VN pupil conquers South Pole

Poles apart: During his expedition to the South Pole, Quang will make a short documentary about the life of Antarctic inhabitants, including whales and penguins. — File Photos Intrepid: Quang poses with Dr Olav Orheim, a scientist working at the South Pole.

HA NOI — Ten-year-old Pham Vu Thieu Quang did not celebrate the Lunar New Year in the traditional way with sticky rice cake, but instead with icy mountains, whales, sea lions and penguins at the South Pole.

Quang became the youngest Asian person to conquer the South Pole when he and other members of his expedition reached the southernmost point of the Earth on February 2.

Accompanied by his father, businessman Pham Quang Vinh, the 4th-grade student left Ha Noi on January 29 bound for Ushuia in Argentina, where they boarded English cruise liner the MS Fram, heading to the South Pole.

During the 10-day expedition, Quang and his companions visited the Rothera Research Station, a British Antarctic Survey logistics centre on Adelaide Island. They also visited several well known regional spots, including Deception Island, Half Moon Island, Yankee Harbour, Port Lockroy Post Office and Wilhelmina Bay.

To prepare for the journey, Quang took up cycling and biked up to 20km every Sunday.

Although it is summer time at present at the South Pole, the temperature was between -14oC to -5oC, challenging conditions for little Quang who is more familiar with a tropical climate.

"I had to ask some friends that live abroad to purchase specific clothing and other equipment such as anti-UV sun-glasses, gaiters and waterproof boots," Quang's father said.

According to Vinh, the expedition was not simply a journey of discovery, but also an experience his son would never forget.

"By taking him with me to the South Pole, I wanted him to know that I, like all parents, will always support his dreams."

Documentary

Quang was extremely excited when he found out about the expedition and started to research the area he was going to explore on the internet.

Quang revealed that he planned to make a short documentary about the life of Antarctic inhabitants, including whales and penguins.

To complete the documentary, Quang will conduct interviews with explorers, crew members and expedition members.

"I will present the documentary to my classmates and other people, hoping they will be able to learn more about the area and raising their environmental awareness," Quang said. — VNS

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Feudal-time stone and bronze instruments revived

THUA THIEN HUE -- The South Korea's Centre for Traditional Performing Arts has just handed two replica sets of music instrument, which had been used under feudal reigns in Viet Nam, to the Hue Relics Preservation Centre.

The sets include 12 bronze (locally named as bien chung) and 12 stone bars placed in order of different levels of tones (bien khanh), which have been said to be originated in ancient China, then transferred to some Eastern Asia countries including South Korea and Viet Nam.

The bells are cast with a hook on the top of each for hanging. There are four parallel emerged lines circling the bell's body. There are nine small buttons over the bell for knocking on.

Each stone bar are made in "L" shaped letter and has a hook for hanging, too.

Since 2009, the South Korea experts have co-operated with the Vietnamese partners to do research and produce the two sets using total made-in-Viet Nam materials and traditional Vietnamese producing skills.

Artisan Kim Hyunkon, who have produced Korean traditional instruments for 50 years now and has directly worked on the project, said the Vietnamese royal bronze and stone instruments were much similar to those in South Korea despite some differences in their appearances.

He confirmed that he was contented with the sound of the newly-produced instruments for Viet Nam because of the exact ratio of bronze, tin and lead mixed for casting.

The two sets of instrument then will be given to artists from the Hue Traditional Royal Arts Theatre, who then will revive the ways of using the instruments with the helps of concerned Vietnamese and South Korean experts.

The sets will be used to perform at Te Giao ceremony and Xa Tac, which are two important worshipping ceremonies practised in Hue imperial citadel in the past, at next biennial Hue festivals.

In Viet Nam, the two sets had been used during the reigns of Le (1427-1788) and Nguyen (1802-1945).

Under the Nguyen reign, the two sets were used by royal music band as hanging instruments at various important royal ceremonies like the royal ceremony at Thai Hoa Palace, Te Giao ceremony, Xa Tac worshipping ceremony.

Since the end of the Nguyen rule in 1945, no one has been able to produce the sets as well as play them. Only some pieces of the two sets had been preserved at the Hue Royal Antiques Museum until the South Korean experts offered some helps. - VNS

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South Africa sex industry did not see World Cup boom

South Africa's sex business did not see any spike in activity during the soccer World Cup and the male patrons who participated in the trade practised safe sex, according to a survey obtained on Friday.

"There were not significantly more clients seen per sex worker during the World Cup period," said the survey from the South African Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Task Force that was conducted in conjunction with the UN Population Fund.

There were worries ahead of the June-to-July sports spectacle that it would lead to an increase in human trafficking and in the spreading of HIV because South Africa has one of the highest infection rates of the disease in the world.

The survey said there was little change in the average number of clients per week -- 14.4 on average -- for sex workers during the World Cup and reported condom use for males was at about 99 percent.

There were more foreign clients for the sex workers, but "this may mean that a part of the local clientele was temporarily replaced by foreign clients," it said.

