Big birds nest

But the city, the country’s largest, also has a great deal of historical value related to the wars of resistance against the French and Americans to offer interest to tourists as well as locals.

One of the most fascinating destinations is Cu Chi guerrilla warfare tunnels, located about 70km from downtown HCM City.

Built by South Vietnamese liberation forces as shelter from US and Sai Gon troops during the war, the site is known over the world, but even many locals have yet to visit the tunnels.

Revolutionary spirit

First formed in 1948 during the resistance war against the French colonialists, the original network of tunnels was in Tan Phu Trung and Phuoc Vinh An wards.

Initially, the tunnels had only short paths and simple structure that were used to hide documents, weapons and resistance members deep inside the enemy-controlled area.

Only during the anti-American war were the tunnels reinforced and widened.

Beginning in 1961, when the Party Committee and headquarters of the Sai Gon-Gia Dinh Military Region of the liberation forces chose Cu Chi as an operating area, the tunnel system maximized its use for years, especially in 1966, against the Americans broadening the war in the South.

With their indomitable strength, Cu Chi’s resistance forces and local people created a system of crisscrossing tunnels with multiple floors, with more than 200km of underground trenches in total.

For a long time, the enemy attacked the base and the tunnel network relentlessly by pumping water into the tunnels, using German shepherd dogs to hunt and identify the tunnels then using bombs to destroy them.

The US forces were involved in 5,000 attacks that aimed to wipe out the Cu Chi resistance base. In addition, thousands of tonnes of various chemical toxins were sprayed on the area.

But, relying on the tunnel network, the Vietnamese liberation soldiers and Cu Chi locals were able to counter all the enemy attacks.

They engaged in 4,269 big and small fights, eliminated 22,582 enemy troops, destroyed and took over 5,168 military vehicles (mostly tanks and armoured vehicles), shot down and destroyed 256 airplanes (mainly helicopters), sank and burned 22 warships and boats, and captured 8,581 guns of all types. They also destroyed 270 enemy stations in Cu Chi District.

The Cu Chi tunnel relic site includes the Ben Duoc Tunnel (Sai Gon-Gia Dinh military base, Zone A), Sai Gon-Gia Dinh base (Zone B), and the Ben Dinh Tunnel (Cu Chi District base).

The tunnel system runs in a zig-zag shape underground, and the main route branches out in multiple directions that connect in some areas, depending on the terrain.

Many exits open to the Sai Gon River so that when emergencies occurred people could take river route to Ben Cat resistance base in Binh Duong Province.

The tunnel system is bulletproof and can withstand the weight of tanks and armoured vehicles.

Some tunnels have structures that include two to three floors. Stairs between floors have lids that go to secret vaults.

Seeking UNESCO’s recognition

Recently, the city’s authorities sent a proposal to the Ministry of National Defence to seek the UN culture agency UNESCO’s recognition for the Cu Chi Tunnels as a World Heritage Site.

Vietnam is home to eight UNESCO World Heritage sites, including Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, My Son Sanctuary, Hoi An Ancient Town, the Complex of Hue Monuments, and the Citadel of the Ho dynasty in the central region.

The other sites are Ha Long Bay, the Trang An Landscape Complex, and Thang Long Imperial Citadel, which are located in the north.

If the Cu Chi Tunnels network is recognised, it will be the south’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In 2015, the historic area was recognised as a special national relic site. For tourism purposes, more than 120km out of over 200km of the tunnels have been preserved.

Le Van Liem, vice chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee, said the area in the outlying Củ Chi District is a “valuable historical and cultural site that reflects outstanding military and scientific work of the Vietnamese people”.

The tunnels have been a popular tourism landmark for years, attracting thousands of visitors each day. Visitors are able to experience the resilience and unyielding will of the people who lived in the tunnels during wartime.

Dr Phan An, head of the Southern Institute of Social Sciences, said: “The Cu Chi Tunnels’ architecture is one of a kind. UNESCO World Heritage Site acknowledgement would not just introduce global friends to it, but would also be a chance for Vietnamese nationwide to appreciate the relic more.

“The site has not yet received the acknowledgement it deserves. Many HCM City residents have never visited the site despite its historical importance. Publicity is still limited, leading to inadequate attention for preservation of the relic site. Only a small part is preserved for visits and tourism.

“It runs a high risk of destruction from natural and human impact. So, if UNESCO acknowledges it as a World Heritage Site, local authorities and residents will be more responsible and collectively care for and preserve the entirety of the tunnels. At the same time, it would heighten public awareness about heritage sites like this.”

