Sand paintings feature ‘Uncle Ho’ and General Giap; Francophone house of knowledge opens in Hue city City; Ho Chi Minh-a great influence on China; Quang Ngai’s folk artists to perform in RoK

Ms Lan completed the paintings after more than five months of research and hard work.

The director of the Museum, Le Ma Luong, said that this is the first time his museum has received such sophisticated and significant items.

Ms Lan added that she and her colleagues will begin work on 14 large-sized sand paintings depicting the country’s history from the dynasty of King Ly Cong Uan to the day of national reunification in 1975.

These new works are expected to be finished in May, 2010, to coincide with Hanoi’s 1000th anniversary celebrations.

Francophone house of knowledge opens in Hue City

Central Hue City on September 17 inaugurated a House of Knowledge built with the support of the Association of International Francophone Mayors (AIFM) and the International Organisation of Francophone Countries (IOFC).

The building in Hue is one of four houses of knowledge sponsored by countries belonging to the Francophone community to supply databases, train IT and promote the use of the French language around the world.

The three-storey building, situated at No. 1, Le Hong Phong Street, includes a multi-media lab which is equipped with 30 computers, a scanner, projector, TV and equipment for online-conferences plus a database centre for learning French.

Patrice Burel, Director of IOFC’s Asia-Pacific regional bureau said the inauguration of the house of knowledge in Hue City is part of efforts to popularise the French language around the world under the AIFM’s commitments.

The three other houses will be in Chisinau in Mondovi, Kinshasa in the Republic of Congo and Ouagadugou in Burkina Faso.

Ho Chi Minh-a great influence on China

Chinese readers and experts have chosen the late President Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam as one of 60 foreign persons who have had great influence and played important roles in the last 60-years of Chinese development in the fields of politics, economics, culture and science and technology.

The survey was carried out on a website of the Global Times, a publication of the People’s Daily, the official organ of the Communist Party of China, to mark the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China on October 1.

In addition to late President Ho Chi Minh, other world-renowned figures include Isaac Newton, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engles, V.I Lenin, Albert Einstein, J. Stalin and Bill Gates and Margaret Thatcher who is the only woman appearing in the list.

Vietnamese culture promoted in Japan

A programme aimed at promoting Vietnamese culture to Japanese friends was launched in Japan on September 17 as part of Vietnamese Cultural Month in Japan co-organised by the Vietnamese embassy in Japan and the Global Citizen Club.

Speaking on the occasion, Vietnamese ambassador to Japan Nguyen Phu Binh praised the Global Citizen Club’s efforts to strengthen the friendship between the two countries.

The programme began with a fashion show of Vietnam women’s long dress followed by the performance of traditional instrumental music by Vietnamese artists.

Members of the club and other Japanese guests were introduced to some popular Vietnamese dishes such as spring rolls and chicken noodles they took part in a game to discover more about Vietnam and its tourism potential.

Quang Ngai’s folk artists to perform in RoK

Quang Ngai’s folk art troupe will perform traditional instrumental music as part of a Vietnam-RoK culture exchange on Jeju Island from September 24-28, according to the Provincial Literature and Arts Association.

Vietnamese artists will play folk songs of the Kor and H’re ethnic groups.

Other scheduled events include seminars, culture exchanges, fine arts galleries and photo exhibitions featuring the landscape and people of Vietnam and RoK.

In September 2008, the Federation of Art and Culture of Jeju Island visited Vietnam and held a culture exchange in Quang Ngai province.

Spanish photographer holds exhibition on Vietnam

An exhibition of black-and-white pictures Spanish photographer Sergio Sanz shot in Vietnam is being held in Zaragoza, Spain.

He has chosen 25 out of the photos he took during his three-week visit to Vietnam last March, when he traveled everywhere from Sapa in the northern mountains to the Mekong Delta in the south.

Mr. Sanz said black-and-white photos capture the feelings of people better than color.

The exhibition, on at the Mariano Mesonada Cultural Center, will run until September 23. The photos will then be displayed at the Caja de Ahorros de la Inmaculada Bank’s exhibition hall in Zaragoza next June.

They were earlier displayed at the El Corte Ingles commercial center also in Zaragoza for four months.

The photographer hopes he will have another opportunity to visit Vietnam soon.

PV