EngLish hue festival

Hue Festival
Rising from the initial success of Vietnam-France Gathering in 1992
between Hue City and Vietnam-France Codev Association, the idea of
organizing a larger-scale, higher-quality festival in Thua Thien Hue
province has gradually come into shape.
By the end of 1998 and the early 1999, thanks to the co-operation and
support extended by the French Government via the French Embassy to
Vietnam, and direct assistance from the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture and
Information, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, and other Ministries; the People’s Committee of Thua
Thien Hue Province officially requested the approval of the Government to
allow Thua Thien Hue Province collaborating with the French Embassy to
organize the Hue Festival 2000 – an international festival of culture, arts,
and tourism of the country ever held in Vietnam.

Hue Festival 2000
Hue Festival 2000 took place within 12 days and nights with the
participation of more than 30 Vietnamese and French art groups, over 1,000
artists and professional and amateur actors and actresses. It gathered
approximately 410,000 people, including 41,000 tourists and 6,000 foreign
visitors. The Hue Festival 2000 was, in deed, the national festival of


international scale on culture, arts, tourism, and a forum to promote
economic and cultural exchanges, which in its turn, would contribute to
restore the economy of Thua Thien Hue Province after the historic flood in
1999. It was expected to highlight comparative advantages of Thua Thien
Hue Province in culture and tourism.
There will be over 600 young artists, students or schoolchildren of the
City of Hue taking part in this opening ceremony, which is intended to
be a hymn to solidarity among communities and to building a brighter

future.
There will be over 600 young artists, students or schoolchildren of the City
of Hue taking part in this opening ceremony, which is intended to be a hymn
to solidarity among communities and to building a brighter future. The first
tableau, in the form of a choreographic poem, will compose a tribute to the
homeland. The second, an epicode, will evoke the ancient capital of Hue.
The third and final tableau will connote the contribution of tradition to
modern life.

Hue Festival 2002
Building on the success of Hue Festival 2000, Hue Festival 2002 was
continued to be held with the co-operation between Thua Thien Hue
Province and the Embassy of France in Vietnam, the participation of various
ASEAN countries and other partners, such as China, Japan, and Korea. It
brought about high appreciation not only nationwide but also throughout the
world. Based on these achievements, the Government allowed Hue City to
be developed as a city of festival of Vietnam and continued the organization


of international festivals which assume to be held periodically every two
years.

Hue Festival 2002 continued developing the theme “Discovering the
lifestyle of Hue people” with linkages to the expansion of international
exchanges. It took place in 12 days and nights. One month before the
Opening Ceremony, the Festival was warmed up by the International
Sculpture Symposium “Impression of Hue – Vietnam”. Thirty three typical
art troupes from France, China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, and
Cambodia and also domestic art troupes with 1,554 artists, actors and
actresses, technical staff participated in this festival.

It welcomed over 1 million audience and 75,000 tourists, including 18,000
foreign visitors (increasing threefold in comparison with Hue Festival 2000).
Hue Festival 2002, an international festival of national scale, was evidently
creating a spreading resonance worldwide. It has been the pre-requisite to
make Hue the city of festival of Vietnam.
Festival night in Gia Hoi Old Quarter
Among ancient quarters in Hue, the area of Gia Hoi- Cho Dinh was known
as the most typical business center of the capital city under Nguyen Dynasty.
Among ancient quarters in Hue, the area of Gia Hoi- Cho Dinh was known
as the most typical business center of the capital city under Nguyen Dynasty.
There was a gathering of palaces, temples as well as residence of aristocratic
class and royal mandarins with a lot of business sites and famous markets of
Hue ancient capital. The combination of cultural and religious installation of
the Vietnamese, Chinese and Indian made this site become a crowded and


famous business center. Festival night appears to be a brand- new activity in
this Festival.
Village Market Fair
Located in villages of alluring scenery, the Village Market Fair will take
tourists to a village market day during the Festival. The market will open up
on Thanh Toan Tile Bridge, next to a small lyric river.
Located in villages of alluring scenery, the Village Market Fair will take
tourists to a village market day during the Festival. The market will open up
on Thanh Toan Tile Bridge, next to a small lyric river. Going to the market,
people will not only buy regional products but also taste popular dishes and
play games and enjoy the pastoral scenery. Furthermore, they will also
participate in daily activities of farmers in the time of harvest such as paddy
threshing, rice pounding and water threshing by foot, etc. In the afternoon,
tourists can take part in cultural activities such as Singing while pounding

