Spring festival china

China's tourism authorities announced on Tuesday that tourism boomed in the country during the seven-day Lunar New Year holiday with over 70 percent of trips made within the Chinese mainland. "According to data from bureaus of major domestic tourist destinations, during the first five days people made scores of times more trips than before," said an official with the National Holiday Tourism Office. For example, on the first day of the lunar year, which fell on Feb. 3, Shanghai Century Park received 13,500 visitors, which is about 30 times that of the first day of the holiday last year. Meanwhile, outbound trips increased sharply. A total of 67,500 people left Beijing for overseas trips during the holiday, which is an increase of 59.6 percent from the same period last year. From Feb. 2 to 9, 350 flights departed from China and arrived in Thailand, 130 of which were chartered flights to Phuket Island, Samet Island and Samui Island. Tourism has become an important component in … [Read more...] about Spring Festival tourism booms in China

China has invested a total of 236 million yuan (about 32 million U.S. dollars) over the last five years in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, the culture ministry said. The Ministry of Culture said in a report posted on its official website that it has been increasing spending on intangible cultural heritage protection since 2003. The ministry allocated a special fund of six million yuan for intangible cultural heritage protection in 2003. The funding rose to 20 million yuan in 2004, and reached 90 million yuan last year. Kunqu Opera alone, a 500-year-old "masterpiece" of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity listed by UNESCO in 2001 for its graceful movements and poetic lyrics, received a total of 50 million yuan in subsidies. China is home to four items listed by UNESCO as world intangible cultural heritage: the Kunqu Opera; the 3,000-year-old guqin seven-string zither; the Twelve Mukams, a 12-part suite of ancient Uygur music; and the Pastoral Song sung by a … [Read more...] about China invests 236 mln yuan in protecting intangible cultural heritage

BEIJING, March 10 -- She is best known for taking this year's Spring Festival Gala to the United States, where all 4,000 tickets for the rendition of the annual cultural extravaganza were sold out days before it opened.After the success of the mainstay of Chinese families' lunar new year celebrations at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, Li Yuling said the stage is now set for US and other foreign audiences to enjoy Chinese culture at full blast. "Instead of staging a humble show that might have gone largely unnoticed, we intended to create some powerful ripples," the president of the American Cultural Exchange Foundation said of the Jan 20 event which cost $700,000. "For a long time, the government has been trying to raise the profile of our nation by exporting our culture. It's time we reflect on how to do this effectively, and, if possible, make it financially feasible," Li, 52, said on the sidelines of this year's session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference … [Read more...] about China: Culture exports “should pass the test of the market”

(Cinet)- The “Haru Matsuri” (Spring Festival) will be organized on May 4 from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm at the Youth Culture House in District 1, Ho Chi Minh city.The event  aims to promote the close relationship between Vietnam and Japan and introduce special cultural characteristics which will help participants to have a better understanding of the lifestyles of both countries.The festival  will feature more than 30 booths showcasing Origami paper folding, cosplay, traditional Japanese dolls and cakes, and well-known fashion styles like kimonos and Lolita (a Japanese street fashion).Many Japanese folk games including “Kingyo Sukui” (a traditional Japanese game in which a player scoops goldfish with a special scooper), “Wanage” (throwing as many rings onto a column as possible) and “Mizu Yoyo” (a type of yoyo) will also included in the festival. Japanese culinary will be delighted such  as “takoyaki” (a Japanese … [Read more...] about Exploring Japanese culture through Haru Matsuri festival in HCMC

China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region will hold a four-day cultural gala in Ulan Batoron Jan. 15-18, a Chinese diplomat told Xinhua on Tuesday. Wang Daqi, cultural counselor of the Chinese embassy to Mongolia, said a cultural delegation, made up of nearly 120 writers, singers, dancers, folk artists and others from Inner Mongolia in northern China would visit Mongolia during the festival and present shows to Mongolian audiences. He said among the shows are a spring festival concert jointly conducted by Chinese and Mongolian artists, an exhibition of books and videotapes, and a film show, among other activities. Employees of a Chinese bookstore neighboring the Chinese embassy were busily preparing for the upcoming cultural festival, according to a Xinhua correspondent in Ulan Bator . China 's Inner Mongolia region and Mongolia , which share a long border, share many social and cultural similarities. Source: … [Read more...] about China’s Inner Mongolia to hold cultural festival in Mongolia

Den Mau Thuong Ngan ( High Mountain Mother Temple ) Festival in northern Lang Son province attracted pilgrims from all part of the country as well as thousands of visitors from neibouring China . Visitors to the annual spring festival, opened on February 16 in Dong Dang town, Cao Loc district, pray for a year of happiness, good fortune and promotion. Source: Vna … [Read more...] about Lang Son’s spring festival lures Chinese visitors

The second Taste of the World food festival will take place this Friday afternoon and will run until Sunday at Van Thanh Tourist Park in HCM City.The festival will prominently feature Vietnamese foods and wines and celebrate the foods and cultures of 17 different countries. According to organizers, the HCMC Department of Tourism and the Saigontourist Holding Company, the annual festival will introduce attendees to various types of Vietnamese wines at the Vietnam Wine House. Visitors can sample 39 varieties of traditional wines from the country’s northern and southern regions. Chiem Thanh Long, director of Binh Quoi Tourist Park, said that organizers have traveled throughout the country to collect the featured wines, which are made from rice, corn and sticky rice. Visitors will also be able to sample wines made from different vegetation such as pomelos, coconuts and cashews. “We saw many interesting wines, tools and methods on our cross-country trip,” Long said. … [Read more...] about Annual food festival comes to town this weekend

A unique spring roll of 36m long and 25mm in diameter will be displayed at “Nations’ Delicious Dishes Festival” in Van Thanh Tourist Area in Ho Chi Minh City from November 30 to December 2. The spring roll is to be listed in the Vietnam Record Book and tourists will have a chance to taste it. The long spring roll is made of a wide variety of ingredients that have been kept secret by the maker from Cau Tre Export Products Processing Joint-stock Company. Normally, ingredients for spring roll includepork, fungus, vermicelli,thin-top mushrooms, chicken eggs or shrimp and some other seafood, depending on typical spices of each region throughout Vietnam. “Nations’ Delicious Dishes Festival” is an event that will see a lot of professional cooks from local restaurants, hotels and 29 culinary units from other countries including China, France, Germany, India, Australia, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, the Republic of Korea. Visitors will have opportunities to … [Read more...] about Chance to taste unique spring roll in HCM City

Thirty flower businesses will showcase their blossoms in the streets of Da Lat in early January.Bui Van Sang, the owner of one of Da Lat’s most well-known tourist sites, the Valley of Peaches, and the son of late Da Lat flower artisan Muoi Loi who devoted his whole life to flowers, said his farm is preparing 100 peach trees to be displayed around Da Lat’s Xuan Huong Lake during the 2010 Flower Festival to be held in the city on January 1-4.Sang is among hundreds of flower-growers that will join 30 flower business firms in showing off their flowers at the festival which is the first of a series held to welcome the millennial anniversary of capital Ha Noi, said Truong Van Thu, deputy chairman of the Lam Dong People’s Committee, at a recent press briefing in Ha Noi."The festival will be different this year. Instead of the flowers being displayed solely inside the city as previously, the displays will be expanded along the 25km from Lien Khuong Airport to the city centre … [Read more...] about Flower fanatics prepare for Da Lat festival