Traditional Martial Arts

Martial artists perform at the seventh International Festival of Vietnamese Traditional Martial Arts in 2019. The eighth event will be held on August 2-5 in Bình Định Province. — Photo of SAV

HÀ NỘI — The eighth International Festival of Vietnamese Traditional Martial Arts will be held on August 2-5 in the south central province of Bình Định to honour the national fighting style while experts will discuss plans to strongly develop it to the year of 2030.

The opening ceremony is being held tonight at Nguyễn Tất Thành Square in Quy Nhơn with highlights including a dance and music performance themed "Vietnamese Traditional Martial Arts - Aspiration to reach out".

The show will see the participation of local martial arts masters and trainees, as well as famous singers and performances from international delegations.

The opening ceremony will be broadcast live on VTV, BTV and other local channels.

In the following days, athletes will take part in martial arts talks, exchanges and visit Bình Định's dojos as well as tour the province's landmarks, historic sites and tourist destinations. A photo exhibition about martial arts practice in Vietnamese and international dojos will also be held.

The organisers are also holding a two-day conference about plans to push the development of Vietnamese traditional martial arts around the world up to 2030.

According to Lâm Hải Giang, deputy chairman of the Bình Định People's Committee, the festival is an activity to honour national traditional cultural values and introduce the world about Bình Định's people, landscapes and customs.

"It is a valuable oportunity for local and international martial arts delegations to share experiences on how to maintain and promote Việt Nam's traditional martial arts.

"It will be a strong step in our plan to build a dossier to submit to UNESCO to register Bình Định's traditional martial arts as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity," Giang said.

In the eighth edition, as many as 1,200 masters, martial artists and trainees from 77 delegations such as the US, France, Morocco and Switzerland have registered to take part in the festival which is hosted in Bình Định every two years. 

In 2021, the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. — VNS