will be held in the province between April 21 and 25 (the 6th and 10th day of the third lunar month).

The festival this year will be hosted by Phu Tho with the coordination of four other provinces, including the northern province of Thai Nguyen, the central province of Quang Nam and the southern provinces of Binh Duong and Kien Giang.

An incense offering ceremony will be held at the Den Thuong (Upper Temple) on the death anniversary of the Hung Kings (April 25). Various activities will take place during the festival like a chung (square cake) making contest and preparing giay (glutinous round) cake; local delicacies exhibited at a fair and art shows.

The event will also feature performances of Xoan singing, which has recently been recognised as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Hung Kings founded the first nation in the history of Vietnam, called Van Lang, in Phong Chau (now Phu Tho province). Ruling the country for 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 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 their anniversary.

The worshipping rituals of the Hung Kings are closely related to the ancestral worship traditions of most Vietnamese families, an important part of people’s spiritual lives.

The worshipping ritual of the Hung Kings was recognised as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2012.

Anniversary of Hai Ba Trung Uprising marked in Hanoi

A ceremony was held to mark the 1978th anniversary of the Hai Ba Trung Uprising at the Hai Ba Trung Temple, a special national relic site, in Hanoi’s Me Linh district on February 21, or the 6th day in the first month of the Year of the Dog. 

The event also celebrated a certificate recognizing the Hai Ba Trung Temple Festival as part of the national intangible cultural heritage. 

Prominent among delegates at the ceremony were Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung and former Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan.

On the sixth day of the second lunar month in 40 AD, the Trung Sisters led a mass uprising against the Han invaders to reclaim national independence after more than 200 years of foreign rule. 

After defeating the invaders, Trung Trac became King. Three years later, the Han army returned and defeated the Trung sisters and their army, after which the sisters killed themselves by jumping into the Hat Giang river. 

The uprising has gone down in Vietnamese history as a demonstration of the nation's strength and patriotism, as well as the crucial role of Vietnamese women in national construction and defence.

The festival comprises several rituals such as incense offering, a parade and folk performances. It will last until February 23, or the 8th day in the first lunar month.