A wide range of activities will be held in the northern province of Phu Tho during the Hung Temple Festival from April 14 to 23 to celebrate the death anniversary of the Hung Kings.

Around 40 groups of artists from 29 countries and territories have registered to perform at the Festival Hue 2010 under the theme “Cultural heritage with integration and development” to be held in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue from June 5-13.

More than 200 singers will attend “Singer’s Day”, the biggest annual event for them, in the Central City of Quy Nhon on January 18-20.

Belgian conductor Daniel Gazon will perform in Ho Chi Minh City this weekend.

Vietnamese women continued to share the spotlight with other beauties of both national and international contests in 2009.

Vietnamese model Tran Thi Huong Giang won a special award for Sexiest by Popular Demand and is one of the ten hottest beauties on the planet, according to GlobalBeauties.com.

An exhibition of 140 outstanding paintings by Vietnamese children aged between 6 and 14 is being held in Paris from January 5-31.

An exhibition opened in Hanoi on January 5 to showcase more than 500 books, 60 photos by Vietnamese writers and foreign translators.

Nearly 150 chefs from more than 100 hotels across the country are taking part in a three-day cooking contest organised by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) at Hanoi’s Water Park from January 5-7.

The Vietnamese Embassy in the Republic of Korea (RoK), the Korea-Vietnam Friendship Association and the Daewoo construction company held an exhibition of several calligraphy works from late president Ho Chi Minh's Prison Diary, in Seoul from January 4-18.

After four days, the Da Lat Flower Festival 2010, themed “flower street and wine”, closed on January 4.

Nearly 3 million tourists visited the five-day flower festival in Hanoi, which closed on January 3 with a tea-offering ceremony in front of King Ly Thai To’s Statue next to Hoan Kiem Lake.

A traditional Vietnamese cookery competition will take place in Hanoi from January 5-9, 2010.

A display of hundreds of thousands of flowers at Ly Thai To park on December 30 attracted thousands of Hanoians and foreign tourists.

A concert to welcome in the New Year named the “Dance of the Rose” will be held at the Hanoi Opera House on the first day of 2010.

More than 40 representatives from Vietnamese associations in Germany meeting in the Vietnamese embassy in Berlin on December 26 discussed how to organize the upcoming “Vietnam Year in Germany - 2010” successfully to mark the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MoCST) officially announced 10 outstanding cultural, sports and tourism activities in 2009 in the central city of Da Nang on December 27.

American artist Hap Tivey’s installation work to be displayed at San Art in Ho Chi Minh City from next week is a fascinating play on light and dark, involving walking into a darkened space where the light of a projected image is thrown from the rear on to a crafted rubber sculpture.

A translation of Nhat Ky Dang Thuy Tram (Dang Thuy Tram’s Diary) into Lao was released in Hanoi on December 25 as part of a programme of cooperation between the two governments.

Vietnamese and French archaeologists have discovered a palaeontological site dating back to over 100,000 years in Da Den Cave in the northern mountainous province of Tuyen Quang.

The largest relief of Vietnam’s ancient culture is expected to be completed before the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi on October 10, 2010.

An exhibition on Cambodian arts opened in Hanoi on December 24.

Songs and dances will be performed by Cambodian artists in Hanoi and Hai Phong cities as part of a Cambodian culture week from December 23-29.

Vietnamese photographer Dao Tien Dat won seven gold medals at the International Artistic Photo Contest supported by the Federation of International Artistic Photography and the Photographic Society of America (PSA).

Work on the casting of 100 bronze drums to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi commenced in the central province of Thanh Hoa on December 22.

The first Chau Van (trance) singing festival for the Red river delta will be held in March 2010 in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, says the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

A tourism festival will be held in the northern coastal city of Ha Long from April 29 to May 2, 2010 to promote its tourism and mobilise votes for Ha Long Bay as one of the seven new world nature wonders.

The pageant is being held in Sakol Nakol, Thailand from December 19-27.

A huge gala will be held at the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Cultural House this week to celebrate Christmas and New Year 2010.  

The northern province of Ninh Binh, which is famous for its beautiful scenery and historical relics, has attracted a sharply increased number of domestic and international tourists, earning VND245 billion in revenues, up 51 percent from the same period last year.