Culture, sport need specialists

HCM CITY — The culture, sports, and tourism sector is unable to find enough quality personnel, according to officials.

Nguyen Thanh Rum, director of the HCM City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism blamed it on a lack of incentives for specialists and talented people.

A severe shortage of skilled specialists who can train the next generations is also to blame, he said.

As a result, most fresh graduates fail to meet the job market's requirements, Ngo Quang Vinh, director of the Da Nang Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said.

"Schools fail to factor the needs of employers into their training programmes," he told a conference held in HCM City this week to gather suggestions for drafting regulations to develop the workforce in this decade.

The poor teaching methods and low investment in infrastructure and equipment are also causes for the poor education quality, he said.

Amending regulations and policies will be a major breakthrough in developing the workforce, he said, adding that the draft should spell out incentives to attract talent.

Together, sports, culture, and tourism sector employ around 1.62 million people of whom doctoral and master's degree-holders account for just 0.2 and 2.07 per cent, respectively, Nguyen Van Luu, deputy director of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's Training Department, said.

Graduates accounted for 36.58 per cent and vocational training graduates for 26.23 per cent, he said.

Some 435 schools and 1,000 vocational training centres around the country offer courses in culture, sports, and tourism that are attended by 26,000-30,500 students every year, he said.

But only 26.5 per cent of the 3,112 lecturers and teachers at these establishments have master's degrees, while 4.6 per cent have doctoral degrees.

Up to 30 per cent of all graduates fail to find suitable jobs or are unemployed, he added.

The ministry hopes to add 30 doctorates to the teaching staff every year through 2015, and 50 during 2016-20. — VNS

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Conference promotes Hue tourism

White light: Young women in ao dai ready to release flower lanterns into the Huong River at Hue Festival 2010. — VNS Photo Nhat Anh

HA NOI — A conference on tourism promotion for the central province of Thua Thien-Hue has been held in Ha Noi to introduce tourism services and cultural programmes to the province this year.

The Hue Traditional Crafts Festival, to be celebrated from April 29 to May 3, will be the key event for tourists this year and will build on the achievements of previous festivals. It will specialise in the arts of bonsai and gastronomy with the theme of Vietnamese gastronomy in the tranquillity of Hue's gardens.

Festival goers will be immersed in the conspicuous cultural ambience through Viet Nam's divine culinary and bonsai arts. Cuisines from distinct geographical regions across the country will be featured: the culinary specialities of the south, the delicate cuisine of Hue with its royal meals, vegetarian food and popular dishes to be served in the city's splendid gardens, and the authentic tastes from the north.

Visitors will also have chance to meet prominent culinary researchers and experts, talented bonsai artists, antiques collectors and other artists in the country in the variety of fascinating artistic programmes and community activities.

For the national year of tourism in 2012, hosted by Thua Thien-Hue Province, the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will launch many tourism programmes.

For example, the department will organise tours to discover the treasures of Hue and help tourists understand the legacy of the Nguyen dynasty by experiencing the culture and visiting pagodas.

Let's Experience Hue will introduce tourists to Hue festivals, crafts villages and royal life. Tours take visitors on various routes through the provinces and allow them to discover the heritage of the city. For those who want to relax, there will be walking tours that take visitors to forests, to rest by Lang Co Beach and to discover ancient houses.

"Thua Thien-Hue is an attractive destination for tourists as tourism is the key industry of the province," said Phan Tien Dung, director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

"Last year, Hue received 1.5 million visitors, 700,000 of which were foreigners."

At the conference, a co-operation memorandum was signed between Ha Noi's Culture, Sports and Tourism Department and its counterparts from Thua Thien-Hue Province and HCM City.

A similar conference for the same purpose will take place in HCM City on January 19. — VNS

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Recognition sought for amateur music

CA MAU — Twenty-one provinces and cities in the south are compiling information on don ca tai tu (southern amateur music) that will be submitted for recognition as an intangible cultural heritage from the United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cutural Organisation (UNESCO).

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is collecting all of the research documents, articles and other information on this music genre, which is performed by local amateur singers and instrumentalists.

The music, which contains lyrics about people's everyday lives, is played on traditional Vietnamese musical instruments, including the dan tranh (16-chord zither) and dan co (two-string guitar).

Ca Mau Province's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, for example, has found hundreds of research documents and articles, and trained 130 officials to conduct surveys of families who have played the music for generations and don ca tai tu clubs.

In upcoming months, the department will organise seminars on don ca tai tu, and will also film a documentary about the amateur music clubs.

Children's story to be released this week

HCM CITY — Toi Thay Hoa Vang Tren Co Xanh (I see Yellow Flowers on Green Grass), the latest children's story by well-known author Nguyen Nhat Aùnh, is set to hit bookstores nationwide this week.

The story, narrated by a 13-year-old boy, chronicles life in a small village, the activities he indulges in with his younger brother and friends at home and in school, their hobbies, their quarrels, their feelings of fear when they read ghost stories, and so on.

