For the first time, Vietnam participated in the Paris street festival.

Many iconic images of Vietnam, appearing for the first time at the Paris street festival, left a positive impression.

The Tropical Carnival is an annual event held in Paris during the summer for over 11 years. This year, approximately 4,000 people participated and an estimated 200,000 spectators lined the 4-kilometer parade route. Based on the theme "World's Sweets," the participating groups showcased a variety of colors and unique ideas.

As one of the five invited countries to participate in the festival, along with dozens of delegations from various regions of Paris and France, the Vietnamese delegation, participating for the first time, brought its own unique image and colors. The highlight of the delegation was a float shaped like a vibrant pink lotus flower, followed by young people in traditional Vietnamese ao dai costumes and girls wearing charming conical hats.

Images of pink lotus flowers carried by the Vietnamese delegation on the streets of Paris.

Next came images of a golden turtle and young men and women wearing masks while riding motorbikes – a common sight in modern Vietnam. At four stops along the parade route, the group performed typical Vietnamese art forms such as conical hat dances and martial arts demonstrations accompanied by drums and traditional music.

Speaking to a VOV reporter at the festival, Hermano Sanches Ruivo, Vice President of the Committee for Culture and International Relations of the 14th arrondissement of Paris and a member of the judging panel, praised the unique and distinctive qualities of Vietnam's performance.

"Vietnam's participation was very special at a tropical festival in Paris. We found similarities and differences through Vietnam's performances. For example, I haven't had the chance to visit Vietnam, but what I saw about Vietnamese culture, images, and colors at the festival truly made a wonderful impression."

Attending the Carnaval festival is an important event in the Vietnam-France Cross-Cultural Exchange Year, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. It is directly organized and directed by Vietnamese associations in France with strong support from the Vietnamese Embassy in France.

Most importantly and especially, Vietnam's participation – despite being a first-time participant and feeling somewhat unfamiliar with the process – demonstrated the strength and unity of generations of Vietnamese people, including those born and raised in France, who share a common desire to showcase the image of their homeland to the world.

The Golden Turtle model of the Vietnamese delegation at the Paris street festival.

Arriving very early along with numerous officials at the Vietnamese Embassy and other Vietnamese representative offices in France to await Vietnam's participation, Mr. Duong Chi Dung, the Vietnamese Ambassador to France, expressed his delight: "This is a very unique carnival, celebrating the cultural diversity of immigrant communities in Paris, in France. Vietnam's participation sends a very clear message to the city and to France that our community is actively integrating and contributing the unique characteristics and essence of Vietnamese culture to French society. We are aware that this is an important activity, one of the cultural diplomacy activities to promote the essence of Vietnamese national culture and contribute to the overall diversity of cultures in France."

Notably, among the judges, selected by the city of Paris, was Vietnamese musician Nguyen Thien Dao. He shared his joy and pride in watching the Vietnamese performance but also offered some feedback on the Vietnamese delegation's initial hesitant participation.

"Our delegation was very large and colorful; overall, I think the first steps have yielded good results. It's just a little regrettable that we marched somewhat separately, perhaps because we lacked experience," said composer Nguyen Thien Dao.

Vietnam's first official participation in the Paris Tropical Festival 2013 was therefore also an opportunity for the Vietnamese community in France to learn from this experience for better participation in future major cultural diplomatic events.

According to (vov.vn) - LT