News, 26-27/12/00
hyt...@my-deja.com
* Cultural Items Burned in Vietnam
HANOI, Vietnam (LAT, 27/12/00) -- Six tons of books, newspapers and
magazines labeled "poisonous cultural items" have been destroyed in Ho
Chi Minh City, an official said Wednesday.
The items were seized during raids this year by customs agents, police
and cultural inspectors. All contained violent, sexual or superstitious
contents, said Nguyen Thanh Tan, chief inspector ofHo Chi Minh City's
Culture and Information Department. They were ground up to make pulp,
he said.
In addition, city authorities burned 6,000 videotapes, 5,000 cassettes,
51,000 CDs and CD-ROMs and several gambling machines onTuesday, Tan
said.
Most of the items were smuggled into the country, primarily from
neighboring China, he said. Vietnam's government typically maintains
tight control over media and publishing houses.
Tan said the amount of "poisonous" cultural items destroyed every year
would be much larger if it also included those destroyed by district
officials. Each district has its own inspection team.
* Vietnam reaffirms its sovereignty over Spratleys and Paracels
HANOI, Dec 27 (AFP) - Vietnam on Wednesday reaffirmed its sovereignty
over the Spratly and Paracel islands after China declared itself
Tuesday the undisputed master of islands claimed by two countries.
"Vietnam has full historic evidence and a legal basis to claim its
irrefutable sovereignty over the two archipelagos of Paracels and
Spratlys," Vietnamese foreign ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said
in a statement.
"Vietnam's stance on the solution to the disputes over the islands is
very clear and affirmed repeatedly," she added.
On Monday, the first day of a five-day visit to China by Vietnamese
President Tran Duc Luong, the two countries signed a series of
agreements while steering clear of the issue of the disputed Spratley
and Paracel islands in the South China Sea.
The Chinese and Vietnamese foreign ministers signed a joint statement
to demarcate their disputed Gulf of Tonkin sea border after years of
bitter argument, and reached an agreement on fishery cooperation in the
gulf.
But the Spratley and Paracel islands, potentially the most divisive
issues between the two countries, were not on the agenda, the Chinese
foreign ministry said.
"China's position on the South China Sea is very clear, that China has
indisputable sovereignty over the Spratley Islands and surrounding
waters," added Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue Tuesday
at the ministry's regular press briefing.
Not only China and Vietnam, but also Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and the
Philippines lay claim to the Spratleys. China seized the Paracels from
Vietnam and now considers them part of the nearby island province of
Hainan.
The Spratlys, which guard vital South China Sea shipping lanes and are
believed to sit on vast mineral resources, have been considered a
potential flashpoint in the region.
Vietnam and China have clashed twice over the Spratly Islands, in 1988
and 1992 and on both occasions the Chinese emerged victorious. Although
it is believed the archipelago sits on top of vast reserves of oil and
gas, their commercial potential has never been confirmed.
* Taiwan cargo ship sinking after fire
HANOI, Dec 27 (AFP) - A Taiwanese cargo ship which caught fire off the
southern Vietnamese city of Vung Tau was sinking after the blaze spread
to its engine room, rescue officials said Wednesday.
The 6,788-tonne cargo ship "Melati" began to tilt and sink despite
overnight efforts to save it, Vietnamese rescue officials told AFP.
All 18 crew members -- 16 Indonesians and two Chinese --were evacuated
to safety as the flames threatened to sweep through the cargo ship on
Monday morning, rescue officials said.
Vietnam's "Big Bear" oil rig service ship and two foreign
ships "Seabulk" and "Saphire" rescued the sailors after they sent a
distress signal at 11:25 am on Monday.
The ship caught fire as it was carrying thousands of tonnes of powder
for manufacturing paper from Indonesia to China.
"It was a difficult operation, but all the sailors were transfered to
the city and are waiting to return home" said rescue officials.
There was no word on how the fire started.
* Vietnam estimates higher growth, deficit for 2000
In Dec 26 HANOI story headlined "Vietnam estimates higher growth,
deficit for 2000" please read in fourth para...444.139 trillion ($30.6
billion)...instead of 444,139 trillion dong ($30.6 billion). (corrects
dong figure)
A corrected story follows.
