Art & Entertainment News In Brief Children’s painting exhibition of climate change opens in Hanoi A children’s painting exhibition featuring 100 pictures opened at the French cultural center in Hanoi. The exhibits are selected from 3,000 paintings of students from 6th grade-12th grade of Nguyen Tat Thanh High School. The painting contest themed “The earth in my hand” aims to arouse students’ passion for painting and raise awareness about impacts of climate change on people's lives. 10 golden prizes, 10 silver prizes, 10 bronze prizes and three Grand prizes have been awarded in the contest. The display runs until November 15. Thai culture introduced in Vietnam Thai expatriates in Hanoi and locals on October 27 enjoyed one of the biggest traditional Thai festivals in the capital city. The Loi Krathong event was organised by the Thai Embassy in Hanoi and the Tourism Authority of Thailand. It celebrated the 39th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Speaking at the event, Thai Ambassador to Vietnam Panyarak Poolthup highlighted the festival’s significant role in Thai people’s lives, and said he hoped visitors would have a chance to try famous traditional dishes such as Pad Thai and Tom Yum. Several art performances and Thai games were also held. Attendees could make their own flower lanterns and masks. Loi Krathong is the second biggest festival in Thailand, after the Songkran Festival. It is also considered the most romantic festival in the country, using aromatic candles, flower garlands and colored lanterns. It is held to express gratitude to the Goddess of Water, Phra Mae Kongka. This year’s festival is set to open on November 25 in Thailand. Exhibition on renovation held in Hanoi A photo exhibition entitled “Hanoi- 30 years of Reform” is on display at the Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature) in Hanoi, having opened on October 27. The event, organised by the Economic & Urban newspaper in collaboration with the Hanoi Elderly Photographer Club, aims to welcome the 16 th Congress of Hanoi Party Organisation and the 12th National Party Congress. More than 80 photos are on show, which reflect the true and vivid daily life while praising the capital’s achievements during the past 30 years. Addressing the event, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Hong Son said the exhibition marks the great achievements of the Party Organisation, Government and people of Hanoi in 30 years of reform. It also encourages younger generations to join in developing, preserving and promoting the values of the capital city for development, prosperity and integration, he added. The event will run until October 31. Lai Chau province to host ethnic minority sports festival Some 800 officials, athletes and referees from 31 northern and central localities have registered to participate in the 9th ethnic minority sports festival, which is taking place in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau from November 6-11. Athletes will compete in nine categories, including stick pushing, tugging, crossbow shooting, Con throwing, Tu Lu, badminton, cross-country running, men’s volleyball and men’s football. According to Vice Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Tran Van Chi, the festival is the biggest sporting event ever held in Lai Chau province, creating a chance for the locality to popularise and introduce itself to friends across the country. The opening ceremony is scheduled for November 8. The province is currently undertaking meticulous preparations for the festival. The ethnic minority sports festival is held every two years in two regions, the North and the South, and is hosted by provinces on a rotary basis. The northern region counts 31 centrally-run cities and provinces from Thua-Thien-Hue northward. Thay Thim Temple Festival opens in Binh Thuan Thousands of local people and tourists attended Thay Thim Temple Festival, the annual festival that opened in La Gi Town in the southern coastal province of Binh Thuan on October 27. The three-day festival includes many cultural activities, such as traditional rituals, folk music performances and sport games. Thay Thim Temple located in the Bau Cai Forest in Binh Thuan Province about 130 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City was built in 1879 for worshiping a rich, kind hermit and his wife who are both respectfully called Thay (The Wizard) and Thim (The Aunt). Thay who had magical powers, and his wife helped and cured many people during their life. At this temple and graves of Thay Thim, two main festivals take place yearly. According to the lunar calendar, the cleaning and decorating of graves occurs on January 5th and September 14-16. Thay Thim Temple was ranked as one of National Artistic and Architectural Relics of the nation in 1997. Every year, the festival attracts around 200,000 visitors. Li Lam to bring Indochina spirit to latest collection   A model dons one of the latest designs in the “Nguyen ban” collection by Li Lam at the Vietnam International Fashion Week in HCMC’s District 1 in mid-October.  