the rice, Opera and poem chanting or reciting shows, etc. Each tour will
include a day for going to the village market fair.
Water Puppet Dangcing (Vietnamese Puppet Theatre, Hai Phong Water
Puppet Troupe)
Water plays an indispensable part in the charming landscapes of rivers and
mountains of Vietnam.
Water is alwaysuncontrollable and also essential elements for rice
cultivation. Considered as an untamable factor, water is used in different
ceremonies which was the foubdation for water puppet dancing to come into
being and develop popularly in the Northern deltas of Vietnam. Puppets are
handmade from wood and controlled with an integrated set of poles, rods
and cords. Standing in water, artists operate puppets skillfully
Little stars Troupe
The dance art troupe was founded in September 1995. It originally included
fifteen children from the 8 to 11 years old.
Now, this troupe has 150 children at the age of 5 to 14 and is sponsored by
the Bong Sen Music, Dance and Song Art Troupe. The leaders of the troupe
consist of the famous dance artists such as avant-garde teacher Kim Dung,
Vice rector of Ho Chi Minh City Dance school, avant-garde artists Dang
Hung and Vuong Linh. The troupe has presented dance works with high
educational content for many years.


The Little Star dance toupe will come to Festival Hue with a general
program including the most special and selective items.
The “Ao dai” Fashion Show
The “Ao dai” Fashion Show, which gathers ten well- known designers of the
country
The “Ao dai” Fashion Show, which gathers ten well- known designers of the
country: Phan Quang Tan, Ngan Khai, Bao Kim, Trong Nguyen, Dieu Anh,

The Bao, Si Hoang, Quoc Binh, Thanh Phuong and Minh Hanh and 550
models selected from Hai Ba Trung and Nguyen Hue Hight Schools, and
550 costumes, will take place in the traditional music melody on Truong
Tien Bridge. This will be an impressive show for respecting the unique
charming beauty of Vietnamese Ao Dai.
Hue Festival 2004 entitled “Cultural Heritage with Integration and
Development” took place within 9 days and nights. Pre-event activities were
launched one month in advance, such as the International Sculpture
Symposium “Impression of Hue – Vietnam”, Folk Sculpture Symposium,
Hue Poetry Festival and various festivities. There were 15 foreign art
troupes from France, China, Argentina, Australia, India, Germany, and
America; 25 domestic art troupes with 1,300 professional actors and
actresses, nearly 2,000 amateur actors and actresses, and technical staff. This
Festival attracted 1.2 million audiences, 101,950 tourists, among which there
were 11,950 foreign tourists. As a cultural and tourist festival of national and
international scale, Hue Festival 2004 introduced specific artistic values of
Vietnam, Hue, and other countries throughout the world. It was also an
opportunity to praise Hue Court Music, a masterpiece of the oral and
intangible heritage of humanity, which was recognized by UNESCO and
continuously created motivation to boost the development of economy,
tourism, and culture, affirming advantages of a city of festival in Vietnam.

Festival Hue 2004
Festival Hue 2004 will fall on June 12-20 with the theme ''Cultural heritage
with integration and development''. It'll be a cultural- tourist festival covered
by the cultural identities of Hue as well as Vietnam. Following the successes
of Festivals 2000 and 2002, the biennial festival aims to building Hue into a
specific Festival city in the country.
Festival Hue 2004 will begin with the International Sculpture Symposium
“Impression of Hue-Vietnam 2004" held from May 10, one month before the

official opening on June 12. The symposium will attract more than 30
sculptors from all over the world to the banks of the Perfume River.
Ngo Mon Square at night will be a grandiose stage for the opening ceremony
which includes a rich polychromatic arts performance, showing the
quintescence of the traditional arts in Hue as well as in Vietnam in harmony
with contemporary arts. The program will particularly aim to honouring
royal elegant music (nha nhac) - the first heritage in Vietnam proclaimed as
a masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by the
UNESCO. Earlier in the morning, a lively and colourful demonstration will
be attended by Vietnamese and foreign artists.
The organisation board said within 9 days and nights, Festival Hue 2004 will
be organised into three tours, each lasting for three days. Each tour will have
an exclusive day for festival as well as distinctive and special activities
performed by artists from Vietnam, France, China, Russia and Argentina in
IN progammes (academic arts performances) and OFF programmes
(community festival activities). Moreover, many vivid and attractive tourist
programs will be arranged.
Each tour will begin with a musical feast introducing Hue's gastronomy.
Throughout the dinner, visitors will be surprised and fascinated by the
French fireworks magician Pierre Alain Hubert and other French and
Vietnamese artists. The arts performances from Vietnam, presented by
different theaters, famous artists from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Hue, the
Highlands and Viet Bac will extol the beauty and the diversity of
Vietnamese and Hue cultures.
The center of the Festival will be the charming space of the Citadel at night
with varied arts shows and luxurious feasts. Aside from the Citadel, An Dinh
Palace, Tinh Tam lake and other places in Hue city will be festival hubs and
full of impressive large-scale arts performances. Everywhere in the city of

