Ha Long Week aims at European market

 

 

The Ha Long Week 2012 will take place in the northern province of Quang Ninh from November 27-30, with a focus on European market. 

Co-organised by the provincial People’s Committee and the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, the event expects to attract the participation of 140 international representatives from leading tourism companies and travel agencies from France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and the United Kingdom. 

During the week, a wide range of activities will be available for participants, including Ha Long Bay tours, Gala dinner, business meetings, a seminar on promoting potential of Ha Long tourism and cultural programmes.

Source: VNA

 

Vietnam, Japan discuss traditional wooden architecture

 

 

Vietnamese and Japanese experts gathered for a workshop in the central city of Hue on November 12 to discuss traditional wooden architecture in the preservation of architectural relics in the former imperial city of Hue. 

The workshop, the first of its kind, was jointly organised by the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre (HMCC), the UNESCO World Heritage Institute at Japan’s Waseda University and the Japan Architects’ Association. 

Participants said that traditional wooden architecture plays an important role in the Hue monument architectural system. They stressed that the thorough understanding of materials, manipulating methods, structures and factors that affect wooden architectural works is an important foundation for the conservation and restoration of relics. 

Researchers discussed the traditional wooden architectures of Vietnam and Japan and their similarities. 

The two sides shared experiences and proposed measures to conserve wooden architectural works, as the Hue relics are badly affected by global climate change. 

Waseda University is coordinating with HMCC a study of the restoration of the war-torn Can Chanh Palace , which was the second largest - after Thai Hoa Palace - in the Imperial Palace.

The project is estimated to cost 10 million USD. Funded by official development assistance (ODA), construction is expected to be completed in five years.

Source: VNA

 

Lang Son Then festival gets underway

 

A national festival featuring Then singing and Tinh lute music got underway in the northern province of Lang Son on November 4. 

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the festival, themed ‘the origin of Then singing’, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Huynh Vinh Ai said that the festival, the fourth of its kind to be held in the country so far, is part of the ministry’s campaign to gain UNESCO recognition of the art as an Intangible Cultural Heritage. 

The festival aims to honour the culture of Then singing and Tinh lute music and promote the region’s cultural heritages, to boost economic development and improve the material and spiritual lives of local people, he said. 

It also offers Then singers and musicians from northern localities the chance to meet and learn from each other, he added. 

According to Deputy Director of the Lang Son provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Phuc Ha, this year’s festival will see nearly 800 artists from Lang Son and its neighbouring provinces taking part. 

Traditional Then singing is common to the Tay, Nung and Thai ethnic minority groups in northern Vietnam and is most popular in Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Lang Son, Tuyen Quang and Dien Bien provinces. It is a unique combination of music and song accompanied by the handmade Tinh guitar, which has only two strings.

Source: VNA

 

Hanoi to host Vietnam-RoK culture, food festival

A culture and food festival, which feature the specialties of Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) will take place in Hanoi from November 2-4. As part of activities to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Vietnam-RoK diplomatic ties, the event will be organised by the RoK’s Embassy in Vietnam, the RoK’s Rural Development Administration, Korean Tourism Organisation and the Vietnamese Ministry of Agricultural and Development.

About 50 booths of the two countries’ businesses will display their typical agricultural products at the festival. 

There will be outdoor activities with traditional games and contests to cook Vietnamese and Korean dishes. 

Dishes from the RoK and Vietnam including Kim Chi (salted vegetables), bulgogi, and Tteokbokki, mixed noodles, Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup), Bun cha (grilled pork noodle soup) will be featured during the two-day festival. 

The event will be opened free to visitors and money from selling foods at the festival will be contributed to charitable activities in Vietnam.

Source: Vietnam+