Category: Fashion

 

A poetry and photographic exhibition on late General Vo Nguyen Giap opened on February 1 in the central province of Quang Binh as part of activities to celebrate the 93rd founding anniversary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (February 3, 1930-2023).

 

The exhibition entitled “Theo Dau chan Dai tuong Vo Nguyen Giap” (In the Footsteps of General Vo Nguyen Giap) features 110 poems by teacher-poetess- journalist Nguyen Thi My Dung. She had the unique opportunity to meet and write many poems about the talented general over a span of more than 20 years.

 

The poems introduce to the public stories and images on the historic victory of Dien Bien Phu and the life and career of the general.

 

The exhibition consists of three themes.

 

The first theme entitled “The Way to the Historic Victory of Dien Bien Phu” introduces the scenes of the Dien Bien Phu military campaign under the command of Gen. Giap.

 

The second  features the simple and everyday moments of the legendary general. Meanwhile, the third affirms the sentiments of the people for Gen. Giap and pays tribute to his great contributions to national liberation and reunification.

 

Jointly organised by the Quang Binh Museum and the Vietnam Women’s Museum, the exhibition will run until February 20./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnamese people will join other Asian-origin communities at the 16-day Sydney Lunar Festival in the Australian city to mark the coming Lunar New Year.

The event with more than 80 special festive programmes will last from January 21 to February 5, aiming to inspire people’s enthusiasm, fuel business activities, and highlight the cultural diversity of Sydney.

From an annual event first held by Asian communities 27 years ago, the Sydney Lunar Festival has become a large event every year by the city and also established itself as the biggest Lunar New Year celebration outside Asia.

This year’s festival will feature a wide range of activities, including street food fairs, music and light shows, lion dancing, dragon boat racing, art displays, and a lantern festival, expected to draw thousands of visitors.

The centre of these activities will be the Haymarket precinct with Dixon, Hay, Sussex, and Harbor streets. Lunar New Year-inspired gates with traditional architectural styles of Vietnam, China, and the Republic of Korea will also be set up at the entrances to the streets.

A highlight of the festival will be a spectacular show at the Sydney Town Hall on February 4 where performers from Chinese, Korea, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Mongolian, and Indonesian communities will share their cultures through dances, music, and stories./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A festival to promote the beauty of peach flowers, the landscape and the people and culture of the northern province of Lang Son is being held for Tet (Lunar New Year).

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 5th Peach Blossom Festival on January 15 night, standing vice chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee and head of the organising committee of the festival, Duong Xuan Huyen, highlighted the meaning of the annual event.

He said that over the years, the peach blossom festival has become a typical, outstanding and original cultural activity and tourism product, attracting a large number of domestic and foreign visitors who come to admire the beauty of peach blossoms in every spring and on the occasion of Tet.

He also emphasised that the activities in the festival, together with the affection of the Lang Son people, will offer visitors with many attractive and unforgettable experiences.

“The image and brand of peach blossoms in Lang Son land will really become a nostalgic and earnest invitation for visitors to return,” he added.

The natural condition of the province is perfect for many beautiful, unique and rare peach varieties like bell peach blossom or white peach blossom. Each spring, the whole land is covered with blooming peach trees that are grown aplenty across villages, hillsides and on street corners. It is also a must-visited destination for tourists when Tet approaches and those who seek beautiful peach blossom branches to decorate their houses.

Aiming to preserve and promote the cultural and economic values, as well as honouring indigenous peach trees and peach growers, the People’s Committee of Lang Son province approved the project on preserving and developing the value of peach trees on October 31, 2018 and held the first peach blossom festival.

A variety of activities imbued with local culture will take place within the event, including contests of the most beautiful peach garden and the most beautiful peach tree, performances of traditional art forms like sli, lu?n or then singing, lion dance of Tày and Nùng ethnic groups, exhibitions of spring books and newspapers, introduction of local specialties and dishes of the province that have entered the list of Vietnamese top 100 specialties 2022, like Mau Son Wine or pork roast with m?c m?t (clausen indica) leaves.

The peach blossom festival will last until February 19.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) on January 17 estimated that visitor arrivals in the city state will recover to the pre-pandemic level in 2024.

Singapore welcomed 6.3 million foreign visitors last year, or one-third of the pre-pandemic level, mostly from Indonesia, India and Malaysia. It beat the STB’s previous forecast of 4-6 million. The 2022 tourism revenue was estimated at 13.8-14.3 billion SGD (10.45-10.82 billion USD).

Visitor arrivals are expected to increase to 12-14 million this year, bringing in 18-21 billion SGD from tourism spending.

STB Chief Executive Officer Keith Tan said this year, the board is hoping to get between 30-60% of visitor arrivals compared to the figure in 2019.

According to the STB, tourism contributes to about 4% of Singapore’s annual GDP. In 2019, the island state hosted a record of 19.1 million visitors and earned 27.7 billion SGD from their receipts. Up to 3.6 million of them were Chinese, the biggest source of arrivals

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Gold Traders Association (GTA) of Thailand forecast gold sales will rise by only 5% to 10% during the Lunar New Year Festival, which will start on January 22.