LONDON — In October 2020, Miami-based art collector Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile spent almost $67,000 on a 10-second video artwork that he could have watched for free online. Last week, he sold it for $6.6 million.

The video by digital artist Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, was authenticated by blockchain, which serves as a digital signature to certify who owns it and that it is the original work.

It’s a new type of digital asset – known as a non-fungible token (NFT) – that has exploded in popularity during the pandemic as enthusiasts and investors scramble to spend enormous sums of money on items that only exist online.

Blockchain technology allows the items to be publicly authenticated as one-of-a-kind, unlike traditional online objects which can be endlessly reproduced.

“You can go in the Louvre and take a picture of the Mona Lisa and you can have it there, but it doesn’t have any value because it doesn’t have the provenance or the history of the work,” said Rodriguez-Fraile, who said he first bought Beeple’s piece because of his knowledge of the U.S.-based artist’s work.

“The reality here is that this is very, very valuable because of who is behind it.”

Examples of NFTs range from digital artworks and sports cards to pieces of land in virtual environments or exclusive use of a cryptocurrency wallet name, akin to the scramble for domain names in the early days of the internet.“Non-fungible” refers to items that cannot be exchanged on a like-for-like basis, as each one is unique – in contrast to “fungible” assets like dollars, stocks or bars of gold.

The computer-generated video sold by Rodriguez-Fraile shows what appears to be a giant Donald Trump collapsed on the ground, his body covered in slogans, in an otherwise idyllic setting.

OpenSea, a marketplace for NFTs, said it has seen monthly sales volume grow to $86.3 million so far in February, as of Friday, from $8 million in January, citing blockchain data. Monthly sales were at $1.5 million a year ago.

“If you spend 10 hours a day on the computer, or eight hours a day in the digital realm, then art in the digital realm makes tonnes of sense – because it is the world,” said OpenSea’s co-founder Alex Atallah.

Investors caution, however, that while big money is flowing into NFTs, the market could represent a price bubble.

Like many new niche investment areas, there is the risk of major losses if the hype dies down, while there could be prime opportunities for fraudsters in a market where many participants operate under pseudonyms.

Nonetheless, auction house Christie’s has just launched its first-ever sale of digital art – a collage of 5,000 pictures, also by Beeple – which exists solely as an NFT.

Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile, Miami-based art collector, looks on at Lake Como, Italy, in this undated handout obtained by Reuters on February 28, 2021. Photo: Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile/Handout via REUTERS

Christie’s ’embraces terrifying’

Bids for the work have hit $3 million, with the sale due to close on March 11.

“We are in a very unknown territory. In the first 10 minutes of bidding we had more than a hundred bids from 21 bidders and we were at a million dollars,” said Noah Davis, specialist in post-war and contemporary art at Christie’s.

His division has never seen an online-only sale top $1 million before, he added.

In a decision that could help push cryptocurrencies further into the mainstream, the auction house that was founded in 1766 will accept payment in the digital coin Ether as well as traditional money.

“I think that this moment was inevitable and whenever institutions of any kind try to resist inevitability, it does not work out very well,” Davis said of accepting crypto payment. “And so the best thing you can do is embrace the terrifying.”

$280k for Lebron James slam dunk

NFTs could be benefiting from the hype around cryptocurrencies and blockchain, as well as virtual reality’s potential to create online worlds. The growing interest also coincides with a surge in online retail trading during lockdowns.

The start of the rush for NFTs has been linked with the launch of the U.S. National Basketball Association’s Top Shot website, which allows users to buy and trade NFTs in the form of video highlights of games.

Five months after its launch, the platform says it has over 100,000 buyers and nearly $250 million in sales. The majority of sales take place in the site’s peer-to-peer marketplace, with the NBA getting a royalty on every sale.

The volume is rapidly rising: February has seen sales totalling $198 million as of Friday, heading for a fivefold increase from January’s $44 million, Top Shot said.

Each collectible has “a unique serial number with guaranteed scarcity and protected ownership guaranteed by blockchain”, the site says. “When you own #23/49 of a legendary LeBron James dunk, you’re the only person in the world who does.”

The biggest transaction to date was on Feb. 22, when a user paid $208,000 for a video of a LeBron James slam dunk.

One major NFT enthusiast, who goes by the pseudonym “Pranksy” told Reuters he had invested $600 in an early NFT project in 2017 and has now built that up to a portfolio “worth seven figures” in NFTs and cryptocurrencies. He asked to be anonymous to protect his family’s privacy.

