 Listeners' letters sent to VOV's English program. |
B: Today we welcome Hari Madugula, a member of the Young Stars Radio Club of India, whose slogan is “Radio for fun and entertainment in our spare time.” Hari said: “This is the first time I’m writing to VOV and I look forward to a great future between us and friendship between India and Vietnam.”
A: Thank you, Mr. Madugula. We’re delighted to have a correspondence with you and the Young Stars Radio Club. We’d like to know more about your Club, which we understand was established in 1984 and now has more than 50 members, who are students, businessmen, government employees, and teachers in multiple localities. Please send your emails to englishsection@vov.vn.
A: I’m reading a letter from Fumito Hokamura of Japan. We greatly appreciate his dedication to VOV and his sending us a reception report every week. He listens to VOV in both Japanese and English and often sends us helpful comments and expresses his affection for Vietnam.
B: Mr. Hokamura says that in Japan everyone has the right to receive an education from kindergarten to university, and asks about the Vietnamese education system.
A: Vietnam has made universal education a national priority. So far, Vietnam has completed preschool education universalization while promoting universal education at all levels giving free and compulsory for children 6 to 18 years old.
B: Children 6 to 11 attend primary school, then advance to lower secondary school, which has 4 grades, and then upper secondary school, which has 3 grades. Students in secondary school are required to sit for annual entrance and exit examinations.
A: There are a number of higher education options in Vietnam, including universities, colleges, training institutes, and vocational schools.
A: Shivendu Paul of India told us: “Voice of Vietnam is my main source to learn about Vietnam’s culture and destinations as well as world news. I regularly listen to Voice of Vietnam on my Grundig YB 80 receiver and online streaming, and watch your website.”
B: On April 13 he tuned in to VOV’s English program and got moderate reception on the frequency of 7220 Khz from Murshidabad, West Bengal, India.
A: Other Indian listeners have also reported that the frequency of 7220 Khz now has a good signal. We acknowledge reception reports from Mr. Najimuddin of the International DX Radio Listeners Club, who rated SINPO 44343, and Prithwiraj Purkayastha who rated SINPO all 4s and noted good reception but lots of noise in between.
 A palanquin procession at the Hung Kings Festival (photo: baochinhphu.vn) |
A: In recent weeks, we’ve broadcast several reports on the Hung Kings’ Temple Festival at the Hung Kings Temple National Historic Site in Phu Tho province. Some of our listeners have said they want to learn more about the Hung Kings, the legendary founders of the Vietnamese nation.
B: In the old days, when Vietnam was still called Van Lang, its capital was in Phu Tho province in a protected area between two rivers. The many lakes, hills, and fertile fields adjacent to the two rivers supported the prosperity as well as the defense of the capital.
A: Traces of the Hung Kings dynasty have been recovered from dozens of archaeological sites densely scattered from Lam Thao district to the Bach Hac-Viet Tri confluence. Archaeological relics give evidence of a copper metallurgy industry, wet rice cultivation, and an agricultural civilization that existed for thousands of years B.C.
B: The Hung Kings Temple, 80 kilometers northwest of Hanoi, is a Special National Historical Relic. The 850-hectare complex consists of four temples, a pagoda, a tomb, and a museum that features the formation and development of Van Lang. The upper, middle, and lower temples commemorate the 18 Hung Kings. The fourth worships two daughters of the 18th Hung King – princesses Tien Dung and Ngoc Hoa.
A: Legend has it that the 6th Hung King held a competition to select his successor. Whoever made the best offering to honor the ancestors succeeded to the throne instead of the king’s oldest son. His youngest son, Lang Lieu, who used sticky rice to make a white round sticky rice cake (banh day) and green square sticky rice cake (banh chung) to symbolize the sky and the earth, won the competition and became the 7th Hung King.
B: There are at least 1,420 worship sites across Vietnam dedicated to the Hung Kings and characters related to the Hung King era. Phu Tho province alone has more than 180 relic sites. The worship of the Hung Kings was recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2012.
A: There’s a legend that Au Co and Lac Long Quan were the mother and father of the Vietnamese and parents of the Hung Kings. Lac Long Quan and Au Co could not stay together because they were too different and so had to go their separate ways. The father, being a sea creature, took half of their 100 children to live near the ocean. The mother led the other 50 children to the mountains, which is closer to the sky.
B: A Hung Kings worship ceremony is held every year on the 10th day of the third lunar month. This year it will fall on April 18. A ceremony to commemorate Father Lac Long Quan and Mother Au Co was held on April 14.
 A group of visitors take a photo at the Temple of the Hung Kings. |
Nguyen Thi Nu, who came from Thai Nguyen to attend the worship, said: “This is the first time I’ve come the ancestral land to attend the worship of the national founders. I feel the sacredness of the nation's cultural heritage. After attending the ritual, I want to tell the story to my children to inspire them to continue to preserve our national cultural traditions."
Tran Thi Huong, another visitor, said: “I’m proud to be a Vietnamese and I always turn my mind toward our roots. The Hung Kings commemoration is an occasion for people to pay tribute to our ancestors’ merits, and pray for national peace and happy people.”
A: Days before the Hung Kings Day, thousands of people have made pilgrimages to the Temple of the Hung Kings to worship and attend a palanquin procession, lion and dragon dances, a bronze drum demonstration, a banh chung contest, and performances of Xoan singing and Phu Tho folk singing.
B: You’re listening to a song of praise for the bloodline of the dragon and the fairy. There are many letters here from listeners that we don’t have enough time to acknowledge on the air, but you all will surely receive QSL cards for your reception reports.
A: We welcome your feedback at English Service, VOVWorld, the Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at englishsection@vov.vn. Once again, thank you all for listening to VOV and for visiting our website. Goodbye!