The opening ceremony of the 35th birthday of Tuoi Tre Newspaper kicked off Saturday morning in Ho Chi Minh City, with as many as 1,000 readers visiting around 20 showcased booths and watching a musical show.
The event got started with an imposing performance entitled “Am Vang Mua Xuan” (Resounding Rhythm of Spring) by drummers of the Phu Dong art troupe at the main stage of the festival in the Phan Dinh Phung Sports House.
Following a brief musical performance on the main stage at 9:30 a.m, some 20 booths installed around the sports house -- the area of festival -- were dominated by a huge number of visitors to learn about the job of journalists.
Visiting the booth of
Tuoitrenews, the English-language news website, third-year student Bui Thien An of the Ho Chi Minh City Economics College said he had found out a way to improve his English skills and confidence in conversation with foreigners by reading daily news at
www.tuoitrenews.vn.
After attending the talk show themed “Improving Your English Skills” held at the Tuoitrenews booth, An said, “I feel interesting at the advice of the American speaker Lillian Forsyth, who told us that the best way to understand English is to make friends and teach one another,” An said.
“Vietnamese people get used to learning English with books only and I think it’s not the best way,” he said.
An said he had several news stories on charity and youth lifestyle published on Tuoi Tre in the past two years under the pen name Manh Hung.
“I got journalism lessons from my father who worked for Tuoi Tre 20 years ago,” he said. “He accompanied me here to visit his colleagues and express his impression towards the contribution of Tuoi Tre for society.”
An and his friends were also interested in taking part in a game called “Practising journalism skills” booth with experienced reporters of Tuoi Tre.
Visitors there were given some techniques to collect news, write and edit stories, and design the layout.
However, the most interesting booth was that of cartoon artists who are working for the satiric publication of Tuoi Tre Cuoi (Tuoi Tre Weird and Funny).
“With some sketches in less than two minutes, a painter gave me my portrait as a gift of Tuoi Tre to me,” An said.
The “Exchanging litter for gift” booth drew the attention of a large number of visitors, with a message of joining hands to keep your streets tidy given by Tuoi Tre.
“Keeping the living environment is good for all people and I know the booth is installed here to raise awareness for that,” An said after passing the paper used to wrap his hamburger to the booth and receiving back a ball pen.
Other booths of “Charity” and “Leaving a message to younger generations” and the talk show with naval soldiers were also crowded during the two opening hours of the festival.
All the visitors coming there were given gifts or souvenirs.
During another talk show on the main stage, coast-guard soldier Hai Au told the audience, “This is a rare occasion that I got a chance to wear this navy uniform before such a huge crowd.”
“We are living in an isolated island off the coast of Vietnam, and rarely do we have ceremonies to attend.”
“So, I’m so happy to be invited to give speech here,” he said. “And I also feel happy to sit next to a beauty queen, Huong Giang, and I will tell my co-workers when I go back to the islands,” he said.
In the last two years, Tuoi Tre has published a series of stories featuring the lives of navy soldiers and stirred much interest among readers.
Tuoi Tre readers also donated billions of dongs to establish a lighting system for living platforms of soldiers on the islands.
Nguyen Xuan Tao, a former air force soldier, came to the Tuoi Tre festival with a different purpose.
“Feeling impressed with voluntary campaigns themed “Green Summer” featured regularly on Tuoi Tre, I am here, wishing to witness the youthful atmosphere of the young people,” he said.
“Now that I retired and have a lot of free time, I come to major social activities in Ho Chi Minh City to live and share emotion with the youth,” a veteran living in District 4 said.
The Tuoi Tre birthday festival will continue with a grand music and dancing gala in the evening.
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