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Vietnamese water puppets are coming to Washington DC! On Wednesday June 20, 2007, the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center near the White House will be home to an impressive collection of water puppet, including over 700 from the collection of puppeteer Chu Luong.
“I hope the American visitors will understand the story that we (the participants in the exhibition) want to tell through such installations. It’s a tale of the optimism, love of life and selflessness of the Vietnamese people,” Luong said.
Artist Viet Thanh will accompany Luong and the pair will be participating in talks about their art. For more information on the venue, click here.
June 7: In tragic news, a tornado hit the Hung Ha district of Thai Binh, which took the life of one man and injured five others. It was the most damaging tornado to hit this northern Vietnamese area in twenty years.
June 16: Viet Nam’s beaches are being destroyed by pollution that is a direct result of increasing tourism in the country, specifically marine tourism. Halong Bay, a site regularly visited by adoptive parents staying in Hanoi was mentioned as one of the affected areas. Garbage left behind by tourists is only part of the problem; an increase in the number of people diving along Viet Nam’s beaches is having a negative effect on its coral and seaweed species.
June 17: Viet Nam recently experienced its first human bird flu fatality since 2005. The Vietnamese state media just released the report that a twenty year old man from Ha Tay died at Hanoi’s National Contagious and Tropical Diseases Hospital as a result of bird flu on June 10, 2007. There are currently four other reports of human cases of bird flu in the country. This death coincides with recent findings of bird flu in poultry in the Cao Bang province, which is near China.
