Vietnam’s biggest gong to be displayed at festival

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s biggest gong will be displayed at the International Gong Festival to be held for the first time in the Central Highlands Province of Gia Lai’s Pleiku city from November 8 to 11.

Nguyen Van Dung, director of Tre Xanh (Green bamboo) Plaza Hotel, which belongs to the Gia Lai Tourism and Culture Joint Stock Company, said the gong measuring 2.5 meters across and 700 kilograms was cast by nearly 700 artisans and experts at the Phuoc Kieu Bronze Casting Village in the central province of Quang Nam.

His company had commissioned the work.

One ton of bronze and 100kg of tin were used to make the gong on which are inscribed beautiful patterns and images of ethnic minority dancers.

The International Gong Festival, themed “Space of Gong Culture of the Central Highlands” this year, aims to showcase gong culture in the Central Highlands which has been recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Apart from 11 gong bands from the five mountain provinces and ethnic minority groups like the Ba Na, Brau, Chu Ru, and Cotu, troupes from Laos, Cambodia, China, Thailand, and Japan will also take part in the event..

VietNamNet/SGGP