On the evening of June 30, a live television broadcast of a special art program titled “Radiant Hai Phong” took place at the Hai Phong City Theatre Square and the Xu Dong Cultural Center, celebrating the merger of Hai Duong Province and Hai Phong City.
At the Hai Phong City Theatre Square venue, the program was attended by Le Tien Chau, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Hai Phong Party Committee and Head of the city’s National Assembly Delegation; Do Manh Hien, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Hai Phong Party Committee; Le Ngoc Chau, Deputy Secretary of the Hai Phong Party Committee and Chairman of the Hai Duong Provincial People’s Committee; and leaders of the city’s departments and sectors.
At the Xu Dong Cultural Center venue, attendees included Pham Van Lap, member of the Standing Committee of the Hai Phong Party Committee and Chairman of the Hai Phong City People’s Council, members of the Standing Committees of the Hai Phong Party Committee and Hai Duong Provincial Party Committee, leaders of agencies and units, and large numbers of residents from the two localities.
After 138 years since September 11, 1887, when Hai Phong was established on part of the territory of Hai Duong Province, today’s merger of Hai Phong City and Hai Duong Province is not only an administrative event but also a return to a shared origin rooted in the former Xu Dong region. The event marks a historic turning point and opens a new development journey for the country’s third-largest city: an industrial, civilized and modern port city full of aspirations to become a leading urban center in Southeast Asia and the world.
Sharing the same origins, the people of Hai Phong and Hai Duong have closely connected cultures, with similarities in character and customs. The two localities are places where Vietnamese cultural values converge and spread, and where the finest elements of human culture meet and are embraced, enriching the nation’s cultural identity.
The art program at the two venues brought audiences and visitors a range of proud, profound and fresh emotions about the culture and people of each land. It awakened confidence in a promising future after the merger and created strong momentum to build and develop a new Hai Phong City that is radiant, civilized and modern.
The program opened with the song Hai Phong Rising (poem by Pham Hong Diep, music by Ngoc Tuyet), followed by a series of performances rich in local identity, including Hai Duong, Land of Memories (composed by Xuan Tri), Radiant Hai Duong (People’s Artist Cao Huu Nhac), Shore of Expectation (Duy Thai), Hai Phong, My Homeland (Xuan Binh), City of Flowers Ablaze (Tung Ngoc), Welcoming the Dawn (Duong Quoc Hung), Hai Duong, Radiant under the Rising Sun (Minh Duc), and a Hai Phong medley…
The program also featured outstanding performances such as the traditional van song Sacred Uy Linh Van Kiep Con Son (lyrics by Tran Dinh Ngon), the dance Lychees in Season (music by Cao Xuan Dung, choreography by People’s Artist Huu Tu), and graceful ao dai presentations by the Top 15 contestants of Miss Earth and the Top contestants of Miss Heritage.
The program concluded with a brilliant fireworks display, a greeting to the future that lit up faith and aspirations for Hai Phong City and Hai Duong Province to develop together in solidarity and write new, radiant and proud chapters of history.
The art program “Radiant Hai Phong” was organized under the direction of the Hai Phong Party Committee, People’s Council and People’s Committee and implemented under the leadership of the Hai Phong Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Performers included numerous artists and actors from the Hai Duong Provincial Cultural and Arts Center, Hai Duong Cheo Theatre, Hai Phong Traditional Stage Theatre, Hai Phong Contemporary Art Theatre, and Hai Phong School of Culture, Arts and Tourism, along with many guest artists from inside and outside the city.
Source: Hai Phong City E-Portal