Foreigners speak Vietnamese

This is a video from Global Talk Show 2009

Vietnamese Movie: Pao's Story (Chuyện của Pao)

CHUYỆN CỦA PAO
Đạo diễn (Director) : Quang Hải
Diễn viên (Actress) : Hải Yến
Sản xuất (Produced) : Hãng phim truyện I
Thể loại (Genre) : Tâm lý (psychology)
Xuất bản (Year) : 2006
Độ dài (Time) : 90 phút (90 mins)


This is the movie that tells about a H'mong girl in Vietnam (H''Mong: an ethnic group in north of Vietnam), named Pao, leaves home after a family incident in order to find her biological mother."Chuyện của Pao" is really a exciting movie that describe the martial life of Vietnamese people.
It won Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Cinematography at Vietnam's 2006 National Film Awards (The Golden Kites)

Enjoy the movie!

PART 1:



PART 2:



PART 3:


If you could not see this movie, you can enter this link: http://www.get.vn/movie/vi/playlist/video/Chuyen-cua-Pao/uB9GNC7mXgM/1

"Banh xeo" (Rice Pancakes Folded in Half)

Bánh xèo (literally "sizzling cake") are Vietnamese savory pancakes made out of rice flour, water and turmeric powder or coconut milk (in the Southern regions), stuffed with slivers of fatty pork, shrimp, and bean sprouts and then pan fried. Traditionally, they are served wrapped in mustard leaf, lettuce leaves, and stuffed with mint leaves, basil, fish leaf and/or other herbs, and dipped in a prepared nước mắm called nuoc cham (Vietnamese fish sauce thinned with water and lemon). In the Central region, the pancake is dipped in a special 'tuong' sauce which consists of liver, hoisin sauce and garlic.


(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A1nh_x%C3%A8o)

Making Banh Xeo on the Streets of Saigon Without Borders

Vietnam Video 05- Nam Dinh Province

Nam Định Province is a province in the Red River Delta region of northern Vietnam.

Video

Tran Royal Remains

Pho Minh Pagoda

Phu Day Site

Thinh Long Beach

Vieng Festival (8th of the first lunar month)

Nam Dinh Noodle

Vietnam Video 04- Quang Ninh- Ha Long Bay

Quang Ninh is a large province located along the northeastern coast of Vietnam. The province is home to UNESCO's World Heritage Site Ha Long Bay. The provincial capital is Ha Long City. Most of coal output in the country is extracted in this province.



Ha Long Bay belongs to Ha Long City, Cam Pha Town and part of Van Don District. The bay encompasses 1,969 islands of various sizes, 989 of which have been given names. The natural beauty of Ha Long Bay has long been praised and was first recognized as the World Heritage in 1994 by UNESCO.





Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay

Van Don Archipelago

Tra Co

Cua Ong Temple

Quynh Lam Pagoda

Vietnam Video 03- Sapa

Sapa is a beautiful and romantic resort town, 36 kms from Lao Cai city (north-western Vietnam). At the height of 1,600 about sea level, the average temperature of the are is 15- 18 oC. It's cool in summer and cold in winter. To the west of Sapa Small Town is the Hoang Lien Son Range with 3,143-meter-high, Mount Fansipan covered with cloud year around.

Visitors to Sapa will have opporunities to dicover the unque customs of the local residents- some ethinic groups such as H'Mong, Dao... Particularly, the love market on every Saturday night is very attrattive to tourists.

Video 1

Video 2

Sapa from mikeb on Vimeo.

Tourist sites:

Ham Rong Mountain

Silver Waterfall (Thac Bac)

Ta Phin Cave

Sapa Market

Sapa Ancient Rock Field

226 Days in Vietnam

Traveller and film-maker Martin Watego lived in Vietnam for 226 days. While he was there he saw a different side of Vietnam! Produced by Martin Watego for Lonely Planet Travel...




Vietnam Travel and Tourism

Vietnam Video 02- Ha Tay

Ha Tay is a former Province of Vietnam, in the Red River Delta, now part of Hanoi.On May 29, 2008, it was decided that Ha Tay would merge with Hanoi province on August 1, 2008

VIDEO

Huong Pagoda (Perfume Pagoda)