By David Brunnstrom
HANOI, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Vietnam on Tuesday reported a solid economic
pickup in 2000, estimating gross domestic product growth of 6.75
percent, but its trade deficit surged to an estimated $892 million due
to high prices for oil product imports.
The GDP growth figure for 2000 compares with an official estimate of
4.8 percent growth for 1999, Vietnam's lowest rate for a decade, and
with a previous forecast of 6.7 percent.
The latest figure is more optimistic than those given by the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank, which have forecast 5.5
percent and 5.8 percent GDP growth for 2000 respectively.
The government's General Statistics Office (GSO) said GDP for the year
based on current prices was 444.139 trillion dong ($30.6 billion).
The GSO said the economy had been growing in a stable fashion thanks to
a greater contribution from the industry and construction sector, which
accounted for 35.42 percent of GDP this year from 34.35 percent in
1999. It said industrial output for the year grew 15.7 percent to $13.5
billion.
The report said the service and agriculture sectors made a marginally
lower contribution -- 41.42 and 23.16 percent of GDP respectively,
compared with 41.88 and 23.76 percent last year.
The GSO estimated exports for 2000 grew 24.0 percent to $14.308
billion, while imports rose 30.8 percent to $15.2 billion, bringing the
estimated trade deficit for the whole year to $892 million, compared
with $113 million last year.
OIL PRICES RUB BOTH WAYS
Economists say export performance since mid-year has been helped by
higher prices for its crude oil exports. But import costs have been
boosted by high prices of oil products it needs to obtain from
overseas, given the lack of a major refinery.
The GSO said Vietnam exported 15.5 million tonnes (113.6 million
barrels) of crude in this year, earning $3.6 billion. Crude exports
were up 4.2 percent in volume and 71.2 percent in value from last year.
The GSO also reported a continued increase in imports of motorcycles, a
sign of steady economic recovery after the growth slowdown seen during
the Asian crisis.
Vietnam's trade outlook got a boost in July with the signing of a
bilateral trade agreement with the United States expected to be
ratified next year. Business analysts say the pact will provide a
particular boost for Vietnam's exports of textiles, footware and
aquatic products.
On Monday, the GSO said Vietnam's consumer price index declined 0.6
percent in 2000, mainly due to lower prices for rice, which accounts
for about 60 percent of the basket used to calculate the index.
Earlier this month, the IMF estimated core inflation -- that of non-
food and staple items -- was running at two percent, due to excess
capacity and rapid export growth.
On Tuesday, the GSO also issued data showing Vietnam expects to produce
a record 32.55 million tonnes of unhusked rice this year, up 3.7
percent on last year, despite disruption caused by the worst floods for
decades in its Mekong Delta rice bowl.
However, it said exports of husked rice would show a fall of 22.4
percent due to thinner world and regional demand.
The GSO estimated a sharp increase in exports of another key commodity,
coffee, to 694,000 tonnes this calendar year, up 44 percent from last
year. But the exports generated a turnover of $485 million, a drop of
17.1 percent from last year as world prices have fallen due to excess
supply.
Earlier this month, the National Assembly set a target of 7.5 percent
growth next year.
In a major report last month, the World Bank called Hanoi's long range
target of a doubling of GDP and the creation of 15 million new jobs by
2010 "ambitious but attainable, provided it adopted bold and wide-
ranging economic reforms.
* Thai customs uncover 4,000 snakes bound for Vietnam
Thai customs officers have confiscated about 4,000 snakes, including
many endangered species, that were being smuggled out of Bangkok's
international airport.
The AFP news agency reports acting on a tip-off, officials at the
airport searched 176 boxes bound for Vietnam and found cobras and other
species of snakes inside.
Many of the confiscated snakes were protected in Thailand under the
country's endangered species law, which prohibits trafficking in
threatened animals.
The company listed on the 176 boxes, Asian Standard Inter Trade, said
on transport documents that the boxes contained turtles, which are not
prohibited.
Over the past year, Thai customs and police have seized more than
10,000 smuggled snakes on their way out of the country.
* Vietnam's Trade Imbalance and Economy Keep Growing
SINGAPORE (NYT, 26/12/00) - Higher oil prices have not diminished the
allure of Vietnam's own symbol of upward mobility, the motorbike, as
the country's slowly opening economy and the prospect of freer trade
with the United States bolster consumer demand.
