New trivia show pumps up locals for 1000-year anniversary

      Director Nguyen Huu Phan will launch his new production, a reality game show called Ha Noi’s Old Quarter, to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of the foundation of Thang Long-Ha Noi in 2010.
The first show will air on October 10 on Viet Nam Television’s channel 3 and channel 4. "I hope the show will popularise and promote knowledge and good sentiments towards the capital city of Ha Noi," says director Phan.
The show is being produced by the Ha Noi Communications and Investment Joint-Stock Company with support from the Office of the National Steering Board of the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Ha Noi and the Viet Nam Advertisement Association.
"We were born in Ha Noi and we want to make a contribution to the great ceremony of the 1,000th year of Thang Long-Ha Noi," says the director. He also hopes the show will draw all kinds of television audiences, including Vietnamese overseas and foreigners who are living, studying and working in Viet Nam.
The show will have three rounds: elimination, semi-final and final. In every round, each team must participate in two parts: outdoor and indoor. This is the biggest difference between Ha Noi’s Old Quarter and other shows, says the director.
In the outdoor part, the game will take place on old streets and at handicraft villages, historical monuments and cultural and artistic events in Ha Noi. A director, cameraman, and MC will accompany the teams on the streets to film their struggles and their solutions.
This part of the show will be screened in the studio for the jury to evaluate and the live audience will watch the indoor section of the show, which will include a question and answer section and an introduction of a piece of Ha Noi art complete with ideas to preserve 1,000 years of Thang Long-Ha Noi culture. The two parts will be edited and broadcast on TV.
"The show will introduce Ha Noi in the current period of development and integration. It will also give a great deal of knowledge about the history, society and culture of Ha Noi," says Nguyen Manh Cuong, head of the Office of the National Steering Board of the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Ha Noi.
Ha Noi researcher Nguyen Vinh Phuc, a member of the consulting board, says he supports the show. "The show will be very interesting for young people. Everyone will want to take part in it because of its originality, enthusiasm, beautiful background and discovery. It will make us reminisce about glorious times in Ha Noi’s history," Phuc says.
There will be 53 hour-long shows, broadcast every week. The final show will be broadcast live on a large stage with a spectacular lighting system, designed to make a deep impression on Ha Noi, says the director.
The background and two sides of the stage will be designed to reproduce a picture of Ha Noi’s old quarter, according to the street style of painter Bui Xuan Phai. This will include images of the Ha Noi Flagstaff, Mot Cot (One Pillar) Pagoda, Hoan Kiem Lake and West Lake.
On the stage will be objects commonly found in the capital city: an iron lamp-post, hoa sua tree, public waterspout and pho peddler. The teams will dress in clothes common before the war. "The contestants will be transported to the stage by tram, a traditional means of transport in Ha Noi. The tram will be made as real as possible," says the director.
The show’s board of consultants includes professional researchers in culture, history, Ha Noi and experts in geography, environmental resources, city management, sport, tourism and national artists.
The final round of the show and the awards ceremony will take place in October 2010 to mark the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Ha Noi.