Apple Vietnam has asked that some requirements on import examination be removed to shorten the time needed for customs clearance.
Vietnamese businesses are also complaining about the complicated procedures.
Under the current regulations, Apple must obtain licenses for every consignment of imports. It has also asked to remove the requirement on licenses to import Apple Watches and licenses to import mobilephone products stipulated in Circular 18/2014.
Chair of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung spoke about Apple’s imports at a working session with ministries on examination procedures.
“Even iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 also have to bear examination, and Vietnam doesn’t have laboratories and technologies for examining,” Dung said. “The products from G7 countries still cannot be done in Vietnam, but we still examine them.”
Meanwhile, an analyst said Vietnamese inspection bodies examine imports without specialized instruments. Therefore, it is unreasonableto have imports examined and collect VND1 million in examination fees.
Not only Apple, but other gian firms also have difficulties because of the complicated procedures in Vietnam. VCCI’s (Vietnam Chamber of Commerce & Industry) chair Vu Tien Loc commented that the requirements on administrative procedures are so complicated that even Boeing cannot satisfy them.
Meanwhile, FPT’s CEO Bui Quang Ngoc commented some policies are ‘designed in a way to trap businesses’.
A representative of a foreign-invested technology enterprise said it still has to follow a strict examination procedure even though the imports are only for internal testing, not commercial purposes.
“It takes too much time. In general, the procedure lasts 35-45 days,” he said.
He went on to say that there are many problems in MOIT’s (Ministry of Industry and Trade) Circular 04/2014 on used imports.
At his company, computers are replaced once every two years. The new computers are imports, so the enterprise has to follow certain procedures.
His company wants to donate the old computers to schools or organizations, but it had to donate computers to Myanmar because of the complicated procedures.
The Ministry of Finance (MOF) has agreed with Apple that it would be better to remove the licensing for every consignment of imports in accordance with Circular 18.
Regarding the conformity certification, MOF thinks that Vietnam needs to recognize the conformity certificates granted by international organizations as the basis for assessing import quality.
Regarding the licensing to Apple Watch device imports, the ministry said if the capacity of Apple Watch products is less than 60 mW, Apple does not have to get a license for imports from the Ministry of Information and Communication.
The sound of “1, 2, 3, Zo” rings out at bia hoi establishments around Vietnam every day and night. Bia hoi, or local draft beer, has been the most popular drink among Vietnamese people, especially in the north, for many, many years but a challenge has been thrown down in recent times, by craft beer.
The craft beer industry has been booming in the West for a decade. It arrived in Vietnam just a few years ago via some foreigners testing the waters with their own locally-made equivalent. Craft beer, it’s said, expresses the personality and style of the master brewer and the brewery where it’s made.
Production scale is usually quite small, with different tastes coming from master brewers creating his or her own formulas, in which more or less ingredients are added to create a unique flavor.
This requires the brewer be constantly creative and innovative, as not all formulas produce a tasty beer. Still, the number of new craft beer flavors numbers in the hundreds every year.
Adaptable consumers
Ho Chi Minh City’s Pasteur Street Brewery, the first craft brewer in Vietnam, made 300 differently-flavored beers in its first year. Director of the Pasteur Street Brewing Co., Mr. John Reid, is considered the key individual behind the arrival and the rising popularity of craft beer in Vietnam.
With Jasmine IPA its best-seller, Pasteur Street is the largest company in the industry in Vietnam and two years since getting underway now exports to several countries in the region.
In a relatively short period time, more than 20 craft brewers and brewing companies have joined the scene, mostly in Ho Chi Minh City, such as Heart of Darkness, Platinum, BiaCraft, Winking Seal, Fuzzy Logic, and East West, as people in the southern city are quite open and adaptable.
Hanoi, meanwhile, also has a few craft brewers such as Furbrew, Barett, and the latest, Ibiero, which was launched just four months ago.
The majority of craft brewers are pleased with their initial results and surprised by the willingness of Vietnamese consumers to try their brews. “Results have been great!” Pasteur Street Brewery’s Account Manager Mischa Smith told VET.
