A New Year’s postcard from Peter Ng of Malaysia

B: Roseanna Lakeland of Hampshire, the UK, wrote: “I hope everything is happy and healthy with you all! I'm looking forward to the year of the Cat. It sounded like the Year of the Tiger was a good year for Vietnam's economic and social recoveries. VOV is a fantastic service. I wouldn't know much about Vietnam without VOV. The tradition of Tet or Lunar New Year sounds lovely. It's wonderful to know there are Vietnamese communities around the world. Where I live I hear fireworks outside as I type this email.”

A: Thank you Roseanna for your New Year’s wishes. We are happy to hear that VOV’s programs are meaningful to you and many others around the world who want know more about Vietnam and its culture.

B: Andy Martynyuk of Russia emailed us a New Year's greeting, which said,  “Let me wish you peace, prosperity, health and success in all of your activities! I do hope in 2023 our interaction and corporation will develop.”

A: We’ll surely do. We’re looking forward to receiving regular feedback from you.

B: Ding Lu of China said: “I wish the friends of the Voice of Vietnam’s English Broadcasting all the best in the Year of the Cat!” 

A: Here I have a New Year’s postcard from Peter Ng of Malaysia. The postcard features a golden Rabbit sitting in a pot full of gold ingot on bright red gradient background. In many Asian countries, gold and red are typical colors of prosperity and happiness.

B: Thank you very much listeners for your New Year’s wishes as well your support for VOV over the years. After the Lunar New Year celebration, the spring festival season will last for about 3 months in Vietnam.

A: In the old day when agricultural production depended largely on nature, Vietnamese farmers organized many rituals and worships in spring, the first season of the year, to pray for favorable weather and blessing from supernatural forces. Until now localities hold spring festivals as a long-standing tradition. They are not simply annual festivals but also occasions for people to visit their friends and neighbors and people away from home to reunite with families. 

B: There are several famous spring festivals that attract a large number of visitors. Buddhism plays an important part in the spiritual life of Vietnamese people. So visiting pagodas to pray for luck is one of the oldest customs in Vietnam.

A: Huong (Perfume) pagoda is one of Vietnam’s Buddhism centers since the 15th century. The complex of pagodas, which is about 60 kilometers south of Hanoi, is surrounded by limestone mountains and streams. Huong Pagoda is famous for its sacredness as well as beautiful natural landscape.

B: Rowing a boat for sight-seeing and visiting pagodas scattered in the Huong Mountain attracts both Buddhist and non-Buddhist followers. Huong Pagoda Festival is the longest one in Vietnam, which lasts from the 6^th day of the first lunar month to the end of March.

A: Lim Festival featuring Quan Ho Alternate Singing is the biggest festival in Hanoi’s neighboring province of Bac Ninh which takes place from January 11-14. Quan Ho folk singing was recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

B: It begins with a procession ritual dedicated to the local deities. Then comes the festival featuring Quan Ho alternate singing sessions and folk games such as martial arts, wrestling, chess matches, weaving competitions, cooking rice, and so on. Singing teams coming from villages in Bac Ninh province stand on boats in a lake and sing back and forth. 

A: Yen Tu Festival is an important Buddhist festival in Vietnam, which lasts from January 10 to March in the lunar calendar. Yen Tu Pagoda is a complex of pagodas and temples located on Yen Tu mountain in the northern border province of Quang Ninh. From the 13^th century, this land was more well-known when becoming a cradle of the Vietnamese Zen Buddhism.

B: King Tran Nhan Tong gave up the throne to his son and went to Yen Tu Mountain to practice Buddhism in 1299. Yen Tu Pagoda has since then become the holy place of Zen Buddhism. In the past people had to climb thousands of stone steps on foot to visit all pagodas in Yen Tu Mountain. Now a cable car system is available to transport passengers from the foot of the mountain to every pagoda within 20 minutes. But a lot of pilgrims still climb on foot to show their devotion to Buddha.

A: Siddhartha Bhattacharjee of India tuned in to VOV’s program on January 16 on the frequency of 7220khz. He used a receiver Model- Xdata 808 and rated SIO at all 4s.

B: He asked “Does Vietnam celebrate National Day of the Girl Child? What is ratio of girls and boys in your country?” 

A: Thanks for the question! Vietnam has conducted numerous activities to respond to International Day of the Girl Child on October 11. Last year’s international theme was “Our time is now-our rights, our future” and the Day in Vietnam was themed “Promoting gender equality contributes to reducing sex imbalance at birth”.

B: The Vietnam Women’s Union reported that communications programs have focused on popularizing the policy and laws on gender equality and children protection such as the Law on Gender Equality, the Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control, and the Law on Marriage and Family. It aims to enhance public awareness of the role and position of girl child and women in general, especially in families with all children being girls.

A: The General Office for Population and Family Planning reported that Vietnam’s gender ratio at birth has reached 112 boys per 100 girls in 2021. Deputy Director Pham Vu Hoang said that the imbalance started in Vietnam in 2006 and has increased fast in both urban and rural areas. In addition, new techniques for gender selection have increased dramatically in recent times, despite regulations prohibiting fetal sex determination and all forms of sex selection.

B: Legal regulations banning sex selection by parents and punishments have been popularized, along with the real situation, reasons, and consequences of sex imbalance at birth, thus improving public awareness and changing outdated perceptions on gender equality.

A: This week we acknowledge an email from Abdul Mannan of Bangladesh, who tuned in to the English program on 7220 khz and rated the reception condition as excellent.

B: Marco Hommel of Germany reported listening to VOV’s English program on the frequency of 11885 khz and rated SINPO at 44433.

A: Kamal Hossain of Bangladesh sent us a New Year’s greeting and said he visited VOV’s website several times in a day.

B Thank you so much, listeners, for your interest in VOV. 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. You’re invited to visit us online at vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs.

B: Check out our VOV Media App, available on both the 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 for listening. Goodbye!