Hue are arts shows, traditional festivals and games, food centres, fairs of
handicrafts, tourism, and trade.
Co-managers of Festival Hue 2004 are the Ministry of Culture and
Information, the Ministry of Police, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the
Vietnam's National Administration of Tourism, Vietnam Airlines,
representatives of French Government and Embassy in Vietnam. People's
Artist Trung Kien is still the director of the festival on Vietnamese side.
Apart from local artists, two French experts Philippe Boulert and Laurant
Lahaut will be Kien's assistants as production director and technical director.


The French director is Claude Mathis. Le Viet Xe, Deputy Chairman of the
local provincial people's committee and head of the organisation board in
previous festivals will be Festival Director.
Nguyen Xuan Hoa, the head of Thua Thien Hue's Department of Culture and
Information and a deputy of the organisation board said, "Festival Hue 2004
will have a more effective structure in managing and organisation. Festival
Hue is not only a festive activity. Therefore, it'll be held by Festival
technology and obey international Festival technology."
At Festival Hue 2004, the Theater of Music, Dance and Song, the Theatre of
Music, Dance and Opera as well as the Dancing College will release special
new perfomances. Designer Minh Hanh will introduce her new collection
called "Return to Paradise" of stylized "ao dai" in an Oriental creative style.
Famous artists will present the delicacy and beautiful melody of Vietnam's
traditional music of the North, the Central and the South in "Vietnam
Timbre". Hue's royal ballet, traditional music will be performed in an
attractive Citadel at night.
The French as the main partner of Festivals Hue will bring to Hue special
perfomances. The opera "W.H.A" is directed by Régine Chopinot of the
Atlantique Ballet Troupe and performed by artists of Vietnam's Theater of

Music, Dance and Opera. A concert called "The story of a soldier" (Histoire
du soldat) will be conducted by French conductors Xavier Rist and Marcia
Fiani within the beautiful precinct of Duyet Thi Duong Theater. Illustrative
art once again exceeds all the influences. The works to be introduced to the
public are tools and equipment which are impressively arranged, attracting
the attention of unprofessional artists and understandable to the public.
Artists from China, Russia and Argentina will introduce the uniqueness and
diversity of their cultures. Guangdong's Circus and Lion dancing troupe will
perform the magic skills of Oriental traditional arts. Russian representatives
are the Troupe of folk music and dance who give visitors Russia's bustling
dance and beautiful melodies. Argentina will send a tango troupe called
"Tango Emotion Enrique Cuttini" who bring the ebullient music of South
America and a troupe named after Maria Angelica Diehl de Damerau, a
well-known opera singer.
Festival Hue 2004 will be a gathering for cultural and arts exchange,
including galleries of paintings, photography, and calligraphy. The Festival
will reflect the local living style of Hue with different local entertainment
activities like kite flying, boat racing, folk music, boat trips on the Huong


River, Hue garden tours, and much more. It will be the first time a Puppetry
Festival to be held and attended by 15 puppetry troupes from Nam Dinh,
Thai Binh, Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Ha Tay, Hanoi and Hue.
Festival Hue 2004 will close with a traditional lantern night, with musical
performance along the Perfume River