“There have been nights when my boss and I have been the only foreigners at our place, with everyone else being Vietnamese! This is the kind of growth we love to see.”
After a year in the business, Heart of Darkness has seen its business grow significantly every month, with a steady shift from an expat customer base to a nice mix of expats and Vietnamese. “We are at about at 60/40 right now, Vietnamese to expats,” said founder Mr. John Pemberton. “We’d like to get to a 70/30 mix.”
After five months, the owner of Ibiero is also quite happy, as nearly 80 per cent of customers are Vietnamese. “We have many Vietnamese customers who keep coming back,” Chairman Do Giang Vinh said. Surprisingly, more than 30 per cent of its customers are women, while about 35 per cent are return customers.
At the East West Brewing Company, the ratio of Vietnamese customers is about the same as at Ibiero. CEO Loc Truong expected its customer base would be mainly expats and foreign tourists but he’s been proven happily wrong. A 375-ml glass sells for about VND100,000 ($4.3), or twice the price of an imported beer and five-times the price of local and regional brews. “At such a price, craft beer truly is premium so will find favor in big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City,” Mr. Loc said.
Despite its high price, it seems a lot of Vietnamese customers are attracted by craft beer’s uniqueness. “Craft beer doesn’t have preservatives, and ingredients are mostly imported from Europe,” Mr. Vinh said. “It must be kept at a suitable temperature, so the flavor and quality only last about three months. Making craft beer is not easy, and it’s difficult to produce flavors that prove popular among a large number of drinkers.”
Its diverse flavors have, however, proven popular among drinkers. “We wanted our Vietnamese customers to see the difference, by building a micro-brewery inside the restaurant,” Mr. Loc said.
“We hope to change the drinking culture, from one based on volume to one based on enjoyment.” This is truly the challenge facing craft brewers in Vietnam.
Generally speaking, craft brewers have two customer targets: Vietnamese customers keen on something different, and expats missing the type of beer they know from home.
From its early days, Heart of Darkness has had a vision of setting up a Western style craft brewery in both style, beer, and food, that would not be out place in the US or Europe. “People thought we were crazy, and many other breweries dumbed down their range to suit Vietnamese tastes,” said Mr. Pemberton.
“We refused to do that. We changed our hop content to keep the bitterness down but introduced the wonderful world of hop flavors to customers. Once people start to understand the beauty of a good hop and malt profile, it doesn’t take long before they start to explore and expand their knowledge of craft beer.”
Ibeiro, meanwhile, has identified Vietnamese customers as its target, producing craft beer will little in the way of bitterness. Despite differences in strategy, the brewers believe that Vietnamese people are cultivated in their tastes and always looking for something new and different to try.
“We see proof of this in both our success and that of other food and beverage establishments that are mainly foreign-owned but produce amazing, Vietnamese-made concepts, like Marou Chocolate, Pizza 4P, and Quan Ut Ut,” said Mr. Smith.
Prospects for expansion
No exact figures exist on craft beer consumption at this time, though some say it may have accounted for 0.001 per cent of total beer consumption of 3.8 billion liters in 2016. Mr. Loc believes its share will rise to 0.3 per cent within the next three years, or the same as the current share held by imported European beer.
Though a small percentage, Vietnam is one of the leading beer consuming countries in the world per capita.
“Vietnamese love their beer,” Mr. Pemberton said. “It’s deeply engrained in the culture, making Vietnam a leading consumer in Southeast Asia and third in all of Asia. Putting these things together, and with the economic growth that Vietnam is currently enjoying and the greater number of people in the middle and upper classes with disposable income and a love for going out, and we believe the timing is right for craft beer in Vietnam.”
Of a similar mind, Furbrew’s owner Thomas Bilgram is confident enough to say that Vietnam’s craft beer industry is about to take off big-time. “Like all craft markets, it takes time to build momentum but it will happen quickly in Vietnam,” said Mr. Pemberton.
