FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — From his spartan farm house, Nguyen Huu Dua explains in Vietnamese of the time when received a midnight visit from the organisers of a concert at Hanoi’s famous opera house. He and his troupe of violinists were scheduled to perform there, and the event’s producers couldn’t believe that they were all several generations of humble farmers. Mr Dua later took to the stage in his traditional farmer’s pajamas, and remembers the event fondly. Helen Clark writes for The Economist.