Hue Festival 2006
Hue Festival 2006 with the theme “700 years of the land of Thuan Hoa –
Phu Xuan – Thua Thien Hue, Cultural Heritage with Integration and
Development” gathered 1,440 artists, actors and actresses of 22 domestic art

troupes (1,171 actors and actresses) and 22 foreign art troupes (269 actors
and actresses) from France, China, Russia, Korea, Japan, Thailand, UK,
Argentina, Indonesia, and Australia.
Building up the achievements and experience from previous festivals, Hue
Festival 2006 successfully obtained its objectives and attracted as many as
1.5 million audiences. Together with warm-up activities taking place one
month before the event, Hue Festival 2006, lasted from June 3 to 11,
showcased 138 performances, over 40 cultural festivities and community
events. It was said as a fascinating and impressive festival featured with
perfect blending of traditional and contempoary arts, deserving a
professional and international festival of Vietnam. Again, it contributed to
reviving cultural values of Vietnam and Hue, and rendering the image of
Hue Ancient Capital to the world community – a City of Festivals in
Vietnam.
Royal Court music exchange Vietnam – Korea – Japan
This is the first time the Vietnamese audience and international tourists
have a chance to participate in such a special Royal Court Music
Exchange that brings under one roof three diverse and distinguished
royal music traditions.
The Hue Royal Music Program boasts of new stage direction, with an
edition of songs that have been recently collected and revived. There is also
an exchange of music between Hue Royal Court anf the Korean Royal
Court Music Aak and the Japanese Royal court Music Gagaku. The Korean
group hails from Gyeongyu, the ancient capital of Korea. The Japanese
group hails from Okinawa, with 15 people, 7 musicians and 7 dancers. This
is the first time the Vietnamese audience and international tourists have a


chance to participate in such a special Royal Court Music Exchange that
brings under one roof three diverse and distinguished royal music traditions.

Chinese dramatics
Van Nam Dramatics Theater, since 1951, is a typical dramatic performing
organization in China.
It gained popularity at many generations such as: Lat Thanh Chi, Truc Bat
Am, La Huong Pho, Bich Kim Ngoc, Uy Thieu Ban, Banh Quoc Tran,Van
Tuong Trinh, Chu Hue Nong, Ly Thieu Ngu, Vuong Ngoc Tran, Duong Ho
Quan, Tran Vinh Sinh.... At Hue Festival 2006, Van Nam Dramatics Theater
will perform the dramatics acts- art form with unique, attractive and
traditional aspects-together with special Chinese dance.
Exhibition
A typical exhibition festival will happen along many streets, in exhibition
houses with many kids of diversified art forms.
This is the 3rd time the Painter Le Ba Dang has participated in Hue Festival
2006 with his Le Bang Dang House newly built next to the Huong River in
which talented and impressed art forms will be on display.
This is the 4th time Dao Hoa Nu has continuously participated in Hue
Festival 2006 with very own her new collection showing the architecture of
Nguyen Dynasty. Fine Arts Fair will be taken place at Thuong Bac Parking
locating on walking street Nguyen Dinh Chieu with Calligraphy Garden,
Pictures created by a collective, market for books on sale, souvernirs, legend
traditional toys, street music and portrait sketch. There are also exhibition of
art pictures of “ Hue – Sai Gon – Ha Noi”, exhibition of “The Fine Art of
Thua Thien Hue”, exhibition of “The works of the late Painter Pham Dang
Tri”, exhibition of “ Pictures by Pham Luc”, exhibition of “The Fine Art of
North Vietnam Delta”, exhibition of “Pictures of Sinh Village”, exhibition
of “Art arrangement of paper flowers by Thanh Tien Village”, exhibition of
“Art arrangement of Tintinnabulum Garden”. The Administration Center of
Hue ancient capital vestige preservation will specially exhibite precious and
unique porcelain lotus and calligraphy grouping items. This is the first time
this Administration Center will have shown restored grouping porcelain

items including household goods, sacrifices and prayer goods, ceremonial
goods, decoration goods and some other very ancient goods together with
poems about Hue Royal Kings and Lords and other poems about very
ancient Hue in Han Chinese calligraphy performed by Hai Trung.

