Youth Halloween night to bring scares, traffic safety tips

The largest ever Halloween festival in Ha Noi will bring scary, traffic safety-themed thrills on October 31 to West Lake Water Park.

Activities visitors can participate in include a costume parade through downtown, an exhibition of ancient and strange motorbikes and cars, ghost-themed attractions, music and a Halloween fashion show. The event will last from 8 to 10 pm.

A show for children during the festival, Ghost Road, aims to raise youth awareness about the dangers of illegal motorbike racing. It will highlight serious accidents caused by motorbike racing gangs.

Capital to host European language day

The fourth annual European Day of Languages will be held at the Goethe Institute on October 25.

A conference about innovations in foreign language education will take place from 9am to 1pm, followed by a festival from 2pm to 7pm.

Participants can take part in 30-minute German, English, French, Spanish, Italian and Polish lessons and a workshop about studying in Spain, Germany and Italy.

The event this year was organised by the European Union National Institutes of Culture (EUNIC) with the embassies of France, Italy and Poland as well as the Spanish Aula Cervantes Institute, the British Council, the Goethe-Institute, the German Academic Exchange Service and the Gestion Educativa Consultore Company from Spain.

All activities are free of charge and take place at the Goethe Institute, 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street.

Handicrafts of Tohoku, Japan to display in Vietnam

Exhibitions of the undeniably beautiful and highly developed handicraft techniques of Tohoku craftsman are set to take place in Ho Chi Minh City from October 31 to November 10 and Hanoi from December 12-22.

The events aim to mark the earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku on March 11, 2011. The Tohoku region, known for its beautiful landscape and traditional culture, suffered damages of unprecedented proportions.

Much was lost and the manufacturing and handicraft industries were hard hit.

The exhibitions will feature ceramic, lacquer, weaving, mental, wood and bamboo works made by artisans Kanjiro Kawai, Shoji Hamada, Keisuke Serizawa and Shiko Munakata.

The exhibitions are free for visitors.

The Deputy Head of the General Department of Politics under the Vietnam People’s Army, Lt. Gen. Nguyen Trong Nghia, hosted a reception in Hanoi on October 18 for a performance group from the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces.

Nghia extended a warm welcome to the Cambodian artists, saying that the troupe’s tour of Vietnam will not only popularise Cambodia’s cultural features to Vietnamese people and soldiers, but also help consolidate the time-honoured friendship and solidarity between the two armies and peoples.

The head of the art troupe, Lt. Gen. Mao Phalla, who is also Deputy Chief of Staff of the Royal Cambodian Army, expressed his gratitude to the leaders of the Vietnamese department for their reception.

He affirmed that thanks to Vietnam’s support, the art troupe has been successful in its performances, both at home and abroad, during its foundation and development processes.

Photograph exhibition launched to enhance heritage conservation

A photo exhibition “Discover World Heritage” is underway in Hanoi to increase the community’s awareness of heritage conservation.

The event was jointly organised by the Vietnam Office of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and Vietnam Panasonic Ltd Co.

At the opening ceremony on October 18, UNESCO Representative in Vietnam Katherine Muller Marin highlighted the responsibility to protect and conserve the world’s valuable heritage.

UNESCO’s mission in Vietnam is to promote the country’s eight world heritage sites and other globally recognised legacies.

On the occasion, Vietnam Panasonic Co. honoured 15 outstanding students as part of its annual drawing competition on environmental protection.

A series of experiments on Green technology were displayed for students to widen their knowledge on production technologies and energy conservation.

Additionally, the short film “Ngay Tho - Innocence”, produced by students from Phan Chu Trinh secondary school, won first prize in a film-making competition.

The exhibition is running until October 25 at 19C Hang Dieu Street, Hanoi.

Calligraphy show celebrates Vietnamese Women's Day

Two Japanese calligraphers, along with a Vietnamese calligrapher who has been their tutor for nearly a year, are holding a joint exhibition titled Duyen (Predestined Affinity), displaying 60 of their works in Ho Chi Minh City.

Duong Minh Hoang, who often features women in his calligraphy, said the three artists wanted to celebrate Vietnamese Women's Day, which fell on October 20.

Hoang, 30, said that despite language barriers, the three calligraphers had been able to share feelings through brush, ink and paper.

In their works, Takano Misako reveals her talent in Japanese calligraphy and Yoko Kamiharako depicts her mood after living in Vietnam for three years by using Vietnamese script and lotus flowers.

Kamiharako, 41, said that her primary objective was to merge Vietnamese and Japanese calligraphy.

Her works are represented in three groups: past, present and future.

"Before I arrived in Vietnam, I had mixed feelings of fear and uncertainty of an unknown people and its culture. In another group of my calligraphy works representing my future, I wanted to grow into a gorgeous lotus flower," she said.

Kamiharako's calligraphy training began in her childhood. After a 10-year hiatus, she resumed her hobby two years ago in Vietnam, where she has learned how to use the Roman alphabet in Vietnamese calligraphy.

Misako, 56, has taught calligraphy in Japan for 18 years.