“Craft beer is all about exciting flavors, and this is something that Vietnam has in its food and culture already. I have a strong belief that craft beer will take off in the country.”
The craft brewing community has also gradually expanded over the last two years. Ibiero plans to open craft beer chains in the four major cities of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Nha Trang. Heart of Darkness, meanwhile, has always planned to expand across Asia. It has launched in Thailand to an amazing reception, with next being Singapore, in late October, then Hong Kong and New Zealand.
“Within our first year, we will be serving our beers in five countries,” said Mr. Pemberton.
The biggest brewer, Pasteur Street, distributes its craft beer to more than 170 outlets in Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Da Nang, Hoi An, Mui Ne, and Vung Tau, and will add Phu Quoc Island to the list shortly. As for exports, “we are looking at all major markets where we aren’t yet to find a strong local distributor who we can work with,” said Mr. Smith.
With a maximum capacity of 20,000 liters per month, East West’s plans for expansion will be implemented in the near future. To expand and reach more customers, two to four new flavors are being created at the brewery every month. Many are made from Vietnamese-grown materials, such as cocoa, black pepper, lemongrass, ginger, Da Lat coffee, durian, lime, jaggery, and green rice. “Craft brewers make efforts all the time to create new and unique flavors,” Mr. Vinh said.
Craft beer requires a passion and love for beer among brewers. They have a good relationship with each other, according to Mr. Vinh, and are open to sharing information on brewing. Competition exists, but at the moment it makes sense to view bolstering the popularity of craft beer as a shared goal. “Our craft brewers have a very tight-knit scene,” said Mr. Pemberton.
“The breweries work together, play together, and have built a lot of buzz and excitement around the scene, which makes people curious.”
As the brewers say, the true reward in the business is sharing the passion for craft beer and seeing others become equally passionate.
The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has asked relevant departments to tackle problems in granting house ownership certificates to overseas Vietnamese to encourage their investment into the real estate market.
Statistics of the municipal Department of Construction revealed that only 15 overseas Vietnamese and foreigners were granted house ownership certificates in the city during the past two years.
The figure was too modest compared to the number of overseas Vietnamese and foreigners who lived and worked in HCM City, the department said.
Experts said that this was caused by complicated procedures, as well as slow progress in identifying areas and projects, which cannot be sold to foreigners.
Tran Hoa Phuong, Deputy Chairman of the HCM City Overseas Vietnamese Committee, said that the most difficult procedure was still in identity confirmation.
The confirmation of identity for overseas Vietnamese was jointly conducted by the Vietnamese embassies, the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs and provincial/municipal judicial departments of foreign countries, Phuong said. He added that the money transfer from foreign countries to Vietnam also needed to be in compliance with the laws.
Expert Nguyen Tri Hieu said the regulations must be more open while the promotion of projects, which can be owned by foreigners, must be enhanced.
Deputy Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Tran Vinh Tuyen said in a document sent to relevant departments urged them to speed up the identification of areas which cannot be owned by foreigners, to ensure national security.
The Department of Construction must clarify the list of commercial housing projects, which cannot be sold to foreigners and make it public on the department’s e-portal, he said.
The legal framework for the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to grant ownership certificates to overseas Vietnamese and foreigners must also be improved, he added.
Statistics of the HCM City Real Estate Association revealed that around 22 percent of remittances into the southern city flew into real estate.
In the first nine months of this year, HCM City attracted more than 3.3 billion USD worth of remittances, up 6 percent over the same period last year.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance wants international service providers like Facebook and Google to process payments made by Vietnamese users via a gateway run by the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (Napas).
The change is expected to help local tax authorities control revenue made by these services in Vietnam and provide a legal framework for the collection for taxes.
The ministry also wants foreign providers of Internet-related services to open official representative offices in Vietnam and make tax declarations as per Vietnamese law.
In a dispatch sent to the State Bank of Vietnam requesting coordination in implementing the plan, the finance ministry claimed that Google and Facebook were offering online advertising services in Vietnam in two ways.