Ba Vi Resort and National Park
Thay Pagoda

Tay Phuong Pagoda

Silk Village of Van Phuc

Ancient Village of Duong Lam

Son Tay Ancient Citadel

Vietnam Video 01- Hanoi Captital

The Vietnamese nation was born among the lagoons and marshes of the Red River Delta around 4000 years ago and for most of its independent existence has been ruled from Hanoi, Vietnam's small, elegant capital lying in the heart of the northern delta. Given the political and historical importance of Hanoi and its burgeoning population of three million, it's still a surprisingly low-key city, with the character of a provincial town – though with a dramatic rise in motorbike ownership, increased traffic and Western-style retail outlets, it's catching up fast with the brash, young Ho Chi Minh City.
For the time being, however, it remains relatively laid-back. It still retains buildings from the eleventh-century court of its founding father King Ly Thai To, most notably the Temple of Literature, and some of the streets in the Old Quarter still trade in the same speciality goods they dealt in 500 years ago. In 1887, the French turned Hanoi into the centre of government for the entire Union of Indochina, replacing ancient monuments with grand colonial residences, many of which survive today. Hanoi finally became the capital of independent Vietnam in 1954, with Ho Chi Minh its first president: Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum is now the city's biggest crowd-puller. The city sustained serious damage in the American War, particularly the infamous Christmas Bombing campaign of 1972, much of it lucidly chronicled in the Army Museum. Until recently, political isolation together with lack of resources preserved what was essentially the city of the 1950s. However, since the advent of tourism in 1993, the city has seen an explosion in travellers' cafés, mini-hotels and cybercafés. Indeed, Hang Bac, one of the Old Quarter's main drags which is home to a large number of traveller hangouts, is starting to resemble a little piece of Bangkok's Khao San Road in Hanoi. The big question now is how much of central Hanoi will survive the onslaught of modernization.

VIDEO (from Lonely Planet Travel)


Hanoi Information:

Travel: http://www.vietscape.com/travel/hanoi/
Hotels: http://www.hotels-in-vietnam.com/hotels_hanoi.html
Embassies: http://www.hanoi-iwc.com/about%20hanoi%20-%20embassies_new.html

One Pillar Pagoda

Hanoi Opera House

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Hoan Kiem Lake (Sword Lake)

The Temple of Literature

Vietnam Motorbike Special- Top Gear - BBC

Part ONE of TWO videos from the extraordinary Top Gear Vietnam Special. In this video, Jeremy Clarkson begins to enjoy his Vespa on the road to the Ancient Capital of Hue, and Richard Hammond is furious when James and Jeremy paint his bike bright pink. Brilliant high quality video from BBC motoring show, Top Gear.

Part One:

Part Two:

The power of Vietnamese Villages

Villages and Guilds are the most specific feature of Vietnam culture. Vietnamese culture has involved on the basis of the rice culture. Thus, the lifestyle of the Vietnamese is closely related to the village and native land.

In Vietnamese society, people have gathered together to form villages in rural areas and guilds in urban areas since the dawn of the nation. These organizations have gradually developed so that the population is more stable and closer together.

The gate of village

Each villages has its own regulations which are called conventions (hương ước). These conventions are very different from different villages and guilds, however, they are always in accordance with state laws and they ensure the promotion of good customs within its population. Convention of a village plays an important role in villagers' life, stabilizes the good habits and customs in the village.
The power of the convention is based on its regulations of punishment. The worst punishment is to be forced to leave the village. Ethnic groups in Tay Nguyen consider the village as the most important things in their life, they are ready to die in their own village more than leave the village where they were born.

A page of convention

A lot of conventions are kept in the Vietnam History Museum in Hanoi (No.1, Pham Ngu Lao Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi)

Vietnamese Communal House is also a typical architecture in the countryside of Vietnam. This is the place where people gather together on special occasions discussing important issues in the village. The communal house is also for villagers worshiping the Genie who saves and protects the villagers' life.

Communal House

The word "village" is translated into Vietnamese in many ways depending on each region. In the north, it's called "bản", "mường" for some ethic groups Tay, Nung, Thai, Muong..., "Làng" for Kinh (Viet). In the south, it is called "thôn", "buôn", "sóc"...

Khúc hát sông quê

I love Vietnam

Before continuing discovering more about Vietnamese Culture. Let's watch a video with a beautiful song "I love Vietnam"... Enjoy!

Ca trù (Hát ả đào)- traditional stage performance

This type of song took shape in the 15th century and was performed at communal houses. From the beginning, it was appreciated by many Confucian scholars and madarins. I then became court music which acquired its noble character.


Hat a dao is like singing a poems, that is why it is called saying-singing music . The singing technique is rather refined and meticulous. Without a good understanding the literacy value of the songs and of the harmony between the singer and the accompanying instruments, it may be difficult to fully appreciate this art.

There are three main performers on the stage: a female singer playing her "phach" (small wooden sticks beaten on a small bamboo platform to serve as percussion), a man playing "dan day" (a long-necked, 3-string lute) and a spectator who plays "trong chau" (praise drum).

