A kite festival began at the My Dinh National Stadium on October 6 with the theme “Hanoi – a peaceful sky” to mark the capital’s millennium birthday.

On display are hundreds of kites of various colours and sizes made by craftsmen from provinces and cities across Vietnam and China, Singapore, the Philippines, the US and Canada.

The same day, 3,000 martial artists who practise Vietnam’s martial art (Vovinam) from 30 teams, including five from overseas, gathered at Quan Ngua Stadium in Hanoi, to put on the city’s largest ever performance to celebrate Hanoi’s anniversary.

The performance was part of the Vietnamese traditional martial arts festival being held at the stadium from October 5-7.

Also on October 6, the northern province of Ninh Binh held a ceremony to award the winners of a writing contest on Thang Long-Hanoi.

Three collective and three individual prizes were presented. The contest was launched six months ago and received 156,600 entries, which shows public’s awareness of Hanoi and its history.