The Da Nang Tourism Department, on Tuesday, imposed a fine of 12.5 million VND on Chinese-speaking Vietnamese tour guide Tran A Hung from the city branch of the Eviva Tour Vietnam for ‘failing to manage his client in accordance with regulations defined in the contract’.

His negligence allowed a Chinese female visitor to take over and spread distorted information about the truth of Viet Nam’s history and its culture to her fellow country men and women.

Hung was guiding a group of Chinese visitors to the Museum of Da Nang in the city centre on 26 February.

On that day, a Chinese woman, identified as 48 year-old Wang JiHong, one of Hung’s clients, took on the role of a tour guide herself at the museum. She told false stories about Viet Nam’s history and its culture to other members of her visitor group at museum.

It was reported that JiHong was guaranteed by the city branch of the Eviva Tour Vietnam company to extend her temporary residence in the city until 23 March for the purpose of travel, but she left Viet Nam on 2 March.

This Chinese national said ‘ao dai’ (the Vietnamese traditional long dress) came from ‘cheongsam’, a body-hugging one-piece dress for Chinese women, and although the ‘ao dai’ is made in the Vietnamese style, it looks the same as the Chinese ‘cheongsam’. She went on to say that Viet Nam belonged to China in the past.

Meanwhile, Hung admitted that he had not been concentrated on his job, and had not monitored his clients appropriately.

A 32-second-long footage showing JiHong’s violation recently went viral on social network, adding fuel to public outrage over such impropriate behaviours.

The city branch of the Eviva Tour Vietnam was also fined 4 million VND for not fulfilling its responsibility as the guarantor for foreign visitors.

The Da Nang Tourism Department has asked the Ministry of Public Security to ban JiHong from returning to Viet Nam.

The Department will aslo ask the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism to urge their Chinese counterparts to handle Wang JiHong’s violations.

Besides, it will be proposed that relevant national agencies investigate the Eviva Tour Vietnam’s role in managing its branches and guaranting their foreign clients.