Paris (VNA) – A series of cultural activities celebrating Vietnam’s 81st National Day attracted Vietnamese and French audiences to the Vietnam Cultural Centre in Paris on September 19.
The weekend programme featured an art show, Vietnamese films, a photo exhibition and the reenactment of a traditional Vietnamese market, offering visitors different ways to explore the country’s culture, people and landscapes.
One of the highlights was a musical programme themed “Fatherland in Our Hearts”, featuring singing, dancing, and traditional instruments performed by artists from the Vietnam National Arts Theatre.
Traditional cuisine was also a major attraction while the “Countryside Market” provided a space for Vietnamese people and their French friends to meet and exchange in the heart of Paris.
Dinh Ngoc Duc, Director of the Vietnam Cultural Centre in France, said the programme aimed to expand the ways in which Vietnamese culture is introduced abroad, going beyond artistic performances to include cinema, cuisine and community activities.
The centre also sought to provide a gathering place for Vietnamese people in France to connect with one another and their homeland, while helping international friends gain a better understanding of Vietnam’s diverse culture and its image as a dynamic and increasingly integrated country, he said.
At the “Fatherland in Our Hearts” programme, artists presented works about Vietnam’s homeland, people and traditional music.
Meritorious Artist Tang Thanh Son, Deputy Director of the centre and the programme’s director, said presenting the cultural diversity of Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups within a limited performance time required careful selection of representative features.
Music from the Central Highlands was among the highlights, with a bamboo ensemble introducing audiences to the distinctive sounds of the region’s ethnic communities.
The food area also drew many visitors. Tristan, a Paris resident attending for the third time with his Vietnamese wife, said Vietnamese food, people and scenery are among the things he particularly loves about the country.
For Vietnamese people who have lived in France for many years, familiar dishes such as bun rieu (crab noodle soup) brought back memories of home.
By combining arts, cinema, photography, food and community activities, the programme created a diverse Vietnamese cultural space in Paris, helping connect the Vietnamese community and promote greater understanding and people-to-people exchanges between Vietnam and France./.
VNA
