Japanese cartoons, anime and their popularity in Viet Nam, as well as the development of Viet Nam's animation are the topic of reports delivered at the workshop.

A similar workshop will take place in Ho Chi Minh City on Dec. 3.

These days also in Ha Noi, two cycles of six films by famous French film critic and director Francois Truffaut are on screen at the French Cultural Centre.

The first cycle, named "Les Adventures D'Antoine Doinel" (The Adventure of Antoine Doinel", including "Les 400 Coups" (The 400 Blows), "Baisers Voles" (Stolen Kisses) and "Domicile Conjugal" (Bed and Board), are shown on Dec. 1, 2 and 3.

The second cycle, "L'Amour & Les Femmes" (Love and Women), including "Jules et Jim" (Jules and Jim), "Le Dernier Metro" (The Last Metro), and "La Femme D'e Cote" (The Woman Next Door), will be introduced on Dec. 15, 16 and 17.

Truffaut's "Les 400 Coups" won the Gold Palm prize at the Cannes Festival in 1959.

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the normalisation of Viet Nam-US relations, the Museum of Ethnology will re-open an exhibition titled "Viet Nam: Journeys of Body, Mind and Spirit" from Dec. 8, 2005 to Feb. 25, 2006.

The exhibition, with showrooms designed by the American Museum of Natural History, will display 300 objects. It will also introduce feedback from the US audiences to the exhibition, which was last held in 2003.-Enditem

Many projects and much research aimed at preserving and developing the Tay Nguyen culture have brought about remarkable results, with the most easily seen being the revival of many traditional ethnic festivals such as the "gong" festival, the buffalo sacrifice ritual, the new rice festival, river wharf worship, and the rain-calling festival. Some festivals, including the elephant race and the gong festival, have become annual events for Tay Nguyen people.

The culture and information services in Tay Nguyen provinces also collect documents and typical articles of the local culture. Studies on the cultural identity of the E De, Gia Rai, Ba Na, Se Dang, Gie Trieng and K'ho ethnic minorities, have been implemented for years together with the collection of these groups' epic poems, folk songs and dances, musical instruments and traditional costumes.

A great deal of evidence of the history and culture of ethnic groups in Tay Nguyen has been unearthed at archaeological sites in Lung Leng (Kon Tum), Cat Tien (Lam Dong) as well as cultural-historical and archaeological sites in Dac Lac, which showed that the Tay Nguyen culture formed at about the same time and developed to an equal level as the Dong Son culture in the north, the Sa Huynh culture in the centre and the Dong Nai culture in the south.

The two most valuable cultural heritages of Tay Nguyen ethnic groups, the gongs and epics, are the focal point of the preservation task.  The country has submitted documents to the United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), asking for the recognisation of the Tay Nguyen gongs as a non-tangible and oral cultural heritage. Gong will be preserved and further developed under a USD-400,000 project devised by the Culture and Information Institute until 2010.

Tay Nguyen provinces are making a count of the number of sets of gongs kept by the people, and organising training courses for people of the E De, M'nong, Gia Rai, Ba Na, Se Dang and K'ho groups. Most villages now boast at least one gong band which plays during community activities.

The oral literal heritage is another feature that makes Tay Nguyen stand out as one of the country's seven main cultural regions, especially its epics which have been passed down for many generations. With hundreds of epics still being recited at community activities, Tay Nguyen is the only home to epics in Viet Nam and one of the few such regions in the world.

To preserve and develop this precious treasure, the culture and information service has since October 2003 held courses on epic recital in the region, which received warm responses from both old and young people. The Government has also given 21 billion VND (roughly 1.3 million USD) to a national project on collecting and studying Tay Nguyen's epics. A ten-year survey showed that not only the E De and Ba Na wrote epic poems, but the M'nong, Gia Rai, So Dang, Raglai, Xtieng, Cham H'roi, and possibly the Ma, K'ho and Churu also have their own epics. In addition to the five Tay Nguyen provinces of Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Dac Lac, Dac Nong and Lam Dong, epics have also been heard in the neighbouring provinces of Binh Phuoc, Ninh Thuan, Khanh Hoa and Phu Yen.

The programme, signed by the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture and Information and the Korean Committee for Cultural Cooperation, covers cooperation in culture, fine art and information.

The Korean side agreed with Viet Nam's proposal for assistance and support for a "Viet Nam's cultural week in the RoK" in 2005 on the occasion of Viet Nam's major festivals.