There was massive condom distribution ahead of and during the Cup to prevent the spreading of HIV/AIDS.

The survey was conducted among 663 sex workers.

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"Floating Lives" deeply moves Korean audiences

Actress Do Hai Yen (black dress) casting Suong in “Floating Lives” talks with the audience at the Busan International Film Festival from October 7-15 in South Korea

"Canh Dong Bat Tan” (Floating Lives) has brought audiences of the 15th Pusan International Film Festival to tears in a room filled with the weight of human despair and the beauty of resilient emotions.

It competed in the New Currents category at the film festival which wrapped up today in Pusan port city, South Korea.

South Korean audiences saw the film before Vietnamese can do as of October 22. Silence fell in two projection rooms with nearly 800 seats in Lotte movie-theater as the Monochord’s lament came to a halt. The silent sound of tears was only broken by a heavy round of applause.

Adapted from Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tu’s novel, "Boundless Rice Field", the movie directed by Nguyen Phan Quang Binh centers around a family living in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta and a man’s search for romantic redemption.

Father Vo (Dustin Nguyen), daughter Nuong (Lan Ngoc) and son Dien (Vo Thanh Hoa) live nomadically on a boat after the father burned their house down in retaliation for his wife's infidelity.

They drift from one rice field to the next, rearing ducks and doing occasional handy jobs. When Suong (Do Thi Hai Yen), a hooker, joins the family to evade an angry mob, Nuong and Dien welcome her as a surrogate mother and object of pubescent fantasy, while a volatile relationship develops between Vo and her.

Young director Nguyen Phan Quang Binh reaches his audiences most deep-seeded emotions as he digs down through his characters’ cruelty, loss and despair to the most fundamental need and desire for love.

The waterways not only hold and lead the family’s boat, but also symbolize the characters sifting, drifting and endless fluid emotions while also embodying the graceful flow of Binh’s visual storytelling.

The actors deliver an outstanding performance. Nuong conveys not only her suffering but also her strength in containing it and mastering it while living on the edge of that painful abyss seen only through her piercing look. She is able to elicit strong emotions and bring her audiences to earnest tears without long and elaborate dialogues, but with the sheer strength of her acting.

Hai Yen (Suong) surpasses all expectations and proved her critics wrong as she aces a role many had deemed unsuitable for her talent. Her performance makes the onscreen Suong come to life more powerfully than even the carefully described one in the book. Her careful balancing of emotions, with love and compassion on one end and despair on the other, bursts out of the screen with unmatched vigor.

Dustin Nguyen (Vo), plays the most challenging role, as his rage builds up throughout the movie fueled by the pain and shame caused by his wife betrayal.

His is a very articulated acting tale of pain and interior torments ordered through daily acts of cruelty.

The carefully arranged and paired soundtrack talks directly to the audience’s hearts. The sad and lonely sound of the traditional Monochord and the melodies composed by Vietnamese Quoc Trung emerge as direct testimonials from the true soul of the Mekong Delta.

Nguyen Ngoc Tu’s "Boundless Rice Field" was published in the South Korean version in 2007.

All 12 films competing in the New Currents category at Pusan International Film Festival reflect contemporary issues like poverty, war, overpopulation and loss of traditional values. The movies include “The journal of Musan” (South Korea), “Eternity” (Thailand), “Strawberry Cliff” (Hong Kong), My Spectacular (China), The Quarter of Scarecrows (Iraq) and Ways of the Sea (Philippines).

Tickets to “Floating Lives” were sold out one week before the screening, according to organizers.

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Southern revolutionary epic wins literary prize

HCM CITY — The second of a two-part tome on the revolution in South Viet Nam has won the prestigious annual history prize named after the revolutionary and philosopher, Prof Tran Van Giau.

Lich Su Nam Bo Khang Chien Chong My (The History of South Viet Nam's Resistance War Against American Invasion) concludes the monumental research work titled Lich Su Nam Bo Khang Chien (The History of Viet Nam's Southern Resistance War) by 68 historians, cultural researchers, authors and revolutionaries.

The work began in 2002 and 11 of its authors, including Vo Van Kiet, the former prime minister, have already passed away.

The first part, Lich Su Nam Bo Khang Chien Chong Phap (The History of South Viet Nam's Resistance War Against French Colonialists) also received the Tran Van Giau Prize in 2006.

The jury decided to honour the second book as well, considering it a reliable source of information.

The books narrate historical events that occurred in the southern region between 1945 and 1975 and feature soldiers and people who devoted their life to the causes of national independence and reunification.

The prize was instituted in 2002 by Giau and his family to encourage and honour research on Vietnamese history and culture.

Giau, born in a rich family in Sai Gon in 1911, went to study in Toulouse, France, and Moscow.

After the 1945 August Revolution, he played an active part in the war against the French as chairman of the Anti-French War of Resistance Committee of the South.

The 100-year-old now lives in HCM City. — VNS

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