HCM City Museum of Fine Art expanded

April 28, 2011 about Uncategorize

LookAtVietnam - In
its over 20 years of operation, the museum has been expanded by nearly 1,500
sq.m for the first time. The expanded area is the space to display most special
collections of southern region.

The expanded area is a building adjacent to the museum. The
new building opened on April 23, introducing items collected in 2006-2010.
Displayed items include nearly 300 paintings, statues and sketches of the total
1,400 items collected in the last five years.

The building was previously the home of a Chinese
Vietnamese, which was built in the early 20^th century.

The HCM City Fine Arts Museum was established on September
5th, 1987. It is recognized as a first class national museum by the Vietnam’s
Ministry of Culture.

Housed in a three-story colonial building, the Art Museum in
Saigon has a rich collection finest artworks
ranging from classical sculptures to contemporary paintings.

The museum’s huge collection of displays include
contemporary paintings by renowned Vietnamese and foreign artists, traditional
handicrafts created by the nation’s ethnic groups, Vietnamese antiques like
red-lacquered and gilded products, ceramics, mother-of-pearl inlaid wood and
exhibits of Western art.

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Some priceless Cham, Indian and Khmer pieces are also kept
in this museum.

The first floor of this museum displays the spectacular
creations of Vietnamese and foreign artists.

The second floor exhibits the paintings and carvings done by
the renowned artists of Vietnam
along with some outstanding creations of foreign artists.

The third floor preserves the priceless artworks created
between the 7th and early 20th century. The valuable Cham and Oc Eo art works
developed between the 7th and the 17th centuries are also kept in this floor of
this museum. The exhibits of Vietnam’s
Occidental art, which originated between 18th and early 20th century and
traditional Vietnamese artworks are also preserved here.

The contact details of the Saigon’s
famous Art Museum are as follows:

Address: 97A Pho
Ðuc Chinh St., District 1, HCMC

Phone number: 8294441-8222441

Fax number: 8213508

The good egg | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update

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The good egg

April 26, 2011 about Health

Eggplant, which is rich in potassium and calcium, is good for treating gout, constipation, indigestion, weak kidneys, and obesity from fatty liver disease, according to herbalists

Nutritious eggplant is not only cheap, tasty, and easy to cook but also good for treating gout and looking after the circulatory system, according to herbalist Duong Tan Hung.
The flesh of an eggplant absorbs cholesterol and alkaline salts, reducing their level in the bloodstream and thereby lessening atherosclerosis and preventing primary diabetes. It also lowers blood glucose level, and removes urea from the system, thereby easing gout, a common affliction in middle-aged men who drink too much, says Hung. He also advises older women to eat eggplant to ward off strokes.
Eggplant, or solanum melongena, has sweet and salty properties, is rich in potassium and calcium, and contains proteins, glucids, lipids, phosphorus, manganese, sulphur, and vitamins A, E, B1, and B12, according to Hung and his colleague in natural medicine Dr Pho Thuan Huong. The vitamins are found in both the flesh and the skin.
Here are some simple eggplant-based remedies from Hung and Huong.
- To stimulate gall excretion, prevent the formation of gallstones and kidney stones, reduce inflammation of the spleen, and cool the liver, start off by grilling 150g of unpeeled mature eggplant. Chop it into medium-sized pieces and mix in salt, sesame and sugar to taste. Eat once daily for four weeks.
- Here’s a recipe for keeping middle-aged joints in good nick. Take 200g of mature eggplant, remove the stem and cut into 4cm slices. In a pot, mix the eggplant with 5g of rock sugar or honey, 50g of black jujubes and 20g of unpolished brown rice and add 500ml of water. Bring the water to a boil, then let simmer until the liquid is reduced to 200ml. This natural remedy should be eaten three times a day for six weeks.
- To treat constipation, indigestion, weak kidneys, and obesity from fatty liver disease, simply grill 300g of ripe eggplant until the skin rubs off easily. Eat once daily for ten days with 50g of the perennial mountain herb rau diếp cá (heartleaf or houttuynia cordata, also known as the chameleon plant or lizard tail).
- Chicken and eggplant soup is a tasty way to lose weight and lower blood pressure. The ingredients for this are one cockerel, 200g eggplant, 15g sơn tra (medlar or docynia doumeri schneid), 5g of ginger, 10g of spring onion, cooking oil and salt. Start off by cleaning the chicken, discard the viscera, wash the gutted bird in water, and cut it into medium-sized pieces. Next, wash and cut the eggplant and spring onions into medium pieces, peel and slice the ginger. Heat oil in a pot, fry ginger and spring onions until they become fragrant. Add chicken and stir-fry. Add water, and put the eggplant, sơn tra, and a pinch of salt in the pot. Bring the water to the boil, then turn down the heat and let the chicken and eggplant simmer for 30 minutes. Eat the chicken and eggplant soup as a full meal once a day.
- To treat bronchitis, wash 500g of eggplant, then peel and slice it lengthwise. Cut an inch of ginger into four pieces and mash three bulbs of garlic. Mix the garlic with soy sauce, a little oil, salt and sugar. Place the lot in a bowl and steam for 20 minutes.
Interestingly, researchers at the University of Michigan in the United States have discovered that eggplant contains nicotine and suggest eating it as a substitute for smoking. In some tests, eating ten grams of eggplant gave the same kick as smoking tobacco for three hours straight.
A word of warning: Dr Huong advises one should not eat eggplant with other food that cools the body, and suggests spicing up any eggplant dish with some ginger. Herbalist Hung says one must avoid spoiled eggplant and especially baby eggplant as the latter contains a harmful substance called solanin.

