Diplomats receive
cultural lesson during field trip to pagoda

Foreign ambassadors to Viet Nam are
helped to gain more understanding about the host country’s Buddhism and culture
through a visit to the Phat Tich Pagoda in the northern province of Bac Ninh on
Saturday.

Photo: VOV

In the trip, the ambassadors were
accompanied by their spouses, diplomats, and representatives from international
and non-governmental organisations.

The Phat Tich (Buddha’s Trace)
Pagoda, built under the Ly dynasty (1010-1225), is the only one in the country
that reserved a space for exhibiting documents and relics featuring Buddhist
culture.

It is also famed for housing
valuable Buddhist relics and distinctive sculptural works, especially the giant
statue of Buddha Amitabha, which is a typical example of Viet Nam’s traditional
sculpture.

During the visit, the diplomats and
their entourage enjoyed performances of quan ho (love duets), which has been
recognised by UNESCO as part of the world’s intangible cultural heritage.

President of the Viet Nam Union of
Friendship Organisations Vu Xuan Hong said the visit is an annual activity that
looks to help foreign friends understand more about Viet Nam’s culture and
history, thus promoting friendship and mutual understanding between Viet Nam and
other countries worldwide.

Viet Nam participates in
Asia-Pacific Choral Summit

Viet Nam participated for the first
time in the Asia Pacific Choral Summit, held in Macao last week, and the
nation’s representative to the summit – Viet Nam Ballet Theatre Choir deputy
director Pham Hong Hai – was elected to the APCS executive board.

During the conference, an
Asia-Pacific Youth Choir performed for the first time with 32 singers from 14
countries and region,s and Hai urged the conference to establish a permanent
Asia-Pacific Children’s Choir. The summit also heard choir performances from
each member and discussed plans of action for future international choral
co-operation.

Toyota funds
forestation project at Giong Temple

Toyota Motor Viet Nam yesterday
helped launch a project to plant 30ha of forest in the centre of Soc Son
district to improve the landscape around Giong Temple, a World Heritage Site.

Giong Temple is 30km north of the
capital and surrounded by mountains, natural lakes and forests, which have an
effect on Ha Noi’s climate.

Toyota VN put up VND4 billion
(US$190,000) for the project, in co-ordination with the Institute of Ecological
Economy and the People’s Committee of Soc Son Commune.

The project also aims to regreen
natural forests around Ha Noi and raise awareness among local people,
particularly the youth, of the need to protect the environment and
bio-diversity.

Toyota VN general director Akito
Tachibana said the project would run until 2016 and contribute to the green
“lung” for Ha Noi, helping it deal with climate change.

Miss Vietnam runner-up Hoang My to compete for Miss
Asia Pacific 2011

The first runner-up of the Miss Vietnam 2010 beauty
pageant, Vu Hoang My, has been nominated to take part in the Miss Asia Pacific
International 2011 pageant, according to a representative from the Elite
Company.

Hoang My, 22 years old and 1.75m
tall, agreed to compete in this beauty contest, and she is now waiting for her
license from the Performing Arts Department, under the Ministry of Culture,
Sports and Tourism.

The final round of the Miss Asia
Pacific International 2011 will be held in Seoul, Republic of Korea on June 11.
This is one of leading beauty contests in Asia, which began in 1968 but has
recently been postponed since 2005.

The Philippines has hosted the event
most of the time and also claims the highest number of winners at four.

According to the official website,
the contest is organised by the Asia Pacific Elite Corporation and more than 60
countries and territories will be invited to join the upcoming 37^th
competition. The three top finalists will sign contracts with Asia Pacific Elite
to be trained as professional models and become the corporation’s
representative.

Leading linguist
dies at age 86

One of Viet Nam’s leading linguists, Professor
Nguyen Tai Can, died on Friday in Moscow at the age of 86 after a prolonged
illness, his family said.

Can founded the linguistics
department at the then Ha Noi University, now Ha Noi National University.

Can was born on May 2, 1926, in
Thanh Chuong District of the central province of Nghe An.

He started teaching in the early
1950s in the central region and during 1955-60 he was assigned by the Vietnamese
ministry of education to be the first Vietnamese linguistic expert at the former
Soviet Union’s Leningrad University. In 1960 he was the first Vietnamese to
complete an MA and PhD in the Soviet Union.

In 1980 he was promoted to
professor at the Ha Noi National University. Can was then invited to teach at
the University of Paris 7 in 1982, 1988-1990 and at the Cornell University in
the US in 1991.In 2000, he was awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize for his linguistic
works, including the grammar and history of the Vietnamese language. He was
awarded the People’s Teacher title in 2008.

In recent years, he moved to Russia
with his Russian wife.

Quang Ngai to restore
ancient sailboat, barge

The central Quang Ngai Province has
hired a local resident considered to be a historical scholar to restore a 3m
sailboat used by royal troops in the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago during the
reign of the Nguyen Lords.

Vo Hien Dat, 81, known as ong do
dat dao (scholar on islands), will also help restore a wooden barge used by Ly
Son Island residents in the storm season several centuries ago.

They are being restored for the
National Tourism Year 2011 themed Central Sea and Island and Quang Ngai’s
Potential and Sustainable Development, said Nguyen Dang Vu, director of the
province Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Doctor showcases photos of
colourful life

Doctor Duong Dinh Hung opened a
photo exhibition to celebrate Viet Nam Physicians’ Day yesterday, Feb 27.

Entitled Colours of the Life, the
exhibition displays 40 photos enlarged on canvas and paper, the result of his
trips to many regions in the country. Each photo is captioned in verse to
express Hung’s opinions.

The exhibition will run for two
weeks at Hoan My General Hospital, Mimosa Street, the Central Highlands city of
Da Lat.

Hung has 20 photo exhibitions to
his name, and is a writer with more than 10 books published.

VNN/VOV/VNS