Nguyen Trai's poetry translated for collection

A new English translation of poems by Nguyen Trai, one of the country's greatest poets, has been published by the Sai Gon Culture Publishing House to mark the 730th anniversary of his birth.

The collection, Nguyen Trai – Ve Con Son (Nguyen Trai – Back to Con Son), includes 30 poems in both English and Vietnamese. They were originally composed of five - and six-syllable verses in Nom, or Chinese-based Vietnamese script.

The verses were translated into English by poets Nguyen Do and Paul Hoover and edited by poet Nguyen Duy, who provided photos from his travels across the country for the collection.

Nguyen Trai, who was born in 1380 and died in 1442, became a national hero for helping liberate the country from the northern invaders in the fifteenth century.

Four guns stolen from Thua Thien-Hue museum

Four guns that were displayed at an exhibition at a Thua Thien - Hue museum during Lunar New Year holidays last month have mysteriously disappeared.

Two Colts, a Rouleau, and a grenade launcher M-79 are missing. According to Cao Huy Hung, director of the Museum of History and Revolution, the firing pin had only been removed from one of them.

They were war booty surrendered by the Sai Gon regime's army during the American War.

On February 23, nine days after the New Year, the guns were found missing with the section doors half open and locks removed. The exact timing of the theft has yet to be determined.

All other pieces in the museum's gun collection are safe, and police have begun an investigation.

L'Oreal donates series for Women's Day

L'Oreal Corporate Foundation has donated 150 copies of 100,000 Years of Beauty, a five-volume series that features the human quest for beauty throughout the ages, to mark this year's International Women's Day.

The volumes were donated to universities of fine arts and cultural sciences, museums, libraries and cultural institutes around the country.

The books, compiled in English with 1,500 pages in all, were commissioned by L'Oreal on the occasion of its 100th anniversary and published by France's Gallimard Publishing House.

They contain contributions by 300 writers from 35 countries including historians, archaeologists, artists, art critics, philosophers, psychologists and anthropologists.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News