Beach area at smith mountain lake

Dragon Hill: Wake up ‘Forgotten Paradise’

October 29, 2018 by tuoitrenews.vn

A new resort project right in the open sea of Dragon Hill complex has been submitted for permission to become an attractive island, with the potential to attract tourists for longer stay and to discover more about the beautiful landscapes of the northern city of Hai Phong.

Hai Phong is the largest port city in the north of Vietnam and is also the country’s third largest commercial and economic center. The city is just behind Hanoi on scale and rate of development in the north and is one of the five municipalities, one of the national first-grade centers, alongside the central city of Da Nang and the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.

Hai Phong is also known as the “Land of Port,” or “Port City,” as it has plenty of tourism potentials associated with the sea. The city possesses a long coastline of over 125 kilometers, which is low and quite flat. Especially, Do Son in Hai Phong is always one of the most crowded beaches in the north of Vietnam.

Only 22 kilometers to the southeast from the center of Hai Phong, Do Son has long been known as an ideal holiday destination, maintaining an important position in the economic and social development of Hai Phong in particular, and the northern coast in general.

Despite having many advantages such as convenient transport network spanning across different topographies of sea and mountains, Do Son has yet to utilize its advantages to cover the huge shortage of Vietnamese tourism at the present time.

The lack of ideas, models and operational methods has prevented the resorts of standards and quality in the city from running properly promotion and investment to help foster its tourism.

Fairly speaking, the geographic location, the people and scenery of Hai Phong and Do Son are highly recognized for the potential tourism development in the country, thanks to the advantage of a trading gateway for customs clearance and shipping. With all necessary and sufficient factors, Hai Phong is always the first choice for investors.

Many people even compare Do Son as a ‘forgotten paradise’ of the northern region, like Singapore’s Sentosa Island – which is hot all year round due to its tropical climate, but thanks to an appropriate development model, has attracted enormous visitors for shopping, leisure, entertainment and recreation.

It takes only one hour and a half to travel the 76.1 kilometer distance between Dragon Hill and Ha Long Bay, the World natural wonder in the neighboring province of Quang Ninh, thanks to the Ha Long – Hai Phong expressway. This is an advantage for visitors who want to discover more about the natural beauty of Vietnam.

Currently, the northern region is in a shortage of family resorts, or high-end resort models for leisure and recreation needs. The appearance of Dragon Hill (Doi Rong) is expected by the Do Son people, together with the economic status of this area, to make changes to the tourism and enhance Do Son to become the most beautiful and convenient beach in the north.

Dragon Hill resort is also the first necessary push to wake up the ‘paradise resort’ that has been neglected for years.

All new things come from new thinking and ways. The Hanoi – Hai Phong expressway that was completed and put into full operation in 2015 has opened many favorable opportunities for such an economic potential that was left open. Visitors from Hanoi to Hai Phong, as well as neighboring areas such as Quang Ninh, Hai Duong, Hung Yen have been able to shorten the travel time to the center of Do Son to only one or two hours.

It takes only ten minutes from Hai Phong to Cat Ba biosphere reserve or Dragon Hill. Cat Bi International Airport, with many new international flights, is about to open. As tourists or local visitors no longer find it difficult to come and go during the day, it is safe to hope that the port city of Hai Phong will develop into a beautiful tourist destination, the focus point of the north region.

Communal house: a symbol of Vietnamese religion and culture

March 9, 2021 by hanoitimes.vn

The Hanoitimes – Communal house is a typical architecture of Vietnam showcasing the rich spiritual life of the local people.

Everywhere in Vietnam, from the city to the countryside, especially in villages, a communal house is a familiar image as an indispensable part of the people’s life.

A communal house is the center of cultural activities of the whole village. The Phu Luu village’s communal house. Photo: Thuy Duong.

Communal house is considered as a symbol of culture, spirit and religion of Vietnamese. Through thousands of years in the history until today, each communal house usually has three main features.

Firstly, it is the worshiping place of the Tutelary God of a village, the guardian of the village. The Tutelary God can be a natural god such as God of the mountain, God of the river, God of the sea or someone or something specific depending on the belief of each place, like God of tree or God of stone and so on.

The deity can also be national heroes who contributed an important part to the building and independence of the country or local ones who helped found and develop the village.

The Deity at Chem communal house. Photo: Tran Duc Anh.

The diversified deities worshiped in the communal houses shows a rich spiritual life of the local people, which combines the power of mother nature veneration (typical of wet rice culture) and the ancestor beliefs of respecting the contribution of national heroes under some influence of Buddhism and Confucianism.

Secondly, it is the administrative “head office” of a village, where important affairs like issuing regular, paying tax, handling court cases, calling for conscription, and so on took place. Last but not least, a communal house is the center of cultural activities of the whole village, playing a vital role in their spiritual life.

The most important cultural activity organized here is festivals. Annually, thousands of festivals take place at the communal houses of thousands of villages in Vietnam, usually on the birthday, death anniversary of the worshiped deity or the foundation day and historical events of the place.