Pranksy said he has now spent more than $1 million on Top Shot and made about $4.7 million by reselling purchases. Reuters was unable to independently verify the figures, although NBA Top Shot confirmed he is among the site’s biggest buyers.

“I see them as investments really, much like any other collectibles and NFTs that currently exist,” he said in an interview conducted via Twitter. “I’d never watched a game of basketball before Top Shot launched.”

Images created for the launch of NBA Top Shot, an online platform which allows users to buy and trade videos of basketball highlights. Photo: Dapper Labs/via REUTERS

‘Emergence of the metaverse’

Nate Hart, a Nashville-based NFT investor who, like Pranksy, has been involved in the market since it first developed in 2017, has seen some popular digital art NFTs such as Autoglyphs and CryptoPunk surge in value.

Hart said he bought a LeBron James Cosmic NFT on NBA Top Shot for $40,000 in January, then sold it for $125,000 in February.

“We’re in awe, it just doesn’t feel real. We were in the right place, right time, got lucky, but we also took that risk,” he said.

“The space has been growing a lot. I do think that this is a little bit of a bubble. It is a bubble,” he said. “It’s hard to predict what the top will be.”

Andrew Steinwold, who launched a $6 million dollar NFT investment fund in January, warned that the majority of NFTs could become worthless in future.

But, like many backers, he is confident that some items will retain their value and that NFTs represent the future of digital ownership, paving the way for a world in which people live, socialise and make money in virtual environments.

“We’re spending a lot of our time digitally, always online, always plugged in. It makes sense to now add property rights to the mix and suddenly we have the emergence of the metaverse,” he said.

“I think it’s going to reach into the trillions of dollars one day.”

BHUBANESWAR — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was inoculated with the first dose of a home-grown coronavirus vaccine on Monday, kicking off an expansion of the country’s immunisation campaign as infections rise in some big states.

People above 60, and those who are 45 or more and suffering from certain medical conditions, are now eligible for the vaccinations. But some inoculation centres reported issues with the government’s Co-Win portal used to coordinate the drive, which could slow its progress.

India, which has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases after the United States, has so far vaccinated 12 million health and front-line workers since starting its immunisation programme in mid-January. It wants to cover 300 million of its 1.35 billion people by August.

“I appeal to all those who are eligible to take the vaccine,” 70-year-old Modi said on Twitter, posting a picture of him getting the shot at a government hospital in New Delhi. “Together, let us make India COVID-19 free!”

The government said last week it would let people choose their vaccination centres, effectively letting beneficiaries pick either the home-grown COVAXIN shot or the AstraZeneca vaccine, unlike earlier.

The inoculation campaign has run slower than expected due to a reluctance of health and front-line workers to take COVAXIN, which was approved without late-stage efficacy data. Only about 11% of vaccinated people have opted for the product developed by Bharat Biotech and the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research.

Bharat Biotech has said efficacy data from a late-stage trial on nearly 26,000 volunteers who took COVAXIN will be out soon. The company, along with India’s drug regulator, says COVAXIN is safe and effective, based on early and intermediate studies.

“Inspired and humbled by Hon’ble PM’s remarkable commitment to build an Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” Bharat Biotech said in reply to Modi’s tweet, referring to his self-reliance pitch to back local products.

“Yes, we all shall fight COVID-19 together and emerge victorious.”

Online, offline?

Initial glitches in the Co-Win portal had hampered vaccination, and some of the troubles resurfaced on Monday in states such as Odisha in the east and Maharashtra in the west, officials said.

Modi’s home state of Gujarat, however, said the roll-out was progressing fine.

“We haven’t faced any glitches,” said Jaiprakash Shivahare, Gujarat’s commissioner of health. “The government of India has assured us that there is no issue of vaccine availability and asked us to use the vaccines as early as possible.”

India has reported more than 11 million coronavirus infections and over 157,000 deaths. Of the 15,510 new cases recorded in the past 24 hours, Maharashtra state accounted for 8,293 followed by Kerala’s 3,254 infections.

The health ministry reported 106 deaths in the past 24 hours, with no fatalities recorded in 20 of India’s three dozen states and federal territories.

With an orchestra spread out across the entire parterre, audiences limited to the balconies, and no breaks but plenty of disinfectant, the Sofia Opera is one of the few music venues still hosting live performances in Europe.

