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Vietnam – China Border Youth Friendship Exchange in 2023. (Photo: Hang Nguyen) The program aims to review and continue the long-standing traditions of friendship, connection, and exchange, and aims to expand cooperative relationships in social affairs as well as learn from effective economic development models. The program also facilitates the sharing of experiences in implementing Youth Union work and youth movements, as well as cultural and artistic exchanges. By doing so, it aims to express the faith, will, and aspirations of the youth from both countries to work together and cultivate a close relationship “from mountain to mountain, river to river”. During the event, youth delegations from four Vietnamese provinces bordering Yunnan province (including Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Lao Cai, and Ha Giang) and Chinese youth delegates participated in a variety of exciting activities in Kunming city, Honghe Hani and Yi, and Dali Bai of Yunnan province. At the “Chinese-Vietnamese Yout...

A dream Mai, originally from Ninh Binh Province in northern Vietnam, wrote “The Mountains Sing” as a way to spread Vietnamese literature and culture by recounting the story of a Vietnamese family’s journey through the twentieth century, including their trials and tribulations during the French Colonial period, the separation of the North and the South, the Vietnam War, and the present day. Her inspiration for the novel was a deep frustration that language barriers were a major obstacle for international readers who wished to access Vietnamese literature.  The books on Vietnam that English-language readers did have access to were primarily about the Vietnam War and written by Western writers who gave their Vietnamese characters little-to-no voice, using them mostly as background characters. Mai also felt that Hollywood movies often depicted Vietnamese women as victims or “blank characters,” without the ability to make their own decisions. For many years, Mai and vari...