HCMC-based designer Li Lam has launched her latest collection for women called “Nguyen ban” (original). The collection which was featured at the Vietnam International Fashion Week in mid-October was inspired by the images of mature women in society who are strong, confident and distinguished. All the modern designs reflect the typical Asian spirit via Indochina’s patterns of yellow daisy, dragonfly, stork, papaya, and bitter melon, among others. The minimalism costumes made from silk and viscose (a semi-synthetic fabric) come with theme colors of black, white, dark blue, dark green, clay brown, Bordeaux red and mustard yellow. The designer uses embroidered patterns and handmade drawings combined with conch buttons to beautify the costumes. Li Lam wants to bring ladies an elegant and tidy style of old Saigon combined with dynamic and liberal features of contemporary life. On the occasion, she unveiled her upcoming plan to run the first store in Hanoi at Tan My Design, 61 Hang Gai Street. Tan My is Hanoi’s go-to shop for beautiful hand-embroidered fabrics. The store combines the feel of old Hanoi and modern and contemporary architecture and design. This combination matches Lam’s spirit and designs. All the collections displayed in Tan My are carefully selected for Hanoi. This is the very next step of Lam to expand her business to another city after Saigon. Li Lam, founder of LAM and Lam by Lam, started her fashion career in 2008. She is dedicated to creating a simple but classy and sophisticated look empowering the femininity of women. Lam wants to give clothes a meaning. Many celebs and fashionistas have chosen her simple yet elegant designs for their daily or red-carpet looks. Photo exhibition features Japan’s Tohoku region The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam, in cooperation with the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam, will hold a Tohoku region photo exhibition from October 30 to November 13 at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi, the Japan Foundation said in a statement. The photo exhibition of Tohoku through the eyes of Japanese photographers does not attempt to document the damage or recovery of Tohoku after the great earthquake that struck Japan on March 11, 2011 and devastated the region, but instead uses photography to show the natural and cultural environment of Tohoku along with its people and their way of life, according to the organizers. The free-entrance show features photographs of Tohoku taken by nine individual photographers and one photographers’ group. Teisuke Chiba and Ichiro Kojima photographed Tohoku in the 1950s and 1960s.  Hideo Haga, Masatoshi Naito, and Masaru Tatsuki have recorded festivals and folk religious rites throughout the region.  Hiroshi Oshima and Naoya Hatakeyama have combined their personal histories with the landscapes of their home regions. Meiki Rin turned his camera toward the beautiful natural environment. Nao Tsuda searched for the source of the Japanese spirit in relics and artifacts of the Jomon period.  A group of photographers led by Toru Ito have created the Sendai Collection, a series of photographs of anonymous scenes in the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, and the largest city in the Tohoku region. The exhibition is expected to give glimpses of the primal landscape of Japan, and provide an opportunity for viewers to see the nature of the Japanese people and think about the future of Tohoku. The Vietnam Fine Arts Museum is located at 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi. Hoops fans ready to feel the Heat on Halloween Halloween will be full of chills and thrills for Vietnamese basketball fans, with the Heat returning to the hardwood for their fourth season. Opening at home against the Singapore Slingers, the Heat will feature a lineup with some old and new faces on the heels of the franchise’s first-ever playoff appearance last year. Tony Garbelotto has returned as head coach, and recruited some local talent from Vietnam’s men’s national basketball team, which competed at the SEA Games this past June in Singapore. “On the positive side, I feel that we showed the Vietnamese basketball community that there is a way forward and that we believe in home-grown Vietnamese players and their role at the highest levels,” Garbelotto said. “Nhan Thanh Nguyen proved that even with no history at this level you can come and succeed - he averaged 14 points and nine rebounds per game and it was nice to see against Thailand where he started to release that he actually could not be stopped.” The forward will be joined from the SEA Games squad by fellow forward Tran Tien Thinh, who was a member of the Heat’s historic first playoff squad; national team shooting guard Dam Huy Dai; small forward To Quang Trung; and point guard Phan Minh Luyen. Returning from last year’s Heat squad are Vietnamese-American heritage player David Arnold, who was key to the squad’s success last year with tenacious defense and 14.5 points per game average. He’ll be joined by Heat veteran Nguyen Ngoc Thanh. New to the club this year are Swedish-Vietnamese star Stefan Nguyen, a member of numerous Swedish national youth teams and point guard who averaged 16.5 points per game with Malbas of the Swedish professional league. Power forward Lenny Daniel starred at Cal State-Northridge before moving on to play pro in Bulgaria, while Thai American Moses Morgan will suit up at small forward after a collegiate career at DePaul and time in the Thailand Basketball League. Tip-off for the home opener is at 5 p.m. at the