Across the continent, a third wave of COVID-19 infections is keeping opera houses and other cultural venues closed — loud singing poses a particular risk as the virus spreads through droplets — but in Bulgaria, classical music plays on, from “Tosca” to “La Traviata”.

“I am hungry for music. And the risk, why think about it? It’s not riskier here than in the supermarket or the subway,” says 81-year-old Petya Petkova, who attended Verdi’s “La Traviata” with her daughter last week.

Despite the disinfectant, social-distancing and staff taking people’s temperature, a festive spirit reigns at the historic opera house in the Bulgarian capital, a stark contrast to its silenced counterparts in Paris, Vienna or Milan.

Bulgaria first eased pandemic restrictions in June and allowed operas, concert halls and cinemas to reopen at 30 percent capacity, leading the Sofia Opera to arrange plastic and fabric flower bouquets as placeholders on the majority of the crimson plush seats.

“We perform in front of 250 spectators, but it’s better than not playing or performing,” Sofia Opera director Plamen Kartaloff says.

Even as Europe struggles with a third wave of infections, in part due to a number of mutations that spread more easily, Kartaloff expects the opera to remain open.

Acoustic challenges

Tragedy has touched the operatic community, and not just on stage: In November, Bulgarian tenor Kamen Chanev died of COVID-19, three weeks after he debuted Otello in the central Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora.

Remembering him, soprano Stanislava Momekova, 36, becomes serious.

“That’s the risk of this profession — it holds us like a drug, it’s stronger than fear,” Momekova says.

For American conductor Evan-Alexis Christ, who saw his performances in Germany cancelled, bringing “La Traviata” to the stage feels rewarding, despite a number of “acoustic challenges”.

From the pit, the orchestra had to move to the parterre, where musicians now sit far apart from one another. The singers on stage are even farther away.

“We are acoustically louder for the audience than normal so the orchestra has to play very quietly and listen even more to the singers,” Christ says.

“But overall I think everyone is very happy, also the musicians and the singers who are able to perform,” he adds, praising the discipline of the musicians, who, with the exception of singers and tube instruments, perform with face masks on.

Luring younger audiences

To Christ, the opera in Sofia and in Madrid, which has also kept its doors open, are proof that it’s still possible to play for a live audience.

“My feeling is that people are incredibly hungry, they want to hear music,” Christ says, adding that he hopes “to make a difference” for the 250 people in the audience that night.

Thanks to Kartaloff’s ingenuity, the Sofia Opera has found a number of ways to perform amid the pandemic: “Swan Lake” was staged on the pontoon of a lake near Sofia, while other operas reverberated through an old Roman fortress.

Some musical theatre performances were limited to adults with children, a way to focus on the audience of the future, Kartaloff says.

As clubs and bars have mostly remained closed, Bulgaria’s opera halls have become more alluring to younger audiences, including students who put on their prom suits to see “La Traviata”.

“It’s a huge pleasure to have the chance to attend a nice event such as the opera,” 38-year-old Nikolay Onufriev, who’s only been to the opera once before, says.

“It’s a way to escape from the grey, everyday life that we have amid the coronavirus pandemic, and for me, this is something big.”

The Cu Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the war (Photo courtesy of Cu Chi Tunnels)

But the city, the country’s largest, also has a great deal of historical value related to the wars of resistance against the French and American aggressors to offer interest to tourists as well as locals.

One of the most fascinating destinations is Cu Chi guerrilla warfare tunnels, located about 70km from downtown HCM City.

Built by South Vietnamese liberation forces as shelter from US and Sai Gon troops during the war, the site is known over the world, but even many locals have yet to visit the tunnels.

Revolutionary spirit

First formed in 1948 during the resistance war against the French colonialists, the original network of tunnels was in Tan Phu Trung and Phuoc Vinh An wards.

Initially, the tunnels had only short paths and simple structure that were used to hide documents, weapons and resistance members deep inside the enemy-controlled area.

Only during the anti-American war were the tunnels reinforced and widened.

Beginning in 1961, when the Party Committee and headquarters of the Sai Gon-Gia Dinh Military Region of the liberation forces chose Cu Chi as an operating area, the tunnel system maximized its use for years, especially in 1966, against the Americans broadening the war in the South.

With their indomitable strength, Cu Chi’s resistance forces and local people created a system of crisscrossing tunnels with multiple floors, with more than 200km of underground trenches in total.

For a long time, the enemy attacked the base and the tunnel network relentlessly by pumping water into the tunnels, using German shepherd dogs to hunt and identify the tunnels then using bombs to destroy them.