Vietnam imported 1.58 million motorbikes this year, more than double
the number imported last year, according to figures released today by
the country's General Statistics Office. The bikes, typically with
engines of 100 horsepower or less, contributed to an overall $892
million trade deficit for the year.
Despite the trade deficit, weak foreign investment, and tottering state-
owned industries, Vietnam's government predicted today that the
economy has grown 6.75 percent this year, beating forecasts by both the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Oil was a larger factor in driving up Vietnam's trade imbalance. While
Vietnam exports crude oil, it lacks the refining capacity to turn its
oil into useful things like gasoline for the motorbikes that already
clog its city streets. So while higher oil prices have helped bolster
Vietnam's oil revenues 70 percent, to $3.6 billion this year, the bill
for imported fuel and other petroleum products rose 90 percent to more
than $2 billion.
The hope is that exports will get a hand from a new trade agreement
with the United States signed earlier this year. Trade experts say the
accord, which puts Vietnam on equal footing with America's other
trading partners, is likely to be ratified by the United States
Congress by this spring, giving a boost to Vietnamese exports of
textiles, shoes and seafood. Tariffs on Vietnamese goods will fall from
an average of 40 percent to just 3 percent. The World Bank has
estimated that would increase Vietnamese exports to the United States
more than 50 percent.
But exports are not the only source of wealth in Vietnam's economy, as
the boom in motorbike sales attests. There are already an estimated 6.5
million motorbikes in Vietnam, one for every dozen Vietnamese (with
each motorbike often carrying three or even four people
simultaneously). Yet the average motorbike costs several times what
most Vietnamese earn in one year, officially. Bankers and executives
say up to $1 billion in cash and gold is saved under mattresses.
Vietnamese living abroad, moreover, send back what by some estimates
amounts to another $1 billion every year.
* Vietnamese consumers boost Thai-Laotian trade Onward shipments
maintain flow
Bangkok Post, 27/12/00 - Thai exports to Laos are flourishing, despite
growing competition from China, because of re-exports of Thai products
to Vietnam.
The Bank of Thailand's Northeastern office says that Vietnam is
increasingly an important final destination for Thai goods going to
Laos.
Vietnamese like to buy Thai motorcycles, spare parts, electronic
appliances, food and household necessities, according to the office in
Khon Kaen.
Motorcycles are delivered to Vietnam in the form of knocked-down
products to avoid high tariff barriers.
On the surface, Vietnam looks like a competitor of Thailand, but in
reality the Vietnamese market is very positive because of the
popularity of Thai brands, the bank says.
The bank shares the Commerce Ministry's view that Laos is becoming
saturated with Thai goods amid growing competition from Chinese
exports. But the re-export of Thai goods from Laos to Vietnam is
keeping Thai-Laotian trade very positive, the two agencies agree.
"Roughly a quarter of Thai exports to Laos are for Laotian consumers
and the rest are re-exported to Vietnam," said a ministry official at
the provincial office in Nong Khai, who monitors trade flow.
The products were flown to Vientiane and then re-exported to Vietnam by
land, either through central or southern Laos, said the official, who
declined to be named.
Vientiane, the Laotian capital, has become a re-export centre because
Thailand, Laos and Vietnam have yet to sign a goods-in-transit
agreement. Once the pact is signed, regulatory hurdles will drop and
Thailand will be able to trade with Vietnam directly through Laos.
Thai exports to Laos in the first 10 months this year were stable at
10.9 billion baht, declining less than a half percentage point from the
same period last year, according to the bank. More than half of the
volume crossed the border at Nong Khai.
Last year, exports from Thailand amounted to 14.4 billion baht,
according to the bank. In the decade to the end of 1999, exports
increased by 28%.
But the bank warned that the future could be bleak as a result of
fiercer competition from China, which is making strong headway in Laos
in categories long dominated by Thai products such as soap, cement and
motorcycles.
Although Thai products were of better quality and retained brand
loyalty among consumers, they cost more than Chinese alternatives whose
producers were working hard to match Thai quality, the bank said.
Part of the popularity of Chinese brands was due to the willingness of
Chinese exporters to accept the Laotian currency, the kip, for
transactions, and closer co-operation between the two governments, the
bank said. Thai exporters remained reluctant to take the kip.
"What Thailand has to do is concentrate on upgrading its quality to
compensate for higher prices, the bank said.
