Looting cultural heritage

Co Loa Citadel represents the thousand-year history of the nation. This annual event is held to pay tribute to King An Duong Vuong, founder of the ancient Vietnamese kingdom of Au Lac, who led the fight against foreign enemies and ruled the country for 50 years in the 3rd century BC. The colorful festival of Co Loa Temple will take place until February 6. Photo: VNA At the opening of the festival, Dong Anh District People's Committee Chairman Nguyen Xuan Linh recalled that more than 2,300 years ago, after leading the resistance war against more than 50,000 Qin soldiers, King An Duong Vuong established the capital of the Au Lac Kingdom in Co Loa. “This is one of the extremely valuable historical sites with unique architecture and also an important archaeological site of the country,” he said. "The Co Loa citadel has become a symbol of the proud ancient Vietnamese civilization," he added. Being considered one of the oldest festivals in Vietnam, Co Loa … [Read more...] about Co Loa Temple Festival opens

Vietnamese people erect a Neu tree in front of their house to show off their land holdings and mark the border of their house. The bamboo pole was stripped of its leaves, except for a tuft at the top. The decoration on the Neu trees varies between regions and periods. On the top of the bamboo tree, they often hang a snatch of pineapple leaves, chicken feathers and a circle of New Year cards made of bamboo and do (poonah) paper. According to cultural researchers, the circle of bamboo cards symbolizes happiness and chicken feathers represent holy birds with powers that can help the family. The pole is also believed to ward off ghosts and demons from entering the community during Tet. It also seeks to show the way to ancestors who want to return home for the lunar New Year holiday. As legend goes, the Tet pole erecting tradition is originated from the Buddhism. Legend has it that long time ago, devils occupied the land of humans. Seeing humans’ suffering, the Buddha helped them … [Read more...] about Neu pole wards off evil spirits, welcomes blessings

On the occasion, Dien Bien Dong district (Dien Bien province) held a series of programs from January 23 to January 26. With many cultural activities such as sports exchange and folk games, the programs attracted the participation of many visitors and local people. In the framework of the programs, together with cultural space, tourists also joined trading activities of the locals, such as selling traditional costumes, food, jewelry. This was one of the series of this year’s spring festival activities in Dien Bien Dong district with beautiful traditional cultural identities. It was also an occasion for local people to introduce their products, while encouraging trade activities, contributing to promoting local socio-economic development, in line with preserving and promoting local traditional customs. Translated by Minh Anh … [Read more...] about Spring Festival in Dien Bien province

Illustrative image (Photo: vietnamnet) Hanoi (VNA) – The bustling game market in Vietnam is offering numerous opportunities for developers, according to experts. Le Quang Tu Do, Director of the Authority of Broadcasting , Television and Electronic Information under the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), cited data from App Annie 2020 showing that Vietnam ranked seventh in the world and second in Southeast Asia in the number of game downloads. Meanwhile, the country also ranked third in the top 10 game application manufacturers in the region. For every 25 games downloaded, there is one produced in Vietnamese studios. According to the statistics of Sensor Tower and the Vietnam Game Studio Club, there are currently about 5,000 games produced by Vietnamese people, mostly for children, entertainment, and education. Do said that the wage of each game developer in Vietnam is about 187 million VND (7,975 USD) per year, while that of each artist is abour 389 million … [Read more...] about Local game developers eye great opportunities at home

Germany’s famous travel site reisereporter.de has run an article highlighting the world’s top 25 trending destinations for 2023, including Vietnam’s Hoi An ancient city and Ho Chi Minh City, recently voted by readers of TripAdvisor – the world's largest travel guidance platform. Hoi An in the central province of Quang Nam occupies the second place, following Cuba (Photo: Screenshot) Specifically, Hoi An in the central province of Quang Nam occupied the second place on the list as part of the annual Travelers' Choice Best of the Best Awards, following Cuba, while the southern metropolis secured 11th place. The category reveals destinations with the greatest year-over-year growth in interest on Tripadvisor based on travelers' reviews over a 12-month period between November 1 and October 31. "Hoi An on the central Vietnamese coast is a well-preserved example of the important Southeast Asian trading port it was from the 15th-19th centuries," Tripadvisor commented. … [Read more...] about Hoi An, HCM City among world’s top 25 trending destinations in 2023: TripAdvisor

