Hue Festival 2008

----------The Hue Festival 2008 opened with colour, music and dances performed by Vietnamese and foreign artists at the Hue Imperial Citadel’s Ngo Mon Gate in central Thua Thien-Hue Province.
On the evening of June 3 the lights of the citadel shone as Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan and a number of Party, State and National Assembly leaders joined dozens of thousands of local people and tourists at the opening ceremony. Under the theme “Cultural Heritage with Integration and Development”, the nine-day festival involves more than 1,500 artists from 62 ensembles of 23 countries. The artists will entertain festival-goers with 77 music, dance, drama, circus and installation art, dance and music shows. The biannual festival will also feature reenactments of the enthronement of King Quang Trung on Ban Mountain, the Nam Giao “peace and prosperity” ceremony, Xa Tac ritual offerings to the God of Earth and the God of Cereals to wish for favourable weather and bumper crops. There will also be a “Legend of Huong River” programme, a contest to select martial arts masters and an ao dai (long dress) festival.
----------------------------------------------------------------------(Source: VNA)