In the first instance, these and other similar foreign entities do business via local intermediaries in Vietnam, who execute their tax responsibilities on their behalf.
However, the majority of transactions between Vietnamese users and companies like Facebook and Google are made via credit card or digital wallet purchases, which pose a challenge to local tax authorities on the control of revenue that such companies make in Vietnam.
Additionally, local users can find themselves at a disadvantage when legal conflicts arise, as proof of purchase provided by foreign entities may not be recognized or verifiable here.
The ministry therefore suggests that all payments to foreign Internet service providers from Vietnam be made via the Napas gateway to facilitate better tax control.
The companies’ representative offices in Vietnam will also be required to work closely with local authorities in performing their tax responsibilities.
According to the ministry, a similar model of tax control has already been implemented successfully in European countries, India and South Korea.
All relevant bodies must work together to introduce stricter penalties in order to deter any company from deliberately evading tax, the ministry wrote.
Ho Chi Minh City commuters were stunned to see streets covered by a fog in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Following rain in several parts of the southern metropolis overnight, the mist and cool temperatures combined to make conditions similar to those seen regularly in Da Lat.
High-rise buildings in the city’s downtown area could hardly be seen from less than a kilometer away because of the thick fog, and driver’s visibility was significantly reduced.
Le Dinh Quyet, deputy head of the Southern Meteorological Station, said that the foggy weather in Ho Chi Minh City this morning was a normal meteorological event.
“Humidity in the city was intensified due to last night’s rain,” Quyet told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Wednesday.
“The high humidity combined with low temperatures in the morning resulted in the fog.”
Quyet said the foggy weather conditions are forecast to continue in the city for the next few days, creating low visibility for drivers.
The UN agency blames poor preparation as children suffer the ‘ongoing’ consequences of the disaster.
Around 150,000 children are still at risk of malnutrition in central Vietnam more than a week after the massive Typhoon Damrey struck the region, with relief efforts yet to reach poor remote areas, according to a UNICEF report.
Fishing families in the hardest-hit provinces struggle to make ends meet at the best of times, and some local children have already been diagnosed with malnutrition.
Malnutrition is not only threatening large numbers of children under five years; more than 80,000 pregnant and nursing women in the area are also in need of special care, said the U.N.’s childcare agency.
Typhoon Damrey, one of the worst storms to hit Vietnam in years, made landfall on November 4 with devastating consequences for the central provinces of Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen and Quang Nam, where people rely heavily on rice and fish farming. At least 106 people have died and thousands of houses have been damaged.
UNICEF said its workers have encountered several “vulnerable” children in the region who have had no meat or fish since the storm, while clean drinking water remains in short supply.
The typhoon has also worsened sanitation conditions and increased the risk of waterborne diseases, it said.
For these children, the consequences of the typhoon are “ongoing”, said the agency, blaming a lack of communication about how to prepare for storms at a community level as the reason for the fall-out.
UNICEF said it is helping by providing micronutrients and calorie supplements for children and breastfeeding mothers, and water purification products for families in the affected areas.
Vietnam has been suffering from particularly destructive weather this year. Floods in northern Vietnam killed at least 26 people and washed away hundreds of homes in August before the central region was ravaged repeatedly by storms and flooding. Typhoon Doksuri killed at least eight people in the region in September, followed by flooding that claimed at least 54 lives.
Experts from the International Labor Organization said at a conference in Hanoi in June that frequent and severe natural disasters may force many Vietnamese children into early labor.
They said that without proper protection, many children will give up school to help their families when disasters hit.
Last year, tropical storms and flooding killed 264 people in Vietnam and caused damage worth VND40 trillion ($1.75 billion), nearly five times more than in 2015.
This is the first time the Vietnamese football team has qualified for the finals since 2007.
Vietnam has secured a place in the finals of the AFC Asian Cup for the first time since 2007 after sharing a goalless draw with Afghanistan on Tuesday at My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi.
The AFC Asian Cup is an international football tournament run by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the second oldest continental football championship in the world after the Copa América. The winning team qualifies for the FIFA Confederations Cup.