HCM City-based Tre (Youth) Publisher is bringing out 20,000 copies of I see Yellow Flowers on Green Grass in its first print.

Anh is the author of several best-selling children's books including Kinh Van Hoa (Kaleidoscope) and Cho Toi Xin Mot Ve Di Tuoi Tho (Give Me a Ticket Back to Childhood).

Kaleidoscope was made into a 20-part TV series by HCM City Television Film Studio. It was shown on the national television network in 2004 and has been rebroadcast several times on HCM City Television and provincial channels.

Give Me a Ticket Back to Childhood, which connects childhood memories with adult realities, won the Southeast Asian Writers Award this year.

Exhibition displays gifts, foods for Tet

HCM CITY — An exhibition of gifts and processed foods for Tet, the Lunar New Year, opened in HCM City yesterday.

Organised by the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre at its showroom in Nguyen Hue Street, it features products made by 23 businesses in the food, beverages, clothing, footwear, cosmetics, and other industries.

Also on display are gift items like precious stones, pearl jewelry, hand-made pillow, and origami.

The event has attracted some big names like Vissan, Vifon, and Sapuwa.

Buyers can get discounts of 5-10 per cent between December 6 and 12.

The exhibition will go on until February 8, 2011. — VNS

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Kites dance in a peaceful sky

Colours overhead: Participants fly kites during the festival. — VNS Photo Truong Vi

HA NOI — Thousands of visitors flocked to My Dinh Stadium to watch as kites soared across the capital's skyline at the Ha Noi Kite Festival.

The event, which helped to celebrate the capital's millennium anniversary, wrapped up yesterday.

More than 124 kite flyers from the country's three regions, Vietnamese from abroad and foreigners participated in the event, said screenwriter Ngo Hong Tien from the Ha Noi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

"The participants didn't compete with each other, they weren't trying to fly their kites higher than others. At this festival, they perform together to show off their kites' beauty," he said. "That's the reason why the festival was named Ha Noi-Peaceful Sky."

The participants were divided into different groups. The group of northern participants flew traditional kites from the region and played flutes which mimicked the sound of the kite's flying. Participants from the central region performed with kites that were shaped like butterflies, dragons, birds and phoenixes. The southerners flew sophisticated kites that required dozens of people to pilot them.

Participants from foreign countries gathered in a group to fly modern kites. American and Singaporean artists flew kites that could perform acrobatics and fight with other kites. The kites were controlled with four strings and must be piloted by an experienced kite flyer, said Scott Weider from the US, who has flown kites for 20 years.

Weider and three Singaporeans co-operated in harmony as they flew kites together for the first time at the festival.

With respect to Viet Nam and the US's past conflicts, Weider said that he relished in the opportunity to visit and participate in the peaceful festival in Viet Nam.

Under the artist's skilful hands, four kites flew through the sky as if they were dancing to music and at other times looked as if they were fighting each other.

Nguyen Thanh Huyen, 20, and her friends had queued in front of the stadium since the early morning to attend the performance.

"I'm very eager to see it," she said, "we all love to fly kites and have done so since childhood."

Huyen said she likes sport kites that are flown by kite flyers from the HCM City-based Blue Sky Club.

"It's wonderful, the kites look like dancers and athletes in the sky," she said.

Vice director of Ha Noi's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Nguyen Khac Loi said this is an opportunity to introduce the refined hobby Vietnamese to the international community.

"Kites come from different regions and they represent those cultures," he said. — VNS

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Park to host tourism fest to mark millennium

HA NOI — A four-day International Tourism Festival will take place at Bao Son Paradise Park, Ha Noi, from Saturday to mark the city's millennium anniversary.

It will feature a wide range of cultural and culinary activities among 400 booths, of them 35 for tourism outlets in five continents. More than 180 booths are for tourism businesses in Ha Noi; 91 booths for tourism enterprises in other provinces, plus the departments of culture, sports and tourism; the other booths will be for sponsors and tourism service providers.

Also to be featured are art performances, folk games and street activities, including Thai ethnic singing, water puppets, ceremonial singing, operetta, central region folk songs, Chinese chess and cooking competitions.

The festival will reproduce the daily activities of Hanoians in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including royal doctoral exams and calligraphy performances. Artisans will show their skills through different stages of handicraft production.

Traditional and modern cultures of Viet Nam, through the reform, development and integration will be expressed and pictures of Ha Noi and other regions, locations, famous places, food and culture will be on display.

The event is organised by the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism, Ha Noi's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Bao Son Group.

Ha Noi's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism deputy director Mai Tien Dung said, "Because of the language barrier, we will select suitable art performances for foreign visitors. The performances will be presented mostly through sounds, actions and images."

The festival is tipped as the most important event of the 2010 National Tourism Year and is expected to draw around 30,000 visitors a day.

There will be artist street parades every morning and evening and a seminar on promoting cultural heritage and traditional craft villages to develop tourism. — VNS

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