China is stepping up its role as a key partner of Laos. Chinese
President Jiang Zemin affirmed this with a visit to Vientiane last
month during which he promised to boost two-way trade and investment.
Although Thailand remains the top foreign investor in Laos, with US$442
million (19 billion baht) in the first three quarters of this year led
by the Nam Theun II power project worth $440 million, Chinese investors
are on course to challenge this, according to the Thai Farmers Research
Centre.
Without the Nam Theun II investment, China surpassed Thailand as top
investor in Laos this year with $3.4 million, the centre said.
* Old pals ensure Vietnam veteran gets Purple Heart
Starnews.com, 27/12/00 - On a recent Sunday, Indiana National Guard
troops stood at attention while a Marine Corps sergeant major marched
into the Martinsville Armory.
As the troops watched, the ramrod-straight Marine stopped, turned and
appeared to stare through the unit's first sergeant, Craig W. Arsenault.
Then he softened, smiled and pinned a Purple Heart on the sergeant's
chest. As the troops cheered, a tear squeezed from the eye of the
grizzled Arsenault.
The presence of a senior Marine noncommissioned officer at a National
Guard ceremony is unusual, but appropriate in this instance. Arsenault,
Indiana National Guard, and Sgt. Maj. Gary L. Gilliam, of the Marine
Corps Reserves, have been pals since they met in second grade at St.
Andrew Catholic School in Indianapolis.
That's not the only unusual connection in this story.
John Bosley, another high school classmate, convinced the Pentagon
brass to award the Purple Heart to Arsenault 32 years after he was
wounded in Vietnam.
The story begins on Indianapolis' Eastside, where Arsenault and Gilliam
were best friends during their elementary school years. After they
moved on to Scecina Memorial High School, the two admit, they majored
in fun, not scholarship.
Arsenault and Gilliam laugh about their high school careers.
"We were wild men," admitted Gilliam, relating some incidents that he
claims occurred at the old House of Blue Lights and the Millersville
Road gravel pits on the Eastside.
After high school, the pair joined the Marines.
After surviving boot camp, they were assigned to a unit featuring the
Marines' amphibious troop carriers.
But the Marines were looking for infantrymen, and Gilliam was sent to
Vietnam, where he became a sniper.
A few months later, Arsenault went to Vietnam. In 1968, he was working
on a troop carrier near Marble Mountain, outside Da Nang, when an
artillery round exploded near his vehicle. The next thing he knew, he
was in a hospital, and doctors were pulling slivers of steel out of his
left shoulder and right eye.
"My boss said he was putting me in for a Purple Heart, but nothing came
of it," he said.
Now, 32 years later, Arsenault is a general contractor and a first
sergeant with the Indiana National Guard infantry unit in Martinsville.
Gilliam is a paramedic for the Warren Township Fire Department.
Earlier this year, Arsenault ran into Gilliam at the Roudebush Veterans
Affairs Medical Center. As the two were chatting, Bosley walked up.
Bosley, whom they had not seen since Scecina, told them he joined the
Marines, too, and received two Purple Hearts.
After a short stint as a city police officer, Bosley worked as a U.S.
Customs agent. He recently retired from that job and was working as a
national service officer for the Military Order of the Purple Heart, a
veterans service organization.
"I told Arsenault how I helped get a disability pension for Gilliam,
and he spoke up," Bosley said.
"Arsenault said he had been wounded in Vietnam but never got a Purple
Heart. He said that would be something nice for his kids and grandkids.
I said, 'Let me check into it.' "
And he did.
After obtaining service records, Bosley noticed a notation from August
1968 that showed Arsenault had been sent to a hospital in Da Nang for
treatment of shrapnel wounds. That was enough to start a petition to
the Pentagon.
Three weeks ago, the three friends gathered at the Martinsville Armory,
where Company B of the 1-152 Infantry Battalion of the Indiana National
Guard turned out for a special ceremony.
As Arsenault, attired in his dress blue uniform, stood still, Gilliam,
wearing his own dress blue uniform, marched up and pinned the nation's
oldest military decoration on the chest of his boyhood friend.
Bosley watched as his two friends performed the traditional ceremony.
"Funny how things work out," Bosley said. "After 32 years, you come
full circle with the kids you ate lunch with at Scecina High School.
