HCM CITY — The HCM City-based Vietbooks and Vietnam News Agency's Publishing House have released a collection of Vietnamese records.
The 400-page Viet Nam Records Directory 2009 lists more than 700 records that individuals and organisations set in 14 different fields, including the arts, literature, music, science and the economy during 2004 and 2009.
Fifty per cent of the records were new ones.
The book also features records set by the first Vietnamese emperors, and records that are expected to be set this year in celebration of the 1,000th anniversary of Ha Noi.
The book, which costs VND290,000 (US$15), offers several hundred colour photos and texts offering detailed information about the records.
The publishers released the first-ever Viet Nam Records Directory in May 2008.
Old books on display in Ha Noi
HA NOI — Ancient Vietnamese books will be taken off the bookshelves and displayed for the public in Ha Noi as part of the Net Xuan Tren Nhung Trang Sach Xua (Springtime on Old Pages) exhibition.
The exhibition, organised by the Centre for East West Cultures and Languages and sachxua.com, an internet forum for book collectors, will open on Saturday and run for a week at 11A Tran Quy Kien Street.
The exhibition will display more than 100 valuable books published in Viet Nam and aboard in the 17th century.
To coincide with the exhibition, a seminar on book collecting will be held this Sunday which will discuss the role of collectors in preserving old documents in Viet Nam.
Circus wins global plaudits
HA NOI — Viet Nam recently won a gold medal at the third international circus festival that took place in Albacete, Spain.
Director of the Viet Nam Circus Federation (VCF) Vu Ngoan Hop said that apart from the "Superman's Swing" show that was performed for the first time abroad, eight artists from the VCF also won the Audience Favourite award, based on a vote by 10,000 spectators.
The other gold medal of the annual festival went to the "Strength of Hands" show by Mongolian artists.
The VCF launched a modern mobile circus programme in the central coastal city of Da Nang on March 3.
The federation plans to give performances around the country, including in remote and mountainous areas.
Thousands join traffic safety camp
HA NOI — About 4,000 primary school students will join a big festival of traffic safety in Ha Noi this Saturday and Sunday.
The students, from 15 cities and provinces including Ha Noi, HCM City and Can Tho, will practise road skills and gain knowledge of traffic safety through contests, painting, skits, poetry and music.
This year's get-together includes practical quizzes, aimed to improve the student thinking, especially in traffic.
The festival is jointly organised by Toyota Viet Nam Fund, the Ministry of Education and Training, and the National Traffic Safety Committee. — VNS