Afghanistan needed to beat Vietnam to make it to the finals, scheduled for January, 2019 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), but failed to break the deadlock.
20 of the 24 teams that will be competing at the finals have already been decided, with Vietnam and Thailand the only Southeast Asian representatives.
The other 18 are the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Syria, Australia, Japan, South Korea, China, Libya, Palestine, Oman, Turkmenistan, Jordan, Bahrain and India.
Vietnam surprised football fans by making it to the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup in 2007, the first year the country had ever made it to the finals of the tournament.
The 13-time Premier League champion will be making two trips per year to Vietnam to train teenage players and their coaches.
Former Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs is set to sign a two-year contract to become the director of a Vietnamese football academy.
The Promotion Fund of Vietnamese Football Talents Football Club, a professional club based in Saigon, has said it will sign a deal with the 43-year-old legend next Monday in celebration of a new branch in northern Vietnam.
The 13-time Premier League champion will be making two trips per year to Vietnam to train the club’s players and coaches. The team, commonly known as PVF, competes in V.League 2, the second tier of Vietnamese football.
Giggs’ role includes “building and developing PVF to become the leading youth football training center in Vietnam,” a statement on the club’s website said.
Giggs said in October he was interested in jobs at Leicester City and Everton, but neither has reached a deal with him.
He was appointed caretaker boss at United in 2014 and became assistant manager to Louis van Gaal. But he has not been involved in top-class football since Van Gaal was replaced by Jose Mourinho in May 2016.
Giggs will travel to Vietnam with former United team-mate Paul Scholes, who is likely to be named a technical advisor.
Shares in Vietnam’s largest listed firm responded to the news on Monday by reaching a record high.
Singapore-listed Jardine Cycle and Carriage Ltd said on Monday that one of its units has agreed to buy a 5.53 percent stake in Vietnamese dairy firm Vinamilk, the country’s biggest listed company, for $616.6 million.
Vinamilk is among a handful of state assets that are attracting significant interest from foreign investors as the government works to reform state-owned enterprises.
Jardine Cycle, part of the diversified Jardine Matheson group, said it bought the shares on the open market and at an auction held by the State Capital Investment Commission of Vietnam (SCIC).
“The taking of this relevant interest in Vinamilk is in line with JC&C group’s strategy of investing in market leading companies in Southeast Asia,” it said in a filing to the Singapore bourse on Monday.
The deal increases Jardine Cycle’s exposure to the Vietnamese economy, and it remains open to making further such investments, it added.
The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange said last week that an overseas investor had bought a stake in Vinamilk, but did not reveal the buyer.
Last year, the SCIC offered to sell 9 percent of Vinamilk but sold only 5.4 percent. Investors looking to gain a degree of control over Vinamilk were partly deterred by the size of stake on offer.
Vinamilk shares rose nearly 4 percent on Monday to a record VND181,500.
The gold would be worth more than $8 million at current prices, and was used by revolutionists in 1945.
The Hanoi municipal administration will hold an official funeral on Monday afternoon for a woman who donated more than 5,000 ounces of gold to anti-French revolutionists in 1945.
A source from the city’s People’s Committee said Hoang Thi Minh Ho’s funeral will be hosted by top officials from 1.30-3 p.m. at the cemetery house at 5 Tran Nhan Tong Street.
Ho died at home on November 5, aged 104. The gold she donated to the cause would be worth VND183.1 billion (more than $8 million) at today’s prices.
She is entitled to a lot in one of the capital’s cemeteries, but the family has decided to bury her in the neighboring Phu Tho Province.
Vietnam holds official funeral ceremonies for people who have made outstanding achievements in politics, economics, society, literature, art, science, national defense, security, diplomacy and other domains – achievements that are recognized by the country’s First Class Order of Independence title.
Both Ho and her husband Trinh Van Bo, a businessman who died in 1988, received the title. The couple owned a cloth shop in Hanoi which exported to customers in China, Japan, India and even as far away as Switzerland.
