Lives on the rock

Plagued by poor farming conditions and destitution, many members of the Ruc ethnic minority group in central Quang Binh Province have gone back to living in caves

The road leading into On Hamlet in Minh Hoa District’s Thuong Hoa Commune was rough and desolate, with few signs of life around.

As it opened into [...]

Playing from the heart

Canadian maestro Simon Leung will be conducting his second international concert in HCMC December 4-6

Music is universal, says Canadian conductor Simon Leung, who is in Ho Chi Minh City for a performance next week.

 ”I do not look at myself as an Asian as much as I regard myself as a musician.”
Brought up [...]

Vietnam to shoot the moon with space center

An artist’s rendering of Vietnam’s first satellite Vinasat-1 satellite in orbit

Vietnam will work with Japanese experts to begin building Southeast Asia’s most advanced space technology center by 2010, said project facilitators at a press event in Hanoi on Thursday.

The Center for Space Technology Research and Deployment will be equipped with the most [...]

HCMC officials in the spotlight after satisfaction survey

A bus Friday in Ho Chi Minh City’s Binh Thanh District. HCMC residents satisfaction with bus services has fallen dramatically over the past two years.

A survey of Ho Chi Minh City residents found people are becoming more exasperated with some city government services.

The deputy head of Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of [...]

The growing NGO lobby

Children perform a play about HIV/AIDS at a meeting sponsored by NGO PACT Vietnam

Professional lobbyists are gaining ground in Vietnam as shifting laws give stakeholders a larger say in policy making.

NGOs in Vietnam are advocating for government policy change as authorities become more open to the role professional lobbyists can play in [...]

Hanoi drainage under the lens after catastrophe

Heavy rains that deluged Hanoi last week have landed the city drainage system and insurers in hot water.

The Government Inspectorate wants to launch its inspection of Hanoi’s drainage projects ahead of schedule after the recent floods exposed glaring shortcomings.

The Government Inspectorate was planning to inspect the first phase of the drainage [...]

The ugly duckling

A shop that duplicates famous paintings in Hanoi

Local and foreign experts agree that Vietnamese artists and art lovers need to appreciate their own art if they want it to be noticed on the international scene.

Vietnamese art went unnoticed at an art fair in Singapore this month.
The three-day Art Singapore Fair, which began [...]

The cost of growth

One of the factories at Bac Ninh Province’s Da Hoi trade village, which produces hundreds of thousands of tons of metal products every year.

Air pollution in one of Vietnam’s first trade villages is becoming unbearable, but money keeps rolling in.

At Dac Hoi steel making village in Chau Khe Commune in northern [...]

Vietnamese Deputy PM visits the Republic of Korea

Republic of Korea (RoK) Prime Minister Han Sung-soo said his government bore the responsibility of boosting cooperation with Vietnam as a recent survey revealed it was the favorite nation of many Koreans.

PM Han Sung-soo made the remark Thursday while receiving Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan, who is visiting the RoK to strengthen cooperation [...]

The pressure to perform

Children in a Ho Chi Minh City kindergarten get familiar with letters by drawing and coloring.

Vietnam’s young children are increasingly burdened with long study hours, even before they’ve reached the first grade.

It is 5 p.m. and young students at a local kindergarten run to their parents who are waiting at the school [...]