More than three million people attended the second annual Hanoi Flower Festival which kicked off December 30 in the capital’s Ly Thai To Square and ended January 3.
This year’s flower festival was larger in scale than last year with hundreds of types of blossoms from around the country and more than 30,000 tulips imported from the Netherlands.
The event also focused on increasing public awareness of environmental protection as related to flowers.
There were complaints, however, that organizers should also have paid more attention to keeping traffic under control and maintaining public order at the busy festival.
Three new Viet Nam Guinness records were set during the event including one for longest ao dai (Vietnam’s traditional dress) made of 1,000 silk and dried flowers; one for largest rattan vase of lotus flowers; and one for biggest shell-inlaid wooden block with a royal proclamation.
The 10m-long ao dai was designed by floral artisan Nguyen Manh Hung. The 6.5m-high, 120kg rattan vase depicting Hanoi’s Literature Temple, One-Pillar Pagoda and Tortoise Tower, meanwhile, was made by artisan Nguyen Phuong Quang over more than two years.
The 1.9m-high, 1.3m-wide royal proclamation was completed by veteran artisan Tran Ba Nam from Hanoi’s Phu Xuyen Village over three years. The royal proclamation made by King Ly in 1010 stated that the county’s capital would be relocated from Hoa Lu to Thang Long (the former name of Hanoi).
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