"It's kind of rewarding."
Contact R. Joseph Gelarden at (317) 272-4404 or via e-mail at
joseph....@starnews.com
* Vietnam's trade deficit swells to $900 mil. in FY2000
HANOI Dec. 27 Kyodo - Vietnam's trade deficit rocketed to nearly $900
million in fiscal 2000, an eight-fold increase from last fiscal year's
$113 million dollars, an official newspaper said Wednesday.
Quoting the government's General Statistics Office, Vietnam News said
imports rose 30.8% to $15.2 billion while exports grew 24% to $14.308
billion.
The sharp rise in the country's import bill reflected strong demand for
machines and equipment under the government's national
industrialization plans, the office was quoted as saying.
Crude oil remained the country's top export with revenue reaching $3.58
billion as a result of rising oil prices on the world market, the
office said.
However, Vietnam's exports of rice, another key revenue earner for the
country, fell by 22.4% to only 3.5 million tons in volume terms and by
34.8% in revenue terms, the office said.
It said the domestic sector accounted for 51.2% of the exports, with
revenue reaching $7.4 billion, up 8% over the fiscal 1999 figure.
The foreign-invested sector exported $6.25 billion worth of goods and
services, up 47.4%.
* Cashing in on Vietnam's past
Antiques: In the hunt for centuries-old items in Hanoi, things aren't
always as they appear.
HANOI, Vietnam (Sun Journal, 27/12/00) - The path leading to the
thatched huts, gated courtyards and storage buildings that constitute
Tran The Koi's rambling network of antique showrooms begins at the foot
of Ngo Quynh alley, where the sweet smell of rice wine floats amid
flowering tree branches.
High school students weave through the tiny back street on their
motorbikes, the wire baskets overflowing with bouquets. It is a Sunday
afternoon and the students are celebrating "Teachers' Day," a venerable
practice in Vietnam where young people visit and honor their mentors.
One of the bikes brushes against a student and spins her around.
Instead of glowering, she laughs. Collisions are inevitable in a city
where modern life strains against architecture designed for a different
era.
Unlike many cities in Asia, Hanoi has yet to surrender its skyline to
the bar graph of glass and steel that many here consider a symbol of
modernization. Vietnam's capital remains a quiet town of lakes and
parks, and moves at its own languid pace.
You can get to know Hanoi and the nation's history by spending a Sunday
afternoon wandering through the city's labyrinthine neighborhoods
hunting for antiques in shops such as Koi's, called "Tien Phong."
Antiquing is a favorite pastime of wealthy Asians as well as Westerners
living in this part of the world. Weekend mornings that in the United
States might be spent reading the newspaper or attending a soccer game
are more likely to be spent here rooting through dusty shops in search
of a 19th-century ceramic bowl or hand-woven Mongolian rug.
In Beijing, thousands of Chinese and hundreds of Westerners descend
every weekend on Panjiayuan, an outdoor bazaar foreigners commonly
refer to as "the dirt market," where they can pick through nearly a
city block's worth of goods -from Tibetan wall hangings and Cultural
Revolution posters to wooden abacuses and carved, stone Buddha heads.
In Bangkok, "River City," a high-end antique mall with escalators,
offers connoisseurs of Thai, Burmese and Cambodian art a more
antiseptic experience, with prices to match. Boutiques with track
lighting sell what they claim are thousand-year-old bronze figurines
from the Kingdom of Cambodia for thousands of dollars.
Koi's place of business in Hanoi is distinctive for its maze-like
design - the architectural equivalent of a Rube Goldberg device - and
its location in one of the last Asian countries to move toward free
enterprise. The entrance to his menagerie begins at a red metal gate,
which leads through a courtyard, then up a concrete stairway and into a
series of showrooms with bamboo walls, wooden floors and corrugated
aluminum and palm leaf roofs.
Koi, a compact man with a relaxed smile, introduces visitors to his
eclectic stock. It includes fifth-century clay pots, fish nets made of
rattan and a bronze drum cast more than two centuries before the birth
of Christ.
His recent acquisitions include scores of Chinese and Vietnamese
ceramics displayed in a glass bookcase. Koi assembles a blue-and-white
teapot and several cups covered with hand-painted flowers on a wooden
table. They are from a trove of Chinese export porcelain, Koi says,
dated to the early 19th century, part of a cargo that sank with a
merchant ship off Binh Thuan Province along Vietnam's southern coast.
