Culture of Vietnam - Martial Arts

Martial Arts

Vietnamese martial arts is highly developed from the country's very long history of warfare and attempts to defend itself from foreign occupation. Although most heavily influenced by Chinese martial arts, it has developed its own characteristics throughout the millennia in combination with other influences from its neighbours. Vietnamese martial arts is deeply spiritual due to the influence of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and is strongly reliant on the "Viet Vo Dao" (philosophy of Vietnamese martial arts). It is probably most famous for its scissor kicks.

The general Vietnamese term for martial arts is "Võ-Thuật." Some of the more popular include:

• Vovinam
• Võ Bình Định
• Quan Khi Dao

Vietnamese martial arts remains relatively unknown in the world today when compared to its counterparts from China, Japan, Korea or Thailand. However, this is seeing a definite change as schools teaching various styles of Vietnamese martial arts are starting to pop up all over the world, notably in countries such as Spain.