VietNamNet Bridge – In the morning of June 5, a Vietnam map with Truong Sa and Hoang Sa archipelagos was made at the 2/4 Square in the costal city of Nha Trang, by 1,500 youths. The largest Vietnam map so far has been recorded as a national record.

Thousands of people flocked to Nha Trang City on June 5, to participate in the opening ceremony of the Vietnam Sea and Islands Week 2011. The ceremony’s highlight was the scene that 1,500 students in traditional uniform of the Vietnam Youth Union, who held each other’s hands to arrange the Vietnam map.

The men-arranged map is 43.2m long, 13.2m at the widest. At the center of the map is Hanoi capital, represented by the Vietnam flag. The map also included Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos.

Accompanied by late composer Trinh Cong Son’s “Noi Vong Tay Lon” (Circle of Unity), young people held each other’s hands to express the message: “Vietnam, Truong Sa and Hoang Sa are always in the heart of Vietnamese. As Vietnamese people, we must join hands to defend Truong Sa, Hoang Sa and our country’s sea border”.

This event was co-organized by Nha Trang city and Khanh Hoa province’s Youth Union, directed by Vu Ba Cuong, chief of Khanh Hoa province’s Hai Dang music troupe.

After making the national record map, young people, tourists and local residents cleaned up Nha Trang’s coast.

The Vietnam Sea and Islands Week 2011, themed “Green Brainpower for Sustainable Development of Vietnam’s Sea and Islands,” will be held nationwide from June 1-8.

This is an annual activity, starting from 2009, aimed at raising public awareness of the function, role and special importance of seas and oceans, the sustainable development of oceans, and the minimization of the adverse impacts of climate change on Vietnam and the world as well.

The week is also designed to improve the sense of protecting natural resources and the maritime environment, as well as to enhance Vietnamese people’s national pride of sovereignty over territorial waters and the long-term development of the sea-based economy.

The central coastal province of Khanh Hoa was selected to host a number of main activities during the week, including a meeting in response to the Vietnam Sea and Islands Week 2011, forums highlighting the brand name of the Vietnamese sea and the sea-borne economy, and the inauguration of a showroom displaying maritime resources of the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes.

PV