Night tour of Thang Long imperial citadel wows tourists (Photo: VNA)

B: In his letters, Mr. Hokamura expressed his interest in Vietnam, which he learned through stories broadcast on VOV. He told us that he particularly likes Hanoi and is impressed with the happy faces of the locals that he saw on TV. He also asked about the Thang Long Imperial Citadel and history of Hanoi.

A: Thang Long Imperial Citadel is closely associated with the history of Hanoi. Over a thousand years old, this site is one of the priceless historical and cultural artifacts of Vietnam. In 2010 it was included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

B: When he ascended the throne more than 10 centuries ago, King Ly Cong Uan decided to move his capital from Hoa Lu to Dai La Citadel, and built the royal city of Thang Long on the ruins of this ancient citadel. The new capital had three walls. The outer wall was named Kinh Thanh or Capital City and housed commoners. Imperial City or Hoang Thanh in the middle housed the offices and residences of mandarins. The innermost Tu Cam Thanh or Forbidden Purple City was reserved for the King and Queen and several concubines.

A: Although some parts of the structure were damaged during the war, what remains is enough to amaze any visitor: the main gate called Doan Mon, Kinh Thien Palace and the Flag Tower of Hanoi. In Kinh Thien Palace at the center of the royal city, there are still dragon-shaped stone steps built in the 15th century during the Le dynasty.

B: While Hanoi was celebrating its millennium in 2010, archaeologists discovered the remains of the ancient royal city in the heart of the imperial city. These remains are evidence that proves the site was not only the political center and seat of dynasties, but also the cultural and economic center of the capital.

A: In addition to unique architectural relics, thousands of artifacts representing cultures of different dynasties were found, reflecting Vietnamese history from the 7th to the 19th century under the Ly, Tran, Mac Le and Nguyen dynasties. Inside the ancient citadel are French buildings and relics including D67, the Headquarters of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Vietnam and Central Military Committee where decisions on how to win the anti-US resistance war were made. These relics show that Hanoi was the political center of Vietnam through several historical periods.

B: On August 1, 2010, the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long-Hanoi was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The site reflects important cultural changes which have shaped the culture of the Red River Delta for over a thousand years.

A: Next is a letter from Ratan Kumar Paul of India, in which he asked about one of the foreign TV channels in Vietnam.

B:  Netflix has witnessed the biggest jump in Vietnam's ranking by a sizeable amount, up 112 places joining the top 100 for the first time. The cost of a Netflix subscription has been one of its biggest inhibitors for growth in Vietnam, where consumers favour free ad-supported content. More than half (52%) of Vietnamese consumers identified YouTube as their platform-of-choice for movie streaming in the first quarter of 2021, according to a report by Decision Lab, which stated that consumers were put off by Netflix's "relatively exorbitant subscription fees".

A: Netflix is also competing against local streaming services FPT Play, VieOn and Galaxy Play—all of which offer competitive prices and packages. FPT Play has a 23% share of paid streaming services in Vietnam, while Netflix is in second place at 16%, according to Decision Lab. Rather than competing on price, Netflix has ramped up its localisation efforts for the Vietnamese market, including tapping into the "extremely popular" Korean drama genre. These efforts seem to be bearing fruit—it has witnessed a 60% increase in its user base in the market since the start of 2020. 

B: Hesperus Mak, the head of strategic planning at TBWA Group Vietnam, says: "Not only did Netflix offer trending K-drama that Vietnamese love to watch, they also invested in the Vietnamese audience by including a Vietnamese interface, subtitles and voiceovers. In addition, they also added some of the popular Vietnamese titles to their collection."

A: This week, VOVworld received more than 350 letters and emails from listeners of 34 countries and territories. Many of them expressed their interest in the inauguration of Bach Long bridge in Son La province, which is the world’s longest glass bridge, and asked about Vietnam’s Guinness World records.

Bach Long bridge in the northern province of Son La (Photo: baovanhoa.vn)

B: The 632-metre-long glass Bach Long bridge is part of the Moc Chau Island Tourist Complex of entertainment services and high-class resorts including five-star hotels, monorail amusement park, cable car services and ethnic cuisine areas, with Bach Long bridge being its highlight.

A:  Construction of the bridge started in early 2021 with a total investment of  more than 33 million USD. It opened for visitors on April 30 this year.

B: Bach Long bridge was recognized as the world’s longest cliff-side path by Guinness World Records (GWR) and the world's longest glass-bottomed bridge by the World Record Association (WRA) and the Official World Record (OWR).

A: Bidhan Chandra Sanyal has sent us several emails over the past few weeks saying he has been listening to VOV on the frequency of 7220 khz for a long time. In one of his emails, Sanyal talked about President Ho Chi Minh: “Today is the birthday of Comrade Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the world’s captive working people. Ho Chi Minh, a leading figure in Vietnam's independence struggle, was one of the few people in world history to have become an ambassador of freedom for a nation. Ho Chi Minh is  proof of how a common man can embody the dreams of a nation. Even today his fame is an inspiration to all.”

B: Thank you, Sanyal, for your regular feedback on our broadcasts and for sharing your thoughts about our beloved President Ho Chi Minh. We’ll send you and our other listeners verification of your reception reports and some VOV souvenirs soon.

A: This week Sanil Deep of India sent us his monthly VOV reception report: “Greetings from Calicut.  This is my monthly report on your station, which I hope will be useful to your engineering department. I’m still listening to your Sunday Show and find the presentation of the host very good. Your Letter Box program is now quite familiar and popular with listeners all around the world because of the way in which it is presented.”

B: Thank you, Sanil Deep, for your feedback. We also want to acknowledge other listeners who sent us emails and posted comments on our Facebook fanpage, VOV5 English Service.

A: That concludes today’s program. We welcome your feedback at: English Service, VOVWorld, the Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.vn. You’re invited to visit us online at vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs.

B: Check out our VOV Media App, available on both the IOS and Android platforms, to hear our live broadcasts. We look forward to your feedback on the mobile version of vovworld.vn. Once again, thank you all for listening. Goodbye.