VietNam Life Style

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Miss Earth Viet Nam ranks 17 in Miss Globalbeauties' list

Miss Earth Viet Nam Luu Thi Diem Huong has ranked 17th in the Miss Grand Slam list on the Globalbeauties website.

HA NOI — Miss Earth Viet Nam Luu Thi Diem Huong has ranked 17th in the Miss Grand Slam list on the Globalbeauties website.

Huong, a 20-year-old model from HCM City, is the fifth beauty from Viet Nam to be placed among the top 50 in the website's annual vote.

Miss Viet Nam 2006 Mai Phuong Thuy and Truong Tri Truc Diem, who won Miss Fashion title at the Miss Earth 2007 contest, also finished in the top 50.

In 2008, Nguyen Thuy Lam, Miss Universe Viet Nam 2008, came 57th while Tran Thi Huong Giang, Top 16 Miss World 2009, was in last year's top 10. Giang also won Miss Asia in the same list.

The top ten Miss Grand Slam list this year includes Miss Universe Albania, Miss Supranational Czech Republic, Miss World Botswana, Miss Earth Ecuador, Miss Earth India, Miss Universe Mexico, Miss Universe Ireland, Miss Supranational Panama, Miss Universe Puerto Rico and Miss World Venezuela.

Apollo English language students enjoy Christmas party fun

HA NOI — Nearly a thousand Apollo English students have attended a Christmas party in Ha Noi.

The event was held to boost student confidence in communicating in English as well as teaching them more about the customs of other countries, organisers said.

The party not only included a quiz with Father Christmas dishing out gifts, but also saw hip-hop dance and rhythmic ballet performances.

Other activities included making Christmas decorations, a Christmas card design contest and gift-giving to disabled children.

Students also participated in 10 Christmas games such as pin the nose for the snowman, Christmas card making, colouring and a dancing race.

"We enjoyed the party very much, but we were particularly excited by being given presents by Father Christmas," 14-year-old student Nguyen Quynh Anh said.

Training universities urged to teach students ethics and values

HCM City — Pedagogy universities and colleges should offer courses in ethics and values as well as more professional training, speakers at a HCM City workshop said on Tuesday.

At the workshop, Nguyen Thi Ha Lan of the Hong Duc University in central Thanh Hoa Province said teaching of values was very important in the educational sector, especially at the kindergarten level.

More programmes at pedagogy universities and colleges should emphasise that their students' behaviour will often mirror the conduct of the teacher.

Lan said authorities of local education offices and leaders of kindergartens as well as nursery schools should promote the teaching and application of values.

She said the ministry and local education and training departments should also offer more refresher training courses for existing teachers to improve their skills.

Dr Mai Thi Lien Giang of the Quang Binh University said the ministry should ask pedagogy universities to review and amend training programmes, and offer more courses in values and ethics. — VNS

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Ancient tomb found in Ha Noi

HA NOI – A tomb estimated to be about 2,000 years old has been excavated at an archaeological site on the outskirts of Ha Noi.

And other objects found at the site indicate that there was an earlier settlement dating back as far as 4,000 BC – to the beginnings of Viet Nam's history as a trading nation.

So far, scientists have found an earthenware jar and cooking pan – plus, most significantly, a bronze axe, all of which are thought to belong to the renowned Dong Son culture (2,000BC-200AD).

But they have also uncovered various working tools, weapons and daily wares made from stone, bronze and pottery from the preceding Dong Dau culture, which existed from 4,000 to 2,500 BC.

Human bones were found inside the tomb, but they were said to have been almost destroyed by time. They could provide evidence of the physique and type of the people of the time.

The excavation site, named Go Den Ran, covers a total area of 3,000sq.m. The discoveries have been brought to light by archaeologists from the University of Social and Humane Sciences who have been working for more than a year.

The site is within the allocated border for an urban area named Kim Chung – Di Trach Urban Zone. Scientists have asked concerned agencies to stop construction so that further study can be carried out. – VNS

Phase II of My Son restoration completed

Restored grandeur: Visitors at the My Son Holy Site. The Group G tower site has been restored with financial support from the Italian Government. — VNA/VNS Photo Van Son

HA NOI — The safeguarding of the My Son World Heritage Site took another step forward with the completion this month of the second phase of a preservation project, said Italian ambassador Lorenzo Angeloni.

