A: Thank you to all members of the club for your valuable support for the Voice of Vietnam and for sharing your love of Vietnam. We hope to continue to receive your feedback and support for our shortwave broadcasts, our website at vovworld.vn and our VOV Media app.
B: Didarul Iqbal, one of the members of the club told us this week that October 1st, 2020, is the club’s 23rd founding anniversary. He wrote: “Our club is a very active listener club in Bangladesh and abroad. Our club helps to increase the audience for Radio and improve the quality of Radio programing. Our club has won multiple international awards from Indonesia, China and India. Our club has about 50 branches and its members number more than thousand. In the first week of October, several branches of our club will celebrate the club’s 23rd anniversary in a very joyous atmosphere.” Congratulations. Guess what? We will have a surprise birthday gift for you.
A: We’d like to thank Taslima Akter Lima of South Asia Radio Club in Bangladesh for organizing a celebration of VOV’s 75th anniversary.
B: Writing to VOV this week, he said: “On the occasion of VOV’s 75th anniversary, a celebration was organized by our South Asia Radio Club on September 11 in a joyous atmosphere. We are extremely proud and excited to have our club associated with this historic day of the Voice of Vietnam (VOV). Perhaps, this will be marked as an important milestone in the history of our club. Many daily newspapers and online news portals in Bangladesh have published news and pictures about the events organized by our club.”
A: Since we have increased the content of our website and the fanpage VOV English Service fanpage, we have received an increasing amount of feedback from our listeners around the world. We really appreciate your comment and feedback on our programs on various platforms: shortwave and online.
 Decorative items and toys for the Mid-Autumn Festival are available in Hang Ma street in Hanoi's Old Quarter |
B: Azam Ali Soomro of Pakistan says he enjoyed listening to our stories about Vietnam’s Mid-Autumn Festival. He wrote: “These days Vietnam is shining with the brilliant colors of autumn as the people of Vietnam enthusiastically head into the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Voice of Vietnam is doing a good job of keeping us well informed about the events and celebrations around this fascinating cultural festival. These shows really help us understand Vietnam. For example, the report about the Hanoi family who are keeping their tradition of making wooden mooncake moulds alive.”
A: Thank you, Mr. Soomro. The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of Vietnam’s biggest festivals of the year. While the Mid-autumn Festival is celebrated in many Asian countries, the Vietnamese version has its own traditions and legends. Our best-known tale is about a man named Cuội who clung to a magical banyan tree as it floated up to the moon. If you look closely at the full moon, you can see the shadow of a man sitting under a tree.
B: Children parade lanterns in the streets the night of the Mid-autumn Festival to light the way for Cuội from the moon back to the earth. The celebration of the harvest is an important part of the festival, as many Vietnamese live in rural areas and work as farmers. It is a joyous occasion when the work is finished and there’s time to spend with loved ones.”
A: All across Vietnam, families welcome the festival by placing a five-fruit tray and cakes on their ancestral altar. We offer food to our ancestors and pray to them before eating mooncakes, usually outside under the light of the moon. Round or square, these cakes are moulded with elaborate details of flowers, carp and geometric patterns.
B: The two most common types are bánh dẻo (soft, sticky cakes with a mochi texture) and bánh nướng (baked cakes with a thick wheat crust). Mooncakes in Vietnam come in a seemingly infinite variety of flavours, both sweet and savoury. A: On the night of the full moon, children bearing brightly coloured lanterns form noisy processions through their neighbourhoods singing songs. You may see a male dancer wearing a round happy-face mask who urge on the lion dancers and delights the crowd with comical moves. This is the Earth God, Ông Địa, who represents the fullness of the earth and reminds onlookers to give thanks for its bounty. Ông Địa always brings joy and puts a smile on every Vietnamese child's face.
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B: Lion dancing or múa lân is an essential element of the Mid-autumn festivities. Groups of children gather, each carrying a red lantern. Everyone sings along to the cheerful Mid-autumn Festival songs memorized in childhood. Excitement peaks when drumbeats ring out from down the dark street. The smaller kids shrink back and the older ones run forward as a mythical lion bursts into their courtyard, its giant head and sinuous body borne by a team of acrobatic dancers.
A: This year, the festival will fall on Thursday October 1st. We hope that you will see Cuoi sitting under a banyan tree on the night of the full-moon and celebrate the festival with us.
B: Siddhartha Bhattacharjee of India asked this week whether university students have begun their new school year despite the COVID-19 pandemic and whether online learning continues.
A: Kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools, and high schools began their new school year on September 5. The epidemic is under control in Vietnam. No new cases have been reported in 28 days, so we are resuming normal life including school activities.
B: But because of the epidemic, university openings have been delayed. High school students nationwide have completed their graduation and university entrance exams and are now waiting to be enrolled at universities and colleges. Enrollment will begin on October 5th.
A: Different universities and colleges have different admission criteria. Some use students’ high school academic results, some use students’ scores on their graduation exams, and some organize their own entrance examination.
B: This week, we’d like to welcome Mr. Wali Mutazammil to the Voice of Vietnam. Commenting on our program “Untold stories, a special program marking the 75th anniversary of VOV’s English Service”, Wali Mutazammil wrote: “Congratulations to my extended family in Vietnam on the 75th Anniversary of VOV. There are many untold glorious stories about Vietnam. In this new era, I look forward to being enlightened regarding the great people, places, history, art and civilization of Vietnam.”
 Image on Google’s homepage on Feb. 23, 2020 which depicts artists performing ca tru (Photo: VNA) |
A: Mr. Mutazammil expressed interest in our story “Ca Tru ceremonial singing – Vietnamese folk music treasure”. He wrote: “The moods and emotions of this special classical setting is timeless. I enjoy reading about Vietnamese traditions, history and civilization”.
B: Thank you Mr. Mutazammil for supporting our program. We look forward to additional feedback from you.
B: We received a letter from Grant Skinner of the UK this week. He reported listening to a VOV broadcast on August 22 on the frequency of 7280 khz and rated SINPO 35353. He wrote: “There was a distorted voice at first then it resolved itself. Then there was a loud crackling which interfered with my listening. I could understand a few words but not whole sentences.”
A; Thank you, Mr. Skinner, for your reception report. We have forwarded your report to our technicians to improve the transmission quality.
B: We’d like to acknowledge emails and letters from Badrunnesa Busra, Karniz Fatema Sanu, and Nusrat Zahan of Bangladesh, M Saleem Akhtar Chadhar and Amir Jameel of Pakistan, Siddhartha Bhattacharjee of India, and Andrey Kuzmin of Russia.
A: Thank you all for sending us your detailed reception reports. We’ll confirm them with e-QSL cards.
B: We welcome your feedback at: English Service, VOVWorld, the Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at our new email address: englishsection@vov.vn. You’re invited to visit us online at vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs.
A : We look forward to your feedback on the mobile version of vovworld.vn. Once again, thank you all for listening.