In August 2024, the HCMC People’s Committee asked the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to incorporate the city’s kylin-lion-dragon art into the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritages. On March 30 this year, the HCMC Department of Culture and Sports held a ceremony to announce the decision to recognize the kylin-lion-dragon dance art of Chinese Vietnamese people in HCMC as a national intangible cultural heritage.
The kylin-lion-dragon dance is a typical performing art of the Chinese Vietnamese people in HCMC, which represents the wish for luck and prosperity, and chasing the bad away. This dance art is often performed at such events as the Lunar New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival, and inauguration or ground-breaking ceremonies.
According to tuoitre.vn, HCMC’s Ca trù (a genre of musical storytelling) and Đờn ca tài tử Nam Bộ (traditional music of southern Vietnam) have been inscribed on the UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The city’s five national intangible cultural heritages are the Welcoming the Whales Ceremony in Can Gio District, Lantern Festival in District 5, Khai ha-Cau an Festival at the Tomb of Marshall Le Van Duyet in Binh Thanh District, Vovinam Martial Arts, and kylin-lion-dragon art. It also has 200 national-level and city-level historical and cultural relic sites.
Miracle during the terrible earthquake in Myanmar
On April 2, the rescue team of the Vietnam People’s Army taking part in rescuing earthquake victims in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, in coordination with the rescue teams of Turkey and Myanmar, saved the life of a 26-year-old man, who is a cook, from the ruin of a hotel in the capital city after being trapped there for nearly six days. Also on April 2, the Vietnamese rescue team found and took out four dead bodies from the ruin caused by the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that wreaked havoc on Myanmar on March 28.
About 80 Vietnamese officers and soldiers and six detection dogs were divided into three squads to implement rescue services at two condominiums and a hospital collapsed after the earthquake in Nay Pyi Taw. Aside from rescuing the young cook alive, the Vietnamese rescue team found out and brought seven dead bodies out of the ruin. The Vietnamese volunteers also donated 40 tons of field rations to local authorities of Myanmar to help earthquake victims overcome their difficult situation.
The Vietnamese officers and soldiers continue their mission in Myanmar until the rescue is officially concluded, vietnamplus.vn reported.
A French project for young people in town
With a view to helping young, needy people around the country make their living, La Boulangerie Française – a French bakery project – opened baking classes in HCMC to teach young people in need how to make various kinds of breads and cakes since 2017.
La Boulangerie Française is a cooperation project between the Thu Duc College of Technology in HCMC and IECD (Institut Européen Coopération Développement – European Institute for Development Cooperation). With a token tuition of VND150,000 (approximately US$6), trainees can enjoy free board and lodging, free internships at five-star restaurants, and be able to earn a living after one year attending these classes.
The quality breads and cakes made by the students are sold via La Boulangerie Française website, or supplied for some cafés, bakeries, restaurants and hotels in HCMC. The revenue is used to maintain the project’s baking classes. Some baked products are presented to charitable establishments. So far, some 130 young, needy people aged from 18 to 23 throughout the country have learned how to make French breads and cakes, thanhnien.vn reported.
A retired couple travels across the country by motorbike
Duong Thu Thuy, 58, and her husband, Nguyen The Viet, 64, who live in Hanoi, have completed their trans-Vietnam trip by motorbike, crossing some 5,100km in 28 days. The couple loves traveling, especially by motorbike. They used to make short motorbike tours of northern localities. Early this year, they decided to make a cross-country motorbike trip they had cherished for a long time.
On February 9, the couple started their motorbike trip from their house in Hanoi. They traveled along the Ho Chi Minh Road to the Central Highlands provinces. From the Central Highlands, they rode their motorbike to cities and provinces in the Mekong Delta region. From the Mekong Delta, they traveled to HCMC and took a ferry from Can Gio District to the coastal city of Vung Tau. They ended their motorbike trip in the central coastal city of Danang, where they caught a train back to Hanoi with their motorbike on board. They arrived at home on March 8.
Thuy told thanhnien.vn that they spent VND25 million on their longest trip so far, adding that they chose to have their meals at cheap eats and stay at guest houses.