Famous ca tru singing songs: Hồng hồng tuyết tuyết, Khen ai khéo vẽ, Đêm chia lửa, Tỳ bà hành, Hương Sơn phong cảnh, Tự tình, Gặp xuân...

Listen to a ca tru song: Thành phố rồng bay (The city of flying dragon) by Kim Ngoc- Linh Huong- Thuy Long



Where can you listen to ca tru song in Vietnam? Go to visit Thang Long Ca Tru Singing
Address: number 40- 32, Khuong Trung, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, VN
Email: info@catruthanglong.com
Site: http://www.catruthanglong.com


Contact: suongcam@hotmail.com and hongngoc.nguyen241@gmail.com

Vietnamese Water Puppet (Mua Roi Nuoc)

History:

Vietnamese Water Puppet originated from the Red River Delta of Vietnam in the tenth century. Some of the earliest troupes are in Nguyên Xá commune, Đông Hưng district, Thai Binh province. Water puppetry is deeply imbued with the cultural characteristics of the people of this area. This unique art first appeared around the 15^th century, when post-harvest, artists who were also farmers would gather to perform and relax. The custom remains today in many localities in the Red River Delta such as Dao Thuc, Phu Da, Dong Ca, Nguyen Xa, Dong Ngu, Nhan Hoa and Nam Chan.

In ancient Vietnam, the rural Vietnamese believed that spirits controlled all aspects of their life, from the kitchen to the rice paddies. That is the reason why the farmers in this region devised a form of entertainment and worship to satisfy these spirits. Water puppetry is the lively creation of farmers who spent their days in flooded rice fields. At some point, they discovered that the water was an excellent medium for puppetry: it not only concealed the puppeteers' rod and string mechanisms, but it also provided exciting effects like waves and splashes.

When water puppetry became more popular, villages competed against each other with their puppet shows. This led puppet societies to be secretive and exclusive, including an initiation ceremony that involved drinking rooster blood.

So far this art form has been unique to North Vietnam. Tourists can enjoy this kind of art all days in a week at Thang Long Puppet Theatre, which is the most well known one in Ha Noi.

Performance

For over a thousand years, performers in Vietnamese Water Puppet Theater’s feet have always suffered in cold and wet condition. Water puppetry is performed in a chest-deep pool of water, with the water's surface as a stage. The puppeteers stand behind a screen and control the puppets using long bamboo rods and string mechanism hidden beneath the water surface.

The puppet is carved out of wood and often weighs up to 15 kg. A large rod supports the puppet under the water and is used by the puppeteers to control them. The appearance is of the puppets moving over the water. The puppets enter from either side of the stage, or emerge from the murky depths of the water. In the past when the rice fields were flooded the villagers would entertain each other using this puppet form.

A traditional Vietnamese orchestra provides background music accompaniment. Singers of Cheo (a form of opera) with origin in North Vietnam sing the songs which tell the story being acted out by the puppets. Performances of up to 18 short scenes are usually introduced by a pig-tailed bumpkin known as Teu, and accompanied by a small folk orchestra. The musicians and the puppets interact during performance; the musicians may yell a word of warning to a puppet in danger or a word of encouragement to a puppet in need.

Along with singing the atmosphere, while the decorations set the stage for each particula, traditional musical instruments like drums, wooden bells, cymbals, horns, two-string Chinese violins and flutes create r style of water puppetry. Researcher Nguyen Huy Hong believes that water puppetry combines sculpture, architecture, painting, music, stage and literature.

Content

The theme of the skits is rural and has a strong reference to Vietnamese folklore. It tells of day-to-day living in rural Vietnam and Vietnamese folk tales that are told older generation to younger generation. Of which stories of the harvest, of fishing and of festivals are highlighted.

The water also provides the best setting for the puppeteers' theme: day-to-day village life. Water puppets bring wry humor to scenes of farming, fishing, festival events such as buffalo fights, and children's games of marbles and coin-toss. Fishing turns into a game of wits between the fisherman and his prey, with the fisherman getting the short end (often capturing his surprised neighbor by mistake). Besides village life, scenes include legends and national history. Lion dogs romp like puppies while dragons exhale smoke and shoot sprays of water at the audience. Teu, a pig-tailed bumpkin, is the character who usually plays the role of introducing the performances. The introduction is always accompanied by a small folk orchestra. Spotlights and colorful flags adorn the stage and create a festive atmosphere.

Legends and national history are also told through short skits. Many of the skits, especially those involving the tales of day-to-day living, often have a humorous twist.

