Book show welcomes Party Congress

A special book exhibition has opened at HCM City 's Nguyen Hue
Bookstore to welcome the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party
of Vietnam.

The
exhibition, featuring more than 1,500 titles in different fields,
attracted many readers, young and old, to its opening ceremony on Jan.
10.

The display has three major themes: The Party's
Documents; The Life and Work of President Ho Chi Minh; and Historical
Events during the American War in Vietnam .

Around
10,000 books cover events and heroes of different periods over the 81
years since the Party's inception, according to the HCM City Books
Distribution Company (Fahasa), a member of the event's organising board.

Participating in the exhibition are leading printers like
the HCM City General Publishing House, National Politics Publishing
House, Tre (Youth) Publishing House and Thanh Nien (Young People)
Publishing House.

The Culture-Theatre Publishing House's Hanh Khuc Giai Phong (Liberation March) is one of the exhibition's highlighted books.

The book is a research work compiled and edited by Lu Nhat Vu, Le Giang
and Le Anh Trung, three of the city's veteran composers and art
critics.

Hanh Khuc Giai Phong displays nearly 600 songs
and 54 works by musicians and authors during the 1954-75 period. They
creatively capture the people's thirst for national independence as well
as their love for President Ho Chi Minh and soldiers.

The
Tre Publishing House introduces one of its bestsellers of last year,
Tran Thai Binh's Vo Nguyen Giap -Hao Khi Tram Nam (General Vo Nguyen
Giap - Magnanimity for a Hundred Years).

The book
portrays the life and military career of Vo Nguyen Giap, focusing on the
General's outstanding contributions to the victories against French and
American aggressors.

Organisers said they hope the
exhibition would help people, particularly young readers, learn more
about the country's heroic history, the Party and its causes and
victories.

Nearly 1,000 books will be presented to soldiers working for the Border Guard Command, they said.

The exhibition will remain open at 40 Nguyen Hue Street , District 1, from 9am to 10pm until January 16. Entrance is free./.

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Restored 17th century dinh opens

A 17th century
communal house (dinh) on the outskirts of Hanoi that won the highest prize in
the heritage preservation category at the International Union of Architects in
Xi'an, China, last month, has officially reopened after months of restoration.

"The model
restoration project aimed to duplicate as best as possible the original
design," said Tran Lam Ben from the Cultural Heritage Department.
"However, there has been some improper restoration work, which we will ask
the workers to fix later."

According to
architect Le Thanh Vinh, who headed the restoration team, the work was
extremely intricate.

"We first had
to conduct very careful research on all the relics to gauge what sort of
condition they were in," he said.

Ultra-sound equipment
was used to check the condition of the house's wooden pillars, he said.

Chu Quyen Communal
House's 48 wooden pillars were damaged by weathering. However, only two had to
be replaced, Vinh said.

The original house
roof was made up of 51 different kinds of tiles. Restorers said 48,000 of the
original tiles were saved. Those that needed to be replaced were produced using
traditional methods of baking clay over straw.

Because of efforts
to duplicate the original design, the work took twice as long as normal, Vinh
said.

The restoration beat
33 entries from 14 countries in the Asia Pacific region to win the architects'
award – the first Vietnam
has won.

The communal house,
more commonly referred to as the Chang Communal House, is in Hanoi's Ba Vi district. It consists of a
room, largely constructed of wood, for worship.

The house was
recognised as a historical site in 1962. Restoration on the house began in
2007.

Tran Chien Thang, Deputy Minister of Culture,
said the project would serve as the standard for other restoration work./.

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Ancient house very popular with tourists

At Number 115 Hang Bac (Silver) Street in Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi ,
an ancient house with a garden has stood for nearly 100 years and is a
popular destination with visitors when they visit the 1,000
year-old-city.

The house has been home to five generations of the Pham family.
According to the owner of the house, 96-year-old Pham Thi Te, her family
moved from Chau Khe village in northern Hai Duong province to settle in
Hanoi in 1890, to make jewellery.

In 1920, her family bought
over 500 m2 of land and built a two-storey house with 16 rooms, which
has two gates, one in Hang Bac street and another in Dinh Liet
street .

The house was built in a French architectural style
with wooden staircases, high pillars and many windows. The roof is tiled
and curves out at the ends, making the house look very elegant.

Vietnamese
culture is reflected by four dragon heads attached to the four roof
ends. The balcony is decorated with intricate designs. In the spacious
front yard there are pots of ornamental plants, stone miniatures and a
big fish tank.

The house has a large garden with traditional
ornamental plants such as the Barringtonia angusta Kurj, little bamboo
trees and rows of green arecas a dozen metres high and as old as the
house.

Through the ups and downs of history, for nearly a
century, the house has retained its style with wooden tables and chairs
and paintings inside.

The house, particularly the
garden, has attracted a lot of attention from domestic and foreign
experts and is listed in the book “The 36 guild streets area in Hanoi
’s Ancient Quarter”, by Japanese experts.

Visitors see the house to contemplate it’s ancient architecture amid the bustling streets.

The Hanoi People’s Committee, has approved a project to preserve the
house, which is the only garden house remaining in the Old Quarter.

Pham
Tuan Long, the Deputy head of Hanoi ’s Ancient Houses Management Board
said that after preservation, the house will be developed as a tourist
destination and is expected to give visitors a glimpse of Vietnam ’s
old architecture and culture. It will also give tourists a still and
peaceful environment so they can escape from the bustle of urban life./.

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