Vietnamese flower lovers have enjoyed a special chance to contemplate beauty of blooming cherry-blossoms at a festival which kicked off in Ha Long city of northern Quang Ninh province on April 11.

The Cherry-Blossom Festival – Ha Long 2013, themed “A Japanese cultural feature in Ha Long”, is part of a wide range of activities to celebrate the 40 th anniversary of Vietnam–Japan diplomatic ties and the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Year.

The highlight of the event is a display of five cherry trees and 100 branches brought in from Gifu and Okinawa prefectures, respectively.

Festival-goers also have a chance to enjoy cultural exchanges between the provincial and Japanese artists, cuisine performances as well as attractive tourism destinations, products, traditional Japanese food showcased in 20 booths.

After the festival, on April 13, Ha Long city’s authorities will receive the cherry trees from the Japanese side to plant them at the city’s Lan Be park. In addition, provincial authorities proposed Japan side to set up cherry blossom parks in the city.

From this year onwards, Ha Long city will be chosen to hold the annual festival which had been successfully taken place in the capital city of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city before.-VNA