Fireworks to be set off at Hue Festival

Government has approved a petition which allows Hue to set off a 15-minute firework performance at the opening and closing ceremonies of Hue Festival 2010.

Hue Festival 2010 will take place from June 5-13 in the ancient imperial city of Hue, with the expected participation of over 40 artists and art troupes from 31 countries worldwide, said the organisation board.

For the first time, Hue Festival will welcome the representatives of ancient capital cities and provinces housing world cultural heritages whose activities include special cultural performances relating to music, circus, theatrics, street art, puppetry and cinema, said Nguyen Duy Hien, the organisation board’s deputy director.

Unique performances of the Hue imperial court will reappear in many areas in the forms of such events as sacrifice ceremony, Ao dai (traditional dress) festival, royal palace night, the legend of Huong River, and Vietnam’s Beauty Programme.

Additionally, two new activities to welcome the 1,000th founding anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi, the country’s territory defense and the manoeuvre of marines under Nguyen dynasty, will be theatricised during the festival, according to the organisation board.

Starting in 2000, the biennial Hue Festival has so far reaped considerable successes. In 2008, the festival attracted over two million visitors, rose from over 1.5 million in the previous festival, including 30,000 foreign tourists.