A: Today, Vietnamese people nationwide celebrate the death anniversary of the Hung Kings. The Hung Kings Temple Festival is Vietnam’s most important and sacred festival dedicated to the Hung Kings, the founders of the Vietnamese nation.

Thousands of visitors attend the Hung Kings Temple festival

B: A number of cultural activities are taking place at the Hung Kings Temple relic site in Phu Tho province to mark the Hung Kings’ Death Anniversary and Hung Kings Temple Festival 2018.

A: During the festival, Vietnamese people from all over the country as well as abroad head to the Hung Kings Temple on Nghia Linh Mountain in Phu Tho province, to take part in this historic event. It begins with the worship of the Hung Kings at the Upper Temple with offerings of five-fruit trays, specialties from many regions, and, indispensably, some “chung” cakes and “day” cakes, two traditional foods of Vietnam.

A wide range of culture and sport activities are held at the Hung Kings Temple Festival

B: The festival features such folk games as bamboo swinging, throwing a sacred ball through a ring, rice cooking competitions, lion dances, human chess, water puppet performances, wrestling, and crossbow shooting. The folk games recall the lifestyle of Vietnamese ancestors and display the strength of the human spirit. Visitors also enjoy “Xoan” singing performances, an art genre recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

A: Today, we’d like to welcome Dilipkumar Sakkar of India to VOV. Mr. Sakkar listened to our broadcast on April 21 from 14:00 to 14:30 UTC on the frequency of 7210 khz and rated SINPO at all 4s. We’ll send you a QSL card, frequency list and program schedule. Thank you for tuning in to VOV.

B: We’d like to say hello to Kyriakos Dritsas of Greece, who tuned in to VOV on April 18 from 19:00 to 19:27 UTC on the frequency of 7280. In his email to VOV this week, he wrote: “I’m 66 years old and I am retired. I started shortwave listening and Dxing in 1976. Now that the good old days of shortwave have passed, I spend my time listening to the stations which remain till now on the airwaves, because it is an immense pleasure for me, especially stations with strong signals like yours. I live in Thessaloniki with my wife, children and grandchildren.”

A: Mr. Dritsas continued: “I really enjoy listening to your station especially because you have a program with wide variety. Also, the signal was very strong and as a result it was very pleasant for me to listen to your transmission.” Thank you, Mr. Dritsas for tuning in to our broadcast.  We’ll confirm your report with a QSL card and send you our program schedule and frequency list. We hope to hear more from you.

B: Siddhartha Bhattacharjee of India listened to our broadcast on April 20 from 16:00 to 16:30 UTC on the frequency of 7220. This week, he asked about rice production in Vietnam.

A: Rice has long been one of Vietnam’s most competitive agricultural products in the global market. Vietnam is the second-largest rice exporter in the world after Thailand. Vietnam's land area of 33 million ha contains three ecosystems that dictate rice culture. These are the southern delta with its Mekong Delta dominating rice coverage, the northern delta, a tropical monsoon area with cold winters, and the highlands of the north with upland rice varieties. The most prominent irrigated rice system is the Mekong Delta. Rice is a staple of the national diet and is seen as a "gift from God".

B: The Mekong River and its tributaries are crucial to rice production in Vietnam. A total of 12 provinces constitute the Mekong Delta, popularly known as the "Rice Bowl" of Vietnam, which contain some 17 million people with 80% of them engaged in rice cultivation.

A: Vietnam considers rice a strategic and irreplaceable component of its farm production. The Government has included rice production in 2 of the 3 major national economic programs and have invested heavily in irrigation, seedlings, and intensive and extensive farming development. Vietnam aims to maintain its position as one of the world’s top rice exporters but also ensure that its rice has the best possible added values in the next few decades by meeting universal standards of nutrition and health.

A: Vietnamese rice is now available in 150 countries with major markets including China, the Philippines, Malaysia, and the Ivory Coast. Vietnam aims to build sustainable rice production zones and earn a global reputation for Vietnamese rice in terms of quality and food safety by 2030.  

B: In his first letter to VOV this week, Ye Guanxi, a Chinese student in China, wrote: “I’m your new listener from China. This is my first letter to VOV English Section. I like listening to music and I’m also curious about music of other countries. The first time I heard Vietnamese music was last year. In 2017, I discovered a lot of shortwave radio stations. Once I tuned in a program on 12020 khz, I found a VOV program in Chinese. I became interested in it immediately. Now I also listened to VOV English program. I received a VOV English program on March 12, 2018 from 10:00 to 10:25 UTC on the frequency of 12020 khz. SINPO was 43344. Sometimes, the signal was weak. But most of the time it was clear.”

A: Thank you, Ye Guanxi, for your support for VOV. We’ll confirm your reception with a QSL and send you our frequency list and program schedule.

B: Sending feedback to our broadcast on April 19 from 01:00 to 01:30 on 7315 Khz, Rick Covert of the US wrote: “Some topics of the broadcast included a discussion of Vietnamese coffee. I have had it and it is awesome! Discussion of the 50th anniversary of the Tet Offensive, conducted by the North Vietnamese Army and guerrillas in the South against U.S. and South Vietnamese army forces in the listener mail.”

A: Thank you, Mr. Covert for your comment on our programs. This is the first time we’ve received feedback from you. We hope to hear more from you.

B: Writing to VOV this week, Shyamal Kumar Banerjee of India complained about not receiving feedback from us for the last two months though he had sent us several mails. Mr. Banerjee, we’ll check with our staff and send you QSL cards to confirm your reports. 

B; We’d like to acknowledge letters and emails from Peter Ng of Malaysia, Tapan Basak of India, Reginaldo Zucoloto of Brazil, Chinmoy Mahato of India, Shariful Islam Sharif of Bangladesh, and Eddy Prabowo of Indonesia. We greatly appreciate your feedback and comments on the technical aspects of our programming. We’ll confirm your reports with QSL cards soon.

A: We welcome your feedback at: English section, VOVworld, Radio the Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn. You’re invited to visit us online at vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs. Check out our VOV Media App available on both IOS and Android platforms to hear our live broadcasts. We look forward to your feedback on the mobile version of vovworld.vn. Once again, thank you all. Good bye until next time.