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Quang Nam Province on the central coast will host its second Heritage Road Festival at its two World Cultural Heritage sites and other areas starting early next week.
The biennial festival, this year from next Monday to March 27, will introduce the province’s tourist attractions through many culture, music and sporting events.
Director of the Quang Nam Tourism Department Dinh Hai says the festival’s opening will take place at My Son at 8 p.m. on March 24 and the closing ceremony will be in Hoi An on March 27. Unesco recognized both Hoi An and My Son as World Heritage Sites in 1999.
Hai says this year’s festival will not repeat last year’s programs and will focus on showing off Quang Nam’s typical traditional art and culture, such as folk music, Cham dances, boat races and kite flying.
Many folk festivals, such as Ky Yen, Ba Thu Bon, Cau Ngu, Thap Ba and Le Via Luc Tanh Vuong Gia, will also be part of the Heritage Road Festival.
Festivalgoers can enjoy art performances, fashion shows, a national beach volleyball tournament, photo exhibitions on Quang Nam, art shows and seminars on culture preservation.
After the opening ceremony, which Vietnam Television will broadcast live, a show will feature old costumes and Cham artisans demonstrating the art of making tho cam (ethnic fabrics) and pottery.
It is noteworthy that all the clothes at the show that will start at 9 p.m. are made of the Cham people’s traditional fabric that Quang Nam’s famous artisan Thuan Thi Tru weaves.
The festival’s highlights will be activities that reveal the daily life in the historic town of Hoi An when it was a crowded commercial port hundreds of years ago.
From 7 p.m. daily people will have a chance to observe markets on the river and their reappeared bustling atmosphere of locals, and Chinese and Japanese traders bartering.
“A Japanese art troupe will also attend several festivals on the streets,” Hai says. “I hope such activities will be successful and tourists will relive the busy mood in Hoi An some centuries ago.”
Also much anticipated is an outdoor fashion show of creations by well-known Minh Hanh and seven other designers at 7 p.m. on March 26.
Hanh says “Hoi An Night – Memory of Time” will introduce costumes of the Vietnamese, Cham and Chinese in Quang Nam in the 19th century.
Hanh will showcase her collection of old ao dai (traditional Vietnamese dress) while Anh Vu will introduce his xuong xam (Chinese dress), Hau Nguyen Hang his Chinese costumes and Thien Toan his men’s ao dai and suits.
The show will take place on a 120-meter section of Tran Phu Street starting from Chua Cau Bridge, one of the Japanese-style architectural marvels in Hoi An.
Visitors will also have a chance to attend competitions, including building sand castles and other shapes at Cua Dai Beach and diving at Cham Island.Or they can watch others compete, such as the local fishermen taking part in boat races, thuyen thung (round bamboo boat) rowing and catching fish with nets.
Hai says the festival organizers also take this occasion to introduce the province’s main tourist sights, including Cua Dai Beach, Cham Island, Hoi An, My Son and Phu Ninh Lake.
Tourists can register for the seven arranged tours “Discovering Cham Island,” “Visiting Hoi An’s lantern makers, the vegetable-planting village of Tra Que and the fishing village of Thanh Nam,” “Hoi An and traditional occupational villages,” “Hoi An and My Son in the eyes of tourists,” “Charming Thuan Tinh,” “Visiting Phu Ninh” and “Discovering the legendary Truong Son Road.”
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