Canadian International School (CIS) in District 7 this Saturday. Photo exhibition features Hanoi’s beauty Over 80 photos, praising the beauty of nature, life and people in Hanoi, are being showcased at an exhibition entitled ‘Hanoi in Me’, which officially opened at the Temple of Literature in Hanoi on October 27. The exhibition offers a general insight into Hanoi after 30 years of the national renewal process as well as the dynamism and positive changes of the city in all aspects of social and economic life. The photos highlight famous landscapes in Hanoi as well as the daily lives of its people. The photos were taken by members of the Hanoi Elderly Photography Club, who were formerly also reporters and collaborators at newspapers. Organised by Kinh Te & Do Thi (Economy and City) newspaper and the Hanoi Elderly Photography Club, the exhibition will run until October 31. National award-winning music performances presented in city A special concert featuring more than 200 artists from art troupes nationwide will be held at Ho Chi Minh City Opera House on October 29. The show themed “Multi Color Flowers” will present award-winning performances at the National Dancing and Singing Contest 2015 that will be performed by art troupes, including Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO), Bong Sen Traditional Song and Dance Theater, the Military Zone 7 Art Troupe and art groups from Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces. The concert is organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Dancers' Association and HBSO. Vietnamese Culture Day held in Italy The Embassy of Vietnam in Italy and the Association of Students of Vietnam in Italy have co-organised a “Day of Vietnamese Culture” in the central city of Cassino. The October 25 event, the second of its kind, brought together a large number of international and local visitors as well as members of the Vietnamese community in the country. In addition to photo displays, a traditional ao dai show, cuisine and folk games, live art performances and documentary film screenings gave participants an insight into the land, people, and cultural diversity of Vietnam. Attendees were introduced to 21 heritages of Vietnam, which were recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as intangible and intangible cultural heritages. Nguyen Van Lich from the embassy said the initiative helps increase international understanding of Vietnam’s culture, thus fostering the cooperation, solidarity and friendship between Vietnam and the host country. He thanked the local authorities for facilitating the organization of the event and hoped that they will continue support for Vietnamese students living and working in the city. For his part, Cassino Mayor Guiseppe Golini Petrarcone hailed the significance of the event in bolstering the Vietnam-Italy friendship, vowing that the city will continue creating favorable conditions for Vietnamese students here. Vietnam and Italy have had 72 education projects and around 1,000 Vietnamese undergraduate and postgraduate students are studying in Italy. Traditional sacred animals on display in Hanoi Approximately 100 artefacts related to traditional sacred animals will be on display at the Vietnam National Museum of History in Hanoi from October 28 – February 2016.  Those objects date back from the early days in the founding history of the Vietnamese nation to the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), the last royal monarchy in Vietnam’s history.  The exhibits will be classified into different categories, including the Dong Son civilisation’s totems, dragons, cranes, lions and “nghe” – a fictional creature with lion-like head, long tail and dog-like body, and 12 animal signs of the Vietnamese zodiac.  The show will also feature 3D images of some valuable objects unsuitable to be put on display.-VNA Vietnam takes part in cultural exchange Twenty-nine outstanding young Vietnamese people and other ASEAN and Japanese youths will take part in the Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Programme (SSEAYP) from October 27, starting in Tokyo, Japan, to share with each other their countries culture. The programme, now in its 42nd year, offers 350 ASEAN and Japanese youths the chance to journey together aboard MS Nippon Maru and visit participating countries for 51 days (including 10 days in Japan). The SSEAYP ship will start its tour on November 5 from Japan and will dock in five countries in Southeast Asia including the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Malaysia, returning back to Japan for the final ceremonies. Activities on board include discussions, cultural introductions, sports and club activities. The activities in the countries visited include exchanges with local youths, homestays, visits to various facilities and volunteer activities. In Japan, they will take part in the Japan-ASEAN Youth Leaders summit, where they will discus cultural and social issues in ASEAN members countries. The programme aims to promote friendship and mutual understanding among the youths of Japan and participating countries, to broaden their perspective on the world, and to strengthen their spirit of international co-operation. The SSEAYP ship will arrive to HCM City at the Cat Lai Port from November 17-21. The young people will take part in homestay