Between the practical and theoretical exams, participating IChO 2014 students enjoyed a relaxing day at Vietnam’s Museum of Ethnology in the hope of relaxing themselves, as well as using the opportunity to learn more about Vietnam.
Between the practical and theoretical exams, participating IChO 2014 students enjoyed a relaxing day at Vietnam’s Museum of Ethnology in the hope of relaxing themselves, as well as using the opportunity to learn more about Vietnam.
International students immersing themselves in Vietnamese ethnic groups’ culture
During their visit to the museum, participants enjoyed a water puppet show. While most of the participants couldn’t understand what the puppets were saying, they could still appreciate this traditional art form and were amazed by the way the puppeteers control the puppets. Indeed, Vietnamese puppeteers have long maintained this traditional heritage by using only Vietnamese when performing.
Asked to guess how the artisans operated the puppets, Stephen from the US team reckoned that they use some system of strings to control the puppets from the back. In fact, his guess is very close to the actual answer. They actually control the puppets from the other side of the curtain using long bamboo rods and a string mechanism that is hidden beneath the water surface. While it may sound simple enough, to make the show lively the puppeteers’ have to go to extreme lengths, and they are loathe to reveal their secrets to those of us who are not puppeteers. Indeed, amongst the society of puppeteers, they even have their own dialect and code words to prevent non-puppeteers from overhearing some of their techniques.
So, even though they cannot understand the entire conversation, foreign visitors still respect and appreciate Vietnamese water puppetry. For example, on being asked how he could enjoy the show without understanding the language, Alejandro from the Spanish team exclaimed his appreciation for the efforts of the artisans to preserve Vietnamese traditional values, and indeed said that for this reason he preferred watching it in Vietnamese, even more so than if it had been performed in English. He also said that it was not so hard to guess the context and storyline of the performance if audience members pay close attention to the show, they can easily guess the meaning and are free to imagine the storyline based on the puppets’ movements.
Students watching the show
Posing in front of a traditional ethnic minority house
Besides watching the water puppets, students were able to visit the exhibition of antiques or household objects of Vietnamese ethnic groups as well as those of South East Asian nations. Participants also had a chance to try going across a footbridge, which is a trademark of southern Vietnam’s rural areas. Most of them could not get all the way across, as it requires a lot of technique and practice to maintain your balance as you cross the bridge.