YÊN BÁI — Large numbers of people have trekked to the remote rice terraces of the northern province of Yên Bái to see an installation in the form of a "crystal cloud" created from 58,000 shimmering beads.

Crystal Cloud – La Pán Tẩn 2018, a landscape art exhibition, opened on Mâm Xôi Hill in Mù Cang Chải District, Yên Bái, on May 19 as part of activities to mark the 128th birthday of President Hồ Chí Minh.

The exhibition is the first of its kind in Việt Nam and the second in the world after the Crystal Cloud installation created by artists Andy Cao and Xavier Perrot at Swarovski Crystal World in Austria. 

The Crystal Cloud is made of hand-sculpted galvanised wire mesh and adorned with 58,000 Swarovski crystals.

The cloud formation is supported by a series of randomly placed galvanised steel posts and bamboos resembling a shimmering crystal forest.

The exhibition highlights the handicrafts of the local Mông ethnic group and seeks to promote tourism, according to Vũ Văn Đức, the chairman of Mù Cang Chải District.

Visitors to the district in May can see glittering ponds before locals transplant rice seedlings.

After May the terraced fields are a brilliant green until they turn yellow with ripe rice in early September.

The exhibition will wrap up on May 31. — VNS