Hello and welcome to VOV’s Letter Box, where we reply to listeners’ mails and emails.
A: Over the past week, we’ve received a lot of mails and emails from our dear listeners around the world. The number of listeners’ letters has increased in recent months showing that shortwave broadcasting remains popular around the world. Thank you all for tuning in to VOV.
B: This week, we got an email from Mr. Bhaikan Hazarika of Assam, India. Bhaikan wrote: “First of all, I want to say thank you to you for your amazing fantastic program. I really appreciate your program. In today’s “weekend music session” program, I have heard some Vietnamese war music. War music is more popular in Vietnam, which I came to know through this program. I very much enjoyed and relaxed listening to the program. All the music played in today’s session was nice”.
A: Thank you Bhaikan for listening. War music or revolutionary music is a music genre that comprises songs composed during Vietnam’s struggles for national liberation against French colonialists and American aggressors and later after 1975, when the country was totally liberated. These songs often depict love for the homeland, and praise the beauty of the homeland, and the significance of the national revolution. They lifted people’s morale during some harsh times.
B: Successful composers of this genre are Pham Tuyen, Do Nhuan, Huy Du, Hoang Viet, Luu Huu Phuoc, Van Cao, Nguyen Van Ty, Hoang Van, and Phan Huynh Dieu and some famous singers are Thanh Hoa, Bich Lien, Tuong Vi, Tan Nhan, Doan Tan, Le Dung, Quang Tho, and Vu Dau…
B: These songs have kept their vitality and are still popular not only with older people but also with young people, thanks to their beautiful melodies and lyrics. Young Vietnamese people like this music genre because it recalls the past glorious history of the nation, promotes national pride and teaches them about the beauty of Vietnam, its land and people. Well, it would take hours to tell you all about this genre and take all day to play all the best songs. On today’s program, I’d like to dedicate to you a song called “Truong Son song” written by Tran Chung and performed by Quang Tho. The song praises the beauty of the Truong Son range. It raises the spirit of Vietnamese soldiers during the anti-US war of resistance.
A: You are listening to VOV’s Letter Box. That was “Truong Son song” by Tran Chung performed by Quang Tho. Next up is a letter from Mrs. Robina Akta of Bangladesh. Robina wrote: “I am a regular listener of your station. Your program gives me and other listeners information from Asia and around the world. The news items are current and unbiased . They are vivid and right from the source. The magazine program brings in every aspect of your country and portrays it nicely for our benefit. Your programs are very popular among listeners. Your mailbag program is a seed of friendship around the globe. I’m very happy to listen to your program”.
B: Robina has this question: What is the biggest bridge in Vietnam? Vietnam is a country of rivers, lakes and of course, bridges, which have played a vital part in the nation’s history. Vietnam has a diverse network of bridges from foot bridges and bamboo bridges in rural areas to today’s modern bridges. The bridges in Vietnam not only link roads and towns but also bear cultural and spiritual values and mark the development of the country. Vietnam recently built a new bridge in Da Nang city in the shape of a giant dragon that breathes huge balls of fire. The bridge was designed by an American firm, the Louis Berger Group. The main span of the 37.5m-wide bridge is bookened by two 128m side sections, with a dragon’s head and tail resting on those. The whole construction extends to 666m in length.
Dragon bridge in Da Nang city |
A: The longest bridge in Vietnam is the Cần Thơ Bridge, a cable stayed bridge over the Hau river, the largest branch of the Mekong river in Can Tho city. The bridge is 2.75 kilometers long. It has a 6-lane carriageway measuring 23 meters in width, with 4 lanes for traffic and two pedestrian lanes. It has a clearance of 39 meters, which allows large ships to pass underneath it. The bridge was inaugurated in 2010.
Can Tho bridge |
B: The Thi Nai bridge in the central province of Binh Dinh is the longest bridge crossing the sea in Vietnam. The bridge links Quy Nhon city and Phuong Mai peninsula where the Nhon Hoi Economic Zone is located. It is nearly 7 km long.
Thi Nai bridge |
A: That’s a little about bridges in Vietnam. We hope Robina, a listener from Bangladesh and our other listeners around the world learned something new about Vietnam. From Sweden, our dear listener Christer Brunstrom sent a reception report on our June 29 broadcast at 19UTC on 9730 kHz with a SINPO of 24433. Christer wrote: “It was as always an interesting and enjoyable 27 minute program. I recently completed a column on international radio for the DX Aktuellt magazine. The main part of my column is devoted to some of VOV’s programming including Colorful Vietnam and Discovery Vietnam”.
B: Thank you Christer. We highly appreciate your listening and devotion to our program. I hope you’ll send us a copy of that magazine someday. We are sending you our QSL cards to confirm your reception reports including the one on the March 16 program at 1800 UTC on 5955 kHz with a SINPO of all 4s.
A: Today, we’d like to send our best birthday wishes to Miss Karobi Hazarika and Debekamal of India. We are sending you our birthday presents and QSL cards to confirm your listening to VOV and acknowledge your devotion to our station.
B: This week, we acknowledge emails and letters and confirm reception reports from Toshiya Nishimura and Josef Araki of Japan, Mohammad Shanim and Balamurali of India, Dewan Rafiqul Islam and Mizanur Rahman of Bangladesh, Pak Ning Tjang of Indonesia, Jack Wachtershauser of Australia and Vikram Keshvala of the UK. We have processed your reception reports and will send you QSL cards to confirm them together with requested items such as stamps, maps, postcards, T-shirts, and caps.
A: Time is up for this week’s Letter Box. Before we go, we’d like to remind you of our address:
The English program,
Overseas Service, Radio Voice of Vietnam,
45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam
B: Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn. If you miss any of our programs, you can always catch up by logging onto our website at: www.vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live broadcasts and previously recorded programs. Good bye.