Hello and welcome to VOV’s Letter Box, our weekly feature dedicated to listeners throughout the world. We are Mai Phuong and Ngoc Huyen.
A: First on our show today, we’d like to say hello to Andrew Sirianni of Canada. Andrew listened to our program on July 18 from 01:00 to 01:28 UTC on 12005 kHz using a Sony ICF 2010 receiver with a 7-m wire antenna.
B: Andrew wrote: “I enjoy listening to news, entertainment, and cultural programs around the world on shortwave radio and am grateful that your station still broadcasts to North America on shortwave. Your signal was strong and I rated it as S of 5 and O of 4. I will continue to listen to your broadcasts in the future”.
A: Thank you, Andrew for tuning in to our programs. We’ll send you our QSL cards to confirm your report. Also from Canada, Edward Kusalik reported listening to our broadcasts on August 3rd from 3:30 to 3:58 UTC on a frequency of 6175 khz.
Paper flowers made in Thanh Tien village, Hue |
B: Edward wrote: “I had the pleasure of listening to your shortwave broadcast. It was an enjoyment to hear these informative broadcasts and hopefully my report will be able to indicate how these and other transmissions are received elsewhere in their target areas”.
A: Thank you Edward. The report you sent us is very useful to us for checking our transmission quality. We’ll send you our QSL card to verify your report.
B: A regular listener from India, SB Sharma, wrote she was interested in a story about paper flower craftsmanship in Thanh Tien village on the outskirts of Hue city.
A: The village of Thanh Tien has been famous for its paper flowers for over 300 years. Like the people of Hue, Thanh Tien paper flowers have a simple, delicate beauty.
Paper flowers made in Thanh Tien village, Hue
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B: Thanh Tien Village is located near the peaceful and romantic Huong River in Phu Mau Commune, Phu Vang District, Thua Thien-Hue Province. The village is named in the list of villages producing traditional Vietnamese handcrafts during the 16th -19th century in the Tran Family’s annals and “Essays on the United Great Vietnam”, a Vietnamese geography book compiled in the 19th century reign of King Tu Duc during the Nguyen Dynasty.
A: Thanh Tien paper flowers are used to decorate altars. The people of Hue pay much attention to the rite of worshiping their ancestors and flowers are one of the four most important items used in this rite along with incense, lamps and bunches of bananas. The weather in Hue is rather harsh with alternating rainfall and hot sunshine making it difficult to grow flowers so the locals began using paper flowers in place of fresh flowers. Now it has become their hobby.
B: There was a time when the paper flower craft was on the decline, but through a great effort by the villagers, the craft has been restored and is developing again. During Hue Festival 2014, Thanh Tien villagers organized their local festival, called “Colours of Thanh Tien” which gave Hue a special beauty. Against the green grass of the fields and moss-covered ancient communal houses, pagodas and Ruong houses, the display of Thanh Tien paper flowers were striking.
A: In later shows, we’ll talk in detail ways to make paper flowers. So, keep joining our broadcast.
B: Celeste Schulman sent us an email this week reporting on a VOV broadcast on August 4. She wrote: “The signal was generally clear with some static and occasional fading. I enjoyed hearing native music directly from Vietnam and hope to hear your station again in the future”.
A: In an email to VOV this week, Jayanta Chakrabarty reported listening to a VOV program on August 8 on 7220 khz at 1600 UTC on a Grundig YB 80 radio with SINPO of 45344. Jayanta posed a question about the present status of Vietnam’s postal system given the popularity of electronic mail.
B: According to experts, Vietnam’s domestic postal service has great potential to grow despite the spread of electronic mail. With an average growth rate of 10-25 per cent per year, the sector has attracted the attention of many private enterprises that provide express mail services, particularly in large cities such as Ha Noi and HCM City. As Viet Nam is now integrating into the world economy, its postal market will have new opportunities to develop.
B: As a member of the World Trade Organisation, Viet Nam opened its domestic postal service market permitting several foreign-invested enterprises including global express mail service providers FedEx, UPS, TNT and DHL to enter the local market. As a result of this competition, local providers have had to improve the quality of their services.
A: The Vietnam Posts and Telecommunication Group is responsible for running of national post office in Vietnam. At regional level, however, the postal system is controlled by Vietnam Post.
B: Each city or province of Vietnam has one central post office and many smaller post offices. Many post offices have facilities for express mail services.
A: EMS is an express mail service provided by VN Post Express. It reaches more than 60 provinces and cities throughout Vietnam and over 6,000 post offices provide this service to help customers receive posted items quickly and conveniently.
B: VN Post Express also provides an international EMS service. VNQuickpost is an international courier service using DHL Express.
A: That’s a short take on Vietnam’s postal system. In the last few minutes of our show today, we’d like to acknowledge letters and emails from Dennis Isbell of the US, Andrey Pape and Nadi Chelyabova of Russia, Ian Cattermole of New Zealand, Screenivasa Raju, Ratan Kumar Paul and Karobi Hazarika of India, Hannu Kiiski of Finland, Mizan Rahman of Bangladesh, and Fumito Hokamura of Japan. We’ll confirm your reports with QSL cards and the gifts you requested.
B: We welcome your feedback at: English section, Overseas Service, Radio Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn. You’re invited to visit us online at www.vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs. Good bye until next time.