VIETNAMESE MARTIAL ART MAY BECOME INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE

Recently, Vietnam sent a delegation to attend the World Congress of Martial Arts in Chungju City, South Korea. The delegation consists of 17 members, including two Vice Chairs of the Vietnamese Traditional Martial Arts Federation – Mr. Le Kim Hoa and Mr. Pham Dinh Phong, the Secretary General of the World Vovinam Federation – Mr. Vo Danh Hai and 14 masters, coaches, and artists of the Vietnamese traditional martial art and Vovinam.

At the congress, Vietnamese martial artists devoted to the viewers perfect performances which showed the unique essence, the specific nature of the Vietnamese martial. The organizing board highly rated Vietnam’s performances.

In particular, at the meeting of the General Assembly of the World Martial Arts Association (WoMAU,) Vietnamese traditional martial art was recognized as the 40th official member of this organization.

Mr. Pham Dinh Phong, Director of the UNESCO Centre for Conservation, Development of National Culture and Sports, a member of the delegation, said that during the trip the delegation learned about the history of martial art Taekkyon (Korean traditional martial which has many similarities with Vietnamese traditional martial arts). Taekkyon has been recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. 
Vietnamese representatives also asked UNESCO to support Vietnam to build the roadmap for making the Vietnamese martial art into intangible cultural heritage of mankind, just as some countries have done successfully, Phong said.

According to Phong, the trip was somewhat helping the Vietnamese delegation to imagine how to preserve the traditional martial art and the way to turn a traditional martial art into an international-class martial arts of Korea, and to learn more about the development trend of some of the world's martial arts.
 The Vietnamese Traditional Martial Arts Federation is drafting plans for submission to the competent authorities proposing the content, methods and steps to turn Vietnamese martial arts into the world intangible cultural heritage.

The plans include a scheme to conserve the unique essence of the national martial art and the project to upgrade Vietnamese martial art to the international class.

(Source: Cinet)