Ao dai performance sparkles


Overseas Vietnamese artist’s dream realised in Hue. It's not difficult for a
visitor to Hue these days to see a traditional Vietnamese ao dai. However,
the hundreds of ao dai designs featured in a glamorous performance at Hue
Festival 2006 last night intrigued visitors.
The innovative ao dai with subtly different designs and glamorous colours
were worn by beautiful fashion models from Hanoi, HCM city and Hue on
the poetic Huong river under the glittering lights of a firework-lit night.
Entitled Colour of the Time, the performance featured works from 10
prominent Vietnamese designers. The 300 designs were inspired by the
central city's antique charm, picturesque landscapes, and the images of birds,
plants and flowers.
The collections included: Thu Giang's Phoenix collection; Anh Vu's Patterns
from the Royal Palace, Xuan Thu's Dragon and Cloud, Cong Khanh's
Patterns on Pottery-Porcelain, and Minh Hanh's Hue Citadel Gates.
All showed innovation in the Vietnamese designers' use of paint, embroidery
and other special embellishments. And each collection was woven on hightech Toan Thinh silk.
Accompanied by the music of Trinh Cong Son, the performance started
impressively when each designer sat with 25 fashion models on the same
sampan floating along the river to greet the spectators.
Surrounding each sampan were 10 little boats, which created a special stage
for the performance. On land, 50 girls in traditional ao dai drove their
bicycles leisurely along Trang Tien bridge as the glittering firework

performance was launched by French artist Pierre Alain Hubert.
According to designer Minh Hanh, the general director of the performance,
the sampan on the Huong River and the Trang Tien vaporous bridge were
two typical images of the city and that was why they were selected as the
main "stages" for the event.
This was the second time an ao dai event of this magnitude was launched at
the biannual Hue Festival, but what made this performance groundbreaking
was the special stages and the combination of modern and traditional
elements in each collection.
As most of the designers were also artists, they viewed the ao dai as a sort of
canvas for their art.
Hue Festival 2008


This time it has a record-breaking participation from domestic and foreign
art groups, with a total of 40 programs from 20 nations and 4 continents
including Asia, Europe, North America and Australia. Hue, the host city, has
meticulous prepared programs and activities for this special festival.
Right after the closure of the Hue Festival 2006, Hue has started without
delay its preparation for the Hue Festival 2008. The program of this year’s
festival highlights seven great festivities. In addition to the Nam Giao
Offering Ritual, Royal Palace by Night, and Ao Dai Grand Fashion Show
which were successfully showcased within previous festivals and will be
renewed on a higher scale this year, there are four novel festivities to be
introduced including the reenactments of Quang Trung Emperor’s
Coronation Ceremony, Xa Tac Offering Ritual, Military Mandarin Contest,
and
the
program
of

“Perfume
River’s
Legends”.
Just as Hue Festival 2006 was closing, Hue officials immediately started
preparation for Hue Festival 2008. This, the Hue Festival 2008, will include
7 great festivities. In addition to the three festivities successfully
organized in previous festivals, namely Nam Giao Offering Ritual, Royal
Palace by Night Performance, and Ao Dai Fashion Show, which will be reperformed with new content, four completely new festivities are planned.
They are the Enthronement Ceremony of Quang Trung Emperor, the Xa Tac
Offering Ritual (The prayer ceremony at Xa Tac Esplanade in Hue), the
Examination of Military Doctors, and “Discovering the Huong River
Legends” program.

New festivities
First is the Enthronement Ceremony of Quang Trung Emperor. This
ceremony honors the magnanimous and indomitable spirit and traditions of
the Vietnamese people. In 1788, our national hero, Nguyen Hue, had Ban
Mountain leveled to make an esplanade for the Heaven prayer rituals. He
was then enthroned king with the title of Quang Trung. Then to legitimate
his throne and to garner the people’s support, King Nguyen Hue, led a great
army North and defeated an army of Manchu invaders, 29 thousands soldiers
strong. The Enthronement Ceremony of Quang Trung Emperor will be
recreated monumentally at the historical site of Ban Mountain with the key
participation of hundreds of Hue actors and martial arts students to the
sonority of Tay Son – Binh Dinh martial music. To prepare for this
ceremony, from 2007 until the present time, the embellishment project of
Ban Mountain, an area of 32 hectares, has been rapidly moving forward. The
ceremonial program has been developed and refined. Director Nguyen Quoc
Hung, of Ho Chi Minh City Television Station, will be in charge of this

program. Certainly, this ceremony will be very popular with tourists and
local inhabitants alike.

