Phan Thiet set for three-day festival

The Nghing Ong Festival, also knows as the Guan Kung Greeting Celebration, will begin in August 19 in central Binh Thuan Province’s Phan Thiet City.

The festival will last for three days and will remember a Chinese general and warrior-saint honoured by the Hoa Chinese community.

The activities will begin with nearly 900 Hoa people marching through the central streets of the city, such as Nguyen Hue, Tran Hung Dao, Hai Thuong Lan Ong, Nguyen Tri Phuong and Ngo Si Lien.

This year, the festival will also feature royal dances and the masquerade acts of Chinese legends.

The celebration will continue with an enormous parade filled with costumed performers, mystical dragon outfits and lion dancers, with the highlight being a performance of the greatest dragon dancers from around the country.

For the occasion, Ong Pagoda (Guan Kung Temple) will be decorated with flower garlands and multi-coloured lanterns. People will gather to pray for happiness, health and good fortune for their families and friends.

The festival will also include a Vietnamese-Chinese cuisine fair. The festival is a long-standing tradition of the ethnic Chinese community in Phan Thiet City. It was organised by the local government for the first time in 2006 and has since become an even larger tourism event.