His asking price for four matching cups: about $100. To the amateur
eye, the cups appear quite old. The rims have tiny chips. The hand-
painted flowers are dull and worn - perhaps from lying on the bottom of
the ocean.
To emphasize their authenticity, Koi produces a ceramic makeup case,
which he says became sealed by crustaceans while beneath the sea. As he
shakes it, water sloshes around inside.
There is almost no way to be sure if these cups are what Koi claims,
but there are reasons to suggest they might be. Vietnamese fishermen in
recent years have found several wrecks with cargoes of ceramics.
In the mid-1990s, fishermen in Vung Tau along the southern coast
discovered the remains of a ship carrying thousands of household
Chinese ceramics that researchers have dated to the late 17th and early
18th century. A huge cache of Vietnamese blue-and-white ceramics from
the 15th century was salvaged last year from a wreck in 223 feet of
water near Vietnam's port city of Hoi An. Vietnamese ceramics, like
many Vietnamese antiques in general, are heavily influenced by China
and have yet to develop a strong market of their own.
The "Hoi An Hoard," as it is called, may help change that. A large jar
from the 150,000 intact pieces sold for $79,000 last fall at
Butterfields auction house in San Francisco; other pieces were sold on
the Internet through eBay.
Still, some artisans in Asia are capable of producing fakes of such
quality that amateur collectors can't tell the difference. John Guy, a
specialist in Southeast Asian ceramics at the Victoria and Albert
Museum in London, says people visit the museum offices for assessments
of antiques from the region only to learn they've purchased replicas.
"It's truly 'buyer beware,'" says Peter N. Sheridan, an American
businessman who lived in Vietnam from 1994 until last year and now, as
a sideline, runs a handicraft and antique brokering company from
Bangkok. "I'm not an expert in antiques, I've been stung too many
times."
The Vietnamese government forbids the export of "antiques," broadly
defined as anything of religious or cultural significance. Smuggling,
however, is not uncommon here and rampant in other parts of Asia. Much
of the statuary in the Cambodian temple complexes of Angkor, for
example, has been looted and smuggled into Thailand for sale.
To avoid problems with illegal export, dealers such as Koi have
developed sizable businesses making and selling high-quality replicas
for a small percentage of the cost of antiques. Koi employs 64
craftsmen and uses some 300 subcontracted laborers to make thousands of
hand-painted statuettes, wooden Buddhas and lacquered boxes which he
ships by the container-load to shops from Singapore to Washington, D.C.
Koi, 52, has been collecting antiques for three decades, but he
sometimes seems just as enamored with his own handiwork as that of his
ancestors.
He leads a visitor through his basement, along an alley where a woman
in a conical hat shouts, "Buy sweet potatoes!" and then into a red tile
courtyard where he has built a wooden, village-style home as yet
another showroom.
He presents three large Buddha statues, one from India with eight arms,
then a beautifully carved black figure from China and a third - the
color of copper - from Vietnam. He caresses the chin of the Chinese
Buddha, emphasizing the symmetry of the face.
Asked if the statues are real, Koi grins and gives a thumbs-up.
"Everything is a copy!" he says proudly.
* Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An - Ancient cities preserve Vietnam's cultural
tradition
http://www.mb.com.ph, 25/12/00 - Vietnam reverberates with history,
mystique, and a classic charm which lured travelers in recent years.
Aside from political capital Hanoi in the north, and economic capital
Ho Chi Minh in the south, central Vietnam has been cited for its
historical cities Hue, Da Nang, and Hoi An.
These ancient cities retain their calm and mystical air centuries after
they played significant settings for Vietnam's historical events.
Each traveler who visits Vietnam needs plenty of time to explore her
cities. However, the real challenge lies in discovering the city's own
unmistakable character - a rich legacy handed down from the past for
future generations to enjoy.
Hue
Vietnam's first World Heritage site, Hue is one of the religious,
cultural and educational centers of the country. This 19th century
imperial city has been approved by UNESCO as a cultural relic of the
world, calling it "an adorable architectural poem".
By the 13th century Hue was given as a gift to Daiviet Kingdom
(Vietnam) from Champa King when he married Princess Huyen Tran of the
Tran dynasty.
