Cultural sport

A Pho Vietz restaurant at Utama shopping mall in Malaysia (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Ton Ngoc Hiep, who already opened 10 Vietnamese “pho” (noodle soup) restaurants in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is planning to bring the brand to the UK and the US.

Speaking with the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)’s reporters, he expressed his hope to introduce Vietnamese cuisine to Malaysian and international friends. If the COVID-19 pandemic had not occurred, he would have opened “Pho Vietz” restaurants in the UK and the US last year.

Although Malaysia boasts a diverse cuisine, the chef has gained a foothold in the country’s food market as there are 10 “Pho Vietz” restaurants with 120 employees in Kuala Lumpur, only six years after its establishment.

Ton Ngoc Hiep (third from left) in front of his restaurant (Photo: VNA)

Hiep plans to open five more restaurants this year, along with managing another in Hong Kong and promoting the brand in Manchester and New York.

When working at a five-star hotel in Ho Chi Minh City in the 1990s, he was tasked with introducing Vietnamese cuisine to Switzerland diners during a three-month programme.

That working trip kindled his pride when foreigners highly appreciated Vietnamese cuisine , he recalled.

During a trip to Malaysia, he had a chance to meet with foreign chefs who wished to introduce Vietnamese dishes in their menus.

Hiep emphasised that he spares no efforts in gathering fresh materials, in a bid to retain the “soul” of the iconic Vietnamese dish as much as possible.

To run 10 restaurants at the same time while ensuring food quality at each of them, the chef set up a centre for food processing and manufacturing./.

Focusing on pupils and students, the contest aims to inspire the passion for reading among youth, thereby, fostering the reading culture in the community.

Hanoi departments of Culture and Sport and Education in collaboration with Hoan Kiem District People’s Committee have launched the city’s Reading Culture Ambassador contest 2021 at Trung Vung Secondary School in the city.

The launching ceremony of Hanoi’s Reading Culture Ambassador contest. Photo: Ha Noi Moi

Speaking at the launching ceremony held in Hoan Kiem district on April 19, Director of Hanoi Library Tran Van Ha, Member of the Organizing Committee emphasized that the 2021 Hanoi Reading Culture Ambassador Contest aims to inspire the interest and passion of reading among the city’s young generation, thereby fostering the reading culture in schools and within the community.

The contest is expected to become a practical cultural activity, encouraging people to continue following President Ho Chi Minh thought, morality and style as well as celebrating the election of deputies to the 13th National Assembly and People’s Councils at all levels for the term 2021-2026 and heading towards SEA Games 31 and ASEAN Para Games 11, which are scheduled to take place in November this year.

Students can participate in the contest by either sharing a book they loved, or a book that changed their perception and life, composing a work (story or a poem) to encourage people to read (stories with illustrations are highly recommended) or rewriting a story/book that they have read (those works with illustrations or bilingually are appreciated). At the same time, students have to answer the question: “If being selected as a reading culture ambassador, what will you do to encourage others to read more?”

A poster of the Reading Culture Ambassador contest.

Contestants may submit their entries directly to the schools where they are studying. The schools will then, on behalf of students send all entries to the contest organizing board – the Hanoi Library (No 47 Ba Trieu street, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi).

The honoring ceremony for Hanoi Reading Culture Ambassador Contest 2021 will be held in July. The winning entries will participate in the Grand Final round of the National Reading Culture Contest 2021.

In recent years, under the government’s project of “Fostering reading culture in the community, with an orientation to 2030”, a wide range of activities for spreading and developing the reading culture have been held in nationwide.

The Reading Culture Ambassador Contest has become an annual cultural activity, attracting wide appreciation and interest from the community and gaining positive outcomes.

It not only honors the reading culture and contributes to the creation of a “learning society”, but also serves as an opportunity for people to improve their understanding of the rich national culture.

The painting ” Portrait de Mademoiselle Phuong ” (Photo: www.sggp.org.vn)

Hanoi (VNA) – An oil painting on canvas entitled Portrait de Mademoiselle Phuong (Portrait of Mademoiselle Phuong) by late painter Mai Trung Thu has sold at an auction for the highest price paid for Vietnamese art .

Offered in the auction Beyond Legends: Modern Art Evening Sale of Sotheby’s Hong Kong, the painting was sold for a record price of 3.1 million USD on April 18.

With a guide price of 500,000 USD, the price of the painting eventually reached 2.573 million USD. After taxes and fees were added, the price totalled 3.1 million USD.

This is more than double the previous highest valued auction sale which the painting Khoa Than (Nude) by Le Pho, which sold for 1.4 million USD.

Portrait of Mademoiselle Phuong was painted by Mai Trung Thu (1906-1980) in 1930, when he was an art teacher at Lycée Français de Hue (a French High School in Hue).

Mai Trung Thu is pictured in 1964 (Photo: sothebys.com)

As one of the first artists who graduated from the first course of the Fine Arts College of Indochina, or Ecole des Beaux-Art de l’Indochine, in Hanoi he was classified as one of the four most renowned Vietnamese artists based in France, together with Le Pho, Vu Cao Dam and Le Luu.

His reputation was closely associated with silk paintings on the subjects of women, children and everyday life, showcasing typical Asian culture in the early 20th century. This painting, beautifully rendered in the oil medium, is exceptionally rare as the artist devoted himself to painting on silk for most of his career.

According to Sotheby’s description, “a monumental, yet remarkably tender and intimate, Mai Trung Thu’s Portrait of Mademoiselle Phuong stands as the most significant and largest painting by the artist to be offered at auction… Poignantly, the beguiling portrait also captures Mai Thu’s deep admiration of its sitter, a noble lady rumoured to be the artist’s love interest”.

The painting was first exhibited at the Fine Arts College of Indochina in 1930, before travelling to Paris to attend the prestigious 1931 Paris Colonial Exhibition, announcing the painter’s entrance into the European art world.

“Mai Thu’s Portrait de Mademoiselle Phuong is one of the most significant and recognisable masterpieces in Vietnamese art history, often likened to Le Pho’s L’age heaureux (The Happy Age). Capturing the lyrical and romantic qualities typical of the early oil paintings of the École’s students, both works were well-received at the 1931 Exposition,” wrote Sotheby’s on its website.

Portrait of Mademoiselle Phuong was also featured in the iconic film The Scent of the Green Papaya, a Vietnamese-language film directed by Tran Anh Hung in France in 1993./.