The tripartite project between UNESCO, and the Italian and Vietnamese Governments focused on the preservation of Group G of monuments, the most important collection of remains at My Son Holy Site located in the central province of Quang Nam's Duy Xuyen District.

The group, consisting of five monuments, was selected for UNESCO preservation and sponsorship from the Italian Fund-In-Trust due to its unique decoration and materials and outstanding example of how a Cham sacred area was organised.

It lies on an elevated area never affected by seasonal flooding, and had never been restored, despite its considerable archae-ological importance.

Five key results of Phase II of the project were presented at a press conference held in Ha Noi yesterday.

Consolidation of the restoration of the G1 monument (the sanctuary), the most important of the Group G monuments was completed; with the lessons learnt from the Group G restoration to form a basis for future restoration of Cham brick monuments; and continued training of Vietnamese archaeologists, architects, conservationists and site managers in safeguarding cultural heritage in accordance with international World Heritage standards of conservation.

Training would include evaluation of the archaeological risk factors and vulnerability index of the monuments, which can be used as effective tools in the decision making for the long-term conservation of the World Heritage Site, according to Katherine Muller-Marin, representative and head of the UNESCO Ha Noi office.

She also highly appraised the catalogue of all Cham monuments in My Son which will provide the necessary database for the long-term protection of the site.

The project also helped develop a comprehensive site interpretation plan and design options of a plan for the entrance to the Group G site.

Besides these key results, the most significant success of phase II, was a project dedicated to replicating ancient Cham brickwork.

The success of this project was attributed to a local brick producer, technical staff and researchers from Institute for the Conservation of Monuments in co-operation with Italian experts from Lerici Foundation and University of Polytechnic of Milano.

"Although this research and experiments will continue, this has definitely contributed to taking the conservation work forward," said the ambassador.

In addition to the success gained in brick experimentation and production, the Guidelines for the restoration of Cham Towers with documented lessons learned from the G1 restoration in My Son would act as an important resource of knowledge and experience for conservators, particularly those working with ancient Cham monuments in central Viet Nam and other Hindu-influenced temples in the region.

The project was the first intervention since My Son was added to the World Heritage list in 1999 and only the second following the initial efforts by Polish and Vietnamese architects led by Kazimierz Kwiatkowski and Professor Hoang Dao Kinh in the early 1980s. A project which lacked the conditions to conduct more research into the materials and techniques used in the construction of the Cham monuments.

Phase I of the project began in 2003 and concluded in 2005 with the breakthrough discovery of an organic resin which was very similar to the ancient Cham material utilised as brick mortar.

The project cost 1.3 million euros (US$1.8million) from 2003-10.

"I'm convinced by the results of the project and I'm happy for the project to continue," said the ambassador. — VNS

South Korea hosts Vietnamese art exhibition

SEOUL — The biggest ever exhibition of Vietnamese contemporary art is taking place at the Fine Arts Museum of Gwangju City, the Republic of Korea (RoK), until February 6, 2011.

The exhibition themed Viet Nam Scenery and Spirit – Close up the Past, Looking to the Future introduces nearly 50 works of outstanding contemporary artists selected from collections of the Viet Nam Fine Arts Museum and the Viet Nam Fine Arts Association.

The painters include masters graduating from the Indochina Fine Arts College, which was established in 1924 and is the precursor of the Viet Nam College of Fine Arts, and well-known painters of next generations.

The paintings, which use a wide range of materials from oil paint, lacquer to silk, are arranged based on historical periods of Viet Nam from the 40s of the previous century to the first years of the 21st century. They introduce Vietnamese landscapes, people and their production life, traditional customs, as well as the country's resistance wars.

The exhibition reserves a solemn place for paintings on the theme of President Ho Chi Minh.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to the RoK Tran Trong Toan underlined that the paintings to some extend reflect the history, culture, traditions, spiritual and material life, resistance wars and national construction of Vietnamese people.