The city is also considering naming a small street after Bo in Cau Giay District.
The purchase of undocumented goods and wildlife products in Da Lat is deemed ‘inappropriate’ behavior.
Lam Dong Province, home to the popular highlands resort town of Da Lat, has issued a list of rules for tourists that includes a dress code and shopping guidelines.
The code of etiquette, drawn up by the province’s tourism department, asks visitors to be “civilized, decent and responsible”, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.
They should wear suitable clothing, respect cultural differences, avoid littering and stealing, and queue in line when they are shopping or buying tickets.
The purchase of undocumented goods and wildlife products is deemed “inappropriate” behavior, the rules state.
Hotels, restaurants and other services are also warned not to overcharge, sell copycat or low quality products, or pester customers.
The code of conduct is based on a national set issued by the tourism ministry in March this year, and will be printed in Vietnamese and English in time for the annual Da Lat Flower Festival in late December.
Lam Dong received around three million visitors in the first half of this year, of which foreign travelers increased 44.3 percent from a year ago to more than 204,400.
The Central Highlands province is best known for Da Lat, which is often dubbed “Little Paris” due to its colonial history.
The mostly quiet and charming town, surrounded by pine trees, flowers and vegetables farms, is famous for its cool climate and has gained in popularity both as a romantic getaway for lovers and an oasis in a country that usually sweats all year round.
But like many places across Vietnam, Da Lat has both benefited and lost out to the recent travel boom.
Its center is covered in garbage on big holidays, when complaints of thefts and rip-offs are not uncommon.
This year, Da Lat has reported multiple cases of local gangsters and racketeering gangs colluding with businesses to scam travelers, usually on strawberry farms or in souvenir shops.
The gangs have reportedly threatened to assault tour guides and drivers from several travel companies who have refused to lure tourists into their traps.
The issue got physical in May when a tourist was beaten after trying to return a product, prompting the government to order immediate measures be taken to protect visitors from these new groups of gangsters.
Apple Vietnam has proposed the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to remove a series of administrative procedures applied on its imported products, aiming to create advantage for its business activity, according to newswire Vietnamfinance.
MoF has issued its opinion about Apple Vietnam’s proposal. Accordingly, MoF proposed the Ministry of Industry and Trade to remove the regulations to grant import licence for mobile phones, which was stated at Circular
No.18/2014/TT-BTTTT dated November 20, 2013 of the Government on the issuance of licences to import radio transmitters and transceivers, aiming to decrease the time for customs clearance.
Regarding the certificate of conformity, MoF agrees with Apple Vietnam’s proposal to use certifications of conformity accredited by reputable international organisations as the basis to evaluate the quality of Apple Vietnam’s imported products.
Concerning the proposal to be excepted from acquiring an import licence for Apple Vietnam’s Apple Watch products, MoF said that according to Appendix I of the List of radio transmitters and transceivers with import licences.
attached to Circular 18, radio transmitters and transceivers with a frequency band of 9kHz to 400GHz and an output of 60 megawatt (mW) or more are subject to have an import licence accredited by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC).
Thus, according to MoF’s opinion, in case Apple Vietnam proves that its Apple Watch products have an output of less than 60mW, they will not need to acquire an import license from MoIC.
MoF added that MoIC should re-evaluate its purpose and its effectiveness of granting import licences in customs procedures and consider removing this procedure in case it proves unnecessary.
Established in October 2015, Apple Vietnam specialises in distributing Apple products and supplying after-sale services. Setting foot in Vietnam is considered a change in Apple’s business strategy because Vietnam ranks among the less important groups in the tech giant’s business strategy.
Thang Long Warriors and Cantho Catfish have both booked spots in the Viet Nam Basketball Association (VBA) League final.
In the second game of the event’s playoff round held at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology’s Gymnasium yesterday, the Warriors defeated Hanoi Buffaloes 69-58 to enter the final.
Earlier, in the first game, the Warriors also crushed the Buffaloes 82-57.