This stone mascot is responsible for guarding at Phu Luu village’s communal house. Photo: Thuy Duong.

Each feature various rituals, art, music, sports and games, contributing the key role to the nation’s diversified culture and identity. Another unique trait of a communal house is its architecture since each communal house is a work of traditional Vietnamese sculpture art with exquisite carving details of people, daily activities, spiritual animals with super power, flowers, among others.

Furthermore, there are hundreds of worship statues and ornaments. All show the rich spiritual and religious life of the local people. A communal house also features the architecture typical of a public building which is open to everyone regardless of the rich and the poor.

Through centuries, communal houses are not only a unique symbol of the village’s power, religion and culture but also a witness of the history and development of the place.

Dragon head is a typical decorative image at every communal house in the northern part of Vietnam. Photo: Thuy Duong.

However, its important religious and cultural role still remains. A communal house is still a familiar image of a village as well as the pride of many people. If they have to leave their hometown to study and work far away, they always try to come back to attend the festivals organized there.

Recently, a group called “Vietnamese Communal House” has been set up by young people who are interested in heritage. Exhibitions, pictures, books and seminars about communal houses have been introduced, attracting more and more members.

They also volunteer to support villages to preserve deteriorated communal houses. All aim to protect and promote the role and value of the communal house as one of Vietnamese heritages.

The people who wish to learn more about communal houses could take a stroll around communal house in Hanoi as listed below.

Nam Huong Communal House

The Nam Huong Communal House. Photo: Bich Hoi.

Nam Huong Communal House is located in Hang Trong ward, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi. It features two entrances, one is facing faces Le Thai To street by Hoan Kiem lake, the other is facingopens onto Hang Trong street. For a long time, Nam Huong communal house has been a tourist attraction for many visitors locally and internationally.

Being built at the end of the Le dynasty (1009–1225), the communal house is bearing strong imprints of Hanoi history, culture and its people, worshipping three Gods of Long Do, Cao Son, Linh Lang; A Duy princess (of Ly dynasty) and prince Duong Tu (of Nguyen Dynasty).

Kim Ngan Communal House

The Kim Ngan Communal House. Photo: Thuy Duong.

Kim Ngan Communal House was built by Luu Xuan Tin, the minister of personnel under the reign of King Le Thanh Tong in the 15th century, who settled his villagers from Chau Khe village, Hai Duong province in the capital to cast silver artifacts for the court.

During Gia Long reign in the 19th century, the people of Chau Khe expanded their communal house.

With an area of nearly 600 square meters, Kim Ngan Communal House is fairly large compared to other communal houses in the compacted and densely populated Hanoi’s Old Quarter.

Dong Lac Communal House

The coutyard inside Dong Lac Communal House. Photo: Hanoia.

Recognized as a national heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2004, Dong Lac Communal House at 38 Hang Dao Street was built in the 17th century under the Le Dynasty and is a place worshipping Cao Son, Linh Lang and Bach Ma gods and selling silk products.

Since 2017, Hanoi’s Old Quarter management board issued a plaque to recognize Dong Lac Communal House as a tourist destination. The commune house is now expected to be a favorite destination for tourists while exploring Hanoi’s cultural and historical values.

Support given to localities to fight drought, water shortages, saltwater intrusion

March 8, 2021 by en.vietnamplus.vn

A fresh-water reservation pond (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Localities stricken by serious drought , water shortages , and saltwater intrusion will receive funding from the central budget to deal with these issues.

Under a decision signed recently by Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung , beneficiaries are to include organisations managing and using irrigation facilities and rural water facilities, as well as other relevant units.

People’s Committees in districts and communes facing water shortages have been directed to adopt urgent solutions in the fight.

With the financial support, localities in the central, Central Highlands, and Mekong Delta regions must extend water pipes, purchase water containers and filters, and supply water to local residents, hospitals, and schools in disadvantaged areas.

Notably, the central and Mekong Delta regions will receive funding for the building of anti-intrusion dams and water reservoirs.

Funding for mountainous and Central Highlands localities will not exceed 70 percent of their actual spending.

Funding for other localities is to not surpass 50 percent of their spending on the fight./.

VNA

First-ever clean-up of coral reefs in Cham Islands

March 8, 2021 by dtinews.vn

The Management Board of the Cham Island Marine Protected Area in Hoi An city in central Quang Nam province finished a clean-up of the seabed to protect coral reefs in the waters of Cu Lao Cham (Cham Islands) on March 8 after a couple of days.

Cleaning up the seabed in Cu Lao Cham (Photo: baoquangnam.vn)

This was the first-ever clean-up to protect the coral reefs from natural enemies and household waste.

Volunteers cleaned up coral reefs in Bai Tra, Bai Nan, Bai Xep, and Bai Bac beaches and caught crown-of-thorns starfish, a natural enemy of coral reefs.

The board also measured the vulnerability of marine ecological systems and assessed vegetation coverage to identify specific measures to protect the reefs.