He added the exhibition shows Vietnamese people's spirit and goodwill to befriend other nations for peace, independence and prosperity.

A representative of Gwangju city highlighted the positive achievements of the two countries' relations and the development of the Vietnamese community in the RoK. He said the exhibition would be a breakthrough for the two countries' cultural exchange activities, thus boosting their mutual understanding.

According to him, the organisation of the Viet Nam exhibition is one of Gwangju's efforts to become a centre for Asian cultural exchange. — VNS

Actor does charity star-turn

Doing his bit: Actor Chi Bao at a ceremony held to review the UHP charity programme in HCM City last week. — VNS Photo Vo Le Hong

HCM CITY — A charity programme run by popular actor Chi Bao has sold a self-improvement book by Zen master Minh Niem to raise money for providing heart and cleft palate surgeries for poor children.

The programme, called Hieu ve Trai Tim (Understanding the Heart Programme), has sold 27,000 copies of Understanding the Heart and the proceeds have funded operations for 78 children with congenital heart diseases.

Carried out in co-operation with the Heart Beat Viet Nam and VinaCapital Foundation, the programme will benefit a further 22 this year.

Bao, deputy president and manager of the UHP, told a ceremony held to review the programme last week: "I recently read by chance some stories in [the book] which I found very useful for myself. The book helps readers understand some basic concepts like happiness, unhappiness, love, and suffering.

"I introduced the stories to some people and received positive feedback. So, I decided to gather friends to publish the book for charity."

He has also lectured about the book at clubs attached to dozens of colleges and universities around the country and firms.

The 50 psychoanalytical stories in Understanding the Heart are simple and practical but profound, enabling youths to look into their soul.

Niem, the author, has followers around the world. His writings help readers discover themselves, seek to sow good traits like generosity and selflessness in their soul, and transform negative energy caused by anger, envy and other sentiments. — VNS

Battle royal between star captains in Vietnam Hat final

Captain of the Brown Team, Jason Lopez (L) leaps for the disk against the Blue Team in the Vietnam Hat semifinals on Sunday - Photo: Pieter Funnekotter

A see-sawing scoreline and a desperate physical contest between rival teams and captains kept spectators riveted to the final in the Vietnam Hat Ultimate Frisbee Tournament on Sunday.

The team captains, David Jensen, an American who resides in Saigon, of the Orange Team and Jason Lopez, a Filipino who works in Singapore, of the Brown Team, both veteran Asian Ultimate Frisbee players, faced off in a desperate competition of high flying grabs and belly sliding layouts.

Lopez said he had been the bridesmaid at the last three Vietnam Hat tournament finals and was determined to be the bride this time

After Sunday’s tense 10-13 loss in the fading daylight, Lopez, whose Brown team was underdog to Jensen’s Orange, could only wait for next year. Jensen’s masterful long throws and high grabs stole the match from Lopez whose focus on the flying disc and athleticism was akin to a border collie.

Brilliant performances from team members on both sides kept the scores moving neck and neck throughout the long match.

“In seven years of playing in the Vietnam Hat this is the highest level of play and the most breathtaking plays I’ve seen in a final,” Jensen said.

The opposite to Lopez, Jensen has won the four finals he has played in the Vietnam Hat – two of them against the Filipino.

The Vietnam Hat 2010 over the weekend at the RMIT International University fields in HCMC’s District 7 was the biggest Ultimate Frisbee tournament held in Vietnam so far with nearly 200 competitors from at least 13 countries.

There were 50 Vietnamese players, 20 expats in Vietnam with the remainder traveling from around the world to play at the tournament.

Most of the international visitors were taking a short holiday in Vietnam after the tournament before going home.

One of the Orange team players, Barry Labendz, 29, of Brooklyn New York, who is on a six week holiday in Asia, said, “That’s what’s cool about playing Ultimate, people travel around so much.”

“I have never traveled in Asia so I wanted to entrench myself in the Frisbee community,” he said.

The Saigon Times Daily was the proud media sponsor of Vietnam Hat 2010.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010