Culture Vulture

German writers Ingo Schulze and Zuli Zeh spent the month of October in Viet Nam searching for inspiration on a tour that took them from the north to the south of the country.

Schulze also took the opportunity to introduce his book Adam and Evelyn which will soon be published in Viet Nam. He talks with Culture Vulture about his trip.

Could you tell our readers about your recent trip through Viet Nam?

I was invited by the Goethe Institute in Ha Noi to present the Vietnamese translation of my novel Adam and Evelyn. I have wanted to visit Viet Nam for along time. I come from the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), which was informally known as East Germany, from the City of Dresden, where many Vietnamese have worked and studied.

My book describes the time from August to November 1989, in which many people lost their fear of the authorities and marched in the street for freedom and self-determination.

In September, when Hungary opened its borders to Austria, my characters, Adam and Evelyn, must decide if they should go to the west or drive back to the East Germany. They are faced with the same questions as Adam in Eve in the bible – To stay or go, What is temptation, what is good, what is evil? – which one could say are questions that underlie every aspect of current events.

I was in Ha Noi for one week, where I enjoyed the 1,000-year anniversary celebrations, spent three very beautiful days on Cat Ba, then visited Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An, My Son and finally HCM City, where I had another reading.

What impressed you most?

Of course I enjoyed my encounters with my translator and friends, with artists like Le Quang Ha, and other literature and art lovers. I also found that daily like, which I had some time to enjoy, fascinated me.

If someone doesn't know anything about Germany or Viet Nam, then nearly everything needs to be explained. Traffic in Viet Nam is completely different than in Germany. A Vietnamese street, a Vietnamese shop are hardly comparable to their German counterparts. In Germany, work and free time/family are much more separated. Public and private lives are more clearly distinct from one another.

In Viet Nam, a lot happens on the street, in the open. I enjoyed that very much, I never felt lonely.

What do you do with your experiences in Viet Nam?

It was my first trip to Viet Nam. I thought I could perhaps find a few analogies to compare with my experiences of system change, but I didn't find much.

I am working on a travel diary based on my notes. It is not easy to come to terms with the flood of impressions. The deciding moment of a journey is always the moment of return.

You talked with Vietnamese readers about your book Adam and Evelyn which will be released soon in Viet Nam. What did you say to the readers in Ha Noi and HCM City?

The readers only knew a few extracts from the book, but they noticed that it was mainly women who made confident decisions, both in private life as well as in business.

We also touched on a very basic question about the life of a writer: can you make a living from books. In Germany I earn a part of my income from readings in bookstores, cultural centres, schools and universities.

Have you read any Vietnamese books? Do you know about Vietnamese literature?

I have begun to learn about Vietnamese literature and depend on German and English translations to do so. I find Pham Thi Hoai very good, I have read two of her books. I have just started reading stories by Nguyen Huy Thiep.

I find it very encouraging that in Viet Nam, the short story is so recognised, this is unfortunately not the case in Europe. I read Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh in English.

Looking back on your trip, what did you like most about Viet Nam?

I don't like generalisations, because you can find people you like being with everywhere, and others you don't, whether you can speak their language or not. What I liked very much in Viet Nam was the friendliness and the humour. Sometimes just a small gesture was enough to make us burst out into ringing laughter. — VNS

Related Articles

• Old Quarter celebrates culture
• December is food festival month in HCMC
• PM Dung outlines inflation strategy
• USDA forecasts strong corn import from Vietnam
• Australia wants stronger cooperation to vocational education

Bilingual food festival held

HA NOI — The Vietnamese-Korean food culture festival will be held this weeken in the National Agriculture Exhibition Centre.

Visitors will engage in cultural activities, see traditional martial arts and enjoy the countries' traditional dishes.

Eight Korean dishes and two Vietnamese dishes, each for VND5,000 (US$0.25), will be served.

All proceeds will be donated to charity.

Dance for AIDS awareness

HA NOI — Dance for Life in Viet Nam will be held at American Club in Ha Noi on Saturday and aired on VTV6 at 6pm.

As many as 1,000 Vietnamese youth and thousands from 27 other nations will dance together to raise HIV/AIDS awareness. The programme will also attract well-known local artists.

Royal conferments donated

HA NOI — Pham Van Khoi, the ninth generation of the Pham Family, living in Quang Ninh District of the northern Quang Binh Province, has donated 15 royal conferments to the National Archives of Viet Nam.

