Event

Initiated by the French Institute in Hanoi – L’Espace, the month-long event will adopt photos to tell stories, show diverse perspectives and approaches to the multi-colored world through the prism of domestic and international photographers.

Nearly 30 domestic and international photographers, visual artists, and creators including French-Vietnamese photographer Lam Duc Hien, French photographer Philippe Marinig and Polish photographer Victoria Siwik will participate in the event. Many of them have developed an understanding of Vietnam’s culture and art scene after living in the country for years.

Throughout May, a series of exhibitions, seminars, and workshops will take place in many of the capital’s cultural centers, highlighting diverse practices in making and displaying photographs.

At a press conference on the event, Thierry Vergon, director of L’Espace, said the institute believes that photography is for everyone, and will seek to engage people from different walks of life.

It will promote a conversation about the art of photography between international and Vietnamese photographers. Events during the month will showcase talents, skills and unique visions that will express the ideas and thinking of the artists, Vergon said.

Lam Duc Hien’s “The Mekong – Stories of man” exhibition, and the “Format” exhibition featuring the work of 10 photographers are events that will be part of the photography month.

Vietnam has made necessary preparations to host two contests of the 2021 International Army Games amidst the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of National Defense and Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People’s Army) newspaper organized a press meeting on Tuesday morning to provide some details about the upcoming International Army Games.

Aside from participating in multiple competitions, Vietnam is expected to host the Military Medical Relay Race and the second group stage of the Sniper Frontier contests, said Colonel Pham Manh Thang, an official from the Ministry of National Defense.

Units under the ministry have coordinated with relevant authorities to discuss plans to organize the contests at Mieu Mon Training Center in Hanoi and impose necessary COVID-19 prevention and control measures.

The Ministry of Defense of Russia has held the International Army Games annually since 2015.

This year’s edition is anticipated to take place from August 22 to September 4.

Competitions will be hosted by Russia, Belarus, China, Vietnam, Iran, Algeria, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.

Vietnam sent a team of 125 officers and athletes to compete in ten events of last year’s International Army Games and won the gold medal in Group 2’s final of the tank biathlon category.

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Before 1975, when Vietnam was reunified, Go Cong – nowadays Tien Giang Province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta – was a hub for well-attended martial arts exhibitions, which appealed to highly-skilled fighters from famed schools in the south of the country.

To add drama to the events, two opponents customarily prayed to their coffins before engaging.

Martial arts fights in Go Cong could be comparable to the present-day soccer matches considering the number of spectators.

Thousands would gather around the ring to witness fierce fights similar to modern-day boxing.

Fight to the death? Coffins and pride

In the 1960s, the organizing committee wanted to inject a sense of theater into the fights and placed a coffin on each side of the ring, which the fighters would touch and pray to at the beginning of their match.

Fighting to the death was the spirit, but no one ever died in any actual encounter.

However, the props were effective enough to force younger audience members to keep their light on at bedtime.

According to Le Tan Long, now 65 years old, a once famous boxer at the Trieu Tu Long martial arts center in Go Cong before 1975, what made these fights tick was essentially its sense of naked reality.

Boxers came to the stage with a pair of shorts, no chest and rib guards and very thin boxing gloves.

Their punches, kicks and special moves were as naturally done as they could be.

Long had a genuine passion for martial arts, but it took him years to talk his parents into giving their approval.

The raging ring was the stage where fighters pulled out all the stops in their martial arts center’s name.

According to Long, one could earn around VND6,000 (US$0.26) for every fight.

“People stepped into the ring simply for the pride of their center,” he said.

“Merely voicing their name was a source of pride and a catalyst for the fight.”

Money or not, they all rushed to the ring

Bui Minh Loi, 65, used to escort fighters to their spot and act as their cutman.

He informed that people were wrong to think only the wealthy could afford to attend these combats.

Quite on the contrary, even farmers saved for these events.

“Tickets sold out every time,” he said.

“The have-nots and children used to sneak in across the fences or through wall holes.”

During festivals like Ky Yen – a peace prayer ceremony by a small local religion in the south of Vietnam – or the mid-February fest of the lunar calendar when people commemorated a local deity, the fiery fights attracted more people than ever.

Whether they were friendly fights, challenges or duels, the crowds were cheering.

When Go Cong began to popularize a lunar new year fun fair in the early 1960s, the authorities decided to add a boxing ring.

The ring was established on a soccer pitch opposite a high school.

It was made from wooden panels and was well lit with bright yellow stage lights, making every single move clearly visible from a distance.

Phan Van Nam, 70, used to live near the governor’s mansion in Go Cong.

He recalled that a tournament lasted two to four nights, with as many as six pairs of fighters every night.

According to him, fun fair goers tripled in numbers thanks to this novel feature, amounting to thousands of people.

Some of them crossed over 40 kilometers on either horse carts or mini buses.

“Even my cousin came. He took his whole family there just to watch these fights,” Nam said.

Ladies were part of the scene as well. Young girls dressed up nicely and constituted an indispensable proportion of the spectators.

Some simply hoped to hold the hands of victors in their glory. Others could afford to bring over a bunch of flowers or a little lovely card.

One point of interest was that there were as many female fighters as male boxers in the Trieu Tu Long martial arts center.

Fighters’ stories

Tan Long was a boxer from the Trieu Tu Long martial arts center.

Beginning his career in 1973, he made four appearances in Go Cong tournaments by 1975, not including undocumented challenges.

He asserted that Go Cong called more spectators than other places.

“Once there were too many people around that I got overwhelmed for a while. It took me some time to regain my vigor,” he recalled.

“And there was one fight when spectators were crowding onto the ring.

“The policemen had to step in and protected us.”

A few boxers left Go Cong for the urban tournaments. One of the most impressive fights on record was between Nguyen Van Doan from Can Tho and Nguyen Phi Long from Go Cong.

The fight took place in Saigon, which is present-day Ho Chi Minh City.

Based on an article written on the October 28, 1974 by the Sports newspaper, the event occurred on October 27.

“In the first round, Doan tried to win it fast and knock out Long, who remained calm and smartly fought back,” the article reads.

“Carefully calculating his moves, Long suddenly sent out his knee attacks, sending Doan to the ground and unable to get up.

“The spectators were disappointed as the KO came too soon – merely 1.25 minutes into the first round.”

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“Photo Hanoi ‘21” represents a month-long programme which is being initiated by the French Institute in Hanoi.

The event will feature the participation of 30 local and foreign photographers, including Lam Duc Hien, a French photographer of Vietnamese, Philippe Marinig of France, Nic Shonfeld of the UK, Roselena Ramistella of Italy, and Elodie Ledure of Belgium.

Six exhibitions are set to be held throughout the course of the event, including “Lam Duc Hien: The Mekong-Stories of man” at the French Institute and “Philippe Marinig: Secret moments of maikos” at the Japan Foundation Centre for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam. This is in addition to “Punk Dragon: The time has come to rekindle the stars” at the Matca Space for Photography, along with “Unexpected paths: Viewpoints from Europe” at Vincom Center for Contemporary Arts (VCCA).

An exhibition running with the theme of “I’m feeling lucky: Selected titles from RVB Books” will display various photo books at the Matca Space for Photography on May 1 and will serve to open a series of “Photo Hanoi ‘21” cultural events in Hanoi.

These cultural events are suitable for audiences of all ages and all visitors can enter for free.

VOV