Art & Entertainment News 28/11 Winning photos of Vietnam heritage contest on display Vietnam Heritage magazine and Canon Marketing Vietnam last Sunday honored 25 winners of this year’s Vietnam Heritage Photo Contest whose artworks are on display at the Reunification Palace in HCMC’s District 1. There are 100 photo selected from over 4,400 photos by 477 artists aged between 18 and 25 nationwide. The youngest artist was only 10 years old while the oldest was 83. Typical photos had themes on nature, daily life and intangible and tangible heritages. There were five first prizes worth a Canon EOS 700D and a printer Canon Pixma MG6470 coming to Pham Bang for the photo “Tuyet Sapa” (Sapa Snow) in the category for nature and Le Trong Khang for the work “Anh den dem hoi” (festival light) in the category of daily life. Intangible and tangible heritage prizes respectively went to Nguyen Thanh Vuong for the work “Gai Thuong Phong” (Thuong Phong girls) and Tran Dinh Thuong for the work “Banh hoi ra lo” (freshly made rice vermicelli). Winner of photo collection category was Nguyen Phung Chi for “May nui Bac Son” (Bac Son clouds and mountains). The organizers also granted five second prizes and five third prizes and ten consolation prizes. In addition, three contestants under 18 were named the most potential photographers. Nick Yoshida, chairman and CEO of Canon Marketing Vietnam, said the organizers aimed to emphasize the responsibilities of heritage preservation to both locals and foreigners. Furthermore, he showed his cheerfulness to have received a large number of entries with outstanding quality. According to Yoshida, the high quality of this year’s entries shows a good signal for the future of local photography. Tran Dinh Thuong, owner of the winning photo on intangible heritage of “Banh hoi ra lo,” said that he had joined in the contest for three consecutive times and he hoped to continue taking part in the program to help preserve precious heritages of Vietnam by the art of photography “Thanks to contest I can contribute to preserving special traits of a craft village making banh hoi (rice vermicelli) in Phu Long Town in the central coast province of Binh Thuan,” he said. Le Trong Khang, first prize winner for the photo “Anh den dem hoi” featuring people preparing for a flower lantern release in the ancient town of Hoi An, said that he has nurtured a wish to show the best images of his hometown Hoi An to locals and foreigners. The contest is where a young photographer like him can promote traditional values of Vietnam to the world and develop the photography in his hometown. Vietnam’s heritage photos have been on a tour for display in HCMC, Phan Thiet, Nha Trang, Can Tho, Hanoi, Danang, Quang Nam, Quang Ninh, Vung Tau, An Giang and My Tho. Large-scale book sale fair slated for next week  Around 20 publishing houses in HCMC will join hands to host a book sale fair at the City Exhibition House in HCMC’s District 1 from December 3 to 7 from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. This is an event held annually at the year-end to create a chance for readers to purchase books at discounts. Furthermore, this is where readers can meet and exchange with writers and publishing houses can learn about the reading trends. Participants in the fair can also join in some interesting activities, including “Blind Date with a Book,” a popular game originating in foreign countries where players have to choose a book which is totally covered based on its paragraphs and keywords written on a book bag. The meaning of this game is that “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” There are large numbers of old and rare books by local popular authors and scholars which will be on sales at the fair. Phuong Nam Book will hold meetings between young authors Le Hoang and Khanh Linh and readers on December 3-4 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The City Exhibition House is located at 92 Le Thanh Ton Street in HCMC’s District 1. Vietnam to join Doodle 4 Google Vietnam officially becomes the 25th country participating in the Doodle 4 Google competition. Google will organize the competition themed Uoc mo cua em (My Dream) intended for Vietnamese children from seven to 15 years of age for the first time in Vietnam. Participants can take photos of their entries and send them to the organizers, or directly submit their entries at the launch of Doodle 4 Google. However, a compulsory form downloaded from the official website of the competition is required for valid entries. The organizers will also promote Doodle 4 Google in major cities such as Hanoi, HCMC and Danang next month where some orientation courses will be held to give instructions to participants. Submission of entries will officially start tomorrow until January 26 next year. Eighteen contenders in the final round will be awarded a certificate and a bicycle. All the chosen entries will be archived in Google’s Doodle collection while the winning entry will appear on Google’s website during 24 hours. Google is estimated to