Xa Tac Offering Ritual, in ancient times during the Nguyen Dynasty, had
been an important royal ceremony taking place in spring and autumn. This is
a ceremony honoring the God of Land (Xa) and the God of Cereals (Tac)
with the desire for an abundant harvest and prosperities. From the early
Nguyen Dynasty, Gia Long King ordered the establishment of the Xa Tac
esplanade to the west of the royal citadel with clean soil collected from
different localities through out the whole country. Fortunately, this
esplanade has survived with little damage when compared to other Xa Tac
esplanades in Vietnam. The re-enactment of Xa Tac Rituals is not only to
revive and conserve a traditional royal ceremonial but also to honor
domestic agriculture and traditional culture. Hue Monument Conservation
Centre is rapidly implementing an archeological survey project of the Xa
Tac historical area, and simultaneously coordinating with the Vietnam
Institute for Building Science and Technology (IBST) to design an
embellishment project for this historical monument. The program for the Xa
Tac Rituals has been completed. There will be a royal procession (of about
300 people participating with sufficient pomp and ceremonials, flags and
fans) departing from Ngo Mon Gate and proceeding to Xa Tac Esplanade.
The ceremonial of Xa Tac Offering Ritual will be re-enacted as authentically
as the ancient ceremony.


The Examination of Military Doctors: This festival is to honor the martial
tradition of Vietnamese people and simultaneously create a novel and unique
tourism product. At the Hue Capital, under Nguyen Dynasty, Minh Mang
King had a Temple of Military built (located next to the Temple of

Literature) to honor martial arts and persons who have served the country
well. The Court organized three examinations of Military Doctors, selecting
12 Doctors and 22 Junior Doctors. Names of these Military Doctors were
carved on the stone steles, which were placed at the Temple of Military’s
yard. In ancient times, the Examination of Military Doctors lasted for
months with different sections taking place; therefore, the re-performance of
these examinations in the form of a festivity can only be in a simplified
scenario. According to the scenario, the examination of Military Doctors
will take place at Phu Van Lau Square – Nghenh Luong Dinh. It is a lovely
spot located near Highway 1A and the Huong River. The content of the
festivity is the combination of Military Doctors’ final examination and the
performance of Vietnamese special traditional martial arts. The Organization
Committee of Festival Hue has received a positive response from traditional
martial arts centers in that locality and from the Vietnamese Martial Arts
Union. Hue Monuments Conservation Centre, the unit in charge of this
festivity, has completed the written scenario and has actively prepared
human and material resources for the purpose of arrangement and practice.
Different from the above-mentioned traditional festivities, Discovering the
Perfume River’s Legends is a completely novel product for tourism
activities and public performance in this festival. The beautiful Huong River
flowing through Hue is naturally associated with numerous attractive


legends. Organizing a tour from the riverhead to the lower section to explore
these legends and admire the wonderful beauty of the river from sunset to
midnight is a truly remarkable idea. In addition, tourists will enjoy a royal
feast aboard boats, and join in a music performance at Phu Van Lau Wharf
before the tour ends. The Festival Organization Committee has assigned Hue
Monuments Conservation Centre to take charge of this program. For the
preparatory tasks of this event, the Centre had a Royal Boat made of wood

and designed in the Te Thong boat style of the Nguyen Dynasty’s emperors.
It is 6.5m in width and 27m in length with a maximum capacity of 100
people. According to the tentative scenario, the mentioned royal boat will be
in the center of a tourist boat group that will travel from the Bang Lang
confluence (near the wharf to Minh Mang king’s tomb) to Phu Van Lau. The
stage for performance activities will be set up on this historical river wharf.

And the festivities renewed in contents
Together with the above-mentioned new festivities, the traditional festivities
from previous Festivals have had their content updated and expanded to
enhance their attraction.
The Nam Giao Rituals will focus on prayer rituals at the esplanade.
According to the scenario, a royal procession will depart from Trai Cung (to
the Northwest of the esplanade) make its way to the main esplanade. The
ceremony will be held solemnly, monumentally, and precisely as it was
under the Nguyen Dynasty. Nam Giao Rituals surely will be attractive
because the music and dance performances are being meticulously prepared.
In particular, Hue Monument Conservation Centre, the unit in charge of the
festival, has coordinated with Mr.Trinh Bach, a researcher, to restore 128
sets of costumes for dancers performing Bat Dat Van (Bat Dat Literary
Dance) and Bat Dat Vo (Bat Dat Martial Dance) at the ceremony.
The Royal Night Performance was a festivity successfully held in Festival
2006. It was a re-enactment of the colorful royal life when night covered
everything. After Festival 2006, Hue Monument Conservation Centre turned
Royal Night into a special tourism product by performing this festivity sixth
times per month. At the end of 2007, together with Hue Royal Music, Royal
Night was awarded the Golden Cup of Vietnamese Trademarks Integrating
WTO. This time, Royal Night performance was re-activated on March 29
and performed regularly four times per month. Royal Night will be
improved step by step becoming extremely fascinating and monumental. It

will be performed on the 3rd, 6th and 9th of June in Festival with the artistic
guidance of Director Le Quy Duong.
The Grand Fashion Show of Ao dai, which had it origin in Hue, has been a
specific part of the Festival Hue during the previous four festivals. This
time, Ao dai Grand Show will be held in front of Hien Nhon gate. This twostory gate, decorated with beautiful porcelain pieces, will be the background
of Vietnamese Ao dai.

