Dien Bien(VNA) – The cherry blossom festival will return to Pa Khoang commune, Dien Biendistrict, the northwestern province of Dien Bien for the second time fromJanuary 11 – 13, 2019.

A series of culturalevents will be held during the festival which was launched in 2018 to lure morevisitors to Hoa Island in Pa Khoang commune to enjoy beautiful cherry blossom.They will include an exhibition of local distinctive culture, communityactivities and folk games of mountain tribes, agricultural market of the ethniclocals and a space for displaying traditional cuisine of the northwesternregion.

Visitors to the festivalwill also have a chance to explore Japanese tea ceremony, Japanese ricewine Sake and Mong Pe, an aromatic wine of Vietnam’s northwestern region distilled from maize fermented with a special forestleaves.

The People’s Committee ofDien Bien district, the organizer of the festival, expects that the number ofcherry trees in full bloom at the time when the festival takes place will triplethat of this year.

The festival is intendedto promote the beauty of people and nature of Dien Bien and foster thedevelopment of Pa Khoang – Muong Phang tourism complex as the province sets tomake Hoa Island a popular destination. Visitors to the island during thefestival will be offered free admission.

It also serves as acurtain raiser for the celebration of the 65th year of Dien Bien PhuVictory and 110th founding anniversary of the province.

Residents of Dien Bien district refer to Hoa Island, which sits inthe middle of the district’s pristine Pa Khoang Lake, “the island of cherryblossom”.

There are about 1,000 cherry trees on the island, which bloombrilliantly during spring (January to April). The trees, imported from Japanand grown locally, are called “higansakura” with “higan”a reference to a spring Buddhist holiday celebrated by Japanese.

They were nurtured by Dr Tran Le, a Vietnamese scientist whospecialises in plant tissue culture. Le spent months wandering the country tofind a suitable place for the trees, after a Japanese friend had given him theseeds.

He found the island in 2006, where he successfully planted them.Out of the 10 initial seeds, eight survived and after eight years a large partof the 600ha-island is covered with “sakura” petals during spring.

The beautiful cherry blossom started attracting visitors in recentyears. Besides the trees, a large collection of exotic plants and flowers aregathered from across the country on the island. — VNA