Ten most outstanding young Vietnamese in 2007 were selected in a vote co-organised by the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and the Fund for Vietnamese young talents in Hanoi on March 17.

An exhibition of Russian literature opened in Hanoi on March 17 to open Russian Language and Culture Week in Vietnam.

A Francophone festival took place in Ho Chi Minh City on March 16, attracting over 5,000 students and French-language lovers.

All the three stamp collections of Vietnam won prizes at the Asia-Pacific Philately Exhibition held in Taipei, Taiwan, from March 7-13.

The qualifying and semi final rounds of the Miss Tourism Vietnam 2008 pageant will be held in Ho Chi Minh City and Ha Long, Nha Trang and Can Tho cities from April 20 to June 28, according to the event organisers.

Eleven outstanding oil paintings by painter Duong Thuy Duong are on display at her first solo exhibition, entitled “Coming and Going”, in the Goethe Institute, Hanoi.

The Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and Administration on March 14 started to implement a project to translate the Marx-Engels-Lenin and Ho Chi Minh classical collection from Vietnamese into Lao language.

A ceremony was organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Hanoi on March 14 to mark the 55th anniversary of Vietnam’s film industry (March 15, 1953 – March 15, 2008).

Following the success of the 1st VinaGame festival, the second similar event will be held at the Can Tho International Exhibition Centre in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on March 16, announced VinaGame Software Service Company.

“Song Trong So Hai” (Living in Fear), a Vietnamese film on wounds left by the war on the Vietnamese people’s daily life, was screened in Bern, Switzerland, on March 12.

The week is aimed at promoting cultural, scientific and technological co-operative relations among French speaking countries.

An additional VND2 billion will be allocated for a project to upgrade the Mong Phu communal house in ancient Duong Lam village, Son Tay town, northern Ha Tay province.

A forum entitled “Vietnam-Japan Culture Exchange and Japan International Exchange Foundation” was jointly held by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Japanese Embassy in Ho Chi Minh City on March 12.

Twenty-seven Vietnamese students left Hanoi on March 10 to join the Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths (JENESYS) programme in Japan. These are the first of some 350 Vietnamese students to be invited to Japan from now until July.

Brunei Ambassador to Viet Nam Dato Mahadi Wasli said he is confident that Viet Nam’s Ha Long Bay will keep topping the new wonders of the world voting.

A ceremony for Golden Kite Awards 2007, annually held by the Vietnam Cinematography Association, took place in HCM City on March 9.

The Russian Federation has decided to grant 285 scholarships for Vietnamese students in the 2008-2009 academic year.

Vietnamese writer Le Minh Khue has won an international literature prize and will arrive in the Republic of Korea (RoK) to receive the prize worth US$10,000 on April 25, 2008, according to the International Literature Prize Council.

Hundreds of foreign tourists and nearly 400 students from the Nha Trang Teachers College and Khanh Hoa College of Culture, Art and Tourism arrived at the Yasaka-Sai Gon-Nha Trang Hotel on March 8 to vote for Ha Long Bay as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.

Van Thanh is one of the six flower villages in the Central Highland tourist resort city of Da Lat. The application of technological advances to farming has helped farmers keep flowers in bloom during festive occasions such as Valentine’s Day and International Women’s Day.

Since the beginning of the year, many parts of Vietnam’s beautiful landscapes have attracted local visitors including Yen Tu, the Perfume Pagoda, Hung Temple, Duc Thanh Tran Festival, Ba Chua Kho Temple, and some pagodas and temples in Hanoi.

Dak Lak province has been selected to host the National Tourism Year 2009 in the Central Highlands. The province is gearing up for a successful launch of the event.

The Embassy of the Republic of Korea (RoK) will help promote Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay and encourage RoK people to vote the World Heritage Site as one of seven new world wonders till the end of 2008, says ambassador Im Hong-jae.

More than Vietnamese 30 travel agents and hotels are participating in the 42nd International Travel and Tourism Fair (ITB) in Berlin, Germany.

A fine art exhibition, entitled “Hoi nhap Dong Tay” (Integration between West and East), opened in London, the UK on March 5.

An exhibition on Vietnam, introducing nearly 300 collections of its traditional handicrafts and cultural diversity, will open in Seoul, capital of the Republic of Korea (RoK) on March 10.

Vietnam has attended the 2008 International Orchid Exhibition in Japan. Orchid are considered the queen of flowers and very favoured in this country.

Bai Dai (Long Beach) in Phu Quoc island district, Vietnam’s southern Kien Giang province, has been chosen to top a list of five beautiful and clean beaches, but rarely known in the world.

The first ever international parachuting festival in Vietnam, the Skydive Boogie Nha Trang 2008, kicked off in the central coastal city of Nha Trang on March 1.

Vietnam welcomed more than 860,000 overseas tourists in the first two months of this year, an increase of 15 percent over the same period last year.