The Hue Festival 2008, with an abundance of festivities, novel in form and
content, together with many other cultural activities and community
festivities, will definitely be an desirable destination for tourists from all
parts of the world.


Festival 2010

Hue Festival 2010 - Cultural Heritage with Integration and development The rendezvous for Ancient Cities and World Cultural Heritages.
By the end of 1998 and beginning of 1999, the Government of Vietnam
permitted Thua Thien Hue province to organize the Hue Festival 2000 – the
first-ever international art, cultural and tourism festival of national scale in
Vietnam. Upon its brilliant successes, Hue Festival has been biennually held
in even years since then, and this contributes to the government’s decision to
build Hue the Festival City of Vietnam.
Over the past festivals, Hue Festival has achieved remarkable results. In
2000, Hue Festival received over 30 art troupes from Vietnam and France
with more than 1000 artists, both professional and non-professional
performers. The event attracted more than 410,000 spectators, in which there
were 41,000 tourists with 6,000 international visitors.
In 2002, there were 33 art groups representing 8 nations and typical art

groups of the country, comprising 1,554 artists, performers and technicians.
The event drew the participation of approximately 1 million spectators
including 75,000 tourists, out of which 18,000 were international visitors.
In 2004, 15 international art groups from 7 countries and 25 domestic
troupes totaling 1,300 professional performers, and almost 2,000 nonprofessional performers and technicians participated in the festival. It
received 1,2 million viewers, among them, there were 11,950 international
tourists out of 101,950 arrivals.


In 2006, the event gathered 1,440 artists and performers of 22 domestic art
groups (with 1,171 performers) and 22 international art troupes (with 269
performers) from 10 countries. It received 150,000 tourists, and among
which 20,557 were international visitors.
In 2008, the participation of over 1,500 artists from 37 Vietnamese art
groups and 457 artists from 31 foreign groups presented 133 performances
to the festival’s audience, and 90 community activities and festivities. The
event attracted 180,000 tourists, in which 30,000 were foreign visitors.
Taking the theme “Cultural heritage with Integration and Development”,
Hue Festival 2010 as the national premier art events to celebrate the
Millennium Anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi and to mark the 50th
anniversary of sister cities of Hanoi – Hue – Saigon. The event will be
launched on Saturday, June 5th, 2010 and concluded on Sunday evening of
June 13th, 2010. An unprecedented feature of the event stays in the fact that
this festival will be the gathering of art troupes from all 5 continents, from
ancient capitals and cities of world heritages. So far, there have been 40 art
groups and artists from 31 nations applied to participate Hue Festival 2010.
They are France – major partner, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Cambodia,
Central Africa, China, Cuba, Denmark, England, Poland, Germany, India,
Israel, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Laos, Mexico, Mongolia, Norway,
Russia, Scotland, Senegal, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraina,

United States and the host country, 31 programs from 21 countries have
been confirmed with diverse genres ranging from dance, music, circus,
drama. Not only stage performances in the city centre to be showcased by
international art groups, there are local and international performances at
stages outside the city, and well-known street performing groups will
animate the city during the festival.
Art groups and companies from Vietnam include renowned theatres and
companies, such as Thang Long Theatre, Bong Sen Theatre, provincial
dance and music companies of An Giang, Daklak, Phu Yen, Danang, Thua
Thien Hue Provincial Music Theatre Company, Hue Royal Traditional
Theatre, and art troupes from the three sister cities of Hue – Hanoi – HCM
City, World Heritage Cities, and from cities endowed with extraordinary
traditional arts.
Hue Festival 2010 will continue to take advantage of the unique settings of
previous festivals. Besides, performing venues will be expanded to the
vicinity of Hue and recently developed towns of the province as well as
newly-established cultural and sport facilities.