The US forces were involved in 5,000 attacks that aimed to wipe out the Cu Chi resistance base. In addition, thousands of tonnes of various chemical toxins were sprayed on the area.

But, relying on the tunnel network, the Vietnamese liberation soldiers and Cu Chi locals were able to counter all the enemy attacks.

Throughout the two resistance wars against the French and the Americans, the resistance army and the people of Cu Chi achieved outstanding victories.

They engaged in 4,269 big and small fights, eliminated 22,582 enemy troops, destroyed and took over 5,168 military vehicles (mostly tanks and armoured vehicles), shot down and destroyed 256 airplanes (mainly helicopters), sank and burned 22 warships and boats, and captured 8,581 guns of all types. They also destroyed 270 enemy stations in Cu Chi District.

Tunnel structure

The Cu Chi tunnel relic site includes the Ben Duoc Tunnel (Sai Gon-Gia Dinh military base, Zone A), Sai Gon-Gia Dinh base (Zone B), and the Ben Dinh Tunnel (Cu Chi District base).

The tunnel system runs in a zig-zag shape underground, and the main route branches out in multiple directions that connect in some areas, depending on the terrain.

Many exits open to the Sai Gon River so that when emergencies occurred people could take river route to Ben Cat resistance base in Binh Duong province.

The tunnel system is bulletproof and can withstand the weight of tanks and armoured vehicles.

Some tunnels have structures that include two to three floors. Stairs between floors have lids that go to secret vaults.

Inside the tunnels are areas that could prevent toxic chemicals sprays or the enemy’s break-ins. There are pathways so narrow that people have to turn sideways to enter.

The exits were well camouflaged to avoid enemy detection. Some of them were also designed as flexible combat and sniping spots to counter enemy attacks.

Around the tunnel entrances, booby traps were placed to prevent enemy entry.

Throughout the war, the tunnels in Cu Chi proved to be a source of frustration for the US and Sai Gon troops. The Vietnamese liberation soldiers were so well entrenched in the area by 1965 that they were in the unique position of being able to control where and when battles would take place.

By helping to covertly move supplies and house troops, the tunnels of Cu Chi allowed Vietnamese fighters to survive and increase the US and Sai Gon military casualties until the US withdrawal from the South in 1973, and their final defeat in 1975.

The Cu Chi Tunnels reflect the Vietnamese military arts and the revolutionary heroism and courageous mindset of the people.

The tunnel architecture, with its outstanding innovations, played a part in the anti-American war.

Today, the site educates people about the Vietnamese revolutionary tradition and patriotism and shows appreciation for the war heroes, war martyrs and previous generations who fought and died in the Sai Gon-Cho Lon-Gia Dinh area in two resistance wars.

These values were cited when the Government officially named the site a national historic relic on December 23, 2015.

Seeking UNESCO’s recognition

Recently, the city’s authorities sent a proposal to the Ministry of National Defence to seek the UN culture agency UNESCO’s recognition for the Cu Chi Tunnels as a World Heritage Site.

Vietnam is home to eight UNESCO World Heritage sites, including Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, My Son Sanctuary, Hoi An ancient city, the Complex of Hue Monuments, and the Citadel of the Ho dynasty in the central region.

The other sites are Ha Long Bay, the Trang An Landscape Complex, and Thang Long Imperial Citadel, which are located in the north.

If the Cu Chi Tunnels network is recognised, it will be the south’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In 2015, the historic area was recognised as a special national relic site. For tourism purposes, more than 120km out of over 200km of the tunnels have been preserved.

The tunnels have been a popular tourism landmark for years, attracting thousands of visitors each day. Visitors are able to experience the resilience and unyielding will of the people who lived in the tunnels during wartime.

Dr Phan An, head of the Southern Institute of Social Sciences, said: “The Cu Chi Tunnels’ architecture is one of a kind. UNESCO World Heritage Site acknowledgement would not just introduce global friends to it, but would also be a chance for Vietnamese nationwide to appreciate the relic more.

“The site has not yet received the acknowledgement it deserves. Many HCM City residents have never visited the site despite its historical importance. Publicity is still limited, leading to inadequate attention for preservation of the relic site. Only a small part is preserved for visits and tourism.

“It runs a high risk of destruction from natural and human impact. So, if UNESCO acknowledges it as a World Heritage Site, local authorities and residents will be more responsible and collectively care for and preserve the entirety of the tunnels. At the same time, it would heighten public awareness about heritage sites like this.”