The Lunar New Year usually brings a gold rush in Thailand with consumers queuing at gold-shop counters seeking gifts for their loved ones.

However, GTA Vice President Pichaya Phisuthikul said this year, Chinese-Thai people will prefer to buy smaller trinkets weighing one or two salung, rather than one-baht pieces (one salung is 3.81 grams, or one-quarter of a baht).

He added that many gold consumers are still watching their spending as they have yet to pay off debts built up during the COVID-19 crisis.

Many gold shops have reopened after their business was severely hit during the pandemic, but some are still suffering staff shortages and many operators are unable to pay bonuses, he said.

Worachai Tangsitpakdee, director of the Chin Hua Heng chain of gold shops, also expects gold sales to rise during the festival.

However, he perceived that Chinese-Thais will prefer gold pendants or rings to large necklaces as people will be reluctant to spend big on gold amid the economic recovery

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A photo exhibition, themed “Paris Peace Accords – A Door to Peace”, opened at Ho Chi Minh Museum in the capital city of Hanoi on January 16, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the agreement (January 27, 1973-2023).

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Director of the museum Dr. Vu Manh Ha said the display will offer the public an insight into the context, process and significance of the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, thus manifesting the brainpower and sound leadership of President Ho Chi Minh and the Party Central Committee in the fight against invading American imperialists.

On display are nearly 300 photos, materials and artefacts, many of them are showcased for the first time.

On January 27, 1973, the Paris Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam (Paris Peace Accords for short) was signed between the four governments of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, the Republic of Vietnam, and the US.

It was the result of the longest and most difficult struggle in the history of Vietnam’s diplomacy, with 202 public meetings held over four years, eight months and 14 days.

The exhibition will run until early May./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Residents and visitors in recent days have flocked to the HCM City’s Vietnamese ‘Tet’ (Lunar New Year) Festival at the Youth Cultural House.

The festival is decorated with mai (ochna) trees set up along Pham Ngoc Thach street and inside the venue, which is always crowded with visitors going shopping and taking beautiful photos.

Apart from ochna trees, a paddy field is set up as well to wish for good crops in the new year.

Nguyen Hong Phuc, director of the Youth Cultural House, said, “This year, the Vietnamese Tet Festival aims to bring Tet in the countryside with images of maize cobs hanging up in kitchens, and gardens with chrysanthemum and bamboo trees to the city.”

As usual, the highlight of the event features a calligraphy market, attracting more than 50 calligraphers, who are members of calligraphy clubs in the city and neighbouring provinces.

The calligraphers, dressed in ao dai (Vietnamese traditional long dress), include men and women of varying ages selling calligraphy in black and yellow ink on red paper.

They sit on mats arranged in an oval shape symbolising peace, bringing people back to memories of calligraphy markets in the past.

The calligraphers receive requests from visitors for words to write on red paper or red lucky money envelopes.

Nguyen Hoang Quyen in Thu Duc city said, “I often visit the market to look for calligraphy works in hopes of bringing happiness, success, wealth and health to my family.”

This year, the festival also has stalls to introduce folk games and toys such as to he (toy figurines that are made of rice dough) and paper paintings.

An area of Vietnamese traditional food service for Tet is featured as well.

The festival remains open until January 26, or the fifth day of Lunar New Year, the Year of the Cat, this year at 4 Pham Ngoc Thach street in District 1./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam is still a favourite tourist destination for Republic of Korea travellers on the upcoming Seollal or Korean Lunar New Year – a holiday and celebration which marks the first day of the Korean Lunar Calendar.

This year, Seollal falls on January 22.

Data from travel agencies in the Republic of Korea shows that the demand for overseas travel of people in the country during the Seollal is high even though the holiday only lasts four days.

As of the beginning of January 2023, travel agencies sold out 80% of the total air tickets that they prepare for the holiday.

Favourite destinations selected by Korean travellers include Japan, Vietnam, and some other Southeast Asian countries. An official of Korea’s travel agency MODETOUR said that it sold out about 87% of tickets departing during the Lunar New Year festival, of which tickets to Japan’s Osaka sold out the fastest.

Hanjin Travel also confirmed that all tickets for charter flights to Japan’s Kagoshima province departing during the holiday this year were sold out.

Due to the short holiday period, tourist destinations near Korea such as Japan and Southeast Asian countries are very popular.

According to Hana Tour Company, as of January 9, its tours starting from January 20 to 24 were booked with 54% to Southeast Asia, 30% to Japan, and 7% to Europe.

Specifically, in Southeast Asia, 36% of its clients choose Vietnam, 17% choose Thailand, 12% choose the Philippines and 7% choose Taiwan (China).

The RoK tourism industry considers these very positive signs of recovery since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.

A survey by major tour operators in the country shows that more than 80% of products that they planned to offer during the lunar new year holiday have been welcomed by customers.

An official from Lotte Tour said that so far all of its plans are still in progress without any changes or problems. Compared to three years ago, this is the recovery starting from zero to 100./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency