 Hanoi art exhibition showcases lotus flowers’ pure beauty
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A: First on our show today, we’d like to welcome Debashis Gope of India who first listened to VOV on April 13 and told us that he intends to listen to VOV regularly.
B: Thank you, Gope, for tuning in to VOV. Our program is available on shortwave and also on the internet at vovworld.vn or VOV Media app. We hope to receive feedback from you regularly.
A: This week we received a letter from Simon Kulich of Slovakia, who reported listening to our broadcast from 2130 to 2200 UTC on March 2, 2023 on the frequency of 9730 khz.
B: Kulich wrote: “I like your broadcasting, especially your English and Russian language programs. The most beautiful was the music in the program but information was also interesting. I hope that I wrote information about the programs correctly and that my reception report will be useful to you. I wish you all the best and I look forward to your next broadcast.”
A: Thanks a lot for your report which is very useful to us. We hope to continue to receive feedback from you.
B: This week Indian listeners told us about the Bengali New Year which is celebrated on April 15.
A: Rabi Sankar Bosu and Shivendu Paul told us that the event is celebrated to uphold the rich cultural values and rituals of the Bengali speaking communities of the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Jharkhand and Assam.
 HCM City hosts celebrations of traditional New Year festivals of Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar (Photo: VNA) |
B: Thank you, Bosu, for telling us about this beautiful festival of the Bengalis. It’s very interesting to learn about the world’s cultural diversity. The Bengali New Year festival reminds us the traditional New Year festivals of Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar - Bunpimay, Songkran, Chol Chhnam Thmay, and Thingyang - which are also celebrated in April.
A: The New Year festival of the four Southeast Asian countries is also held in Vietnam, demonstrating friendship between the peoples of ASEAN and promoting mutual understanding between Vietnam and its neighbors.
B: Last week, VOVWorld received more than 400 emails, letters, and phone calls from listeners in 36 countries and territories.
A: Many listeners expressed their interest in our coverage of activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and other countries this year.
B: Many said they loved the music programs on the Voice of Vietnam and stories about Vietnamese traditional crafts. Heng Vuthy of Cambodia asked about coal carving in Vietnam.
 A sculptor carves a sculpture of horse (Photo: Mai Linh) |
A: Coal sculpture is unique to Quang Ninh province, which has been called “Vietnam’s coal mine”.
B: Quang Ninh’s coal sculpture dates back to the 19th century under French colonial rule. In the beginning, coalminers carved coal just for fun and spread the craft from one mine to another. In the 1990s, coal sculpture flourished and workshops were set up. Later the craft began to fade and now only a few craftsmen still practice the craft.
A: Sculpturing coal requires accuracy and meticulousness. The most crucial part of the craft is choosing the right coal. Professional coal sculptors use coal produced by specific mines in the province because the product is strong and shiny. According to the craftsmen, the best coal for sculptures comes from the Cọc Sáu and Đèo Nai mines.
 (Photo: Mai Linh) |
B: After sourcing the suitable material, the following steps include cutting, carving and polishing.
A: Every process must be performed manually, not by machine, because the coal is easy to break. A sculpture can take up to 50 days to complete.
B: Most of the coal sculptures made in Quang Ninh are sold to tourists as souvenirs or to companies to give as gifts.
A: Johnny Ramirez Lopez of Peru shared his love for Vietnamese lotus flowers after reading a story about a lotus exhibition. He wrote: “What a beautiful flower Asia has given us. My soul is touched when I see beautiful creations inspired by the sublime gift nature has bestowed on Vietnam.
 Vietnamese lotus flower plays an important role in the Vietnamese spirit and culture |
B: Lopez recalled his search for materials to participate in VOV’s “What do you know about Vietnam?” contest in 2020. “I saw photographs of the lotus flower for the first time, floating in lakes near the capital Hanoi. I immediately compared it with our Victoria Regia that floats in some rivers of our Amazonian plain or with the same Pink Flower of the Peruvian Jungle, which I had the opportunity to photograph in the Quistococha Ecological Tourist Recreational Park in the Loreto region. Thank you VOV for sharing such beautiful images of the Buddhist Lotus Flower Exhibition 2023. I would like to ask you to share some stories about the lotus flower.”
A: Lotus flowers have an important place in the Vietnamese spirit and culture. Vietnamese people consider the lotus a symbol of beauty overcoming darkness. Lotus symbolizes purity, serenity, commitment, and optimism because it grows in muddy water and rises above the surface to bloom with exquisite beauty.
B: Every traditional village in Vietnam has a bamboo hedge, a banyan tree, and a lotus pond. In Vietnam, pink lotus blooms symbolize romantic love. Lotus flowers can be many different colors, and each carries its own meaning. White represents purity, pink, a devotion to Buddha. Blue, wisdom, logic, and enlightenment. Purple, spirituality. And green is the color of rebirth.
 At an exhibition featuring lotus flower's significance in Vietnamese people's life |
A: A lotus flower is beautiful to look at, and has a wonderful fragrance, but it also has other uses. Its young stems are used in salads, the stamens can be dried and made into herbal tea and lotus seeds are eaten raw, dried or boiled.
B: The lotus has appeared in Buddhist art. It often decorated the base of pagoda columns and it was embossed on the base of the Buddha statue in Phat Tich pagoda, the oldest stone Buddha statue in Vietnam.
A: The legend of the One Pillar Pagoda (Chua Mot Cot) is that on a spring night in the year 1049, King Ly Thai Tong dreamed of the Bodhisattva who took him to a lotus pedestal. The King ordered a pagoda to be built on a pillar in the middle of a lotus pond with a lotus pedestal to hold the Bodhisattva, similar to the one he saw in his dream. From a distance it looks like a giant lotus flower rising out of the pond with the pillar as its stem.
 One pillar pagoda in Hanoi |
B: Now, listeners who listen to VOV on shortwave can visit our website at vovworld.vn or follow us on our Facebook fanpage VOV5 English Service.
B: We welcome your feedback at: English Service, VOVWorld, the Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.vn.
A: Check out our VOV Media App, available on both the IOS and Android platform, to hear our broadcasts. We look forward to your comments on the mobile version. Once again, thank you all for listening. Goodbye!