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Top 10 Cultural and Artistic Events of 2006

Below is the list of the 10 most important cultural and artistic events in Vietnam in 2006. These events were chosen by reporters from such newspapers and magazines as Tin Tuc (News), Lao dong (Labor), Thanh nięn (The Young), Tuoi tre (Youth) , Tien phong (The Vanguard), Ha Noi moi (New Hanoi), Nguoi lao dong (The Workers), The thao & Van hoa (Sports & Culture), Dai doan ket (Solidarity), VNN, and VnMedia.

10 most important events

1. Vietnam’s WTO membership was the watershed event in the process of integrating Vietnam into the world, including world culture. This event will stimulate changes at different levels in such cultural areas as cultural services, cultural business, and cultural exports and imports.

2. Monopoly in an area of the publishing business was eliminated. In 2006, Vietnam started to eliminate monopoly in the printing of block calendars, which helped to create a more competitive calendar market to provide consumers with cheaper and better products. The investigation of the monopoly in textbook publishing business was carried out, and the Educational Publishing House proposed a plan to eliminate the monopoly in textbook publishing.

3. International cooperation in organising drama and opera performances increased. Collaborative efforts included “School of Love” and “Fire Bird” (Vietnamese Theatre of Ballet and Drama), “Magic Flute” (Hanoi Institute of Music), “Doll House” (Youth Theatre), “Sand Circle” (National Theatre of Classical Drama), and “The billionaire lady comes home” (Vietnamese Theatre of Drama).

4. Cinema laws were ratified in Congress.

5. Entertainment programmes blossomed on VTC, cable channels, Binh Duong TV, etc.

6. Literature had an eventful year with the publication of many expected and successful works like “The Boundless Field”, “A Scar and a Bald Head” and “Three other people”.

7. The theatre universalising festival, which was first organised in HCM City (with the participations of 16 groups), affirmed the important role of private theatric groups in national theatric activities.

8. The Vietnamese Models’ Association was established.

9. Vietnamese beauty put itself on the international beauty “map” with Miss Vietnam Mai Phuong Thuy winning the greatest number of votes in Asia in the Miss World 2006 competition.

10. For the first time, a movie produced by a private production company in Vietnam won a prize at an international film festival. “Ha Dong Silk Dress”, a joint product of Phuoc Sang, Vietnamese Film, and Anh Viet production companies, won the audience’s prize at the Pusan International Film Festival (The Republic of Korea).

5 disappointing events

1. Some national prizes, and awards given by professional associations such as the Vietnamese Writers’ Association Award, as well as several nominations, were unconvincing and controversial.

2. There were too many copyright lawsuits, such as Trong Bang’s symphony “Celebration”, the two plays “Country Spirit” and “Secret Dreams of Teu and Kangaroo”, as well as the legal struggle between two scholars, Dao Thai Ton and Nguyen Quang Tuan, about “the Boundless Field,” “Disabled Stream” and “Chat to Mozart”.

3. Many dangerous side-effects of the use of the internet.

4. The Thai Nguyen show scandal became a perfect example of the chaos in performance activities of provincial private artistic groups.

5. Mistakes in the editing process of the Vietnamese Encyclopedia.

Tien Phong - December 29, 2006.