Mid Autumn Festival 2007: Vietnam-the Republic of Korea (RoK) Cultural Festival will take place at the Vietnam Ethnology Museum in Hanoi from September 21-23.

Music Professor Nguyen Thuyet Phong, a Vietnamese national in the US, introduced the Vietnamese Dan Nguyet (Moon-shaped lute) while addressing a music seminar in Bangkok and the Thai ancient capital of Ayuthaya in late July.

A study course on ancient scripts of the Thai ethnic minority has closed in the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai.

Quang Ninh province has completed preparations to host the 8th National Radio Broadcasting Festival, which is expected to draw the participation of over 600 reporters nationwide, said Dao Duy Cat, director of the Quang Ninh Radio and TV Station, at a press conference in Hanoi on August 15.

The central coastal province of Ninh Thuan launched its first festival on August 15 to celebrate its kaleidescope of ethnic groups and traditional products, including lamb and grape wine.

An Italian tourism TV crew has passed the Tay Trang border gate into north-western border Dien Bien province, on a tour of Vietnam.

The New Open World organization has nominated Ha Long Bay, a world heritage site in Vietnam, as a global natural wonder on the website www.natural7wonders.com, where voters can submit their nomination from now until June 2008.

The heritage-rich central province of Quang Nam has been surveying over 200 relics in ancient Hoi An town thanks to assistance provided by Japanese universities and organisations.

Le Thi Thanh Hoa has risen to the top of the class by surpassing 12 other overseas Vietnamese beauties from Germany and the Czech Republic to snatch the region’s Miss Vietnam Contest on August 11.

Miss Vietnam Sports will be resumed at Hanoi’s My Dinh National Sport Complex, Hanoi in October after seven years of halting.

Vietnamese philatelists won six prizes, including three silvers at the Asian International Stamp Exhibition 2007 held in Bangkok from August 3-12.

Representatives from the Organising Board of the Miss Universe Pageant has recently made a fact-finding tour of Vietnam to explore the country’s possibility as host of the event in 2008.

134 out of 995 entries qualified for the final of the National Press Awards 2006 and 48 of them have been selected for the contest’s prizes through secret ballot, said Dinh The Huynh, President of the Vietnam Journalists’ Association.

A 36-tonne bronze bell, the biggest of its kind in Southeast Asia, was transported safely to Bai Dinh pagoda in the northern province of Ninh Binh on August 11.

Tran Natalia, a Russian of Vietnamese origin, was crowned on August 10 the regional queen of the 2007 World Beauty Contest for Vietnamese living in the former Soviet Union countries.

A special programme to honour 98 excellent graduates from 42 universities, colleges and academies in Hanoi will take place in the northern provinces of Vinh Phuc and Phu Tho and Hanoi from August 17 – 19.

Many Vietnamese beer connoisseurs gathered in the Giang Vo Exhibition and Fair Centre, Hanoi, to attend the opening ceremony of the Vietnam Beer Festival 2007 on August 10.

The Prime Minister has approved a national cultural target programme in the 2006-2010 period with a total investment of VND4,542 billion, including VND2,496 billion from the central State budget.

The 35th International Folk Festival has opened in the centre of Montoire Sur Le Loir, nearly 200km from Paris with the participation of 11 folk troupes.

Europe will be brought closer to Vietnam when a French festival comes to Hanoi’s Quan Ngua Hall on August 12 and HCM City’s Phu Tho Hall on August 25.

The Fine Arts Department under the Ministry of Culture and Information has launched a competition to find the best silk paintings.

The Education Publishers opened a Book and Educational Equipment Festival in Ho Chi Minh City on August 8, attracting 32 producers, traders and suppliers in the field nationwide.

A special art performance to mark the 40th anniversary of ASEAN was held at the Hanoi Opera House on the evening of August 7.

The fifth Vietnam-Japan cultural festival will be held in the ancient town of Hoi An (central Quang Nam province) from August 11-12 by the Hoi An Township People’s Committee and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The central province of Nghe An is implementing a series of measures to preserve and develop the culture of the Thai ethnic minority group in 10 out of 19 mountainous districts in the province.

President of The Miss Universe Organization Paula Mary Shugart will visit Vietnam from August 8-10 in an effort to scout destinations for the 2008 Miss Universe contest.

Teresa Sam, a Vietnamese of Chinese descent, was crowned Miss Vietnam UK in London on August 5.

Indian well-known ghazal singer Penaz Masani will perform in Ho Chi Minh City on August 11 and Hanoi on August 13 together with Planets dance group.

Cu Ngoc Ha was named Miss Vietnam 2007 in a beauty contest in Berlin last week, which drew the participation of 13 candidates aged between 18-26.

Japan is willing to help Vietnam preserve the country's cultural heritage, said Secretary of State for Culture Aoki Tamotsu at a meeting in Tokyo with a delegation of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee's Commission for Propaganda and Education.