Cathy nguyen age

At 6 a.m. Friday, the 15th day of the first lunar month, Ly A Ton, 62, woke early to prepare offerings, including fresh flowers, fruit, incense, boiled chicken and fried cakes ( jian dui ) in front of his house on Tran Hung Dao Street in District 5.

Instead of flocking to a Chinese-built pagoda with his offerings and burning incense to the gods as in previous years, Ton stayed home and set up a table to worship the deities for fear of gathering in crowds amid the new Covid-19 outbreak that began in the country in late January.

He then hung red pieces of paper bearing Chinese characters on his walls to pray for peace and good fortune.

“This is the most important ritual during Tet Nguyen Tieu ,” he said, referring to the Lantern Festival, known as the biggest and most important festival of the year for ethnic Chinese, marking the final day of the traditional Lunar New Year ( Tet ) celebration.

It is observed on the 15th day of the first lunar month, the first Full Moon day of the Lunar New Year.

” Tet Nguyen Tieu to us is even more important than Lunar New Year’s Eve and Chinese like us always light incense to deities at pagodas and temples to pray for the removal of bad luck and a year of peace and happiness,” Ton noted.

“But the Covid-19 outbreak forced us to celebrate on a smaller scale this year. I am old and scared of contracting the virus or spreading it to my family members. Therefore, I limit going out and gathering in crowds.”

He also had to cancel a reunion party with his relatives and could not visit his friends during the festival, which is an occasion for reunited families to eat dumplings and floating rice cakes made of glutinous rice flour wrapped around a sweet filling.

Inside the 250-year-old Lady Thien Hau Temple, which is dedicated to worship the Goddess of the Sea, the devout convey their prayers by lighting spiral incense sticks that can burn for weeks. Photo by VnExpress/Phong Vinh.

Ton is one of thousands of ethnic Chinese in Saigon who have been forced to scrap their plans during their biggest traditional spring festival, normally accompanied with dragon dances, street parades, music performances and large crowds.

The city suspended all non-essential services, shutting down bars, karaoke parlors, cinemas and discotheques, and banned religious events since Feb. 9 after recording a series of community transmissions linked to a cluster at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

Though city authorities allowed the organization of religious events from March 1, gatherings of more than 50 people at a time remain prohibited.

This was the second consecutive year the festival has been suspended due to the pandemic. The Chinatown area on Friday saw no dragon dances and street parades to avoid large crowds.

Without dragon dances, the festival was no longer as busy nor as meaningful as before, A Tieu, a 55-year-old merchant at Soai Kinh Lam Market, said while preparing to up his shutters for a new business day.

Dragon dance is performed by famous troupes in the Chinatown during Tet Nguyen Tieu , 2018. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Nguyen.

The Chinese community strongly believes these dances would dispel evil and bring luck and success. For this, every family invites a lion dance troupe to visit their homes and business establishments on the first days of the New Year, giving them an envelope of lucky money.

Ly Sy Cuong, a caretaker at Nghia An Assembly Hall where Quan Cong (Guan Yu), an ancient Chinese general, is worshiped for his loyalty, sincerity and integrity, said the number of pilgrims on Friday fell sharply as dragon dances and hat tuong , Vietnamese-Chinese opera, were canceled.

Ethnic Chinese have a long tradition to queue up and crawl under the Chinese general horse called Red Hare once or thrice hoping for a smooth start to the new year.

Vietnam has recorded 837 Covid-19 community transmissions in 13 localities, including Hanoi and HCMC, since Jan. 28 after a 55-day clean streak. Many major spring festivals have been suspended due to travel restrictions, lockdowns and quarantine requirements.

Ethnic Chinese, locally referred to as Hoa people, arrived in the south of Vietnam over 300 years ago, with many cultural traditions and long-standing customs kept alive until now.

For Ton, his best wish during Tet Nguyen Tieu is that all people would be safe amid the pandemic and Chinese Vietnamese businesses would fare better this year.

Middle blocker Pham Thi Kim Hue seen in her last national tournament in 2016 when her Vietinbank club won the championship title. — Photo laodong.vn

She has just been hired as head coach of Vietinbank, one of the nation’s strongest clubs, ahead of the new season. In her new role, national team legend Hue has the chance to write a new chapter in her storied career.

Brilliant athletic career

The 14-year-old girl knew nothing about volleyball when she was at the Military Signal Corps Command’s training course in 1996.

Hue was invited to try out for the club after she impressed scouts with her height of about 1.7m. She immediately found that volleyball suited her better than the track-and-field events she had been training for.

