Nguyen Minh Hung, a 58-year-old collector of antiquities in the Mekong Delta City of Bac Lieu is now worth billions of Vietnamese dong.
More than 2,000 objects in his possession include French, Italian, Chinese and Hue Royal decorations; feng shui items; wood sculptures; furniture; stone, bronze and gemstone statues, ancient stamps and coins. Hung has collected them since age 24.
Some of them belonged to ‘Cong Tu Bac Lieu’, the name that people at that time called a wealthy landlord's son in the province. His real name was Tran Trinh Huy. He was very notorious for his ways in gambling, dancing, buying luxurious things, burning money for making a bowl of sweet soup in order to compete with another rich man for attention of a beautiful girl in the region in the 1930s.
Hung will display a number of antiquities and auction some antiques for charitable activities on occasion of the first festival of Southern Amateur Music in Bac Lieu in April 2014.
The festival aims to honor the achievements of the province in protecting and building the country, and in various fields such as economy, culture, society and industrialization and modernization of the country.
Many artists and musicians are from cities and provinces in the east of the southern region and the Mekong Delta.
The festival aims to keep the tradition of ‘Cai Luong’ alive in the community and foster a love for this particular kind of music amongst the people.
