The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on April 26, opened an exhibition of flowers and held a referendum on choosing national flowers in the central city of Da Nang.

The exhibition, held at the Trung Vuong Theatre, 35A Phan Chau Trinh, Da Nang City, from April 26 to May 2, introduces specialized flowers of regions in Vietnam, and pink lotus- the top candidate in the selection of national flower.

The organizing board hoped that the exhibition will attract large numbers of visitors, since it will take place at the same time as the international firework festival in Da Nang.

Vi Kien Thanh, Chief of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Fine-art Department, said that at the similar exhibition and referendum held in Hanoi in March 2011, over 40 percent voted for the pink lotus as national flower, the highest rate.

The exhibition and referendum will come to HCM City after Da Nang.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will report to the Government, the results of the three referendums in the three largest cities in Vietnam, and propose for the National Assembly to recognize the national flower of Vietnam.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism set six criteria for selecting Vietnam’s national flower, including: being sourced from Vietnam or grown in Vietnam for a very long time; being adaptable to Vietnamese weather and grow everywhere in the country, blossoming year round or for a long time in the year; showing the culture and traditional, will, manner and aspiration of Vietnamese, and being beautiful and fragrant.

Many species of flowers have been suggested, such as peach, areca, yellow apricot, rose, bamboo, etc. However, most of people support lotus.

PV