Her switch of sport marked a turning point in her life.

Two years after that, Hue first played as a professional player. Three years later, she became the youngest ever skipper of the club at the age of 19. She also captained Vietinbank when she moved there in 2012.

In 2002, the core player of the national team was given the captain’s armband, making her the youngest national captain in history when she was nearly 20.

The 1.81m player was considered the best middle blocker who could read matches and made powerful spikes from the backline in Southeast Asia in her peak of 2002-06. With an average of 20 points per match, she was called a point machine.

At the club level, Hue is no doubt the country’s most successful player. She has a record of 17 years in a row competing at the national championship. She has won all the best individual titles together with nine national trophies along with gold medals from national cups.

With the national team, Hue pocketed six silvers and one bronze at the Southeast Asian Games.

She also drew fans to the court to cheer on the team and to watch the transcendent talent Hue.

“Hue was a talented player. She was hard-working, had good technique and played smartly,” said coach Le Van Dung of Vietinbank.

“She always played like a warrior, the attitude that young players should follow,” he added.

Meanwhile, her teammates appreciated her a lot.

“She is our idol. She is old but she is strong in both physique and mind. Her presence on the course makes us feel more comfortable and determined to win. We all want to be like her. She is the symbol of success,” said spiker Dinh Thi Thuy.

Challenges ahead

Pham Thi Kim Hue will take responsibility for coaching Vietinbank to victory in 2021. — Photo bongchuyen.vn

Hue retired from the national team in 2013 to focus on her club. She also asked to work as a coach at Vietinbank after helping the team win the national title in 2016. But due to a lack of playing personnel, she only moved into coaching in 2018.

After two years working as an assistant coach, Hue took the head coach role after her predecessor quit at the end of 2020.

Hue’s national U23 championship trophy and her brilliant playing career gave the Vietinbank bosses faith she would be a success.

However, it will be a tough task for Hue, taking over a club in turmoil that finished fourth last year.

Over the last months, many players including talented middle blocker Luu Thi Hue and spiker Vi Thi Nhu Quynh have moved on for various reasons.

“I was a little worried at first when I was appointed. I also felt a heavy pressure in the new position,” said Hue.

“I will have to work out plans for this current situation of Vietinbank. I will have to hire players from other teams to fill the holes in my squad. At the same time, I will have to train hard for my young players.

“It will be a difficult task but I have to step by step solve the problem. I hope that it will be okay gradually,” she said.

Hue has had to call back former player Doan Thi Xuan who has been retired for years. She also has to rely on veteran players such as setter Ha Thi Hoa and spiker Nguyen Thi Xuan.

The head coach will also come out of retirement and play if required this season.

“Hue was an incredible player, a mirror for anyone in the team. Despite her age, Hue’s volleys are always difficult for anyone. Her physique and experience were the treasure of our team, and none can replace her currently,” coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet talked about his former player and assistant.

“When she joined my coaching board, she was a dedicated trainer who received players’ respect and love,” he said and hoped that his successor would have success as a head coach.

“Volleyball has brought me sadness and pride. I have never regretted my career,” said Hue who broke up with her husband when she dedicated herself to the sport.

“But I have two things that make me upset. The first one was a gold medal with Vietnam at the SEA Games. We lost to Thailand in the final.

“The second one is that I could not compete abroad although I have received a number of offers. It was because of complicated regulations in Vietnam.

“I hope under my reign my players could do those tasks for me. They will prove that Vietnam also has international talented players,” said Hue, who has also taken up another new challenge by playing golf.

“It is not easy. I need time for it but I am thinking seriously about playing golf as a pro. Like other sports, in golf, practice makes perfect.”  VNS

But every day, even in the cold of the northern winter, he stands by the front door of his house to gaze at the forest with pride and happiness.

The trees were all planted by him and his family over 50 years, and his life has been dedicated to growing and protecting them.

Cao belongs to the Dao ethnic group, and lives in Tan Dan Commune in Ha Long Town of Quang Ninh Province, home to the world-famous bay.

Trieu Tai Cao at his home in Ha Long in Quang Ninh Province. Photo by VnExpress/Minh Cuong.

The Dao used to be nomadic, felling forests to meet their temporary land needs for cattle and crops before moving on.

It was not until 1968 that they started to settle. By then Cao had started thinking about growing trees. He began to look around for seedlings of valuable timber trees such as ironwood, shorea and apitong.

Between 1970 and 1980 he and his family planted those and other trees on 32 hectares (80 acres).

