Speaking at the opening ceremony, RoK Ambassador Im Hong-jae said that the RoK community in Vietnam has always paid attention to voting for HalongBay.

He called on the RoK community to continue voting for the bay, which is a valuable asset of Vietnam and the world as well.

Deputy Minister Tran Chien Thang thanked the RoK embassy and business circle, especially Kumho Asiana Group, and the RoK community in Vietnam for their support and assistance.

He suggested the RoK side continue support for Vietnam during this important event and called on Vietnamese people to vote for the RoK’s Jeju Island, another candidate in the voting list.

The voting for seven new world wonders has entered the second phase where 21 sites of the most votes will be selected. The results of the voting will be announced in 2011.

Halong Bay , which was twice recognised by the UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage site in 1994 and 2000, has always won a large number of votes and maintained its second or third place in the voting.

The first concert will be held in the Hanoi Opera House on November 6, which will be followed by similar shows over the following two days at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, said the festival’s organising board at a press conference on October 30.

Four stages will be set up within the museum’s grounds so that artists from several different ethnic minorities can perform together.

Performers from Vietnam’s Institute of Musicology and folk musicians from provinces across the country will perform a wide variety of styles that are culturally typical of the different ethnic minorities, including the “gong” concert, the “k’voh” pan-pipe show of the Xo Dang people, the scarf dance, performed by the Thai people, a sanarai flute and traditional drum performance by the Cham, as well as various shows by other traditional artists.

The festival is a symbol of the cooperation shown between Swedish and Vietnamese artists in a Swedish-financed project to support the sustainable development of Vietnamese culture, which was first carried out five years ago.

The project was brought to life by Vietnam’s Institute of Musicology in 18 cities and provinces nationwide, and focused on surveying, collecting and recording all forms of folk art so that it will never be lost./.

The drum is 1.51m in face diameter, 1.54m in bottom diameter and 1.21m in height.

The 739kg drum was cast by a group of craftsmen led by Le Van Bay in Che Dong Village, Thieu Hoa District, central Thanh Hoa Province, using traditional casting techniques.

The Hoang Long Museum, which officially opened door to visitors in November 2006, covers a 350m² area in the centre of Thanh Hoa City.

It is displaying around 11,000 articles and relics featuring various cultures of Vietnam, including Dong Son, Sa Huynh, Oc Eo and Champa.

The capital invested in local tourism is now estimated to have reached VND550 billion this year, including VND90 billion from the state budget and the rest from businesses and the private sector.

The provincial department of culture, sports and tourism has held a number of promotional programmes including concerts and many other entertainments to attract tourists.

In addition, over 100 traditional festivals have revived and developed to support the tourism industry.