Hue Festival 2012 will feature a wide range of interesting activities not just in Hue city, but also in districts and towns in Thua Thien Hue province. In addition to major festivities including major opening and closing performances, a royal worshiping ritual, a royal court music performance and fashion shows of traditional costumes, many seminars will be held to evaluate cultural values and impacts of Hue festivals over the past years. Hue Festival 2012 is part of the National Heritage Tourism year in central coastal regions which are home to major national heritages. Thua Thien Hue province is the meeting place of north-central and south central regions and Da Nang, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh cities.

 

Ngu Phung Palace

Since late last month, several activities have been held ahead of the Hue festival. 200 youngsters joined a dance in the February 3^rd Park to respond to the Youth Month and created an echo for the Hue Festival. Tours of rural villages and garden houses in Hue have also been promoted. "I’m very interesting in visiting Hue, especially Hue garden houses which have been well preserved. Through these tours, I learned more about our past and your past. Vietnamese people are open and hospitable", said Sperri Issabelle,  a French tourist.

Painters Nguyen Duy Hien, Tran Huu Nhat and Nguyen Hoang Viet attend this festival with a project on setting up a Painting Street with the theme “Honoring Vietnam, its land and people and Hue cultural identity”. These painters have completed 2012 paintings on canvas and papers which will be exhibited along routes from Nam Giao Worshiping Platform to Tu Duc Mausoleum and along Le Ngoc Cat, Huyen Tran Cong Chua and Doan Nhu Hai streets. The paintings express the romance of Hue, local people and artists. "I’m a Hue artist and I want to contribute to promote Hue culture through this painting exhibition. Here, we have both abstract and semi abstract paintings and those depicting young girls and wild animals. This is a community art and we want everybody can enjoy these paintings", said painter Nguyen Duy Hien .

 

Mr. Ngo Hoa, Thua Thien Hue Province People’s Committee Deputy Chairman, who is also the Chief Organizer of the Festival says that the festival will be held in a wider space and honor unique intangible cultural values. Mr. Hoa says the province has upgraded local infrastructure to serve the festival. "We have paid a due attention to improving local tourism environment. We asked Directors of Hotels to list their prices and encouraged small traders in Dong Ba and An Cuu markets to promote hospitality to both foreign Vietnamese and foreign tourists", said Mr. Hoa.

A grand ceremony to honor aspiration for peace of Vietnamese and world people will also be held during the festival.