Tống Ngọc Hân deals with the eternal theme of purity versus sinfulness, with the onus of maintaining it and blame for failure invariably falling on women’s shoulders. Here, as elsewhere, man’s yearning for "purity" and "perfection" doesn’t relent, revealing an insecurity so deep that it runs through generations, making one wonder if it can ever be confronted and dealt with within a lifetime.

A resident of Ma Lù Thàng Village in the northern province of Điện Biên found three people hacked to death in a field shack last weekend.

The increasing number of suicides in Điện Biên over the last few years was raising alarms among the community in the remote mountainous province.