Water puppetry has always gone hand in hand with festivals. Each Lunar March 13, Bo Duong villagers hold village festival to commemorate their tutelary god. Aside from worship, the festival is also an opportunity for villagers to relax by watching water puppetry, taking in fireworks displays, flying kites and entering cock-fighting contests. The festival always attracts thousands of attendants. Village festivals are great wind down for farmers and artists alike.

Vietnamese Ethnic Groups

Vietnam is a multi-nationality country. It has 54 ethnic groups with about 86 million people. The Viet (Kinh) people account for 88% of the country's population and mainly inhabit the Red River delta, the central coastal delta, the Mekong delta and major cities. The other 53 ethnic minority groups, totaling over 8 million people, are scattered over mountain areas (covering two-thirds of the country's territory) spreading from the North to the South.

Among ethnic minorities, the most populated are Tay, Thai, Muong, Hoa, Khmer, Nung... with a population of around 1 million each, while the least populated are Brau, Ro Mam, O Du with several hundred people each.

The material and spiritual life differs among the ethnic groups. However, in the history of national development, the ethnic groups in Vietnam have always had a tradition of solidarity and mutual assistance, particularly in the struggle against foreign aggressors. The Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the past and that of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at present have constantly developed concrete policies and granted special privileges to help the various highlands ethnic groups keep pace with those on the lowlands, and have simultaneously assisted the development and preservation of the traditional cultural characteristics of each group. To date, different programs are being successfully carried out such as programs to bring iodized salt to remote villages, build a dispensary for each village, control malaria, construct free tuition boarding schools for children from ethnic minorities, end the nomadic life and farming, and study the written language and traditional culture of each group.

The Viet people succeeded in establishing a centralized monarchy back in the 10th century. The Cham people once boasted a flourishing culture early our history. The Tay, Nung, and Khmer peoples had reached high levels of development with the presence of various social strata. The Muong, H'Mong, Dao, Thai peoples... gathered under the rule of local tribal heads. Many ethnic groups divided their population into social echelons, especially those who lived in mountainous areas.

A number of ethnic minorities had mastered some farming techniques. They grew rice plants in swamped paddy fields and carried out irrigation. Others went hunting, fishing, collecting and lived a semi-nomadic life. Each group has its own culture, diverse and special. Beliefs and religions of the Vietnamese ethnic minority groups were also disparate from each other.

However, a fundamental solidarity among ethnic groups has been established on top of these differences as a result of a centuries long cooperation on the soil of Vietnam. Back in the first century of our history, a mutual supplement in economic relationship between lowland people and mountainous people was formed. This solidarity had been unceasingly strengthened during wars of resistance for defending the country. Through the shared struggle for defending and building the country and the mutual assistance for co-existence and development, a common community between the Viet people and other ethnic minority peoples has been established and continuously consolidated and developed.



Based on their languages, the ethnologists have divided the Vietnamese nation into eight groups as follows:

1. Mon - Khmer (Ba Na, Brau, Bru Van Kieu, Cho Ro, Co, Co Ho, Co Tu, Gie Trieng, Hre, Khang, Khmer, Kho Mu, Ma, Mang, M'nong, O Du, Ro Mam, Ta Oi, Xinh Mun, Xo Dang, and Xtieng)

Bana
Kho Mu

2. Tay - Thai (Bo Y, Giay, Lao, Lu, Nung, San Chay, Tay, and Thai)

Tay
Thai
Nung

3. Tibeto - Burman (Cong, Ha Nhi, La Hu, Lo Lo, Phu La, and Si La)

Ha Nhi

4. Malayo - Polynesian (Cham, Chu Ru, E De, Gia Rai, and Ra Glai)

Cham
Ede

5. Viet - Muong (Chut, Kinh, Muong, and Tho)

Muong
Kinh

6. Kadai (Co Lao, La Chi, La Ha, and Pu Peo)

La chi

7. Mong - Dao (Dao, H'Mong, and Pa Then)

Dao
H'Mong

8. Han (Hoa, Ngai, and San Diu)

Ngai
San Diu

(The above information was given by www.voyagevietnam.net)


Miss Vietnam Ethnics was first held in December 2007 in Da Lat. Miss Award belonged to Miss Tay from Thai Nguyen. These some photos of contestants from many ethnic groups:


















The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology (Bảo tàng Dân tộc học Việt Nam) is a museum in Hanoi, Vietnam, which focuses on the 54 officially recognized ethnic groups in Vietnam.It is widely considered to be the finest modern museum in Vietnam and a tourist attraction in Hanoi.
Address: Nguyen Van Huyen Street, Hanoi, Vietnam
Website: http://www.vme.org.vn/