Bui Xuan Phai (1920-1988). Photo courtesy of Bui Xuan Phai Facebook page. 

Google featured 20th century Vietnamese painter Bui Xuan Phai in a doodle on Sunday to mark his 99th birthday. 

Phai (1920-1988) is considered a major contributor to Vietnam’s modern art, and famous for paintings of Hanoi’s Old Quarter and hat tuong, or Vietnamese-Chinese opera, musicians.

Google features Vietnamese painter Bui Xuan Phai on its home page on
September 1, 2019. Screenshot taken from Google.com.

His son, Bui Thanh Phuong, said in a post on his father’s official Facebook fan page that he appreciated the tribute by Google.

A painting of Hang Giay Street in Hanoi by Bui Xuan Phai. Photo courtesy of Bui Xuan Phai Facebook page.

This is the second time a Vietnamese has appeared on Google Doodle, which commemorates holidays, events, achievements, and people. Before Phai, iconic musician Trinh Cong Son was featured last February on his 80th birthday.

Other doodles to have depicted Vietnamese culture were on banh chung (a traditional sticky rice cake), Khue Van Cac (the pavilion of the Constellation of Literature located inside Vietnam’s first university), the traditional ao dai dress, the Hung Kings Temple Festival (a commemoration of  the mythical founders of Vietnam on their death anniversary), and the ancient town of Hoi An, a UNESCO heritage site in central Vietnam.