The conferments were appointed to Pham Si, the sixth generation of the Pham Family and the second-ranking mandarin, who contributed to the protection of security within the court from the reigns of King Minh Mang (1791-1841) to Khai Dinh (1885-1925).

Ballet tells story of citadel

HA NOI — A classical ballet entitled Love Story of Co Loa Citadel, adapted from the historical love story Magic Crossbow, will be performed tonight in the Ha Noi Opera House.

The show is organised by the French Embassy and the Viet Nam National Opera and Ballet. It will be directed by Vietnamese artist Pham Anh Phuong and choreographed by Bertrand d'At of the National Opera Ballet Theatre in France's Rhin Province. — VNS

Related Articles

• December is food festival month in HCMC
• Long jail terms upheld for couple who tortured teen
• HCMC begins to think about giving up meat
• Viet Nam tops travel polls
• Vietnam’s tra fish export to Egypt still down

Vietnamese German has Dipolar lacquer show

A painting from Khai Doan’s Dipolar exhibition - Photo: Courtesy of the organizer

An exhibition of lacquer art called Dipolar by German artist, Khai Doan, will open on December 3 at the Museum of Fine Arts in HCMC.

The subjects include cities, family photos, and some motives of Dong Ho traditional paintings.

Doan called the exhibition Dipolar because it means two poles, a technical term from physics indicating the resistance in the things and phenomena of life. The name represents the near and far, young and old, familiar and strange, abstract and concrete.

The exhibition of 30 paintings done between 2005 and 2010 is sponsored by the German Consulate General in HCMC.

Khai Doan is a Vietnamese German artist, graduated from Fine Arts and Design in Germany and currently living and working in HCMC.  His first exhibition in
Vietnam titled “Joint Venture” was held 2005 in Hanoi and HCMC. For more information visit the website www.ho-chi-minh-city.diplo.de and www.khaidoan.com.

Dipolar will be on at the gallery at 97A Pho Duc Chinh Street, District 1 until December 15.

Related Articles

• Painters show works inspired by nature, nostalgia
• Time to restructure State enterprises
• Car imports drop by more than 50%
• Vietnamese athletes bag two more silvers at ASIAD
• Vietnam’s tra fish export to Egypt still down

Vietnam Swans fired up to win Indochina Cup

The Vietnam Swans Australian Football team is fired up for their first Indochina Cup victory this Saturday at the RMIT fields in District 7.

After winning two games at the Asian Football Championships in October the Swans are ready to end the season on a high note.

“We think we are in with a good chance, not underestimating the opposition, as they’ll be strong and fighting hard,” said Club President Phil Johns.

Johns said he thought the Cambodian Cobra’s were the major threat. “The Cambodians are a really good outfit and we saw a massive improvement last time we played them and there’s no reason that trend won’t continue.”

Australians will be descending on Saigon from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vung Tau, Hoi An and Hanoi to play in the four sided contest with Thailand Tigers, Laos Elephants, Cambodian Cobras at the Swan’s home ground.

There will be six 30 minute games in the round robin championship starting at 11:30 a.m. and finishing at 4:30 p.m. followed by presentations and a party at La Cantine in the city.

Australian  Consul General Graeme Swift did the draw for the Indochina Cup  on Tuesday at his office.

This will be the fourth Indochina Cup since 2007. Thailand have won twice and Lao once. The Lao side has a number of Laotian players that play for them including their captain.

Johns said with Swans players coming from Vung Tau, the Central and Hanoi to play at the cup, the Vietnam Swans really is a national team.

 “Footy is really starting to kick along in this region,” he said.

Related Articles

• Wozniacki cruises to win at Montreal Cup
• Hanoi model wins Miss Vietnam 2010
• Tiger Woods and wife divorce after sex scandal
• Young stars raise profile of Vietnam chess
• Vietnam Air accepts web check-in for int’l flights

Chop into a tree cake in Saigon

Tree cakes at the new Le Tokyo Baum Café have rings like the growth rings of a tree - Photo: Yen Dung

If you haven’t been to Germany or Japan you may not be familiar with Baumkuchen, or “tree cake”.

The delicious cake, so named because it has concentric rings like the growth rings of a tree, is a specialty at a new café in District 1 called Le Tokyo Baum.

Even though the cake originated in Germany, the special equipment and skills to make baumkuchen in Vietnam came from Japan, where it’s been popular since 1920, Nguyen Duc Nghia from Le Tokyo Baum said.