A street in Hanoi is flooded after heavy rains. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Alongside urbanisation , flooding in cities of Vietnam, a country highly vulnerable to climate change, is getting complicated and needs concerted solutions, according to experts. There are more than 800 cities nationwide, including the two special municipalities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Big and populous cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, and Vinh of Nghe An province have frequently suffered from heavy losses caused by downpours and flooding. Nguyen Van Tien, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Disaster Management Authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said Vietnamese cities, especially major ones, are centres of economic, social, and cultural activities and also concentrations of infrastructure facilities and residential areas. They are exposed to many disaster risks, including flooding, which requires proactive preventive and timely response measures. … [Read more...] about Urban flooding needs concerted solutions

PANO – Cao Bang province on December 15 th solemnly organized a ceremony to mark the 70 th founding anniversary of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) and 25 th anniversary of whole people’s defence day, and announce Tran Hung Dao forest’s recoginition as a special national relic site. The event was attended by State President Truong Tan Sang. Opening the ceremony, Secretary of Cao Bang Provincial People Committee and Chairman of the provincial People’s Council Ha Ngoc Chien recalled the establishment and victorious revolutionary traditions of the VPA and the province. Art performance at the ceremony On December 22 nd , 1944, as instructed by President Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) was founded in Tran Hung Dao forest in Tam Kim commune, Nguyen Binh district, Cao Bang province. Of the first 34 soldiers of the army at that time, 25 were from ethnic minorities in Cao Bang. Three days after its establishment, with ingenuity and couragousness, … [Read more...] about Cao Bang marks VPA’s 70th founding anniversary

Lying on Sao mountain and standing 200m above the sea level, Hang Sao pagoda is located in Sao village, Tan Lap commune, Luc Yen district, northern Yen Bai province. Locals call it Sao pagoda, after the name of a hamlet in Nhan Muc village. The facility derives its name from the birds that build their nests inside the cave. Legend has it that the cave was discovered in the reign of the sixth Hung King who, finding the beauty of the landscape, decided to bury the remains of his mother inside the cave. A king of the early Le dynasty named it the “herb fragrance cave.” Hang Sao pagoda rests on the Phu Sa Phin mountain range which was form about 540 million years ago. It is one of the beautiful and sacred pagodas in Yen Ban. Hang Sao Pagoda was first built by Tay locals in the 13th-14th century to worship Buddha. History goes that a local young lady named Vu Thi Ngoc Anh was placed in charge of military logistics by a Le king. She directed Tay locals to reclaim waste land, taught … [Read more...] about Hang Sao – a unique cave pagoda in Yen Bai

Total revenue from tourism activities topped 1 trillion VND (42.6 million USD), the department said. The number of tourists increased dramatically at key monuments, museums, parks, ecological zones, and resorts in the city. Notably, Van Mieu (Temple of Literature) - Quoc Tu Giam (First University in Vietnam) and the Huong pagoda received about 80,000 visitors each. Meanwhile, the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, the Special National Relic of Co Loa, Duong Lam ancient village – the Son Tay ancient citadel received 19,700; 18,000 and 15,000 visitors, respectively. During the holiday, a series of art performances and cultural programs were held at relic sites and tourist attractions, while many new tourism products introduced to attract visitors. According to Director of the municipal Department of Tourism Dang Huong Giang, the agency has paid special attention to inspect the observance of regulations on tourism in tourist areas, aiming to better the quality of services. Source: … [Read more...] about Hanoi welcomes 332,000 visitors during lunar New Year holidays