have had more than 2,000 Doodle drawings since 1998. For more information, visit www.google.com/doodle4google. National artistic photo exhibition opens in Da Lat As many as 201 artistic photos on contemporary Vietnam’s people and land are on display at a national exhibition opened in Da Lat City, the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, on November 26. The works are selected from 6,718 entries submitted by 1,046 amateur and professional photographers during a 5-month photo contest hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Among the prize winners, Tran Thi Minh Ha from Ho Chi Minh City won the gold medal for the theme of the Tay Nguyen Central Highlands, with her photo of an ethnic man and his elephant. The gold medal in the category of free theme went to Phung Duc Dung from Da Nang City, who captured competitors in a diving contest. The national exhibition is held every two years. The event this year is a highlight in the 2014 national tourism year of Tay Nguyen – Da Lat, and will last until December 12.- Book casts light on little known Vietnamese workers in France The Vietnamese version of a French book on Indochinese workers in France in the 20th century’s first half was published recently, giving the public an insight into a little-known part of the history of French colonisation of Vietnam. Associate Prof. Dr Pham Xanh from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities said the book “Immigres de Force, les Travailleurs Indochinois en France 1939-1952” (Immigrants Force, the Indochinese workers in France 1939-1952) is an in-depth study of Pierre Daum and translated into Vietnamese by Tran Huu Khanh. Within three years since 2007, Pierre Daum searched far and wide from France’s Paris and Marseille to Vietnam’s Hanoi and remote areas and found out 25 people who are the last historical witnesses for the story. In September 1939, France, which were colonising Vietnam then, declared war against German fascists and sent 20,000 young Vietnamese people to France to serve in the defence industry. Among these people, just about 5 percent were educated and hailed from rich families and volunteered to work as interpreters. The rest came from poor farmer families and were forced to travel to France and then work at weapon factories. They were called Indochinese workers. After France lost to the Nazis in June 1940, only some 4,500 of Vietnamese forced labourers were returned to their homeland. The remainder were brought to southern France to work in production sectors during wartime. In 1942, 500 people were sent to Camargue region in the south to revive rice cultivation, and thanks to their experience, they succeeded in turning century-old saline land here into a high-yield rice production area which is now a pride of southern France. During their stay in the foreign country, the Vietnamese workers always thought their home country. They carried out numerous activities such as distributing leaflets, displaying Vietnam’s flag, and staging strikes and protests in support of the homeland’s struggle for independence and against France’s reoccupation of Vietnam. In 1945, Vietnam gained independence, and one year later, President Ho Chi Minh attended the Fontainebleau conference in France and was welcomed by thousands of those Indochinese workers. Later, their widespread struggle forced the French Government to carry out repatriations. Pierre Daum’s book was first published in 2009 and made a resounding success. It was then reprinted for a number of times, adapted into films, and became the topic of many mobile exhibitions as well as workshops across France. A number of French localities honoured the former Indochinese workers. In September 2014, a State-level monument to the 20,000 Vietnamese workers was inaugurated in Camargue.- Festival aims to promote southern Khmer ethnic culture The 6th Culture, Sports and Tourism Festival of the Khmer ethnic people in southern Vietnam is to honour, preserve and promote the unique culture of the Khmer people, contributing to strengthening the great national unity bloc. The three-day festival, which will open in Hau Giang province on November 27 evening, is an important event in the political, cultural and spiritual life of Khmer people in the south in general and in the province in particular, said Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Tran Cong Chanh. It will offer a good chance to southern Khmer people to meet and learn living and production experience from each other while reflecting the Party and State’s attention to the ethnic communities, especially the Khmer, he added. A wide range of activities such as folk games, art performances, a food fair, and a workshop on tourism potential will be held during the festival, which sees the participation of 12 southern cities and provinces. Vietnam’s Khmer people mainly live in the southwestern region and worship at more than 453 Khmer pagodas. Hau Giang province is home to over 26,000 Khmer people, accounting for 3 percent of its total population. VNS/Nhan Dan