A cake has 15-30 layers. To achieve the ringed effect, it is baked on a special rotisserie and layers of cake mixture are brushed on, one layer at a time, and let bake. The process is repeated 30 times and the individual Baumkuchen are cross-sectioned off revealing the golden rings that give the cake its name, which literally means “tree cake” in German.

Japanese buy Baumkuchen cake as a gift, because they like its tree-like growth rings. It is a wish for longevity and prosperity to the receiver.

Nghia expects people to buy the cake to give to business associates, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and baby showers.

Le Tokyo Baum serves the cake in four flavors, vanilla,chocolate, orange and green tea with tea, coffee or fruit juice.  Cakes to take home start at VND100,000 for a small one.

Le Tokyo Baum is located at 46 Nguyen Van Trang Street, District 1, HCMC.

Related Articles

• Timeout with a good book
• Painters show works inspired by nature, nostalgia
• Mothers share sorrow of war
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels
• Bank, realty firm ink apartment wholesale deal

Advocates For Written Vietnamese

Alexandre de Rhodes and Han Thuyen, the two short streets in District 1, and their environs are good places to visit in Saigon. The chances are that you will end up sitting there sipping coffee and watching the rhythm of the Saigonese life.

Roughly half a month ago, November 5, was the 419th death anniversary of Alexandre de Rhodes, the Roman Catholic French-born evangelist, who has been widely believed to be the founder of the Vietnamese alphabet now in use. Although Alexandre de Rhodes’ real role in creating the modern Vietnamese characters remains controversial and many Vietnamese scholars have still challenged what he really did in the past, the priest’s contribution to the development of the written Vietnamese language is indisputable.

In the realm of Alexandre de Rhodes’ due credit, we should let historians do their job. As far as a visitor to Saigon is concerned, some notable things in this city about the evangelist should be aware of. They are the street named after him and another just a few blocks away from the former.

Alexandre de Rhodes in District 1’s Ben Thanh Ward is not a long street. Nor is its width. It is just about 280 meters long and 20 meters wide, connecting with Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street at one end and Pham Ngoc Thach Street at the other. But the street’s length and width has nothing to do with its prestige. Alexandre de Rhodes is among the oldest streets in town.

Archives show that the street was first built almost 140 years ago, on June 2, 1871, when Saigon was under the French rule. Christened at birth as Paracels (Hoàng Sa), the disputed island off the coast of Vietnam, the street was renamed Colombert just a few months later in the same year. The street was renamed Alexandre de Rhodes on March 22, 1955 under the Saigon regime. On April 4, 1985, it became Thai Van Lung Street before regaining the former name Alexandre de Rhodes some time later.

The man the street is named after, Alexandre de Rhodes, was born in 1591 in Avignon, southern France. In 1625, as an evangelist, Alexandre de Rhodes arrived in Hoi An, central Vietnam. He soon started his Catholic preaching in the new land where Roman Catholicism remained little known. Since Catholicism was considered heresy at that time, Alexandre de Rhodes was expelled from Vietnam six times. However, he would return every time he could manage to find a chance.

The French evangelist was known as the founder of Vietnam’s modern alphabet which is based on Latin characters. Alexandre de Rhodes was also famous for his “Dictionarium Annamiticum Lustianum et Latinum” (Dictionary of Vietnamese-Portuguese and Latin), considered one of the first works on the modern written Vietnamese language.

From Alexandre de Rhodes, cross the two blocks of Ba Muoi Thang Tu, the park in front of the famous Reunification Palace, and Le Duan Boulevard, and you’ll arrive at HanThuyen Street. This street is named after Han Thuyen, born Nguyen Thuyen, a historical figure living in the 13th century under the Tran Dynasty. Born in Thanh Lam District in what is now Hai Duong Province in northern Vietnam, Han Thuyen was assigned to the post of Thng th B Hình, something like “minister of justice” nowadays.

At first glance, Han Thuyen, a Vietnamese born in the 13th century, seems to have no connections whatsoever with Alexandre de Rhodes, who was born in late 16th century in France. But history has its own reasons when the two parallel streets in front on the Reunification Palace are given the present names.

While Alexandre de Rhodes is credited with the creation of modern written Vietnamese, the name of Han Thuyen has gone down in history as a developer and advocate of ch Nôm, the old written Vietnamese language based on Chinese characters. Scholars still disagree on the time the old written Vietnamese originated—with some believing that it was formed in the 10th century when Vietnam regained her independence from China—but they all agree that the written characters represent the country’s then effort to break away from the influence of the northern neighbor.