Under the Viet Nam-RoK 2001-2004 cultural exchange programme, cultural and information activities were successfully organised, marking the 10th anniversary of the two countries' diplomatic ties, and the Viet Nam-RoK friendship week held in Ha Noi recently.

The conference was told that during the 1999-2004 emulation movement, public employees and trade unions at all levels offered good counselling to the Party and the State in the process of introducing rural and agricultural development policies. They contributed to economic development, environmental protection and poverty reduction.

Labour Confederation chapters in cities and provinces nationwide in collaboration with local Agriculture and Rural Development Departments organised tens of thousands of training courses to transfer technical advances and new technology to farmers.

The conference proposed a number of measures to boost the movement for agricultural modernisation in the future.

Chairman An said that he appreciated the hard-work and enthusiasm by theatre artists nationwide in keeping alive traditional theatre art and developing modern theatre, thus enhancing people's lives.

For his part, Association Secretary General Nguyen Trong Khoi said that theatre art has strongly grown up over the past five years as shown by the revival of a number of religious rituals and beliefs as well as impressive festivals such as the Hue festival, celebrations of the Dien Bien Phu victory over the French colonialists, and the ancient town Hoi An festival.  He also said a large number of theatre art troupes have managed to mobilise financial and human resources to have high-quality works meeting market demands, thus drawing audiences to theatres.

He also admitted that some traditional theatre arts such as traditional operetta and classical drama are in crisis of audiences in some localities.

The Viet Nam Theatre Artists' Association became a member of the World Theatre Association in 2004. The association has since then continually promoted international cooperation. It has worked with counterparts from China , the United States , Japan , the Republic of Korea , Sweden and Australia on some projects to bring the theatre arts closer to audiences.

During the festival, the Vietnamese artists performed special items, including a lion dance, dragon dance, fairy dance and boat race dance.

In addition, the Thang Long Water Puppet Troupe also made 30 performances during the 45th Thessaloniki International Film Festival at the Hellexpo International Exhibition Centre, giving fine impressions to the audiences.

The recital was accompanied by the music of Dan Tranh (16-stringed zither) played by Ngo Thi Thanh Nhan, a linguist at New York University.

The poems were included in a collection of 49 poems written in Nom, the Vietnamese Chinese-based script, which flourished in the 16^th-17^th centuries. The collection, entitled Spring Essence – a translation of the poet’s name Xuan Huong - was composed and translated by John Balaban, an amateur poet and a professor of English at North Carolina University.

The special event, to be held from Dec. 6-14, is being planned by the RoK government in coordination with the RoK embassy in Viet Nam and the Viet Nam-RoK Friendship Association.

"The bilateral relationship was strengthened by a visit from the RoK president to Viet Nam in October which will promote diplomatic and economic cooperation between the two countries." said the RoK Ambassador Yoo Tae Hyun. "We also want Vietnamese people to join the week of friendship to ensure its success."

During the event, singers from the South Korean Opera Group will perform the opera  Whangjinie in the capital city.

Founded in 1989, the South Korean Opera Group does not focus on western operas, but hopes to invigorate and revive traditional Korean operas.

The troupe premiered the original Korean Opera Whangjinie in 1999 and received favourable response from both critics and audiences. The opera tells the story of Whangjinie, a poet during the mid-Joseon Dynasty who broke down social barriers to become a professional entertainer.

The opera will begin at 8pm on Dec. 8 and 9 at the Ha Noi Opera House.

Three hundred invitations will be offered at the RoK embassy before Dec. 6.

An exhibition for Korean "Made in Viet Nam" products will also be held in the Giang Vo Exhibition Centre starting Dec. 6.

About 1,050 cosmetic, pharmaceutical and household accessory products will be displayed during the event. Organisers hope to attract visitors to the exhibition with an art programme.

Traditional music performances will include drums, Korean operas, and traditional monk performances. The shows will begin at 6pm on Dec. 10 and 3pm on Dec. 11.

Thirty photos featuring high-ranking visits and special events during the 12 years of diplomatic relations between Viet Nam and the RoK will also be showed at a photo exhibition, which will open from Dec. 1-14 in the Giang Vo Exhibition Centre.

A Korean singing contest will start at 2pm on Sunday, Dec. 12 at the centre. The contest will attract contestants from Korean-invested companies.