Hanoi to host int’l conference on geological parks

Around 350 delegates will attend the second international conference on geological parks in the Asia-Pacific region to be held in Hanoi from July 16-24.

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) Nguyen Linh Ngoc said that the ministry’s decision to organise the event shows Vietnam’s support for the UNESCO initiative to develop and preserve geological parks around the world. It will also help raise Vietnam’s international status in the field.

Tran Tan Van, Deputy Head of the Institute for Geological and Mineral Sciences, said that the conference will comprise of two plenary sessions as well as other sessions focusing on special subjects.

Vietnam currently has only one geological park in the northern province of Ha Giang. This conference will provide a good chance for the country to learn valuable information on managing and developing a national system of geological parks.

It will also help coordinate different types of preservation between Vietnamese and international heritage, biosphere reserves and geological parks.

Cultural foundation to honor researchers, translators

Professor Hoang Tuy, the pioneer of global optimization in applied mathematics, will be among the 6 researchers and translators to be honored by the Phan Chau Trinh Cultural Foundation this year.

The 2011 Phan Chau Trinh Award, to be held at Rex Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City on March 24, will honor Hoang Tuy for his 10-year research on education reform for Vietnam.

Besides Hoang Tuy, considered one of the two founders of Vietnamese mathematics besides the late professor Le Van Thiem, the foundation will also honor well-known literary researcher of Vietnamese literature Lai Nguyen An, Kevin Bowen, Director of William Joyner of Massachusetts University, Boston, US, who has helped to promote Vietnamese literature in America, and Czech researcher Ivo Vasiliev who has published extensive research on Chinese – Vietnamese grammar and ancient Vietnam’s culture.

Translators Pham Van Thieu and Nguyen Don Phuoc will be also be recognized for their translations in the field of physics and economics respectively.

The Phan Chau Trinh Cultural Foundation, under the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations, gives out its awards every year.

The foundation bears the name of Phan Chau Trinh, a prominent nationalist leader in Vietnam in the early 20th century.

To commemorate his 85th death anniversary, March 24, the foundation will also launch other activities including a conference to discuss education and the market on March 22.

Association of Vietnamese Students in US to serve APEC

The Head of the organising board of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit has proposed the Association of Vietnamese Students in the US to give cultural performances during the event, which will be held in Hawaii from November 7-13.

The suggestion came after the association had taken part in the 17th Honolulu cultural festival in Hawaii for the first time to help promote mutual understanding and economic cooperation between the US and countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

In a parade, Vietnamese students were Ao Dais (long dresses) and other traditional clothes of ethnic minority people in the Central Highlands and parts of the country. Marching along the beautiful beach, they received enthusiastic applause from thousands of spectators.

Dinh Ngoc Thai, a student from Hawaii university, said all of them wished to introduce Vietnam’s culture to the world community.

Johanna, a tourist coming from Peru with her husband and son, said she was very impressed by both Vietnam’s long dresses and palm-leaf conical hats.

Exhibition on glorious tradition of Vietnamese youth

Hundreds of objects, photographs and documents relating to the development of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU) over the past 80 years are being displayed at an exhibition that opened in Hanoi on March 15.

The exhibition highlights the glorious tradition of the HCYU and its contributions to the past struggle for national independence and the present cause of national construction.

The event, jointly held by the Vietnam Military History Museum and the Vietnam Youth Museum, was part of activities to mark the 80th anniversary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (March 26, 1931 - March 26, 2011).

Germany helps preserve Vietnam’s cultural heritage

Germany will provide an additional US$135,000 for cultural heritage preservation projects in Vietnam, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

With this additional funding, the fourth phase of the restoration of the Tran Dang communal house in Hoa Son commune of Hanoi’s Ung Hoa district, and the restoration of Truong Linh Tu, a temple in the Hue city Ancient Capital citadel, will be implemented between 2011 and 2012.

The projects will be carried out by a group of experts from the Germany Conservation, Restoration and Education Project (GCREP) in Potsdam in Germany.

Germany has to date provided total funding of 1.65 million USD for cultural heritage conservation projects in Vietnam. So far, German-funded projects have restored pictures on the walls and ceilings of the An Dinh Palace and preserved and restored walls and partitions in the Tu Duc Tomb in Hue.

Enterprises donate VND20 billion for fireworks festival

Thirty four enterprises nationwide have registered to sponsor about VND20 billion for the Danang International Fireworks Competition 2011 to be held April 29-30 on the central coast.

Five teams will compete at the annual competition. They are Jubilee Fireworks of England, Hanwha of South Korea, Parente Fireworks A&C SNC of Italy, Panda Fireworks of China and a team from Danang City. Tickets are available for an outdoor stadium with over 25,000 seats, and seats on tourist boats on Han River.

The city will hold promotions such as an online fireworks competition, art performances, flower boat parade, flower lanterns on Han River, cooking festival and light decorations at My Khe beach.

Tickets cost VND200,000 and are available in HCMC, Hanoi and Danang cities. The organizing committee expects to sell over 16,000 seats.

Last year’s competitors were Pyrotecnico - New Castle from Pennsylvania (USA), Luso Pirotecnia Group (Portugal), Jacques Couturier Organisation (France), Tamaya Kitahara (Japan) and Danang (Vietnam). It attracted around 100,000 spectators.