Source: Thanh Nien, Agencies

South Vietnam’s first lady dies in Rome | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update

LookAtVietnam - Tran Le XuanTran Le Xuan, wife of Ngo Dinh Nhu, consultant and brother of Ngo Dinh Diem, who ruled South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963, has passed away at 87 in Rome, the BBC reported.

Tran Le Xuan and her daughter Ngo Dinh Le Thuy on Life Magazine cover, 11-10-1963



Born in 1924 in Hanoi, Xuan married Ngo Dinh Nhu at 18 and was known as the first lady of South Vietnam since President Ngo Dinh Diem was a bachelor.
Xuan’s father was Tran Van Chuong, a former ambassador of the Saigon government to the United States.
Her mother, Than Thi Nam Tran, was a granddaughter of Emperor Dong Khanh and a cousin of Emperor Bao Dai, the last king of the Nguyen Dynasty.
When Diem and Nhu were assassinated in a coup d’état led by General Duong Van Minh on November 1st,1963, Xuan and her oldest daughter Ngo Dinh Le Thuy were abroad.
Xuan never returned to Vietnam. In the last years of her life, she lived in Rome.
She had two sons and two daughters. Le Thuy died in 1968 at 22 in an accident in Longjumeau, France.
Source: Tuoi Tre

HCMC museum puts 300 new acquisitions on display | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update

HCMC museum puts 300 new acquisitions on display

April 25, 2011 about Lifestyle

“Pounding rice in Bom bo village” by painter Quach Phong is one of works on display at an ongoing exhibition in HCMC.

The Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum Saturday opened a display of about 300 artifacts it acquired over the last five years (2006 to 2010).
The displayed works include paintings, statutes and sketches made before and after 1975, when the Vietnam War ended. They are among 1388 items collected by the museum in the five years, officials said.Â
Works by famous Vietnamese artists including Nguyen Gia Tri, Tu Duyen, Kim Bach, Quach Phong and Tran Nguyen Dan are included in the exhibition.
The display marks the completion of restoration work on a two-storied building, built early 20th century, at the museum. The restoration has retained the design and structure of the 1,000 square meter building.
The exhibition is open at the newly-restored building, 97 Pho Duc Chinh in District 1. The museum, which has more than 20,000 exhibits, attracts about 200,000 visitors a year.

Reported by Van Khoa

Elephant stabbed to death...

LookAtVietnam - A 38 year old male elephant, named Beckham, was killed in the Tuyen Lam Lake Tourism Area in the resort city of Da Lat on April 24.

The elephant was found dead near Tuyen Lam forest with two cuts on his two hind legs. It is said that the elephant died because of losing blood from the two cuts. Its ivory and tail however were not removed.
Phan Thi Hoa, director of the Nam Qua Ecological Tourism Co., Ltd, which owns the elephant, said that the elephant was still healthy on April 23. Its corpse was detected by elephant keepers on the morning of April 24, around 1km from the Tuyen Lam tourist site.
The elephant was raised by Nam Qua Company to serve tourists in the Tuyen Lam tourist site.

Before the lunar New Year, this elephant was attacked twice and injured seriously, but fortunately survived the elephant tusk and tail hair hunters.
“We had to hire a veterinary doctor to take care of him for weeks. It had just recovered four months before it was killed,” said Hoa.
In August 2010, some elephants in Da Lat’s tourist sites were attacked to take tail hairs. It is said that elephant tail hairs are “sacred objects”, so elephants are often attacked.

Ninh Phan

Ancient tombs unearthed in Hanoi

Ancient tombs unearthed in Hanoi residential area

April 24, 2011 about Lifestyle

The two ancient tombs unearthed during excavation in Hanoi.

Two tombs, as well as other artifacts presumed to date back to the 4th and 6th centuries have been unearthed in Hanoi’s Ciputra residential district.
The fully intact tombs were accidentally discovered by workers building a drainage system in the residential zone near Thang Long Bridge.
The tombs were constructed from refined bricks and their arched ceilings are said to be wholly different from any burial sites previously discovered. Chinese characters are inscribed on some of the bricks.
Nguyen Thi Mai Huong, a representative at the Institute of Historical Research said that portions of a charred rice harvest have been preserved in the tomb.
An antique well was discovered a hundred meters from the tombs by archaeologist Nguyen Van Minh. The discoveries are presumed to date back to the same period. Following a preliminary review of the site, Minh and his colleagues presume that the objects belonged to the ancient denizens of the Red River.
The team intends to request permission to conduct further surveys around the site and have proposed a number of options going forward.
The team has suggested cordoning off the location and making the tomb available for public viewings.
The other option is to relocate all of the tomb’s contents to the Hanoi museum.
The worst option, the archaeologists say, would be to remove a few specific artifacts for research and then rebury the site to allow for construction to resume.

Source: Thanh Nien

Vietnamese girl missing in UK

Le Thi Thao in a photo released by Bristol police.

Police in Bristol city in southwest England are looking for a Vietnamese girl missing since April 17, BBC reported.
Le Thi Thao, 14, was last seen in Hartcliffe, Bristol last Sunday evening.

A spokeswoman of Bristol police said Thao speaks Vietnamese but very little English, and her disappearance is very out of character.

She is described as slim, 1.57m tall, with straight, shoulder-length black hair. Anyone with information is asked to contact police.

The police did not inform with whom the girl is living and for what purposes she is living in the UK.

The Vietnamese Embassy in London was unavailable for comment.

Thanh Nien