Today, Hue is a quiet town of 350,000 people. This city is famous for
its magnificent palaces, pagodas and royal tombs erected during the
Nguyen Dynasty - the last dynasty of feudal Vietnam reigning from 1802-
1945.
Citadel City
Hue Citadel (Kinh Thanh) is a walled city which reminds Filipinos of
Intramuros. The wall's perimeter extends to 10 kilometers. It was
constructed in 1804 by Emperor Gia Long, the first emperor of the
Nguyen dynasty.
The Citadel was built by French military architect Sebastian Vauban.
The whole complex is composed of three walled enclosures, each city
within the other.
At the entrance is the Ngo Mon gate, the main gate to the Imperial City
Enclosure, which housed the emperor, his family, bodyguards, servants,
and even his concubines.
The Imperial City encompasses six square km, with 10 gates, each
reached by a bridge across the moat.
The palaces inside are almost entirely empty, except for the walls,
ceilings, and pillars laden with red and yellow ornate designs,
symbolizing royalty.
Tu Duc Tomb
Hue also houses several royal tombs built for their emperors. King Tu
Duc's tomb is one of the most beautiful, characterized by tranquil
scenery composed of lakes, pine-tree-covered hills and pavilions. It is
located about five miles (8 kms) southwest of Hue. The tomb was built
in 1864-1867.
The actual tomb can be found after passing by other structures such as
Tu Duc's summer house and a monument holding his epitaph. Local folk,
however, say that no one knows where Tu Duc's body is actually buried.
Thien Mu Pagoda (Heavenly lady)
The Heavenly Lady Pagoda was built as a monument in honor of a
spiritual being in Vietnam's history books. Local folk believed in a
beautiful lady who often appeared on a mountain top and imparted good
fortune. On the spot where the lady appeared, they built a pagoda to
show their appreciation for this heavenly spirit.
Y Thao Garden house
A garden house is a typical feature in Hue, signifying the city's close
affection with nature. A garden house is where garden and house, man
and lanscape, vegetation, water and clouds are integrated into a
harmonious universe.
The owners of Y Thao garden are Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hoa and Mrs. Truong Thi
Cuc who are officers of Culture and Tourism in Thua Thien Hue Province.
The area of the garden house is approximately 1,300 square meters. This
garden was built about five decades ago.
Da Nang
Da Nang is Vietnam's fourth largest city, built on the bank of the Han
River.
The Sahuynh culture flourished in Da Nang during the Iron Age over
3,000 years ago. The first inhabitants of the region were the ancestors
of the Cham people.
Most of the remaining evidence of the once flourishing civilization of
Champa Kingdom can still be seen around Da Nang either in ancient Cham
towers or in stone sculptures at the Museum of Cham Sculpture.
The Nonnuoc beach (China beach) and the Nguhanhson (Marble mountain)
add more beauty to the seaside scenery of the area.
Travelers can enjoy the scenery on the road from Hue to Da Nang via the
Haivan pass (the Oceanic cloud pass) - an attractive stage with a
wonderful landscape.
Hoi An
About 30 km to the south of Da Nang is a town facing the sea: the
ancient town of Hoi An on the bank of the Thubon river.
Hoi An is clearly one of Vietnam's cultural and architectural
treasures, and a rare phenomenon in Southeast Asia. The town still
preserves nearly all of its diverse examples of streets, houses, shops
and religious buildings.
Known as Faifo to early Western traders, Hoi An is one of the most
important sea ports of Southeast Asia from the 15th to 19th centuries.
Hoi An was an important port of call for Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese,
Japanese and other trading vessels.
Recently recognized by UNESCO as one of the world's cultural heritages,
Hoi An is trying to preserve its architecture through which the town's
ancient past is reflected.
Today parts of Hoi An look exactly as they did a century and a half
ago. Hoi An still preserves hundreds of houses built of precious wood
in a very original style of architecture, either one or two storeys.
Hoi An is one of the rare places in Vietnam where genuine Vietnamese
architecture is preserved. They are considered as priceless treasures
which the people will continue to preserve for years.
(For inquiries on package tours to Vietnam, call COLTRANS at 833-2551.
Vietnam Airlines flies Manila to Ho Chi Minh every Monday, Thursday,
and Saturday.)
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/