Two styles, one love for arts

A painting exhibition named “Doi choi” (Contrast) by two Hanoian artists Ngo Thanh Nhan and To Chiem will open on Saturday at Tu Do Gallery, 53 Ho Tung Mau Street, HCMC’s District 1.

The show displays 10 works made of lacquer by Ngo Thanh Nhan and 10 oils on canvas by To Chiem. The artists use different materials; contemporary oil paints versus traditional lacquer and different expressions – Nhan is carefree and Chiem is emotional.

Whereas most lacquer works are quite small because of the time and expense of the materials, Nhan’s lacquer paintings are large for example Two young H’Mong girls, Market in the highland, Moonlight, Boats, Red sails, Innocent, Hanoi winter and rocky highland. Chiem’s paintings include Father and children, Man and dog, Love duet and Broken string.

The exhibition runs till April 12.

La Huy uses wax to link past and present

An installation exhibition named “Remains” uses wax to present ceramics and images. The artist, La Huy, has dipped antique Cay Mai Pottery and paper in wax to preserve them in the show at the Himiko Visual Café, 324Bis, Dien Bien Phu Street, Ward 11, in HCMC’s District 10.

The 20 piece exhibition was inspired when Huy found a broken antique elephant pedestal on the street. Huy’s father had worked in a pottery factory when Huy was a child and he often brought home ceramic models for the boy to play with.

“The elephant reminded me of some of the toys I had when I was a child, so I took it home and framed it in wax. It was like I was healing some part of my mind,” said Huy.

He liked the effect that the wax created so he made more pieces using it. Eleven of the pieces are wax covered photos of Cay Mai pottery statues at an old Chinese pagoda in District 5, bringing visitors much emotions of nostalgic and peace.

For other sculptures he dipped rolled up paper in wax, painted it and semi-rolled it up.

“La Huy always surprises with his bold ideas,” said Tran, a visitor to the show.

Huy said hoped the show would inspire people to value antiques and heritage buildings more.

The exhibition runs till March 19.

Traveler’s Diary winners announced

Vietravel and Doanh Nhan Sai Gon newspaper have announced the three winners of the “Traveler’s Diary” travel writing competition.

Tran Ly Man Huy won first prize with “Jasper, a land of discovery” about traveling to a National Park in Canada; second prize went to Thien Binh for “Memory of Binh Ba”; and Huynh Thu Dung was third with “Feelings for the Ganges”.

The prizes all sponsored by Vietravel were a trip to Hong Kong-Disneyland for four days for first place, Brunei for four days for second and Malaysia for four days for third.

Nguyen Minh Ngoc, deputy general director of Vietravel, said, “After the success of the first competition, we will launch more in association with Doanh Nhan Sai Gon newspaper and The Gioi Phu Nu magazine.”

The contest ran for five months with over 120 entries.

Tre Publisher and partners to launch e-books

Tre Publishing House signed an agreement in HCMC on Wednesday with Saigon Vafaco Cultural Product Co., Tinh Van Group, VTM Mobile to launch audio books, e-books, and digital books this year.

Initially, Tre Publishing House and Saigon Vafaco Cultural Product Co. will adapt four Vietnamese titles into audio books, including Qua Tang Cuoc Song (The Gift of Life), Cac Gia Tri Day Con Nen Nguoi (Teaching Values to Children To Be Good), Hay Can Dam va Tot Bung (Be Brave and Kind), and Nhung Cau Chuyen Ve Bubu (Bubu’s Stories).

Phan Quang Minh, deputy general director of Tinh Van Group, said, “E-books will be a trend in Vietnam. On Amazon’s website, there are many e-books from foreign countries that Vietnam doesn’t have. The cooperation among Tre Publishing House and Tinh Van Group, VTM Mobile will promote Vietnam’s intellectual products to the world.”

Nguyen Minh Nhat, director of Tre Publishing House said, “Soon we will launch e-books and digital titles before we print them. Tre and its partners could launch these e-books at very low prices to avoid illegal downloading.”

At the signing ceremony, Tre also granted 100 bookcases worth VND 5 million to several HCMC districts.

*Amazon’s portable e-book reader, Kindle Book, will go on sale on Thursday on the online bookstore www.nhasachphuongnam.com under Phuong Nam Cultural Corp.

The e-reader comes with a special introductory offer of 100 Vietnamese e-book titles until Mar. 20.

The Kindle was released in 2007. It uses wireless or 3G connectivity to shop for, download, browse, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and other digital media in some countries.

“Cho toi xin mot ve di tuoi tho” traslated into Korean

The author-for-teens Nguyen Nhat Anh has just signed a contract with Korean publishing house Dasan Books to allow them to translate his book “Cho toi xin mot ve di tuoi tho” (Give me a ticket back to childhood) into Korean.

The book won the Vietnam Writers’ Association award in 2009 and a Southeast Asian Writers Award, and has already been translated into Thai language.

Nguyen Nhat Anh, born May 7, 1955, is a writer of stories for teenagers and adults. He is also a teacher, poet and correspondent. A prolific writer, he has composed 24 short stories, two novel series and several collections of poems.

He is regarded as one of the most successful writers for Vietnamese teens. Another of Anh’s teen novels, “Co gai den tu hom qua” (The girl from yesterday), has been translated into Russian for possible inclusion in the Vietnamese Studies curriculum at Moscow State University in Russia.