A record number of 1,000 ‘chung’ (square glutinous rice) cakes will be wrapped and boiled in one big pot this week and delivered directly to underprivileged children on the occasion of the Lunar New Year festival.

The Vietnamese film “Don’t Burn” was screened by the Embassy of Vietnam in Japan on January 29 to mark the 80th anniversary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (February 3rd).  

A concert was held at the Opera House in Hanoi on January 30 to mark 60 years of Vietnamese-Hungarian friendship.

The Vietnam-Germany University (VGU) will recruit 160 students for its under and post-graduate programmes in 2010, said Professor Rieck, Rector of the VGU, at a press briefing on January 29.

Almost 20 businesses from Geumsan County in the Republic of Korea (RoK) are showcasing their ginseng products at the Big C supermarket in Hanoi from January 29-31.

The PepsiCo International Vietnam Company will introduce World Cup song 2010 entitled “Oh Africa” to Vietnamese football fans on January 31.

A book about General Vo Nguyen Giap will be published in March by the Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People’s Army) Publishing House to celebrate his 100th birthday (August 25). 

The Tich Dien Mua Xuan (Spring Ploughing) Festival, initiated more than 1,000 years ago to promote agriculture, will take place in the northern province of Ha Nam from February 18-20 (from the fifth to seventh day of the first lunar month). 

Hanoi’s preparations for the forthcoming 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi have been covered on Germany’s ‘Mirror’ website.

A special concert from the Ho Chi Minh City Music Conservatory’s symphony orchestra will grace the city this week. 

The dossier of the Vietnamese Giong Festival, sent to UNESCO in a bid to get the festival recognised as an intangible cultural heritage, has been preliminarily approved and forwarded to UNSECO’s Intergovernmental Committee for further appraisal.

With his “Harvest season” photo, Vietnamese photographer Tran Viet Van, a reporter for the Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper, has won fourth prize at the Worldwide Photography Gala Awards, ranked behind 3 US photographers.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung has directed the capital city of Hanoi to increase promotional activities to polish Hanoi’s image as a city for peace while completing key infrastructure facilities to serve the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.

A British punk band, who calls themselves the Melodramas, will perform with two Vietnamese rock bands, Unlimited and Microwave, at the Apocalypse Now Club in Ho Chi Minh City on February 4.

A special ceremony was held to rebury the remains of King Le Du Tong (1679-1731) in Bai Trach village, Tho Xuan district, Thanh Hoa province on Jan. 25.

A German film week kicked off at the Hanoi-based Goethe Institute on January 25.

Germany’s Berlin chorus in coordination with the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the Hanoi Opera House on January 23.

On January 23, the Vietnam Craft Village Association presented certificates of merit and conferred ”Craft Village 2009” title on six outstanding craft villages, nine businesses, 29 artisans and six products that represent the nation’s culture.

The Little Sweep, a famous opera by world famous British composer, Benjamin Britten, will be performed at the Hanoi Opera House on February 3-4.

A delegation of 100 Chinese students and young businesspeople arrived in the central city of Da Nang to take part in a friendship exchange programme with 300 youths from the city on January 22.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan has approved a proposal to erect a statue of late President Ho Chi Minh in Acapula City, Mexico.

To mark the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Polish composer Frederic Chopin and his own 30 years as a performer, the Vietnamese people’s artist, Dang Thai Son, will play at the Techcombank Concert in Ho Chi Minh City on January 26.

The world acclaimed violinist Sarah Chang and pianist Andrew von Oeyen will play at the Hennessy Concert at the Hanoi Opera House on the night of January 22.

More than 40 groups of artists and performance troupes from 31 countries will perform during the2010 Hue Festival, scheduled to take place in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue from June 5-13.  

An exhibition of calligraphy and painting displaying 70 works by Vietnamese and Chinese artists opened in Hanoi on January 21 to mark the 60th anniversary of Vietnam-China diplomatic ties.  

Seven Vietnamese documentaries will attend the 16th Asian film festival in the French city of Vesoul as of January 26.

A concert of Hungarian music, to be held in Hanoi’s Opera House on January 30-31, will be the highlight of this year’s activities to mark the 60th anniversary of Vietnam-Hungary diplomatic relations, announced the Hungarian Ambassador to Vietnam, Vizi Laszlo.

Winners of the national press photo contest themed “ Vietnam’s Integration and Development” were awarded at a ceremony in Hanoi on January 20.

The Russian Academy of Arts (RAA) has granted an “honorary membership” to Vietnamese painter Ngo Xuan Binh at a ceremony in Moscow on January 19.

A calligraphy exhibition and performance by Chinese musical artists were held at the Hanoi Opera House on January 20.