Overseas Vietnamese in Hong Kong (China) impressed by homeland’s changes

A corner of Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Overseas Vietnamese in Hong Kong (China) have shared their feelings about Vietnam’s changes after 48 years since the liberation of the South and national reunification (April 30) during a recent interview with the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)'s resident correspondent.

Fagot artist Nguyen Bao Anh, who graduated from the UK's Royal Academy of Music and currently works as a lecturer at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, said he is delighted to see great achievements in the overall development of Vietnam and its culture in particular.

Fagot artist Nguyen Bao Anh (Photo: VNA)

He wished to play his role as a bridge and music ambassador bringing even bigger music projects to Vietnam. In recent years, the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Department of Performing Arts and Department of International Cooperation have welcomed and offered all possible support to him in art projects in the country, he said.

With this trust, he pledged to strive even harder to contribute world-class cultural and educational projects to the homeland. Apart from teaching at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, he is also the Artistic Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Ballet and Symphony Orchestra.

Pianist Nguyen Bich Tra, for her part, said despite having lived abroad since 1987, she frequently returns home to visit her family, perform, and share her knowledge and experience with young musicians.

She had spent much time on studying, living, and working in Russia and the UK before moving to Hong Kong in 2018. At the age of 14, she was selected to learn at the Gnessin Moscow Special School of Music and continued her study with pianist Lev Naumov at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1997, she received a scholarship to study with pianist Christopher Elton at the UK's Royal Academy of Music and graduated in 1999. She was voted one of the 10 outstanding young faces of Vietnam in 2002, and more recently was awarded the title of Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) for outstanding musical contributions in 2013.

Pianist Bich Tra (Photo: VNA)

Tra said that when she met old friends, they still occasionally mentioned the past when the music school only had one grand piano. Now, similar pianos are not rare in families who love the culture of music education. According to her, this is just a small perspective, but it can also reflect the change of Vietnam over the past years.

Tra said moving to Hong Kong and Vietnam has given her a chance to blend into the flow of musical life in the country and to be closer to her mother. As the daughter of People’s Artist Tra Giang and late Professor, violinist Bich Ngoc, Tra has toured many parts of the world and showed her excellent performance skills at famous venues such as Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Tokyo Opera City.
  
Talking with the reporter, Thi Quoc Huy, who is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said Vietnam and Hong Kong (China) have witnessed strong development in recent years, especially in economy, culture, education and tourism. Hong Kong has been offering many scholarships to students from Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam.

He promised to continue serving as a bridge between students and people of Hong Kong and Vietnam, bringing Hong Kong students and people closer to and understand more about Vietnam.

In the near future, he hoped that the Vietnamese Party and State will pay more attention to overseas Vietnamese communities, and create favourable conditions to attract and help young intellectuals abroad dedicate their brainpower and competence to the cause of national development in the homeland./.