The match saw outstanding performances by the Warriors’ key players Jaywuan Hill and Justin Young. Hill made his name as the tournament’s best player with 33 points.
Young said after the match that his team played well but they could play better.
It is the first time the Warriors have played in the event, but they proved they aren’t an easy team to beat.
The team, who are guided by experienced coach Lee Tao Dana, aim to earn the event’s title.
Meanwhile, the Catfish also earned a place in the final after beating Saigon Heat 76-68 in the southern province of Can Tho on Saturday.
The Heat brought their slogan “Win or Go home” to the match, while the Catfish supporters shouted “Defend the Homeland”. The fans were given an exciting match.
From the beginning of the game, both two teams worked hard to score points. Sang Đinh shone in the first period after scoring 10 points for the hosts Catfish. While the Heat made a strong impression through performances by David Arnold (five points) and Le Ngoc Tu (four points).
However, with the support of fans on their hometurf, the Catfish led 21-16.
In the second quarter, the Heat bounced back. Pham Duy Hau scored six points in the final minutes to help the Heat lead 33-32. It seemed that the Heat would win this quarter, but suddenly Sang Đinh turned it around with an accurate three-point throw in the dying seconds to end the quarter 35-33 in favour of the Catfish.
The Heat failed to attack effectively in the third period, while the hosts managed to control the game and led 57-48.
In the last quarter, the visiting side made every effort to seek the final win. They narrowed the gap to 72-66 with just a minute left in the match. However, the Catfish showed their might with four points to fix the match at 76-68.
The Warriors and the Catfish will face off in the first final match at Hanoi’s University of Education Gymnasium on November 19.
A new 20-minute animation on a popular historic legend has gone viral among Vietnamese internet users in the past few days.
The cartoon features the legend of Lac Long Quan (a holy dragon) and Au Co (a fairy bird) and their children (50 boys and 50 girls), who hatched from 100 eggs. The couple together fought various evils to gain peace for the country. Their children then settled down throughout the regions to build and protect the country.
Uploaded to YouTube on November 4, Con Rong Chau Tien (Offspring of Dragon and Fairy), produced by Biti’s footwear company, has been viewed more than 5,250,000 times.
The cartoon was produced by 100 artists under the guidance of director Leo Dinh (Dinh Kieu Anh Tuan) and took 10,000 working hours over 180 days to make.
The team spent two months brainstorming and searching for historical documents with consultancy from historian Duong Trung Quoc.
Then, the team spent four months to animate the cartoon, with the combination of 2D and 3D techniques to create a cartoon of 20 minutes.
The theme song for the animation is Cung Nhau Ta Thap Sang (Together We Shine) composed by Thanh Bui and performed by Bich Ngoc.
“In legends, Dragon and Fairy is the start of Vietnamese people with their core values,” commented historian Quoc, “All peoples want to understand their origins.”
“Con Rong Chau Tien is a folk legend, which has been scored in official historical documents to explain the origin of Vietnamese people and why we formed a nation,” he said.
However, Quoc said that the legend has not been placed in its deserving position in Vietnamese literature and in the heart of Vietnamese people.
He worries that in the next 10 to 20 years there may not be any young people interested in folk legends, which inspired the team to make a cartoon that appeals to the young.
“We have done serious research on the appearance of characters, their costumes and landscapes in the cartoon so that audiences can see vivid moving images,” said director Leo Dinh, “I’m proud to say that this is a cartoon was made totally in Viet Nam with Vietnamese identities.”
“Beside interesting content, the soul of the cartoon lies in images and visual effect,” he said, “Thus, dozens thousands of scenes have been drawn by leading cartoon makers of RedCat Motion.”
“The cartoon is a very special project,” Leo Dinh said, “It challenged us not only technically but also pushed us overcome limits in telling stories with images and techniques we have never used.”
“For simply the image of the pile of 100 eggs, we thought over and over on how to create the eggs, which looks like sparkling light,” said creative director of the cartoon Kieu Thien Van.
Van also said the team encountered some obstacles, including limited historical data and technology when combining 2D and 3D images.