The two Japanese women will hold a lecture about the art of Japanese calligraphy on October 25 at 9am at 20 Thu Khoa Huan street, Ben Thanh Ward, in HCM City's District 1. The exhibition at the same location will close on October 26.

Experts unearth Champa artifacts

Numerous rare Champa artifacts have been found at the excavation site of Champa tower relics in the Rung Cam forest of this central province.

Dinh Ba Hoa, director of the Binh Dinh Museum, said the excavation work has unearthed about 600 artifacts, including a broken Kala (time god) statue, Shiva god's hand, Champa reliefs and ancient terracotta artifacts.

Hoa revealed that the terracotta items showed signs of Vietnamese, Cham and Chinese origins. The items also include bronze artifacts that have never been seen at Champa tower relics.

Excavation for the artifacts, dating from the 12th to the 13th centuries, was carried out at the province's Binh Nghi commune from August till early this month.

In 1989, local residents' illegal excavations uncovered two complete artifacts of the MahishasuraMardini goddess relief and a stone altar foundation. The two, now preserved at Binh Dinh Museum, are said to be of high artistic and sculptural value.

The goddess relief features the MahishasuraMardini in a dance with her 10 hands, holding holy weapons used to kill monsters. Meanwhile, the round-shaped altar foundation resembles an ancient Vietnamese bronze drum decorated with carvings of lotus flowers on its sides.

Hoa said the province has a total of 52 Champa relics that required more research on their value.

Binh Dinh is also the locality with the largest number of Champa heritage sites, including the Champa capital, Vijaya, which thrived from the 11th to the 15th centuries and lies in what is now An Nhon district, 27km northwest of Quy Nhon city; and a total of 14 Champa towers, all in various sizes, shapes and decorations, scattered throughout the province.

Show depicts changing cultural norms

When the film Doc Than Tuoi 30 (30-Year-Old Single Women) was shown on the Today TV channel last week, many young women learned a valuable lesson about love and family values.

Directed by Xuan Cuong, the 30-part TV series portrays the lives of a group of five single women in their mid-thirties, who with high positions in society, and their struggle against the challenges of life.

Working hard to fulfill their ambitions leaves love on the back track.

They have to look for answers to puzzling questions about why they are still single from family and friends, who believe women of that age should be married.

They finally discover that they can be single because they choose to be.

"Through Doc Than Tuoi 30, women will gain a deeper insight into love, marriage, family and career, and discover ways to resolve and overcome their hardships," said actress Le Khanh, who plays the leading role in the film.

The script, written by young authors from HCM City, impressed Khanh the first time she read it.

One of the city's most promising actors, Khanh began her professional career in 2006 with her production, Mui Ngo Gai (The Flavour of Coriander), a film featuring the life of a poor girl who faces challenges to become a businesswoman later.

The TV series was a hit, managing to attract audiences despite the domination of Chinese and Korean films.

Her subsequent films, Du Gio Co Thoi (When the Wind Comes) and Co Dau Dai Chien (Batlle of the Brides), are also about women.

Khanh said that Doc Than Tuoi 30 tells women to remain strong and she eagerly awaits the response of audiences.

Produced by the HCM City-based Tam Diem Studios, the film airs on Today TV at 9pm every night from Tuesday to Friday.

Quality TV shows aimed at women are on the way, thanks to new plans by the Viet Nam Television (VTV) and Ho Chi Minh Television (HTV), two of the country's largest TV stations.

This year, the HTV Film Studio (TFS) has worked with private film companies to make TV series focusing on urban women such as Camera Cong So (Camera in Office), Khi Nhung Ba Noi Tro Hanh Dong (When Housewives Take Action) and Pasta, Huong Vi Tinh Yeu (Pasta, the Flavour of Love).

These films tell stories about love and happiness with comedic scenes.

"Besides increasing our films' number and quality, we are shifting our efforts to the production of films to meet the demands of audiences, particularly women. These movies will be based on exciting stories, with the best directors and actors," said director Do Phu Hai of TFS.

Hai believes that his studio's new films are what audiences aged between 20 and 35 want to see. 

Cai luong writer pens memoir on life's ups and downs

Cai luong playwright Tran Ha, real name Nguyen Van Thiet, has released his autobiography narrating events that happened in his life and tracing the development of the art from 1954 until 1975, when he became a cultural official.

The 87-year-old, who is in indifferent health, spent almost 10 years between 1995 and 2005 to put down his memories on paper.

But the thought of writing a book did not cross his mind. This year he met another cai luong artist Linh Huyen, who published Khi Buc Man Nhung Khep Lai (After the Curtain Falls) at her own cost.

"After reading the manuscript, I knew this was a rare book for people who want to know about the ups and downs in artists' lives between 1954 and 1975," Huyen said.

The book has lots of material for those who want to research about the traditional art and popular artists in the world of cai luong in the last few decades, she said.

Thiet, whose more than 50 cai luong plays include popular ones like Bong Hong Sa Mac (Rose in the Desert), Nua Manh Tim (Half of the heart), was born in Soc Trang in a family of seven children of whom he was the only artist.