(VOVworld) – Vietnam’s cultural symbols such as lotus, tortoise, conical hat and martial arts have been featured at the Paris tropical carnival 2013. This has been the first time Vietnam joined such a festival, where a van decorated with a pink lotus followed by charming girls wearing ao dai traditional dresses and conical hats entertained the festival goers. Vietnamese ambassador to France Duong Chi Dung said: “This unique festival honor cultural diversity of ethnic communities in Paris. Vietnam’s participation showed our active integration and contributions of cultural essence to the French society. We think that this is an important event and one of cultural diplomatic activities to promote the Vietnamese cultural values and contribute to cultural diversity in France”.

The carnival is held annually in Paris over the past 11 years. In this year’s festival, more than 4,000 artists and 200,000 spectators were involved.