“I think this is the first short cartoon by Vietnamese artists with proper investment and sophisticated implementation, which meets international standards of cartoons in terms of images and moving effects,” noted artist Linh Nguyen.
“I strongly believe not only children but also adults like us want to see such cartoons,” commented Hoang Thu Huong under the cartoon on YouTube.
According to Hung Vo, an official from Biti’s company, who is in charge of the project, the cartoon is the second of its kind in a 20-year-long series of projects makings cartoon from folk literature run by Biti’s company between 2017 and 2037.
He said next year, the company will invest in a bigger project.
“We will co-ordinate with schools and parents to transmit the love for folk culture among children,” he said, “We will bring cultural tales to our footwear products to make children proud of their shoes and Vietnamese tales, so they can step forwards as offspring of dragons and fairies.”
HCM City’s visual arts culture in recent years has seen the opening of new contemporary art spaces, including The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre (FCAC), BLANC Art Space and Đông A Gallery.
Other popular venues that opened around 10 years ago included Sàn Art, Doclab, Địa Project, Gallery Quỳnh, Nhà Sàn, and a few others, according to Phụ Nữ (Women) Newspaper.
Though they were successful in showcasing contemporary art, some of these venues had to close because of a lack of visitors.
Venues that have opened in recent years have learned from their counterparts and are doing reasonably well.
The 1,000-sq m Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, which was opened in March 2016 in District 2 by designer Thuỷ Nguyễn, has showcased 14 exhibitions and multiple workshops.
About 50 artists, including Vietnamese and those from Singapore and Hong Kong, have taken part in the exhibitions, attracting 1,000 to 3,000 visitors each.
Popular exhibitions included Mắt Xích (Chain) from artist Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng, Lạc chốn (Dislocate) from Bùi Công Khánh and Nắng bằng phẳng (Flat sunshine) from Lena Bùi.
Others that were successful were Quên lãng nên thơ (Poetic amnesia) from Phan Thảo Nguyên and Lịch sử viễn du: cát trong tai tôi, trôi dạt thế giới (Histoire D’un Voyage: sand in my ears, adrift of the world) from Nguyễn Thuý Hằng.
“The demand for contemporary art is high and artists need a space to introduce their fine pieces. Hence, it’s necessary to create a spot which benefits visitors, artists and organisers,” Thuỷ said.
“Of course, higher quality is expected after each exhibition. Later, artists are required to deliver more creative artworks in order to draw audiences,” she said, adding that the local art industry was developing well.
The BLANC Art Space in District 3, which was also launched last year, stands out, primarily for its project “A new artist every two weeks”.
After the exhibitions Sài Gòn ơi ta trở về (A showcase of Sài Gòn in the 90s) and Sài Gòn 3 mét vuông (Three-square-metre Sài Gòn) were held, BLANC Art Space became a popular destination for locals.
“I revisited my childhood when I saw the Sài Gòn showcase. Life has been so busy and I realised that I’d forgotten most of my childhood games. I was glad that I could recall beautiful memories,” Trường Hải, a visitor, said.
Another great art venue is Đông A Gallery, known for organising multiple meetings between international artists and local audiences.
Đông A Gallery has also extended its business to Hà Nội.
The 4,000-sq m Vincom Centre for Contemporary Art (VCCA), which was launched by Đông A Gallery and Vincom in June, has sparked visitor interests.
VCCA aims to contribute to the development of contemporary art in Việt Nam by bringing art pieces closer to the public and inspiring visitors with its aesthetic environment, said organisers.
Though a “newbie”, VCCA has carefully planned its journey with different themes every season.
The first event of VCCA was Toả (The Foliage) exhibition, which represented a dialogue between the cultures of the East and the West.
More than 19 artists participated in the exhibition, both professionals and amateurs.
The exhibition showcased art pieces of different topics and forms to provide visitors with an overview of what made up contemporary art.
“The new contemporary art spaces, together with the older ones, are expected to contribute to making Việt Nam a more modern, interesting country to visit,” Hải said