Just as Alexandre de Rhodes, Han Thuyen as a street has a long history. Built at the same time as Alexandre de Rhodes, Han Thuyen was christened Hong Kong in 1871. Similarly, on March 22, 1955, it was renamed Han Thuyen which has been retained till the present time.

What visitors can expect of the two streets are their pleasant surroundings. Aside from the Reunification Palace, a historical and architectural landmark in Saigon at which both streets end, places of interest abound in the immediate environs—the Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral, the HCM City Central Post Office, the luxurious Diamond Plaza, and Dong Khoi Street, to name just a few.

Much to the delight for the street-smart Saigonese connoisseurs, Alexandre de Rhodes and Han Thuyen streets offer several coffee shops which can provide them with some of the best seats in town to watch Saigon scenes.
To the city folks, the short street of Han Thuyen is also a place in mind when they are in need of greetings cards. All the year round, card stalls on the sidewalk will be available for anybody who wants to pick their cards of choice. But the busiest time for them is undoubtedly Christmas and Lunar New Year.

Related Articles

• Banks to face stricter rule on real estate loans
• Push for admin reforms to stop crises

Watch Your Feet! Flowers Are Out There!

Greener sidewalk makes a freener city

The green sidewalk endeavor in HCM City should attract community participation to last long and take full effect

A group of foreign tourists is strolling on the sidewalk along the Unification Palace on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia in District 1, HCM City. While the sun is shining brightly over their heads, their feet glide past green leaves and colorful flowers of low bushes in flower beds along the curbside.

Those flower beds which have been around for over a year now are part of an initiative referred locally as “va hè xanh” which literally means green sidewalk. The main idea relates to providing the sidewalk in the inner city with more green coverage.

Years ago, the municipal authorities kicked off their effort to give a facelift to the cityscape by renovating the sidewalk in the inner city. Different materials have been used, from concrete surface to zigzag-patterned paving tiles, a failed emulation of what has been applied successfully in the neighboring Thailand.

The latest option, hard surface concrete floor tiles, seems to be the top choice of authorities. However, according to specialists and scientists, the hardened surface of the sidewalk is working at the expense of the absorbency of the local terrain. In other words, the completely paved sidewalk in the inner city has aggravated flooding when heavy rains come or at high tide.

Meanwhile, the inner Saigon is desperately short of green trees. In line with plans, the per capita area of green trees in this city should have been between six and seven square meters by 2010. What’s more, experts say that in a year the inner city proper whose supposed population is 3 million people would dispose of more than 1 million tons of carbon dioxide, 2,500 tons of dust and 160,000 tons of toxic gas. To neutralize these harmful substances, it requires 25 square meters of green trees per people. Much to the disappointment of those concerned, the current figure is less than one square meters per head.

Finally, an old concept came to life again. In addition to existing lines of wood trees, rows of flower beds where herbs and grass are planted should be in place. The sidewalk will then be adorned with the combination of high trees and low herbs.

As soon as the initiative in making the sidewalk greener was endorsed, all the plans to completely harden the surface have been halted. Instead, a sidewalk which is at least three meters wide is subject to the “green program.” A section of the sidewalk ranging from one meter to 2.5 meters is used as pedestrians’ walkway; the rest, from the curb to the walkway, will be for flower beds. Particular, wherever possible, creepers are grown along walls or fences.

Aside from increasing water absorbency, the green sidewalk also lessens what experts dub the “fireball” effect in which concrete or asphalt surface adds up to the increased heat in quarters with high density of construction.
Although the area of the “green sidewalk” which has been implemented remains modest in comparison with the total natural area of the inner city, it is still significant in that it conforms to the notion of a livable city where green foliage is underscored.

In this regard, there have been worrying signs. In various places, sidewalk flower beds were poorly protected. They are occupied for other purposes—a gathering point for chatting friends or a temporary storage for hawkers. As a result, flowers and herbs were destroyed, leaving ugly scenes.

An essential way to strengthen water absorbency and reduce heat, greener sidewalk will enable the cityscape to look nicer and friendlier, both to local inhabitants and visitors. What this campaign for green sidewalk is still lacking may be measures to attract the participation of communities. Without that public support, the “green sidewalk,” first initiated by the authorities, would not last long and take full effect.

Related Articles

• Advocates For Written Vietnamese
• Market moves up sharply
• Painters show works inspired by nature, nostalgia
• Blue seas and unspoiled beaches
• Teachers pay for class materials from salaries