Close to 50 male calligraphers, who are of different ages and in Vietnamese traditional dresses and turbans, show off with their calligraphic writing skills on stones, papers, bamboos, woods and silks.

A large number of calligraphy lovers as well as city residents and foreign tourists have flocked to the festival, designed to celebrate the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year Festival), which falls on January 26, 2009.

Another festival that showcases drinks, flowers, and parallel sentences (the fun art of creating parallel sentences along a giant floor-canvas), is going at the city-based Vietnam Culture and Arts Exhibition Centre.

The annual festival is entertaining visitors with traditional and modern festivities, aimed at reviving the nation’s cultural beauties as well as becoming an entertainment hot-spot for the locals.

Many well-known Vietnamese wine-merchants joined forces with organisers to bring the very best of the country’s prestigious wine to entertain visitors.

More than a thousand parallel sentences were sent to the organising committee this year, celebrating the country’s development and honouring its personalities.

Competitive contests organised by wine producers, calligraphers and parallel sentences writers are heating up the festival. The finest wines will be picked up by a panel of connoisseurs for awards on January 20.

The organisers have arranged gong show performances and wine tasting evenings to spice up the beverage festival.