Local kid’s painting wins prize at int’l contest

Local kid’s painting wins prize at int’l contest

The winning painting by Hanoi’s second grader Nguyen Pham Nhat Minh.

A painting by Hanoi’s second grader Nguyen Pham Nhat Minh won a consolation prize at the 9th Toyota Dream Car Art Contest in Tokyo, Japan.

The contest was judged by leading Japanese art experts and professors at art universities, and automobile experts to find out the best 30 final artworks.

Nguyen Pham Nhat Minh was among the finalists from 22 countries and territories. This year’s program attracted 875,000 paintings at 81 national contests in the world. Each country chose the top nine works of three age groups (under 8, from 8 to11 and from 12 to 15) to attend the international round in Japan.

Three golden prizes for three age groups went to contestants from Sri Lanka, Romania và Paraguay.

After nine years of launching, the contest has received nearly three million paintings from kids from around the world.

Four candidates compete in sommelier competition

The four top scorers of the 2015 Vietnam Best Sommelier Competition will compete today at the Consulate General of France.

The four final candidates will undergo a series of public workshops. Two winners will be selected to represent Viet Nam in the Grand Finale competition in Kuala Lumpur in December.

The panel of judges includes local experienced sommeliers and master sommeliers from overseas.

The winner of the Vietnam Best Sommelier Competition will be offered a trip to France to visit vineyards along with other national winners of the Sopexa Trophy, and will receive various prizes.

In addition, the winner will be offered transportation and accommodation to the final competition in Kuala Lumpur, along with the first finalist.

International marketing and communications agency Sopexa has re-launched a Sopexa Trophy for the best sommelier in French wines throughout Southeast Asia, South Korea, and Taiwan.

The global contest was created in 1986 to help sommeliers and train them in French oenology.

HCM City set to commemorate 18th century general’s death

HCM City will celebrate the annual Lang Ong – Ba Chieu Festival to mark the death anniversary of General Le Van Duyet (1764-1832) at his temple in Binh Thanh District on Sunday (Sept. 13).

The festival, which falls on the first of the eighth lunar month, features several rituals and other activities that attract thousands of people.

Duyet, a Governor of the Gia Dinh Citadel in the 19th century (now HCM City), made great contributions to protecting and expanding the country’s southern region. His decision to dig the Vinh Te Canal, one of the most important in the Mekong Delta, contributed to its development and that of HCM City.

The temple dedicated to him, also called Lang Ong – Ba Chieu Temple, was built in 1832 and is located on a 1.85ha site that is surrounded by trees. Besides his tomb and his wife’s, the temple has a pre-chamber, a mid-chamber, a main chamber. It also has a stele that extols Duyet’s services to the country. The architecture is similar to that of Hue’s Ancient Citadel and many structures in the south.

Recognised as a national historical and cultural relic in 1989, the temple is also a place where people pray among other things for the safety and peace of the country, favourable weather, good crops and happiness.

Northern mountain pass recognised as national landscape site

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has recognised Hoang Lien Son Pass in the northern province of Lai Chau as a national landscape site.

The 50km pass links Lai Chau and Lao Cai provinces, and is one of the longest and most magnificent in the north.

At its highest point, it is nearly 2,000 meters above sea level and covered in clouds all year round. Legend has it that the peak has a lake that never dries and is the abode of the Tortoise God. The pass is also called O Quy Ho (Tortoise Lake).

The pass has beautiful landscapes and waterfalls.

Locals, including the ethnic Dao and Mong peoples, sell their agriculture produce at places along the pass and also run small eateries selling hot baked corn, sweet potato, eggs, and com lam (rice cooked in a bamboo cylinder).

Lao Cai province working hard to attract tourists

The Lao Cai Province Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has some new offerings to attract tourists, including horse cart tours to visit ethnic minority villages in Bac Ha town and a trip to Bac Ha Tourism House to see the local wine making process.

The department has also tied up with two brocade weaving villages and traditional-musical-instrument making village in Sa Pa District’s Ta Van Commune to provide tourism services.

The northern mountainous province is planning to develop several more tourism products, including bicycle tours of Lao Cai City – Bat Xat – Sa Pa, an agricultural tourism site in Bac Ha’s flower valley, and community tourism in several places.

Lao Cai has many scenic sites, including magnificent terraced fields, and a large number of different ethnic cultures.

It has attracted more than 1.4 million tourists this year, 39.4 per cent more than in the same period last year.

Hai Phong to hold mud banger folkgame festival

Tan Hung, Tam Da and Tan Lien communes in Hai Phong city will organise mud banger festivals on September 15.

The folk game involves groups, each with three or four members, fashioning what looks like a tray out of mud with prominent edges. A banger weighs about 30 kg and is about 50cm long and 30cm wide.

When a contestant throws one on a flat ground, it bursts with a bang and its edge breaks off from the body and stretches into a strip. The group whose bangers make the loudest noise and has the longest edge wins.

It is said that the festival has been organised since the 1st century CE, and the folk game has many legends around it.

Fund-raising music show to benefit the poor

Volunteer House Vietnam Group will hold a music night to raise funds for organizing a Mid-Autumn festival for poor children and elderly people this weekend.

Called “Share your voice,” the event will take place on September 12 in both Hanoi and HCMC with the participation of emerging young artists such as singers Pham Huy and Truong Kieu Diem and actor Hoang Minh Tuan.

In Hanoi, the show is set to take place at Lieu Giai Café, 28 Lieu Giai Street, Ba Dinh District. In HCMC, it will be organized at Corner Coffee and Dining, 6B Tu Xuong Street, District 3.

Tickets for the show, starting at 8 p.m. in both cities, cost VND75,000 (US$3.34) per person including drinks.

Volunteer House Vietnam is a non-profit project launched by Vo Thi My Linh, who escaped death in Nepal’s avalanche in October last year.

Operational for eight months now, the project has provided free accommodation for foreign tourists and volunteers in exchange for free English classes for poor children in Vietnam.

The organization has attracted 300 official members and 1,000 non-permanent members at home and abroad to run three English classes in HCMC and four classes in Hanoi.

VNS/VNA/VOV/SGT

Local kid’s painting wins prize at int’l contest

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