The Citadel still functions as the heart of Hue Festival with some 5 outdoor
stages and a number of theatres where exceptional performances are
showcased by excellent art troupes in country and abroad. Other performing
venues will also be set up at large such as Tinh Tam Lake, An Dinh Palace,
Ngo Mon Square, Southern part of the city and its outskirts.
Various venues in the districts of A Luoi, Nam Dong, Phu Loc, Huong
Thuy, Phu Vang, Phong Dien, Quang Dien will entertain the public with
performances of Vietnamese and international art troupes. Many satellites
venues to be arranged for Hue Festival 2010’s activities include Nguyen Van
Troi Park, Thuong Bac Park, February 3 Park, Nguyen Dinh Chieu
pedestrian road, Thuan An Beach, Lang Co Beach, Thanh Toan Roofed

Bridge, Phuoc Tich Ancient Village, the Memorial Park of the national’s
hero Quang Trung – Nguyen Hue, the Huyen Tran Princess sacred precinct,
and other.
A variety of unique festivities of large scale, well-staged and interesting
performances will take place all along 9 days of the festival, including the
Grand Opening and Closing ceremonies, Ao dai Grand Show, the “Oriental
Night” program, the performance of Viet’s Beauty of the second edition
called “the resonance of Ngan river”.
Royal rites and performances being reenacted in previous festivals will
artistically be improved such as Nam Giao Offering Ritual, Royal Palace by
Night and Legends of the Perfume River. To mark the 1000th Anniversary
of Thang Long – Hanoi and commemorate the event when Lord Nguyen
Phuc Lan decided to choose Kim Long as Nguyen dynasty’s capital, the
program called “Itinerary to reclaim the country’s land” and the reenactment
of a “Navy maneuver under the Nguyen Lords” will be showcased to
audiences.
Moreover, a wide range of fringe and socialized activities are themed in
accordance with guideline of the Organizing Committee to create an
ebullient ambiance, including a fête for children called “Summer’s cubes”.
Hue’s Poetry Festival, etc. Many cultural activities, festivities and
community performances will take place, just to name a few: the Art
exhibition of female painters and artists, exhibit of Ly Dynasty’s artefacts by
Vietnam’s Institute for Fine Arts, photographs and painting exposition by
Literature and Arts Associations from Hue, Hanoi, Phu Tho, Ninh Binh,
Thanh Hoa entitled: “From Ancient Capital to Ancient Capital”, the
exhibition of lacquer paintings called: “ A Self-narration of the Ancient
Capital”, and the display of royal honour-conferring diplomas and ancient


books, etc. Installation art works and street art performances will involve the

public days and nights. Particularly, the extensive display of street paintings
carried out by hundreds of Hue’s painters and students from Hue University
of Fine Arts on the floor of Trang Tien bridge and the installation show
named “For our Green Planet” with the participation of artists of all three
regions nationwide will excite festival’s viewers.
Scientific workshops and a festival called “Science in community life”
hosted by the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Hue in collaboration
with the Embassy of Italy and the University of Sassari will be taken place
for the first time as a scientific festival within Hue Festival. Other sport
activities including the National Tennis Team Tournament, Kite Plying Fête,
Traditional Martial Arts Gathering, Human Chess Competition, Sampan
Racing, as well as revitalization of “Hue’s traditional wedding ceremony” in
association with Hue gastronomy to serve the public, or a taste of Hue’s
vegetarian foods will amaze visitors during 9 days of festival.
Diverse tours of community – based tourism and eco-tourism will enable
visitors to discover the extraordinary beauty of the area, from Lang Co –
member of the “World’s Most Beautiful Bays”, to the highland of A Luoi,
Nam Dong and the Tam Giang – Cau Hai lagoon.
From the beginning of 2010, together with various cultural, sport and
traditional festivities, many major events preceding Hue Festival 2010 to
commemorate national anniversaries include The Coronation Ceremony of
Emperor Quang Trung in association with the inauguration of his Memorial
Park (on January 9th, 2010), Huyen Tran’s Temple Festival (on the ninth of
first Lunar month or February 22nd, 2010), Xa Tac Ritual (in the second
Lunar month), the festivity called “Tam Giang’s sunshine and wind” to be
organized on the lagoon area of Quang Dien District (from April 30 to May
1, 2010). In particular, the Buddha’s Birthday celebration taking place one
week prior to the festival opening will certainly trigger the festival
atmosphere by its colorful activities.
Hue Festival 2010 promises to be a season of festivities with innovative

impressive and charming activities for tourists from far and near.