They faced a lot of challenges in protecting the forest initially because there were no regulations for transferring forest lands to local residents, meaning his family had no authority to manage the forest.

In 1992 the government announced a policy of handing over forests for people to maintain and exploit sustainably.

“I love our family’s forest,” Cao says.

“Thanks to that policy, I could continue growing timber while many people around us opted for growing wattle, also known as acacia.”

Growing acacia takes less time and effort and starts providing an income sooner than timber.

Now the forest has around 600 ironwood trees aged 40-70 years besides hundreds of other timber trees.

Trieu Tien Loc in his family’s forest in Ha Long in Quang Ninh Province. Photo by VnExpress/Minh Cuong.

“I am close to death now and have fulfilled my wish to leave the future generations a forest with such valuable trees.

“Forests are humans’ lungs and should not be treated as public property. So I also wish my children and grandchildren will continue to grow trees and protect this forest.”

Trieu Tien Loc, 35, the youngest of his five sons, says: “Many traders have come to us and asked to buy the ironwood, but my family has been insistently saying no. My father has spent his entire life growing and protecting the forest, and we will continue that.”

“My family’s forest is a watershed forest, and there are large trees that can hold the soil and water, which protects us from landslides.”

Even without chopping down or selling any of the large trees, Cao’s family enjoys an income from the forest by growing other types of plants in it such as bamboo, herbs and medicinal plants.

Pham Van Sau, Party chief of Tan Dan, says Cao’s family is the only one in the commune to successfully grow timber and protect the trees for long.

“Many provincial officials have visited Cao’s forest. Two years ago we sought permission to turn the forest into an eco-tourism area, but have yet to get it.”

Quang Ninh has more than 337,000 hectares of forests, including 122,700 ha of natural forests. Its forest cover of 54.7 percent is among the highest of any province in the country.

Around 700,000 ha of land are still available in the country for growing forests, Vuong Van Quynh, former head of the Institute for Forest Ecology and Environment at the Vietnam National University of Forestry, had told VnExpress last year.

Vietnam has a target of growing around 200,000 ha of forests each year.

“We will follow FIFA’s verdict in this case,” Pham Nguyen Hong, director of Thanh Hoa Province Culture, Sport and Tourism Department and chairman of Thanh Hoa Football Federation, said.

After being sacked by Thanh Hoa for underwhelming results at the start of V. League 2020, Lopez brought the arbitration to FIFA. The 47-year-old coach claimed Thanh Hoa had violated the two-year contract he signed with the club previously by not compensating him following its termination.

After nearly a year, FIFA awarded the case to Lopez and his assistant, forcing Thanh Hoa to pay them $187,000. The club will have to complete the payment within 45 days or be banned from signing any new players, domestically or internationally and in the worst case, demoted.

Thanh Hoa will not bring this case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), since their winning chance is thin. If the club fails to make a case, they would have to pay another $30,000 in court fees. Previously, they filed an appeal against Senegalese player Idrissa Sega Cisse but lost. As a result, Thanh Hoa still had to pay Cisse $58,420 in compensation and $20,000 in court fees.

Thanh Hoa is currently waiting on Lopez to provide them the necessary details in order to complete the transaction.

The club’s new sponsor stated it would not pay for this case since it happened before it came on board. Therefore, the responsibility belongs to Thanh Hoa Football Federation.

Before coaching Thanh Hoa, Lopez had managed many academy squads for Italian clubs like Atalanta and ACF Fiorentina as well as clubs in Eastern Europe and Asia.

Chairing the event, Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong said the Politburo and the PCC’s Secretariat highly value the great contributions that the former officials have made to the Party, people and country during the time they held important positions in central and local agencies.

He highlighted that the country had reaped comprehensive achievements last year. The entire Party, people and army stood united and fulfilled the working programme for the tenure.

After the 13th National Party Congress, the people have demonstrated their trust in the Party’s leadership and the country’s future, despite the impact of the pandemic.

Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong (C) speaks at the meeting. (Photo: NDO)

The Party chief wished that the former Party officials will continue to make contributions to the Party, people and nation, and lend their experience in addressing important issues of the country.

Participants expressed their belief that the 13th Politburo, PCC’s Secretariat and PCC will lead the country to a higher development level in the near future.

They pledged to continue contributing to the Party’s cause and strengthening solidarity in the Party.

Expressing pride in being a Party member, they vowed to set examples and lead the way in implementing the Party’s policies, mechanism and resolutions to build a prosperous country with democratic, equal and civilised society.