and live with local families to better understand the lifestyle, and the culture of Vietnamese people. In HCM City, ASEAN and Japanese youth will join in a cultural exchange, visit revolutionary vestiges including Ben Duoc Memorial an the Cu Chi tunnels. The programme started in 1974 based on a statement issued in the same year by Japan and Southeast Abeautiful Moc Chau plateau in the season of fog. Severe erosion along Ca Mau coastline More than 40 kilometres of shoreline in the southernmost province of Cau Mau have been badly damaged by the gradual sinking of land into the ocean, the province announced. The most damaged shore sections were mainly on the west coast in the communes of Khanh Tien (U Minh district), Khanh Binh Tay Bac (Tran Van Thoi district) and Tan Hai (Phu Tan district) with a combined length of 23 kilometres. On the east coast, serious erosion was seen along an 8.7-kilometre section of the shore in Dat Mui commune (Ngoc Hien district) and Tan Thuan commune (Dam Doi district). The province said it has invested hundreds of billions of VND in building various types of embankments in critical areas but has not been able to resolve the erosion triggered by increasingly complicated climate conditions. Ca Mau requested the Government and relevant ministries help it build 5,100 metres of embankments in the west coast in U Minh district and allocate 150 billion VND (6.67 million USD) to implement urgent solutions for protecting areas with severe land-sinking. The province also recommended the Government assist with the implementation of projects which include urgent embankments in Tan Thuan commune, Nam Can town (Nam Can district) and Tan Tien commune (Dam Doi district).- Vietnam – India friendship festival promotes cultural exchange The seventh Vietnam – India People’s Friendship Festival officially kicked off in Hyderabad city, Telengana state in the south of India on October 27, promoting cultural exchanges between the two countries. The event was attended by the General Secretary of the All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation (AIPSO) Pallab Sein Gupta, the Telengana State’s Minister of Finance Eatala Rajender and its Minister of the Interior Nayani Narishmba Reedy as well as Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO) Vu Xuan Hong and Vice President of the Vietnam-India Friendship Association (VIFA) Ha Minh Hue. Songs and dances performed by Indian artists, along with more than 30 unique arts performances praising President Ho Chi Minh, the land and people of Vietnam as well as the Vietnam – India friendship by artists from the Vietnam People’s Public Security art troupe delighted audiences at the opening ceremony of the festival. Addressing the opening ceremony, AIPSO general secretary Pallapb Sein Gupta said that the biennial festival offers an opportunity for people in the two countries to review the significant milestones of the long-standing co-operative relationship between Vietnam and India. The Telengana State’s Minister of Finance Eatala Rajender emphasised that the traditional friendship created by the two outstanding leaders of the two nations, President Ho Chi Minh and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, has been nurtured by generations of leaders and people of the two countries. He also expressed hope that VUFO, VIFA and AIPSO would organise more significant events such as the festival whilst supporting the enterprises from both sides to contribute to economic development. VUFO Chairman Vu Xuan Hong said that the festival would contribute to hoisting Vietnam – India relations to a new height in the near future. The seventh Vietnam – India People’s Friendship Festival will run until November 2. Thailand’s Loi Krathong festival celebrated in Vietnam for first time The Thai Embassy in Hanoi co-organised with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to stage the country’s traditional Loi Krathong (lantern release) festival in Hanoi on the evening of October 27. It is the first time Thailand’s traditional festival has been celebrated in Vietnam. Loi Krathong is the second largest festival, after the Songkran (Water) festival, celebrated by Thai people annually. It is also one of the most beautiful, colourful and long-standing festivals in Thailand. It is an occasion for Thai people to pay gratitude to the river goddess, Pra Mae Kongka, for providing water to the people. At the same time Loi Krathong is a request for Pra Mae Kongka's forgiveness for having polluted the water source. This year’s Loi Krathong festival will be held on November 25 in Thailand. Addressing the festival, Thai Ambassador to Vietnam Panyarak Poolthup extended his warm welcome to the guests attending the lantern-release festival. He noted that Thailand and Vietnam are both agricultural countries where water resources play a very important role in people’s livelihoods. Participants at the festival enjoyed the traditional Thai festive atmosphere thorough arts performances while tasting Thai signature dishes such as Pad Thai (stir-fried rice-noodle) and Tom Yum (spicy-sour soup). They were also invited to take part in folk games and try their hand at making lanterns and traditional masks under the instruction of Thai artisans using Thailand-made materials. 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